Throttle Gimble, reduced travel observation.

[JimLerch]

I stopped by the Tampa field on my way back from Daytona last weekend. Because of the Super Bowl, we were restricted from flying, so we did a lot of BS'ing instead..

One topic that came up was how most of our radios have reduced throttle gimble travel. For instance, a fairly modern Futaba 2.4 radio, my x9303, and a friends DX7, all had reduced throttle travel compared to the elevator gimble.

Prior to actually using the tick marks on the gimbles to measure travel, I would have sworn the travel would have been the same. However, once you actually measure it, throttle travel is reduced a fair amount.

So the questions are,

• Is this as common as it appears?
• Are there radios that don't have this restriction?
• Is there a REASON for this restriction?
• Is it worth it to remove the mechanical restrictions and send the radio in for recalibration?

Seems to me, the extra throttle / collective travel would be a welcomed improvement.

[DavidH]

So the questions are,

Is this as common as it appears?
Are there radios that don't have this restriction?
Is there a REASON for this restriction?
Is it worth it to remove the mechanical restrictions and send the radio in for recalibration?

Not sure about common it is. It has been that way on most of the Futaba computer radios for the last 20 years. I believe the stick travel on the 9C is the same for both sticks. Not positive, but I thought I remember reading that it was. I have helped other pilots with
9C's. But never really compared the stick travel between the two sticks.

I have seen and used a few radios that were none computer and the stick travel was same for both sticks.

As for the difference in travel between the vertical axis on the two sticks. I really don't know why the throttle stick has shorter travel.

No reason you can't remove the stops and have the throttle stick recalibrated. Not sure why you would too thou. If you take off the stops, the stick will have to travel more in each direction to reach 100% than what it is traveling now. So stick movement would be more in order to operate the channel the same as the shorter movement operates it now.


David