27MHz breaking the law?

[Aaron Stevens]

right ok i went into model zone today to look at some toy cars, and i see they are selling these 1ft span planes, and on the box is 27mhz, i thought 27mhz was surface only, i asked a member of staff and he had no clue about anything at all, so whats the score on this??

[Aaron Stevens]

**LINK**

[Mark Powell 2]

27 is legal for anything, as is 2.4. 35 is reserved for model aircraft. Not long ago even the police were using 35 illegally to test their observation drones on 35 as it is not for 'professional' use. 40 was for boats and surface vehicles if you wanrted to use it. 35 was illegal for such things.

[J Myers III]

I'm almost certain that 27mhz is exclusive to air models...

[Alan Cantwell]

27 is legal for anything, flying or surface, 40 is surface only, 35 is flying only, but 2.4 rules the world

[Delta Whiskey]

Mark is right, 27 or 40 for surface models, 35 reserved for Air.

[Alan Cantwell]

no he is not, 27 is legal for both air and surface,

[Simon B]

All the old Parkzone kits were on 27Mhz

[Frank Skilbeck]

and when I started there was only 27 mhz, 35 mhz was brought in for air use only and subsequently 40 mhz for surface use. 27 mhz has always been available for all disciplines

[Aky208]

UKRCC explain all of this on there site:

**LINK**

**LINK**

**LINK**

40 = Surface only

35 = Aircraft only

27 & 2.4 = General Use - i.e. aircraft and surface use.

 

Edited By Aky208 on 17/08/2012 18:41:05

[Chris Bott - Moderator]

As far as I know 27Mhz can be used in the UK for Planes, Cars and Boats. (And CB radio at higher powers)

[Mark Powell 2]

Alan Cantwell,

Yes I am. I said 27 is legal for anything

[J Myers III]

I agree with Alan, 2.4 does rule the world! ...if only I had 2.4 radio gear

[Mark Powell 2]

2.4 was originally for 'instumentation and medical'. The first 2.4 sets were actually almost illegal. Not actually totally illegal as no one had made a ruling. Now they are legal for absolurelty everything you might want, as an EU ruling has been made, provided the power is low. Their main use at home and 'pleasure' is WiFi, like wot allows me to send this post.

[Alan Cantwell]

sorry mark, delta quoted you incorrectly, must have been on a UHF computer, remember uhf? still a legal aircraft frequency, 27 was isued for model use, then, we had to actually have a license, when CB radio, on 27 came in, blind eyes where turned, we rightfully kicked off, saying we had a license, so what did the GPO do? they abolished the license, and gave us 35 mhz, initially, there where 27/35 conversions, (remember the terrible futaba/viking radio conversions?) then we got 35 mhz sets, 27 is now very clean, as CB died the death, many clubs banned 27 on aircraft, i can see this happening with 35 in the future, 35 was not that clean, it is a military frequency communication frequency, and as such, could be a tad dodgy in places, busy things, these airwaves

[Mark Powell 2]

Alan, my first proportional radio was a Futaba M series on 27. Worked fine. The first widely available proportional radio you could get in the UK was the Bonner Digimite at £600. A Mini cost £450. CB radio came along. Not really a problem, except for Cowes Week yachting on the Isle of Wight. Yoiu can see that from Beaulieu where I mainly fly. I did see ads for the Viking conversion, and you could also have your Futaba converted by 'ModelRadio Co' who were the offical Futaba service agent for RipMax. But I had discovered women by th at time so didn't bother, and gave up. Came back about ten year ago when I got bored with trout fishing.At 67 I find women not as exciting as I once did, but I met my eventual wife at 13 when she used to come and watch us fly rubber and Jetex in the local recreation ground. She is still very supportive. Apparently it is 'cute' that I started again.

PS:I do remember UHF 459 Mhz as I remember. Reftec and Cotswold made them. Never saw one.

Edited By Mark Powell 2 on 17/08/2012 19:33:25

[Mike Etheridge 1]

I still have a 27 Mhz Futaba M series radio kit complete with it's original box. I have four slope soarers with receivers and servos that still function OK on 27 Mhz and of course on the slope I have not met others with old radio so I have not had to wait to fly in the recent past. and have not suffered radio interference.

When I first bought he M series radio I also bought a ready made Micro Mold Sprite 8ft span slope soarer. The plane could be bungee launched as it was on its first flight at South Norwood sewage works site close to Croydon Sports Arena. However after the Sprite released from the bungee it piled straight in due we thought at the time to radio interference from CB radio. It was shortly after that that 35 Mhz was introduced for model planes and I felt somewhat peeved that I had bought obsolete radio only months before. I did repair the Sprite and it still exists but I don't think Micro Mold do?

As for trout fishing I still go twice each year, and let's face it aeromodelling is much cheaper than dating women!.

MJE

Edited By Mike Etheridge 1 on 17/08/2012 20:50:19

[malcolm woodcock 1]

There is a Yougov site that gives all the legal frequencies, but 27 megs gets broken into so often it st's a frequency that should be avoided like the plague. I even had a cement mixer sparking over 27 mhz and causing a lot of problems a few years ago, the other thing is when shops started to sell 'Spitfires' , all on the the same frequency and the the same flag, usually red, 2.4Ghz has solved all these problems go for that, it's safe..