Changing Radio Brands

[Bruce Collinson]

1 hour ago, Graham Bowers said:

I went for Multiplex when I returned to modelling around 20 years ago, before 2.4 GHz. I liked the understated look of the Cockpit SX, and the synthesised RF module and receivers seemed like a much better idea than swappable crystals. Somewhere along the way I learned of the Multiplex Profi 4000 and it's totally flexible programming and picked up a used one, as it was, I think, out of production. Multiplex were slow to join the 2.4 GHz revolution, however I stuck with it and when they eventually released a conversion module, I switched out the RF module in the P4000 to 2.4 GHz and started buying 2.4 GHz receivers.

 

The prospect of telemetry proved enticing. By 2015 ish, as I recall, Multiplx transmitter offerings were nowhere near as capable as the P4000 so and was tempted to try a Taranis on OpenTx. Coming from the P4000, the transition to OTX was pretty straightforward - although I'm still learning some of the more esoteric functionality to this day.

 

I found my box of Multiplex 2.4 GHz receivers about a year ago and decided to give Multiplex another go, so bought a pristine used Cockpit SX 9, the "new" version of the Cockpit, and telemetry capable. It's a beautiful thing, to my eye, and very well made. I've tried so hard to love it - but the limitations on programming functionality are proving very hard to bear.

 

Around the same time, I got into indoor flying and wished to buy a Mobula6 bind-and-fly quadcopter. A Frsky version wasn't available, so I went for a Spekky version - thus a Radiomaster TX16S with a 4 in 1 RF module joined the stable. It came with EdgeTx however I changed it to OTX as I was battling with setting up a FrSky stabilised receiver, and learning two new things at once seemed a step too far. I then discovered the 4 in 1 module in the TX16S was capable of binding to my Multiplex receivers!!!!

 

However I have a niggling seed of doubt about the long term reliability of the Taranis and TX16S. One of the guys in my club lost a few models that was eventually traced to a broken wire on one of his gimbals on his Taranis - the copper had broken inside the insulation. And another lost at least one  model to a ribbon cable connection problem on his TX16S. I was present when his TX16S was doing strange and unpredictable things so saw it with my own eyes; he initially thought it may be a programming error due to an unexpected condition or something, but we were unable to fathom it. When he phoned the supplier, he was told it was possibly a ribbon cable connection issue, and was advised to re-seat it, which he did, and normal service was resumed. I chose those words carefully - can we really say it was fixed? My Taranis is pretty much retired to be honest, so it's the TX16S that's on my mind. Reading around, the ribbon cable thing seems to have been a massive problem on the Jumper transmitters, however they were largely, but not completely, designed out of the TX16S. And anecdotes of ribbon cable problems can still be found on RCGroups. The trouble is, all we have is anecdotes.

 

If I were king for a day, I'd like OpenTx to be available on a "quality" high end platform.

 

I find myself looking towards Jeti. I held one in my hand at Weston, and with the help of the vendor, programmed in a model, then added a bit of a non-standard mix. There is nothing not to like about Jeti as far as I can tell, from my reading and speaking to users face to face. Apart from the fact it'd be quite a chunk of cash.

Cost of rxs is an issue, especially if you run a big fleet.   It does require a long view to be taken, but ultimately if a £2000 investment keeps a plane safe which represents the thick end of £1000 in the air then I regard it as cost effective.
BTC

[Ron Gray]

55 minutes ago, Graham Bowers said:

I'd like OpenTx to be available on a "quality" high end platform.

FrSky X10s for OpenTX. Rumour has it that both the X18 and X20 TXs will have the ability to run EdgeTX in the not too distant future but who knows. I’m a long time user of FrSky gear and, apart from my first Taranis (which just wore out!) it hasn’t let me down.
 

I’ve used both the Jeti DS12 and DS16 (I was thinking about changing radios when the 12 came out) and for me, in terms of feel and quality the FrSky X20S comes in between the 2 but with over 50 FrSky Rx it would cost a fortune to swap over!
 

 

[Nick Somerville]

Back in the day I started out with a Fleet set for my large scale gliders and then ‘upgraded’ to Futaba FF7 which proved ultra reliable. After a 25 year break from modelling I bought a Specktrum DX6 and marvelled at the absence of crystals and a peg board at the field. Moving onto warbirds a few years ago I needed more channels so got a second hand DX9, which has been very good, I even managed to navigate setting up a DLG glider with all the flight modes and launch presets. Not going to say that was easy though. My last two builds needed more channels and for my Sea Fury I managed by using a JR Matchbox to combine the four flap servos onto one channel. However my FW190 needed even more channels. Whilst I still trust my ageing DX9 I felt it was time for an upgrade. The cost of spektrum dual power receivers has rocketed and feedback from users of the new Spektrum transmitters have been mixed so I decided to buy a Powerbox Atom.  An expensive route but my models take at least a year to build and are a significant investment, so I wanted top quality gear. After a brief struggle initially I now have found my feet with the logic required to set it up and now absolutely love it. Beautifully made transmitter without too many switches to confuse.  For the time being I shall keep the DX9 for my DLG and first two warbirds but new models onward will all be Powerbox.

[Graham Bowers]

1 hour ago, Ron Gray said:

FrSky X10s for OpenTX. Rumour has it that both the X18 and X20 TXs will have the ability to run EdgeTX in the not too distant future but who knows. I’m a long time user of FrSky gear and, apart from my first Taranis (which just wore out!) it hasn’t let me down.
 

I’ve used both the Jeti DS12 and DS16 (I was thinking about changing radios when the 12 came out) and for me, in terms of feel and quality the FrSky X20S comes in between the 2 but with over 50 FrSky Rx it would cost a fortune to swap over!
 

 

Now there's a thought, thanks for that !

[Cuban8]

Started out in 1976 with a two channel Futaba, then a 5 channel 'Gold' Futaba, then an additional Challenger, then a SkySport 6, then an FF7, then an FF8.......you can see a pattern in the brand. 2.4 made my old Futaba 35 gear redundant and I gradually wound down its use. A club mate was very pleased with his new inexpensive Spektrum gear (two for one deals IIRC on some of their items) so changed to Spektrum - DX7 DSM2 and now DX8G2 DSMX - still use them both and never had any reason to doubt them or their reliabilty.

I did try a 2.4 FrSky module in the FF7 but it never worked properly and an email to FrSky followed by a vague and mostly unintelligible reply from their customer support (?) put me off that brand TBH. I'm sure their UK distributors are far more helpful.

Whilst by no means a software expert, part of my day job was dealing with programming/updating complex industrial equipment so Open Source holds no fear for me - it's just that I've never needed its much heralded flexibility and do what you like and how you like  possibilites, so I've never bothered with it.

I have to say that Spektrum have become expensive and there's plenty of far more affordable brands that seem to have developed a good name - would I eventually change again? I don't know.

[Paul Bromley]

On 12/08/2023 at 08:03, Graham Bowers said:

I went for Multiplex when I returned to modelling around 20 years ago, before 2.4 GHz. I liked the understated look of the Cockpit SX, and the synthesised RF module and receivers seemed like a much better idea than swappable crystals. Somewhere along the way I learned of the Multiplex Profi 4000 and it's totally flexible programming and picked up a used one, as it was, I think, out of production. Multiplex were slow to join the 2.4 GHz revolution, however I stuck with it and when they eventually released a conversion module, I switched out the RF module in the P4000 to 2.4 GHz and started buying 2.4 GHz receivers.

 

The prospect of telemetry proved enticing. By 2015 ish, as I recall, Multiplx transmitter offerings were nowhere near as capable as the P4000 so and was tempted to try a Taranis on OpenTx. Coming from the P4000, the transition to OTX was pretty straightforward - although I'm still learning some of the more esoteric functionality to this day.

 

I found my box of Multiplex 2.4 GHz receivers about a year ago and decided to give Multiplex another go, so bought a pristine used Cockpit SX 9, the "new" version of the Cockpit, and telemetry capable. It's a beautiful thing, to my eye, and very well made. I've tried so hard to love it - but the limitations on programming functionality are proving very hard to bear.

 

Around the same time, I got into indoor flying and wished to buy a Mobula6 bind-and-fly quadcopter. A Frsky version wasn't available, so I went for a Spekky version - thus a Radiomaster TX16S with a 4 in 1 RF module joined the stable. It came with EdgeTx however I changed it to OTX as I was battling with setting up a FrSky stabilised receiver, and learning two new things at once seemed a step too far. I then discovered the 4 in 1 module in the TX16S was capable of binding to my Multiplex receivers!!!!

 

However I have a niggling seed of doubt about the long term reliability of the Taranis and TX16S. One of the guys in my club lost a few models that was eventually traced to a broken wire on one of his gimbals on his Taranis - the copper had broken inside the insulation. And another lost at least one  model to a ribbon cable connection problem on his TX16S. I was present when his TX16S was doing strange and unpredictable things so saw it with my own eyes; he initially thought it may be a programming error due to an unexpected condition or something, but we were unable to fathom it. When he phoned the supplier, he was told it was possibly a ribbon cable connection issue, and was advised to re-seat it, which he did, and normal service was resumed. I chose those words carefully - can we really say it was fixed? My Taranis is pretty much retired to be honest, so it's the TX16S that's on my mind. Reading around, the ribbon cable thing seems to have been a massive problem on the Jumper transmitters, however they were largely, but not completely, designed out of the TX16S. And anecdotes of ribbon cable problems can still be found on RCGroups. The trouble is, all we have is anecdotes.

 

If I were king for a day, I'd like OpenTx to be available on a "quality" high end platform.

 

I find myself looking towards Jeti. I held one in my hand at Weston, and with the help of the vendor, programmed in a model, then added a bit of a non-standard mix. There is nothing not to like about Jeti as far as I can tell, from my reading and speaking to users face to face. Apart from the fact it'd be quite a chunk of cash.

I too had gone to Multiplex Cockpit and flew my jet on it without any issues. However my interests have swerved into large gliders with multiple servo wings and sophisticated telemetry needs. About a year ago I went to Graupner. The quality is excellent, the online back up good and lots of instructional videos, it is however for me getting long in the tooth, complicated, but works very well. The receivers aren't cheap but I guess you get what you pay for. I started out at 10 years old with RCS gear, then Horizon Systems, Futaba and a dabble with spektrum which I didn't like, then Futaba, Multiplex and now Graupner. Been modelling for 55years.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Paul Bromley

[Brian Cooper]

27 Mhz.... 

I started flying R/C when I was a boy over 60 years ago with single channel RCS radio and a rubber-powered escapement. . . And then "graduated" to multi-channel reeds (RCS again). . . Happy days.  But no parental sponsorship... I had to save up my pocket money to fund my passion for model aircraft. 

 

My first digital proportional radio, when I was 13, was Simprop 5 function radio. It worked well but extra receivers were virtually unobtainable. So this was sold and in came a Futaba "M" Series radio. Success straight out of the box.

 

35Mhz... 

I was now hooked on Futaba radios. The "M" eventually gave way to a FF7, and then FF8, and then FF9 radios, all on PCM. 

 

2.4Ghz... 

I bought a Spektrum module (DSM2) to convert a FF9 to 2.4Ghz. . I still have it and still use it. 

I then bought a JR dsx9. (DSM2) which I still use as a buddy box.

 

But I was doing kit reviews for magazines and Horizon were keen to promote the Spektrum brand, so they sent me a new receiver with every new review. I just had to sneak a picture of the RX into the review...lol. ..  I soon built up quite a collection decent receivers, so the natural progression was to switch fully to a DSMX Spektrum TX. 

I bought a DX18, which has been bulletproof.  However, after several hundred flying hours, I did wear out the sticks and had to have new ones fitted a couple of years ago. . . It does a LOT of flying, all year round. 

 

If I was to change brands now it would cost me a small fortune. I probably have about 60 Spektrum  receivers, all installed in models . . . Absolutely no complaints with the brand.

 

I think I might take up model flying as a hobby one day...... lol. 

 

[Nightflyer]

Started out originally in 1976 being bought a second-hand set of Skyleader Clubman in the days of 27MHz AM, then took over my dad's Futaba M series also on 27. I then got a se of Sprengbrook 35MHz modular gear, but in 1986 reverted to Futaba with a set of Challenger before getting FF8 and used Futaba gear until 2017 when I switched to Spektrum.

I have no real dislike of Futaba as the quality and reliability has been great and used it in my car racing from days of club racing to European and World championships. I also used it in my model boats. There was two reasons for the switch. Fed up with all the different formats over time buying new receivers and receiver crystals in that era. Secondly, as a club instructor many newcomers were using Spektrum.

[gangster]

I have never had any brand loyalty and have bought what looks best quality at the time. I changed because I thought 

the manufacturers of my current radio was losing their way at the time. I started with homebrew RCME , AM and later built the FM which I flew in together with other makes for years my I replaced the RCME AM with Micro PL7D and at the same time bought an almost new Skyleader Clubman  AM. I soon went right off the Micron, my mistake as I should have bought the Pl6d. The sticks on the PL7 were open gimble and after flying in the rain discover water in the TX. I traded it in for the brown M6 Futaba AM. Good radio well built and nice to use. By then FM came onto the horizon which promised much better interference rejection. Loved the Skyleader AM so bought the latest FM. Good radio and I was using both that and the RCME and converted both to 35 MHz, unofficial mods to both, For a month I was flying 35 but using a 27 peg as could not admit I was on a band that was not to become legal for a few weeks. I was made a good offer for the 27 AM Skyleader . Most of my fellow flyers were using Futaba so I cast my eye over the original 1980 ish J   Crazy price which I was willing to pay but lo and behold it turned out the new receivers were not reliable. I was shown a Sames black custom, wow what a transmitter felt real quality and I flew that along side the FM Skyleader and The RCME. So time marched on and the Skyleader was looking dated and tired.By then I felt Santa had lost its way it’s way , different models were not compatible  and even the crystals were not interchangeable between models Went to buy the latest model of the Futaba FF7. Sorry said Mr Model shop man it’s discontinued and showed me the FF8. Sorry loyal Futaba people but it felt like it lacked quality. The man reached up to the shelf and said “ this is what you want”. Hitec prism x 7. Now at that time Hitec we’re still shaking off the cheap Chinese image. Wow it was fantastic, felt well made and was blatant a clone of the FF7, only looked better made. I had long had a respect for JR and impulse bought a set, cannot remember model, on the basis of an RCME review. Lovely radio but no opportunity to change modules. Flew this and the Hitec for a few years but on retirement decided to replace some stuff. Couldn’t decide between Futaba T8J or Spectrum DX8. I bought both 10 1/2 years later still delighted with both and have no plans to change.

I have had all these makes, they have all been totally trouble free Which was best? None of them, all the manufacturers lost their was at times over the last half century and each one was in my opinion the best choice for me at the time

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

2 crashes this afternoon of electric planes on Spectrum, oh dear,,,,

[gangster]

Did those crashes really have anything  to do with the make of the radio. Modellers have been blaming the make of radio or interference etc etc etc for years. Never installation finger trouble and all of the other more likely causes. Even so O do feel for those who had crashes this afternoon 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

The first one 'lost' his Vario electric Alouette which dived into the ground while flying a couple of metres off of the runway at the end of last year, completely trashed,

today it was his 1.6m epp electric piper cub, a complete loss of the radio at around 100 metres, and at 50 metres altitude, could it be the ariel on the transmitter, it is in a lump of plastic, and maybe it is its orientation, the other crash was a small hk piper 'thing' 1.2m same area as the other crash, it just dived in.

 

 

The first one is a chap who hasn't the time to fly, so when he arrives, the sky is his helicopter crash was really sad, he did a fantastic job on it and with a bernadini sound system went with his perfect scale flying..

Edited October 8, 2023 by Paul De Tourtoulon

[Maurice Dyer]

On 11/08/2023 at 17:28, Jon - Laser Engines said:

still use my FF9 for about half my fleet as i had a bunch of fully functional 35meg rx's and saw no reason to bin them.  

A man after my own heart. 35 megs is as clean as a whistle.

1976 Horizon, 1977 Skyleader (bless) then 1988 Futabas FF6 and 9. Now 14SG, which is the club fliers dogs doo dahs......

 

 

 

 

[Andy48]

On 12/08/2023 at 08:47, leccyflyer said:

That's the key point for me Frank. If you've made an investment in a large number of receivers of a particular brand and protocol then switching can be painful. It's a key difference in 2.4ghz and 35mhz, where mix and match was simpler. I still have a box of 35mhz receivers that I have tried to give away lots of times -including some nice JR synthesised receivers. Despite giving away loads these are still hanging around. The Multi=Protocol systems might provide a solution to that, but I think some folks are put off by the Buy Cheap-Buy Twice adage.

After 3 prangs with my Speccy system within 2 weeks all caused by radio problems I changed to FrSky. We do get interference down at the field, and most regular fliers changed away from Speccy, mostly to Futaba. I'm pretty much the only one with FrSky gear, but no regrets and the few crashes I have now are certainly down to pilot error. The investment in FrSky stuff was not painful at all, indeed I sold all of my receivers for more than the new FrSky ones cost. I'm right at home with OpenTX, and now slowly migrating to Ethos and my X20.

[Cuban8]

4 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

2 crashes this afternoon of electric planes on Spectrum, oh dear,,,,

Well, I had six flights on my DSM2 Spektrum gear and found it as solidly reliable as always for the last 12 years.............three other crashes, two on Futaba one on Jeti from other members.

Make of that what you will.

[Phil Green]

I've gone full circle, an OS Pixie Single Channel in 1965, then Staveley analogue propo, Fleet, DigiAce, Futaba FF7, never any trouble at all, then a month of Taranis before I sold it (nothing wrong with it, just didnt do anything for me...), then during lockdown developed my homebrew FHSS gear which I use exclusively now and today my favourite slope soarer is my Moonbeam on an OS Pixie Single Channel again but 2.4g FHSS, full circle back to 1965!
Reasons for changing gear were mostly wear & tear, age - never had loads of receivers so never a huge investment. My current receivers cost maybe a fiver to make 🙂

 

Incidentally, slightly off topic - someone said Model Match was for him a 'game changer' - I have a different approach - all my reversing, mixers, etc settings are held in each individual receiver, the transmitter never changes from model to model but you cant fly 'with the wrong model memory' selected cos there arent any to select - just switch on and fly anything!

To me, model memories in the transmitter that have to be tied to a 'dumb' receiver seems an odd way to do things 🙂

 

Cheers

Phil_G

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Phil Green
spelling

[leccyflyer]

1 hour ago, Phil Green said:

I've gone full circle, an OS Pixie Single Channel in 1965, then Staveley analogue propo, Fleet, DigiAce, Futaba FF7, never any trouble at all, then a month of Taranis before I sold it (nothing wrong with it, just didnt do anything for me...), then during lockdown developed my homebrew FHSS gear which I use exclusively now and today my favourite slope soarer is my Moonbeam on an OS Pixie Single Channel again but 2.4g FHSS, full circle back to 1965!
Reasons for changing gear were mostly wear & tear, age - never had loads of receivers so never a huge investment. My current receivers cost maybe a fiver to make 🙂

 

Incidentally, slightly off topic - someone said Model Match was for him a 'game changer' - I have a different approach - all my reversing, mixers, etc settings are held in each individual receiver, the transmitter never changes from model to model but you cant fly 'with the wrong model memory' selected cos there arent any to select - just switch on and fly anything!

To me, model memories in the transmitter that have to be tied to a 'dumb' receiver seems an odd way to do things 🙂

 

Cheers

Phil_G

 

 

 

Hi Phil

 

Twas I who said Model Match was a game changer and it certainly was. Prior to that move to Spektrum it was very easy to go out to fly with the wrong model selected due to either selecting the wrong model - having multiple Spitfires that happened, but was spotted in preflights - or simply forgetting to change the model memory at all. I subsequently found, to my surprise, that my Frsky module operated by binding the rx to the transmitter ID, but not binding to a particular model memory. That became apparent on returning from the slope when, having hung my Stan Yeo Hawk from the rafters and started making adjustments to a different glider on the bench, the Hawk was also responding to the commands. That hadn't happened since I switched to 2.4ghz with Spektrum.

 

On my Digimac conversion I've made sure to set up the various models so that all of thecontrols work in exactly the same direction, mechanically, so there is no need to worry which model is being flown - it's great to just switch on, do the preflights and fly any of my recent  "vintage" models with the Digimac III, without having to squint at an LCD screen with my flying glasses on. 🙂

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

9 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

..three other crashes, two on Futaba one on Jeti from other members.

Did they just dive into the ground from less than 20 metres for no reason like the two I witnessed ?.

 

I thought that it might be a Tx ariel orientation problem, do they do range checks ?.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Paul De Tourtoulon

[GrumpyGnome]

Out of curiosity, how does Spektrum work if you want multiple receivers in a plane, e.g. for redundancy, or if you want 12 channels but only have 8 channel receivers...  it is just curiosity...

[Frank Skilbeck]

You can bind multiple receivers to one model memory, but as far as I'm aware you can't reassign channels on an rx.

[gangster]

10 hours ago, Phil Green said:

I've gone full circle, an OS Pixie Single Channel in 1965, then Staveley analogue propo, Fleet, DigiAce, Futaba FF7, never any trouble at all, then a month of Taranis before I sold it (nothing wrong with it, just didnt do anything for me...), then during lockdown developed my homebrew FHSS gear which I use exclusively now and today my favourite slope soarer is my Moonbeam on an OS Pixie Single Channel again but 2.4g FHSS, full circle back to 1965!
Reasons for changing gear were mostly wear & tear, age - never had loads of receivers so never a huge investment. My current receivers cost maybe a fiver to make 🙂

 

Incidentally, slightly off topic - someone said Model Match was for him a 'game changer' - I have a different approach - all my reversing, mixers, etc settings are held in each individual receiver, the transmitter never changes from model to model but you cant fly 'with the wrong model memory' selected cos there arent any to select - just switch on and fly anything!

To me, model memories in the transmitter that have to be tied to a 'dumb' receiver seems an odd way to do things 🙂

 

Cheers

Phil_G

 

 

 

I think that having all the models the same is a great approach. I have always thought that transmitter based servo reversing is the invention of the devil, totally unnecessary. Having said that I probably was one of the first in the club with that feature on my RC ME FM. . For over 30 years all my models and transmitters were set up the same. If I needed reversing I simply changed the servo. Futaba servos went one way and Hitec the other. Other options are available

[Ron Gray]

OK so not a brand change but a couple of weeks ago I scratched the itch and bought a FrSky X20S. I’m a long time FrSky user (ever since the first Taranis hit the scenes) and have got to say that the built quality and feel of this Tx is far superior to my X10S Express which has been my main Tx for the last 4 years. I thought that I might find the Ethos OS somewhat restrictive after using OpenTX and EdgeTx but I’ve got to say that now, in many ways I prefer it as it is far more logical. 

[MattyB]

2 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

Did they just dive into the ground from less than 20 metres for no reason like the two I witnessed ?.

 

I thought that it might be a Tx ariel orientation problem, do they do range checks ?.

 

Models that dive straight into the ground are not indicative of a signal loss. Remember, if the  RX is still powered, it should go to failsafe which  - unless it is set for something crazy, like full down - should not result in an instant steep dive. The issue you describe is far more likely to be an onboard power failure, or something none RF based like a bound up control or servo failure. The way to tell for sure is look at the telemetry log, if a telemetry RX was fitted. If not full power testing of that RX pack/BEC needs to be carried out before it is used again.

Edited October 9, 2023 by MattyB

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

The only time that happened to me was on a fast low pass…but was preceded fractionally by the telltale buzz of control surface flutter…

[Cuban8]

3 hours ago, Paul De Tourtoulon said:

Did they just dive into the ground from less than 20 metres for no reason like the two I witnessed ?.

 

I thought that it might be a Tx ariel orientation problem, do they do range checks ?.

The point is that the 'Spektrum is all rubbish and causes nothing but trouble' opinion was always unjustified, not supported by hard evidence and only fueled by the issue that some early transmitters did have with their RF boards that users had, literally,  no control over, and the so-called brown outs that were driven by what I agree was a far from ideal early design, but users did have a degree of responsibility for.

Models simply do not dive into the ground for no reason, although usually the best place to start an investigation is with the pilots inputs on the sticks. The radio is checked out subsequently and is found to be in perfect working order.

One of my own flying buddies suffered  an early RF board failure that was fixed by Spektrum free of charge but that's no real compensation for a lost model. So, I'm not saying there wasn't a problem in the early days, but to keep questioning a brands quality years after these early issues makes no sense to me. A lot of nonsense was put about by people who didn't know what they were talking about concerning Spektrum's use of satellite receivers, which as far as I recall in the early 2.4 days was a unique feature. Naysayers said they were needed because the Spektrum system was inherently poor so needed extra receivers to make up for that. Hysteria regarding DSM2 and how it can't cope with busy RF environments has not been my experience.

IIRC, even Futaba of America put out a mickey take Youtube video  of a Spekky user draped and tangled in wires compared to their 'superior' single RX system. The Naysayers didn't understand the reasoning behind satellites - Futaba obviously did, but chose to play a bit dirty IMHO. BTW, one of my flying buddies lost a very expensive model some time ago.......the cause verified by the manufacturer (Futaba) was...........a faulty transmitter RF board! Electronics do fail from time to time and brand or cost is no guarantee of being immune from that.

There are some people in this hobby who no matter what, will have a constant problem with anything - radios, engines, blown up electric systems and a steady trail of broken models that follows them around week after week. None of us are perfect, mistakes are made and can turn out expensive - the difference is that a few never seem to learn and find comfort in blaming everything else but themselves.