Radio Control Helicopters Components

Radio
If your radio control helicopters or kits don’t come with a radio transmitter and receiver you need to know the basics you will be looking for in a radio. While you can use many airplane radios for helicopter flying, you’ll get the best control and enjoyment if you have a radio specifically designed to work with helicopters. These have a few helicopter specific utilities such as mixing functions to give you more control over your radio control helicopters.

The next question is how many channels will you need? The radio used for helicopters should have at least 5 channels: throttle, collective pitch, tail rotor pitch, fore-aft cyclic control and left-right cyclic control.

While you may hear that a 4-channel radio is the absolute minimum and will work, using this type of radio requires you to combine the link throttle and collective pitch onto one servo. Having at least 5 channels allows you to put these on separate channels and greatly increases your helicopter's capabilities and fun factor!

But if you are going to buy a radio, you should go ahead and pay the few extra dollars for at least 6 channels. This will allow you some room to grow and add accessories to your radio control helicopters. And if you plan to use a gyro this 6th channel is a must.

Gyro

So what is this gyro thing mentioned when discussing the number of channels you need? Remember in school physics when they taught you that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction?

When the main rotors on radio control helicopters spin, the body of the helicopter wants to spin with just as much force in the opposite direction. The tail rotor provides the necessary force to keep the body of the helicopter facing in the direction you want. Wind and other factors will also try to spin your helicopter, making constant adjustments necessary on the speed of the tail rotor.

What a gyro does is takes these extra forces into account to control the tail rotor adjustments for you. Most pilots of radio control helicopters wouldn’t hit the skies without their gyro.

Training landing gear

They don’t look exactly like training wheels, but training landing gear parts can provide the same extra stability for a beginner pilot of radio control helicopters. Though this landing gear doesn’t have any effect on the flight of the helicopter, it can be a true equipment saver when you are learning to land.

The special gear gives you a wider landing base, cushions the landing, and helps prevent the helicopter from tipping over. Now, it may give away the fact that you are the new kid on the block when it comes to flying radio control helicopters, but it may also make sure your helicopter lives to fly another day!

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