From: egdorf@zaphod.lanl.gov (Skip Egdorf)
Subject: Re: Airtronics Infinity 600, 660, and Vision
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
	<1k6tvfINN2li@shelley.u.washington.edu>
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 23:13:28 GMT

In article <1k6tvfINN2li@shelley.u.washington.edu> rael@carson.u.washington.edu (Russ Light) writes:

   I am having trouble picking out a radio for a Airtronics Legend sailplane.
   A friend bought a Infinity 600 for his new multichannel sailplane but was
   disappointed with limitations in the mixing options. He really wanted a 
   Visions radio but was unable to find one.

I shopped around quite a bit before getting my Vision. If you can find
a Vision, get it! There is nothing else that does as much for us
sailplane drivers. The closest second that I could find was the X-347
(a good radio for the price!)  The Futaba came in a distant third.

                                              Tower said they waited until 
   they received a certain amount of orders for this radio before actually
   placing an order with the Airtronics distributor.  The 660 came out after
   he bought the 600.  Does anyone know the difference between these two 
   radios.  Is the Visions still hard to obtain?

The vision is rumored to be replaced soon by another
Control-System-Labs ATRCS-based Infinity-body radio. Hence, Vision
proces have recently jumped by about $50 (I found mine at the old
price from a source that had one in stock. Anyone who had to order
from a distributer quoted the higher price. old = $520, new = $570
roughly speaking.) This new radio is rumored to be a follow on to the
seen-by-a-few-reporters Infinity-1000. I will refer to this mythical
Vision replacement as the Infinity-1xxx.

Also, rumors from those who talk to CSL seem to confirm this, as no
new Vision boards have been ordered for some time by Airtronics (for
shipping to Sanwa, who installs them in the big black box.)

The main advantage to the Infinity-1xxx is supposed to be frequency
syntheses in the Tx and Rx. This means that, when you get to the
flying field, the radio scans the spectrum and picks an unused channel
for both the TX and RX. This might be useful, but also implies that
the price will be still higher.

I would recommend that, if you find a vision, you ship it to CSL to be
upgraded to the version 3.0 firmware. This expands your radio to eight
models, and lets you use Futaba-style receivers as well as Airtornics
(FM only. Still only Airtronics for PCM.) As I have a number of
RCD-535 5-channel Futaba-compatible receivers, this was a requirement
for me. They work fine, with the exception that the manual only lists
the servo connection for 4,6,7,and 8 channel receivers, and I have had
to experiment to determine which servos do what on the 5-channel.  I
will post this as soon as I experiment with all templates.

Waiting for an Infinity 1xxx will mean two things:

1. No computer radio for a while.

2. Cost of the Infinity 1xxx will be even higher than the Vision.

   I would also be interested in anyone who has had experience with the Legend.
   My plane is about 90% done.  The wing servos recommended are the new ones
   from Airtronics (I forget number at this writing).  These are expensive and
   I don't see any mail order house offering them with a package radio. Any
   advice? Thanks ahead of time.

I just got a look at the new RCD/Apollo 24 servos. They are about .1"
less than a Fytaba 133 in height and length, and about .05" wider.
They have 10% more torque, and cost a bit less. I then found a Hobbico
CS-11, which is the IDENTICAL servo at an even lower price. I saw an
add in this month's RCM for the CS-11 at $26. My local hobby shop has
them for this, and can order them in quantity for even less. I have just
purchased 10. With hard nylon gears, I believe that these will be excellent
aileron and flap servos.

					Skip Egdorf
					hwe@lanl.gov