TrackerIII Radio sale $99.

[boss subfixer]

Well mine wasn't a recent

Well mine wasn't a recent purchase but when I finally got to a point of using it in a boat, the radio just would not sync up with the receiver and one of the toggle switches is broken. I called Polks and they said to send it in, no problem they would fix it. This thread had me concerned a bit so I haven't sent it yet. Sounds like it may be safe to do so now. As a side note there are a few guy's in my group, Subron 4, that have them and have no problems with them so I'm chalking mine up to a whoops.

[warpatroller]

one more thing you might

[quote]one more thing you might want to check ]

The Tracker Tx runs on a 9.6 Volt pack. The Rx on a 4.8 Volt pack. The servo chatter has constantly been present even immediately after a 24 hour charge of both battery packs.

I last charged the battery packs about 10 days ago. I've noticed that when the Tx voltage drops below 9.0 volts the transmitter emmits a rapid beeping sound. I heard this for the first time yesterday, as up until then the voltage was always around 9.6 to 10.4 volts and it had dropped to about 8.54 volts yesterday. So its time to recharge the packs. The LCD screen on the radio displays the Tx voltage at all times.

You may be thinking, well hey you haven't charged in 10 days!! Yeah, but the radio has spent minimal time operating just for testing purposes, it has yet to be used with a model. So the short duration tests, plus 10 days time sitting, has already noticeably depleted the batteries. But, like I said the chatter was there even when they were fresh off the charger.

Modulation is strictly PPM mode. You have a choice of either Negative or Positive shift. I have it set on Negative shift, which was confirmed as the correct choice by Dr. Art Broder. Positive is for Jr, Airtronics and Multiplex servos. Negative is for Futaba, Hitec and the Polk servos.

If Mr. Bernd das Brot were to purchase a Tracker he probably would receive one like mine. Raalst knows what I mean by this lol.

Steve

[warpatroller]

Out of curiosity, are there

Out of curiosity, are there any other folks who may have recently purchased the Tracker III radio from POLK been experiencing similar issues as reported by warpatroller ?

I recently bought the Tracker, but not directly from Polk.. I bought it second hand and the original owner said he bought it from Polk about a year ago and never used it. He couldn't have used it because the transmitter had never been properly converted to 75Mhz, as it was programmed for 72Mhz and sold to him as a 75Mhz system.

[warpatroller]

Well mine wasn't a recent

Well mine wasn't a recent purchase but when I finally got to a point of using it in a boat, the radio just would not sync up with the receiver and one of the toggle switches is broken. I called Polks and they said to send it in, no problem they would fix it. This thread had me concerned a bit so I haven't sent it yet. Sounds like it may be safe to do so now. As a side note there are a few guy's in my group, Subron 4, that have them and have no problems with them so I'm chalking mine up to a whoops.

I experienced this with one of my tests in an open park field. I could not get the Tx and Rx to sync up after SEVERAL setup attempts at this field. Setup has always been successful at my house, though some times I have to attempt it twice before it works. Before going to the above mentioned field I did the setup at home, and when I arrived at the field the system worked (with chatter of course), but when I tried to re-setup the Rx at this field, it refused to do so. I brought it back home, and then the setup worked..

Oh and I was the only person present at the field with a radio system. Just myself and one young couple with a toddler and a dog, other than that the park was devoid of human life and radio systems.

Also, my channel 6 rotary control knob is not mounted on its pot properly and wobbles when I rotate it. I think it was that way when I got it but I hadn't noticed it before sending the unit in for service the first time.

[junglelord]

Man I feel sorry for

Man I feel sorry for all the troubles you have had with your first unit.
Its not too late to send it out for good and start again with something else.
Thats what I would do at this point.

[fgroza]

Tracker is being shipped

As of this morning, John Gill took my payment for a Tracker that has been on order. It will ship today or Monday. You can get it with a 8ch and a 6ch seeker receiver for $140 or the $99 special with one receiver. I have a friend that has his order on the way also. I hope they work!!!
Frank

[warpatroller]

Re: Tracker is being shipped

As of this morning, John Gill took my payment for a Tracker that has been on order. It will ship today or Monday. You can get it with a 8ch and a 6ch seeker receiver for $140 or the $99 special with one receiver. I have a friend that has his order on the way also. I hope they work!!!
Frank

Frank, please let me know if you and your friend experience the servo "chatter" problem that I've encountered with my Tracker unit.

Steve

[fgroza]

Steve,
Will do a soon as

Steve,
Will do a soon as I receive and charge /test my radio. I hope it works as well as my Futaba. I also have a tx module to convert my JR to 75mhz if I need to.
Frank

[Larry Kuntz]

I received my new, and

I received my new, and second Tracker, a week ago and all seems well. I did ask John Gill about problems with getting a solid lock on frequency and how it took two tries sometimes. He mentioned that under some conditions it can be tricky. His example was his two identical work benches side by side with two identical florescent lights plugged in the same outlet and he could not get a lock on one bench but was OK on the other. Who knows, something slightly different on one light? putting out electrical noise? I just thought I'd give a heads up if anyone was having problems to maybe try to get a lock in a different location in their house/workshop. It seems that unknown interference can sometimes stop the process.

[fgroza]

Received my radio and first

Received my radio and first thing I noticed was the box was marked for a 6 ch radio, not a 8 ch as I ordered. Called John Gill and he said that all radios were 8 ch. Well it's on charge and I'll try to bind it later and give a report.
Frank

[warpatroller]

Received my radio and first

Received my radio and first thing I noticed was the box was marked for a 6 ch radio, not a 8 ch as I ordered. Called John Gill and he said that all radios were 8 ch. Well it's on charge and I'll try to bind it later and give a report.
Frank

Frank, I look forward to seeing the results of your testing. Let me know if your servo or servos remain silent or if they chatter.

What model is your Futaba radio?

Steve

[fgroza]

Steve,
I did the bind for

Steve,
I did the bind for the 8ch seeker receiver and the servo is rock solid, no chatter. I tried to make it chatter but could not get it to fault.
My Futaba is a old 4ch Conquest on 75mhz. It works great but I wanted another radio as crystal radios are being fazed out for synthesized/2.4ghz units.
Frank

[warpatroller]

Well, I'll be telling John

Well, I'll be telling John Gill how you and others on here have NO chatter issues, and I will be insisting that my complete Tracker unit with servo be sent back in to exorcise the chatter from the system.

I'd rather have a 2.4Ghz, as I have used one before and it worked quite well. The only reason I got a 75Mhz was because of the under water reception issue. In addition, I like how with the 2.4, you don't have that long antenna sticking up in front of your face. I also see this as a problem for RC sub operators in the future, as they will be the ONLY RC vehicles that will still have a need for the old RC frequencies. And as such, since they make up a very small segment of RC vehicles in use, it seems likely that 75/72Mhz will end up being reassigned for some other purpose.

Maybe the Subcommittee, as a group, can attempt to make RC radio manufacturers aware of this looming problem. Judging from how difficult it has been in the past few years to find 75Mhz, twin stick, 6+ channel radios (seems most have had to convert 72Mhz radios for such use), the future of 75Mhz doesn't look too bright.

A new Sub-Surface use frequency would be ideal to replace the old surface frequencies. One that was a LOW frequency which would penetrate water better than even 27Mhz, 75Mhz etc. Make the radio a RELIABLE, synthesized, LOW frequency unit with an antenna that pointed down towards the water instead of up in the air. But sales potential of such a radio would probably not be considered marketable in the greater scheme of the RC Universe..

[bigdave]

Hey Steve,
An old Supertramp

Hey Steve,
An old Supertramp song comes to mind!!

Dreamer!! BD.

[Larry Kuntz]

Hey BD,
Do you notice

Hey BD,
Do you notice a hint of sound coming from the stock servo? It sounds like it's very sensitive and trying to compensate continually. Both my old Tracker servo and the new one do this. It's not the jitter as when not locked on frequency, just a little clicking sound. The radios do not do this with any of my other servos, just the stock one supplied. Since it's large I don't really plan on using it anyways.
Is this clicking what others are calling jitter? Noise or jitter is random and uncontrollable movement and I hope people are not confusing the two.