Futaba Receiver for Pixhawk S1000

Hello everyone,

I am converting a DJI S1000 to fly with a Pixhawk 1 flight controller and am in need of a radio receiver. My knowledge of receivers dates back to the 72 MHz days, so please forgive my ignorance here.

The radio is a Futaba 14SG so I’m probably stuck with a Futaba receiver, which isn’t a bad thing. I am just not sure which one I need in order to control the S1000.

I am looking at the R6208SB specifically. Would this work with the Pixhawk? The docuemntation also suggets the R6303SB and R7008SB receivers.

Channel wise, I suppose I need the 4 control channels plus retracts, flight mode, and failsafe/RTL. Is my logic correct? I plan on using the SBUS capability if possible.

Price, weight, and size are not a concern. I would rather go overkill in case I want to use the extra channel(s) down the line.

I’ve used the R6303SB and R6208SB with the Pixhawk. Both worked fine, but I preferred the R6303SB for it’s smaller size. Even on a big ship, small size can lend some flexibility. For the Pixhawk, they’re equivalent in terms of performance and functionality. You can get all 18 channels from either one by using SBus.

You’re also not stuck with Futaba receivers, the FrSky ones are also quite good. The TFR4SB was one of my favorites. But if price isn’t a concern, there’s not really a reason to go that route.

Regarding your channel logic, you don’t really need a dedicated RTL channel, but it doesn’t hurt. You also might want a couple channels for gimbal control or inflight tuning.

Hi James, thanks for the reply. When you say either Receiver can do 18 channels, where do you read 18 channels for the R6208SB?

When the R6303SB says 3-18 channels, what does the “3” mean?

I may go with the R6208SB because it appears to have the option to not use SBUS, which may be useful for other projects.

I actually just suspected that the Futaba SBus receivers will do up to the limit of the transmitter/module. But the Tower Hobbies page confirms this. (Handles eight channels without S.Bus usage or as many as the available number of channels on transmitter with S.Bus use)

The 6303 says 3-18 channels because it’s only 3 channels in conventional PWM mode (as there are only 3 connectors). You get up to 18 channels when using SBus.

Either one should work fine, and the R6208SB could be more useful elsewhere as you said. But I suspect that this receiver would be forever paired with the Pixhawk, if my modeling experience is any indication.

Thank again. I went ahead and ordered the R6303SB because you’re probably right, it will stay with the Pixhawk on the S1000.