Give a Second Chance to your Old Radios (Part 1)

by JACKFIRE | December 26, 2013 | (5) Posted in How To

Give a second Chance to your Old Radios

Sure you have read articles about upgrading your 72Mhz Radios to 2.4 Ghz this is the way I did it, I just wanted to make it cleaner easier an less invasive, I never liked the idea of drill my Radios or change it's original look adding switches and leds, then I made it trying that they look original inside and outside

So let's do it

Before start be aware that the electronic devices are really fragile in some ways, always check twice before connect, cut, or solder anything

In this article I'll show how I modified 3 JR radios, two of them with the FRSKY DHT and the third with a Hitec Spectra 2.4 module, the radios are JR XF-622, JR SX -600, JR X-378

 

XF-622

In my experience the radios always have a separate PCB in charge of transmitting the pcm signal in this case at 72 Mhz, as you can see there is a connector in the right upper side of the brown board the 3 cables are Ground, Vcc and PCM. But warning, in this case for example ground isnt brown neither red Vcc or yellow signal(pcm) as in the servos o esc's.

 

To solve this I checked where they come from and re-solder in a standard way, here you can see it.

 

 

Now the new module, its a frsky DHT , this is what you get and what's inside

 


here you can see the new module placed in site, after I replaced the "in" cable with a 3 pin connector, the reason to reorganize the cable from the radio is that now it matches with the new module

 

 

Other thing  we can improve is the way to mount the antenna connector, also you can use hot glue, or take your time and use some heat-shrink and use it as shown. put short pieces until the diameter is near to the hex then longer pieces over, untill you get a diameter slightly larger than the hole in the TX, trim the excess of heat-shrink to guarantee the removable antenna connection,

 

 then you can push the antenna in the hole.

 

 

The next step is the reason of this article,  there is no need to add a switch that barely will be used  if you have a telemetry receiver you can just unplug the switch and install only the led and binding button, in my case I have both kinds, so I have to install the switch.

 

 

For the binding button this radio has a nice space where it fit perfectly, in fact is designed to have a button there.

 

 

As you can see there is a "bridge" also two cuts in the pcb conductor  to separate the new connection from the original circuit

 

 

Here the push button and LED removed, on its places connectors to extend them.

 

Finally the switch and LED installed. 

 

And this is how it looks, minor changes and now your radio is in 2.4GHz. 

 

 

 

Thanks for viewing, if you liked this I'm preparing two parts more, for two other transmitters with better and nicer improvements. 

COMMENTS

MT Alex on January 17, 2014
Nicely done. I added a FrSky DHT to my old JR XP 6102 and am very happy with its performance.
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JACKFIRE on January 17, 2014
If you liked, I'm working in the second and third part, in third I use a Hitec module which is more appropriate to your radio. :)
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MT Alex on January 17, 2014
Sounds great!
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JACKFIRE on February 10, 2014
Hi, second part published
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deplatt on December 31, 2023
Hello:

I have the xht for this radio. I’m clueless on what to solder though. Can you help clarify what wires get removed from the Tx and which ones from the XHT get soldered and where?
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deplatt on December 31, 2023
Hello:

I have the xht for this radio. I’m clueless on what to solder though. Can you help clarify what wires get removed from the Tx and which ones from the XHT get soldered and where?
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deplatt on December 31, 2023
Hello:

I have the xht for this radio. I’m clueless on what to solder though. Can you help clarify what wires get removed from the Tx and which ones from the XHT get soldered and where?
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Kazan on February 8, 2014
I would like to know where you get the parts .
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JACKFIRE on February 9, 2014
Hi, the principal part is the FrSky Module, here is the link in HK:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__17205__FrSky_DHT_8ch_DIY_Telemetry_Compatible_Transmitter_Module.html

As you may know, I'm in Colombia so I have bought it from Ebay or HK. All the other parts are really easy to get, please let me know if you have any other doubt.
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JACKFIRE on February 10, 2014
Hi, second part published
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Trippey on January 18, 2014
Is there a way to change 72mhz to DSM 2,4?
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JACKFIRE on January 20, 2014
Sorry, I think there is no modules to use With Jr 2.4Ghz receivers, but I'm working in a article where I show how to install a hitec module. They are a lot better and you have the chance to install telemetry. I will let you know when it is released.
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JACKFIRE on February 10, 2014
Hi, second part published
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Trippey on February 10, 2014
Instead of the fr sky could you use the orange tx module? http://hobbyking.com/mobile/viewproduct.asp?idproduct=24656

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JACKFIRE on February 10, 2014
Of course you can, but if your radio doesn't has extractable module you have to know the pinout of the module so you can do the connection inside, in that case the frsky is a better choiche besides you have the chance to put telemetry but the Orange sure is a good option.

ps: the second part is published
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paulnz on July 27, 2016
Hi Jackfire, I have a JR X-378 and looking at installing orange DIY module, I cannot find part 2 of your article? can you assist? cheers paul, New Zealand
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deplatt on December 31, 2023
Hello:

I have the xht for this radio. I’m clueless on what to solder though. Can you help clarify what wires get removed from the Tx and which ones from the XHT get soldered and where?
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Give a Second Chance to your Old Radios (Part 1)