MOA (motor on axle) rigs made a huge impact in RC Crawling in 2008 with the release of the EnRoute Berg axles.  Now that we had decent MOA's we needed a radio that gave us more control.

Previously MOA axles were most common in the Super class which allowed 4 wheel steering so competitors wanted radios that had at least 4 channel. The radios of choice in the super class were typically stick radios designed for airplanes. The biggest problem is that many of us just don’t feel comfortable using stick radios. We have become very accustom to driving our pistol style radios. However previously pistol style radios just didn’t have the control options that would let us take advantage of the new MOA axles for the 2.2 class.  

The Futaba 4PK was being advertised throughout 2008 and had quite the impressive list of features. The advertised 4 channels was the most appealing to us crawler fanatics. What most of us were waiting for was the programming capabilities. I had been talking with Great Planes about the Duratrax Cliff Climber since early in the year and had open dialog about how interesting the 4PK looked for crawling. With Great Planes now starting to get into crawling I had convinced them that I would be a suitable candidate to become the first member of the Futaba Crawler Team and take the lead on seeing what this radio could do. The first production units began shipping in August 2008, just in time for the USRCCA Nationals. I had downloaded the electronic copy of the manual well before I received my 4PK so I was ready to jump right into programming the radio when it arrived. The menus of the 4PK can be overwhelming at first but once you get used to it you feel like you can make the radio do anything you want.

I have written several programming walk-through’s on setting the 4PK for most any crawler setup such as 2 ESC MOA, single ESC with dig switches for MOA, shafty with dig, variable winch control and super class style rigs. These will be posted here shortly as well. I personally run my 4PK on my Berg based comp rig with 2 Tekin FXR speed controls. The radio allows me to independently control each axle for dig or I can vary the mixing values to under/overdrive either axle. This is a major advantage over the typical setups that you are forced to use with a regular 3 postion 3rd channel. With ability to control 2 speed controls the rig become a completely different animal. 

Once you are used to this radio you will find that there is no question that it is worth every penny. This is the hands down best pistol grip radio to be released to date. For the ultimate in ease of control and adjustment with an MOA rig I would call this radio a must have. Thanks again Futaba for putting out another great radio.