# What do you think about the LH conversion?



## OHrcr (Nov 7, 2010)

So over the years I have always used a std rh steering TX w/ my left hand over the top of it but recently learned about some being avail w/ a LH conversion. So, since I don't want to spend $300 on a m11 or Dx3r to find out I won't like it I made this to try it. Let me know what you think. I'm wondering if this will give me an idea of what it would be like before I buy one. Thanks in advance for the thoughts!

John


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## ta_man (Apr 10, 2005)

OHrcr said:


> So over the years I have always used a std rh steering TX w/ my left hand over the top of it but recently learned about some being avail w/ a LH conversion. So, since I don't want to spend $300 on a m11 or Dx3r to find out I won't like it I made this to try it. Let me know what you think. I'm wondering if this will give me an idea of what it would be like before I buy one. Thanks in advance for the thoughts!
> 
> John


An accident in my youth (40+ years ago) which left me with only half an index finger on my left hand. Not enough to operate the throttle on a pistol grip radio. So when I started with RC cars I did exactly the same as you are doing - hold the radio in my right hand and reach over the top to steer with my left. I started with a Traxxas TQ-2 radio and didn't know about left handed conversions.

Some years later I got a 3PJS and continued to use it the same way. I was advised by people supposedly in the know that I would be better off converting it to left hand use and not having to reach over the top.

I tried it. I couldn't drive a car that way worth sh-t! It was like I was drunk.:drunk::drunk:

After 3 years of driving (and getting to be a reasonbly good driver) I had the muscle memory and internal workings of my brain conditioned to reaching over the radio and turing the wheel a certain way to go left and the other way to go right. Without thining about it.

I even tried reversing the steering to see if that would work (imagine if I let someone else try the car :lol. It didn't.

I figured it wasn't worth having to unlearn 3 years of reflexes and drive like sh-t for a while (and who knew how long?) just because someone else said it was the right thing to do. So I switched it back. Plus, I have the advantage that (so long as my hand fits) I can drive anyone else's right handed radio and anyone I offer to try my cars can drive mine.

I would say for someone who was just starting and still had to think which way to turn the wheel, it might be worth it to switch. But since you know how to turn the wheel without thinking about it, just keep doing what you are doing.


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## KnR-Racing99 (Nov 6, 2009)

*That is so cool!! Talk about thinking outside the box. Kind of makes me feel like an idiot for not thinking of that years ago.
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:*


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## OHrcr (Nov 7, 2010)

Thanks guys, Ta man, what TX do you use now?? To be honest, I've tried messing around in the house w/ it and it is horrible, I can't drive to save my life! Kinda nervous about going to the track w/ it now.


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## ta_man (Apr 10, 2005)

I use both a 3PKS and a 3PJS. The 3PKS is Spektrum. I have certain cars that I run indoors that Spektrum cuts out no matter what I do so I use the 3PJS with 75MHz modules and RX for those.

If you are using Spektrum I will tell you another story you might find hard to believe, being the reason I have the 3PKS.

At the time I was using a 3PJS with Spektrum. With certain cars, driving outdoors, I would get occasional spektrum glitches (cutouts/shutoffs). I literally changed everything on the car: new ESC, new Servo, different motor, and a different spektrum receiver. I also tried two completely different 3PJS transmitters and even bought a new Spektrum Pro TX module. Nothing helped and I had no idea what to do.

I was trying some 75MHz radios at the time and having problems with some of those so a racer who is also a ham radio operator lent me a RF signal strenth meter to check out my 75&27 MHz TXs. My testing was sitting the stuff on my kitchen table and looking at the readings with the meter a fixed distance from the TX.

But I noticed something strange: If I moved (meaning me - my body) the readings would change. I realized my body was affecting the signal. Then something dawned on me: Holding the 3PJS in my right hand, the spektrum TX antenna is very close to my chest. I thought: could my body be affecting the signal?

So next race, I used an airbag! I took a 2 gallon ziploc freezer bag and filled it with those small packaging airbags used for shipping. It ended up about 4 inches thick in the center, nothing but air. The small packing bags kept the big ziploc from deflating. I added a piece of string so that I could wear it around my neck like a necklace such that the bag was in front of my chest. The net effect was the airbag prevented me from getting the Spektrum TX antenna any closer than 4 inches from my chest. NO GLITCHES! But also lots of questions and laughing at the track. One guy, the first time he saw the airbag laughed so hard he stepped on his truck because he wasn't paying attention to where it was. I told people it was for frontal impact protection.:lol:

I raced with the airbag for two or three races until I got the 3PKS which has the antenna coming out the top and is not so close to my chest.

I talked to Sonny at Horizon about this and he was very surprised. But the results speak for themselves. I tell you this just so you won't have the same headaches I did.


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## brettweir78 (Apr 11, 2010)

I am left handed as well. I do just about everything in my life with my left hand. It just seemed natural to me that the TX should be held with the left and steered with the right.(much like I hold a pistol) I started with RC long before I started shooting pistol but the motions are very similar both in the hold and trigger/throttle control. I'm not sure why a lefty would try to hold the TX in their right hand. I always thought all the righties got it wrong. just my .02


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## T Tom (Jun 5, 2009)

I'm left handed and hsve always steered with my left hand (30 + years). Just keep on doing what works for you.


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## OHrcr (Nov 7, 2010)

well, i tried it. And, just as mentioned above, i couldn't do it. So, I ended up getting a traxxas tq 2.4 because I can easily steer that w/ my left hand. Thanks all.


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