David...

I've got the following FrSky telemetry modules (S-Port) and fly all electric craft, this is what I think about their utility: LiPo voltage monitor - very useful, would not be without it. I have an alarm set at 3.6volts per cell 40A current and voltage monitor - I now consider this almost essential. I have it set to 80% of my 2200mA-Hr batteries. GPS - useful to know what speed and altitude I'm at, but only just useful, more interesting. Vario - more accurate altitude and less lag than the GPS, would be more use to me if I was into thermal flying. RSSI - monitoring and reporting received signal strength I find essential too.   Overall I feel more confident in my radio link with the telemetry and in the past Ive had a few stupid lost of control events because I have let my battery capacities go too low, so that should be a thing of the past. I cannot go back to no telemetry now. My Taranis is turning out to be the best radio I've owned and when I compare to others on the market, well for me they don't compare. I can't wait for the version 2.0 firmware which may be out today (01.06.14) come to think of it, I must check now   Edited By David... on 01/06/2014 21:55:18

I use these, their great: **LINK** Connects to the balance port.

You can only change it by following a link sent to the registered email or via mobile phone registered to the account. I pay with PayPal which is another account, so the worst that could happen is someone could with my account.

Yes please David

Chris, is the animation option part of Google Earth please?

Yes, minimum for a 3S pack is about 10.6 volts (3.6 per cell), at which point there is generally about 10-20% capacity left, flight wise that is bad news with about 30-secs of flight left for most craft.

My Taranis uses ACCST (Advanced Continuous Channel Shifting Technology) and it is my opinion that the probability of jamming the whole band is low enough for me not to worry about this issue.

With a telemetry X8R Rx you get Rx voltage and RSSI as default.

I use the HK a Turnigy batteries and have not experienced any issues. An observation is the lowest cell voltage for a LiPo before damage occurs is 3.6 volts, so if you have your voltage monitor set below this value expect very short life from your battery. Plus when they reach 3.5 volts they are all but empty and your flight duration post this voltage will be a few seconds, so not good practice. I suggest you check your meter against another to see if it's relative accuracy is OK.  Are the batteries puffed? Edited By David... on 18/05/2014 08:10:18

Taranis has a resolution of 4096 steps, that's 4x more than a standard Tx some spektrum have 2048. Zhou would notice the increase in resolution IMO. We used to pay (last year) a lot of money for high resolution radios, not now though!

Chris, I'm now beginning to think that it's not the building, but my orientation to the model, as its occurred to me that I tend to fly with my back to the model at that position in the normal flight path that I tend to follow. Yes I agree I should not be flying over the building, it is usually about 100-150M high when I do (I now know), but I am no-longer going to do that. I will review the receiver installation today and re-position/align the Rx antennas to see if signal strength improves in this one sector or when the Tx is being shielded by me. I can tell through the RSSI how many dB of attenuation there is from my body absorption, in-fact I may do all this on the ground as it is a harsher test and I can record the values. I Noticed with my DX8i, that (as Spektrum say its normal) that I got (should expect) typically 50-80 frame losses in a typical 5-mins flight, so this is a wider issue. Actually I hardly ever got a frame loss.

I'm using my data to plot where my signal is good and bad, I fly adjacent to an industrial estate and I can now see over one particular building and the GPS is telling me exactly which one, I consistently get inference and 'Low RSSI' reports from the TX. For me this is peace of mind and safe flying because I don't want to crash, I'm tired of buying again or building again, this is why I'm liking the Taranis so much now, the moment I hear a warning I react to it, quite how I ever flew blind before is, well down to luck I think. The problem is today, you can't be too careful as there will (now) always be someone to criticise or complain or will want compensation for what we might class as an accident or flying incident...

Posted by Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 16/05/2014 17:39:04: David - if you select "play value" in custom functions - then in the parameter list there are items such as GPSAlt etc. You can then put that to play once, repeat every "n" seconds and also turn it on and off via a switch. BEB Hi BEB, thanks, that's working now, I previously tried 'Play Track' did not think to use or see play value, I thought it odd that was not supported. The Taranis is getting better and better

John, so-far just OpenTx and Taranis.

Received Signal Strength Indicator I have my radio set (actually I think it's a default setting) to make an announcement when it falls below a preset value, 42 I think. It's actually a logarithmic value referenced to a known value which I think is 1uVolt (micro volt) which is a usual receiver baseline value, anyway a change of value between 47 and 42 represents a drop in signal strength of 1/2 which is a lot, the value is typically 80 at close range so each drop of six represents a 1/2 of the previous voltage. These changes in receive voltages are huge but normal.

I've been flying this afternoon, perfect conditions and during the second flight I got a "low RSSI warning," so I kept away from that area over a factory and was well for the rest of the afternoon. I'm really likely the telemetery and voice announcements. I have added a voice file for altitude, but ant find a way of linking that to speak it from the GPS data, anyone done that?

You need this: create your own from the same machine voice http://www.open-tx.org/2014/03/15/opentx-speaker/

If your buying FrSky receiver then no compatibility with the DX6i, if your buying Orange Rx and you intend to buy the DSM Tx module for the Taranis then you'd be OK for both, so not a wasted investment.

Hi BEB, I had not considered the sensors, which is highly feasible and note there are firmware updates for some sensors, so yes they could be reconfigured to change the calculations and it might explain why the units currently can't be changed, doing this Tx side would have been a better solution in my opinion though as you say there is plenty of processing capacity available. Ive just ordered a vario to see what the altitude differences are, yes GPS height calculations are poor, isn't that why most car based GPS units have a pressure sensor too, well Garmin use one anyway. That's made me think, I wonder if it's calculating speed correctly in a climb or dive when the vectors in the horizontal plane get reduced and you need to resolve Z too to get an accurate reading. Ill check my log files to see what it's sayIng. Edited By David... on 05/05/2014 19:09:44

Hi BEB, Yes it's definitely the Euclidean Distance; which I determined through experimentation and now by checking on Google Earth because I can see the reading at any instance from the log and know where the model was and where I was and using a simple triangle was able to confirm the reading given by measuring me to the model over the ground and using the altitude and a bit of Pythagoras (Euclidean). BTW I notice when in-flight, the GPS update rate is quite slow, perhaps every 2-5 secs. I've just been checking the TX source code, noting found by way of calculation, then I think it dawned on me it was done in the receiver, which is getting standard GPS Sentences (e.g. $GPGGA) from the GPS V2 module, then sending that data to the Tx, so no processing/mathematics involved, the GPS does it. Then on closer examination of the standard GPS sentences, I could not find one that gave lat, lon, alt, speed and distance and bearing, so conclude they must use two and combine the results before sending. There are pending source code changes to improve this feature.

I find this fascinating: **LINK**

There is a fairly obvious square about 2cm x 2cm, that's the GPS antenna and it needs to be pointing skyward.

Has anyone figured what 'Dist' is? If I fly overhead, it just about correlates with GAlt, then when I fly out, it increases, so it appears to be distance from GPS lock point. Altitude is in Metres and speed units are Km-Hr/100, my average flight speed is 0.45 or 45Km/Hr, which sounds about right to me.   BTW, mine takes about 45-60 secs to get a lock. Edited By David... on 04/05/2014 21:33:03

Yes, very droll

I'm now finding one of the most useful features is RSSI - Received Signal Strength Indicator, because I fly on the edge of an industrial estate, I have found consistently that when I fly over a large building I get reports of "low RF Signal", so now I avoid that place, it's a very repeatable result for me. The corollary for me is I never knew that with my Spektrum DX8, so that's another huge plus for Taranis/OpenTX. My other learning points is the voice feedback is for me essential and I can never go back now - it makes for safer and more assured flying if you have a penchant for looking at the screen for say battery voltage or fuel levels. Today I am going to add a altitude annunciation triggered by a switch, because I can and check what height I'm at. It's quite surprising that 200M is a long way up, doesn't seem so, but IMO it is. I have never enjoyed flying my models so-much as now with this Taranis. I will be getting a LiFe to increase flying time on the Tx. Edited By David... on 04/05/2014 09:45:04 Edited By David... on 04/05/2014 09:45:20