SkippyUK

It's probably been covered on other threads and is a bit off topic but demonstrates how harmful some of these things can be ;- **LINK**

I have a quad - all GPS'd up etc. but I would not get over-enthusiastic about calling return to home a 'safety feature' as it relies on a good GPS signal and this can be disrupted by official or illegal activities;- **LINK** or someone using one of these to stop the boss from tracking them **LINK** Then you can fit this **LINK** to make sure your FPV works at 10 miles but it probably swamps a 25mW 5.8g control signal.... And 2.4g is not immune **LINK** If everybody kept to the rules then it would all be OK but lots of people don't, especially if they DON'T belong to a club or user group. p.s. I'm not trying to give anybody any ideas as all the devices above are not licensed for use in the UK but you can still buy them..... Skippy

Chris Barlow 1 - I use a DX8 as slave and DX9 as master setup with a switch for transferring control (and the voice) and the auto facility for taking back control i.e. master waggle sticks and control is automaitically back to the master. Both the DX9 and the DX8 retain the binding through multiple power cycles. Romeo Whisky - the master must have been bound to the plane and the slave to the master - if the master was switched off then the slave would not control the plane as the binding is incorrect however (and you might have been alluding to this), if the slave changed model from 'Training' to the correct model but the master was left on the plane model then you may (can't confirm) have 2 tx's with the correct binding to a model so when the master was switched on - trouble ensued. I have experienced that rare coincidence that I bound a plane at the same time as another was doing his (indoors in a hall) and although both TX's claimed binding, neither of us had proper control. A slightly different scenario may have been that the master was Nigels and the slave was the trainers and I can confirm that if, while wireless buddying, the slave is switched off then control properly goes to the master. However when the slave is powered on again it will take control if the button or switch is re-activated (will not if defined switch is not re-activated) - found this out when newbie turned off slave TX by mistake... Not sure how the master was setup but this is definitely one scenario where a 2nd TX can take over a plane. I always change model OFF buddy model when finished to avoid this. Skippy (sorry for War & Peace reply)

Got to agree with Kevin. I made mine from 10mm plywood and mounted 50mm plastic wheels on the ends with the axle line the same as the wire. 2 appropriately profiled pieces spaced the same as the wheelbase and I found it easy to cut wing profiles as long as the wire was the right heat or the parts stuck together again. One profile bigger than the other or change one wheel diameter and you get tapered wings as well. Can't locate it after the recent move or I'd photograph it. Skippy ​sorry if it's sucking eggs time!!!

As Colin C says, the DX9 has to be the master which is bound to the plane or the trainer function works backwards - the student giving control back to the instructor instead of the instructor taking control. I also use the DX9 in wireless mode and also in Master Override mode which negates the need to hold any switch in - just move the sticks and you have control back. I strongly recommend setting up the voice option to warn when control is moved around - the student hears this and knows what's going on as well. Skippy

Speedo speeds - The UK law is based on the EU standard, with some minor changes. A speedo must never show less than the actual speed, and must never show more than 110% of actual speed + 6.25mph. So if your true speed is 40mph, your speedo could legally be reading up to 50.25mph but never less than 40mph. Or to put it another way, if your speedo is reading 50mph, you won’t be doing more than 50mph but it’s possible you might actually only be travelling at 40mph and the speedo would still pass the regulations. To ensure that they comply with the law and make sure that their speedometers are never showing less than true speed under any normal circumstances, car manufacturers will normally deliberately calibrate their speedos to read ‘high’ by a certain amount (normally about 4mph high at 70 for British market cars with MPH speedos). As your satnav is not the designated device by which a car’s speed is measured, it does not need to incorporate any fudge factoring but is still subject to both positional and computational errors but should be well within 1% of true speed when travelling in a straight line with clear sky (no trees or buildings etc.) - going round corners would result in a lower speed calculation as the calculation is point to point and not total distance travelled. Funny enough, the Satnav tends to be more accurate at high speed than low speed as the +/- 'X' metres positional accuracy is a smaller percentage of the distance travelled between calculations at high speed. Skippy

Off topic but in defence of Top Gear... TG is one of the BBC's most profitable franchises and is snapped up all over the world. it's made for a specific audience who also don't know a camshaft from a crankshaft and are probably a generation or two younger than most model builders on here who do know how to clean the points and check the spark plug gaps on a ford cortina. Horses for courses - I too don't watch it anymore and find the topics quite frankly, stupid but millions of people like it so keep making them and selling them worldwide and use the revenue to make 'proper' TV progs - my remote works just fine when it comes on....... Skippy

I've had similar problem with shock fliers many times but use a 2nd hand 11M roach pole with a large hook on the end and nylon kite string to lasso the plane and gently ease it out of the tree from a distance using a tent peg as the pole will not support the weight on its own but will guide it around the branches. Paid about £15 at a boot sale for my pole but new ones are less than £30 on fleabay and they fit in boot fine. Skippy

Same here but all the stuff is in my basket ready for when it does start working properly. Skippy

Had a few flights now with the DX9 and it seems fine (as expected at this cost point!). I also had the chance to put it up against my old DX8 and a wireless beam (see this thread) and although contact was lost, it seems to be regained faster with the DX9 than the DX8 - no scientific proof here but the same Zagi flown through the beam recovered faster with the DX9 - is this a result of the twin antennas I wonder?. The set-ups from the Spektrum community have helped make the transition quicker as well. Another thing I have found is that digital trims (buttons by side of sticks) and sub-trims are different from DX8 so cannot be transferred across when manually inputting models into DX9 - the DX9 seems to have finer trims even though the setting is identical but this will be easily sorted on first flights although I tend to change the servo pushrods to eliminate sub-trims so might have to do this again. Still a very happy bunny. Skippy

Well I've joined the the DX9'ers and updated voice and firmware to 1.02. First impressions are very good but strangely the only RX's that have caused any hint of a problem are genuine Spektrum (NanoCPX & Visionaire) - they don't seem to bind first time with Romford Rosie stating 'Bind Failure' but they do bind in the end with Rosie announcing 'Telemetry' - neither have telemetry so maybe that or the AS3X is the problem. Orange, Lemon and GC bind first time. Now to gradually change settings across from DX8 and then I might try the wireless buddy with the kids next door. Happy New Year Skippy

I must admit I was thinking more of NEW members and not existing members and didn't consider existing members taking advantage. The clubs I've joined both have joining fees and have rules about having to re-join if membership lapses more than x months. Can I withdraw my 2nding :-P

I'll 2nd that proposal - we don't have to go pro-rata but a reduction 6 months thru the year would be most welcome I'm sure. Skippy

Anyone care to comment on the range check of these? Is it better i.e. further away, with the twin antennas especially as you can't 'tilt' the antenna like on previous TX's? With Xmas coming I can't decide on DX9 or Lancaster!. Skippy

Before we all go off on a brand bashing contest, I purposely did not say which brand of radio I was using but I will add that the receiver is a cheap as chips GC one which is only for park flyers so may not have the best RFlink in the world - the post was more to inform you all that there is some gear coming into use which should be considered in the investigations of unexplained crashes - particularly when near to the ground such as on landing approach????. I will certainly be adding a quick check using my phone before I fly somewhere I'm not used to. I've checked availability of these in the UK and they are being sold in limited quantities by ebuyer including (according to comments) using a signal booster to increase range - possibly more spurious signals......... Looking at images of the antenna and access point, they both have CE marks on so presumably are OK for sale and use - Joe Public would think so anyway. Skippy

Please bear with me - all this needs telling or you won't believe it.... There I was taking advantage of a short spell of sunshine and low wind to fly my small 3D Yak about when I kept losing control in one particular area of sky (low down, not high up). I stopped flying and decided to check the footie scores on my phone - imagine my surprise when the phone was indicating wireless access point available. Why was I surprised?? Well I was down in the dunes at least 3/4 mile from the nearest houses or habitation so where was the signal coming from? nobody else was in sight for at least 250 metres so it could not be another phone. As I walked back towards my car the signal disappeared but walk back 10 paces and it was full strength - confusing. Curiosity got the better of me and I spent the next hour walking about like Mr Bean with phone held high backtracking the signal to find one of these attached to the outside of a cottage and it was pointing towards a sailing boat moored maybe a mile and a half or more away in the estuary. Further investigations on the net have revealed that these routers and antennas are becoming popular to beam Internet from somewhere with good broadband to somewhere with poor or no broadband and they have a range of 50Km. All I can say is that my Yak with 2.4GHz radio is being 'shot down' whenever I fly through the beam ( I think It's called swamping). Just a heads up that technology is being used to expand WiFi without consideration to it's effects of other users and may just cause models to be shot down with no apparent reason.

You learn something new every day - fascinating

With respect to the place where this, and other models have experienced problems, is there any lighthouse or radar station within sight (not necessarily next door) or any weather station. As I have mentioned on an old thread - I experienced problems in North Devon on beach when I flew through a microwave link between Instow and Lundy island some 8 miles away. Just a thought and these dustbin antennas seem to be springing up everywhere..... Also - was there a train going past at the time - a lot of trains now have wireless available which might (Ollie - come in here!) cause interference. I know I can't fly my micro helli anywhere near my BT router without it going haywire. Skippy

Good post Daz, given me food for thought if the anything similar ever happened to me and I hope it's of help to Scott. Skippy

Ryan, despite some words of doom and gloom, IMHO you've done the right thing in asking experienced people for help - we all had to learn sometime and I'm sure you will get lots of help and advice including any appropriate safety tips along the way. As Wolston Flyer says, the connections are pretty simple in theory but a bit more of an overview of size, configuration etc. might channel more detailed info your way. Skippy

Chris, just to understand the implications of bad CofG better, if the plane was very nose heavy then in normal flight, would you expect there to be a fair amount of up elevator to be dialled in to maintain level flight or could this be negated by up thrust which, as crispin said, would adversely effect inverted flight and make the situation worse? We all seem to be agreeing that the main wing needs a better AoA when on ground - a higher U/C might solve this maybe or remove the tail wheel and fit a skid? Skippy crispin, not trying to hijack your post but want to get a better handle on this stuff for when i get back into larger IC again - my small depron and epp foamies never fly the same twice due to warping in the sun etc. but they are still great fun even if they need re-trimming each week.

Must be age creeping up on me - forgot all about my son's Wot 4 sitting in the shed but 'borrowing a picture from Marko - hope it's OK Marko...... WOT4 Edge on - This definitely shows the main wing and tailplane perfectly lined up, And during take-off, the AoA is very evident. IMHO the AoA is somehow incorrect but I don't know why and having to feed so much stick in when inverted sort of confirms this - don't have to put that much in on the Nova and that's a flat bottomed wing. C'mon BEB and the rest of you, you're wizards at these kinds of problems.... Skiipy ​p.s. all respects to picture owners.

Thanks for taking the time Crispin - can see the wing profile better now. Picture 3 still looks a bit odd to me - if the tail came up off the ground to make the red and blue lines more level with only a bit of upward slant as would be normal for take-off then it looks like you would lose all of the main wing AoA except for a bit of reflex. Do you have to put in a lot of elevator to fly upside down? Be interested to hear what BEB and the other experienced guys thought. Only similar high wing plane I have is an old Nova trainer which has flat bottomed high lift wing and it definitely has more AoA on the ground than your Tornado. Skippy

Nice touch to add name 'Dick Barton' - I hope he sees this as it will certainly make him smile. Skippy Edited By SkippyUK on 05/10/2013 19:19:12 Edited By SkippyUK on 05/10/2013 19:19:31

Anything would be much appreciated - gift horse and all that