Handyman

I think your problem might be that your copy of Phoenix is no longer supported with updates. Phoenix is now up to (5) and I had a similiar problem when I lost my original copy which had been updated right up to 2014. I had to get another copy from the manufacturer because when I tried to re-load my original disk, it was no longer supported. It is now entitled, Phoenix RC5 and my copy has already had updates to take it up to 5.0v. This almost certainly your problem. I think my disk cost me around £18. Give them a ring. Hope this helps. Tony.

Its the same old story, the more we are moving into the 22nd Century with our more sophisticated cars, the harder it becomes for the "weekend mechanic" to replace even the simplest of parts. Its the designers who are to blame for this anomaly. They should be made to access these impossible areas, like headlamp housing, and see how hard it is to replace bulbs at the side of a road. You need the hands of a small child, and the dexterity of a contortionist to change the headlight bulbs in my Daughters convertible Peugeot, and the help of a pair of medical forceps, the access was so tight.

Hi again Richard. I asked the UK warehouse about this anomaly a couple of years ago, and they said that it was the extra cost that had to be added on because of importing the models into the Uk. It is still cheaper though in a lot of cases, to pay the extra and get very reasonable postage costs from the UK Warehouse. The postage from the European Warehouse is not too bad eother, but I cannot remember off the top of my head, whether the Warehouse is in Holland or Germany.

Yes, I was just about to say the same thing. I always try to make sure that I am on the UK site or the european site. It sounds as if you may have gotten yourself buying direct from Hong Kong. Dont be put off, try it again, because the postage from the European site is not that expensive either!!!

Peasy Martin. Think back to when our radio sets did not have a posh engine cut button. Set up your throttle trim fully forward, before you attempt to set up the carby gap. Brian Winch, of RCM&E recommends using a dress makers straight pin of 1mm diameter to set the carby gap., then you want set up your throttle servo to give you the travel that you need to get from that slightly open position all the way to fully open. This would be your normal throttle range for safe and accurate control of the throttle. For actual starting, you might have to ease the throttle slightly more open, but not much more. Modern servo's are reaonably accurate and consistant in their travel movement, so now, if you pull the throttle all the way back from fully open, you should still have that 1mm gap. Now, to shutting off the engine. Remember that you have got your throttle trim fully forward, with the throttle fully closed. Now if you you begin to pull your trim lever or electronic button downwards, you will see that you are closing the 1mm gap up. You may well find, that by the time your trim indicator is at the mid point of its travel, you will have stopped your engine. You can do all of this with a dead engine at first, just observing the carby barrel. Then start up your engine and check travel from full to idle, remembering to return your trim to fully forward. Once the engine has warmed up, then you can begin to set up your idle point. You can use travel adjust in your servo settings menu to set the actual point at which your engine is burbling away quite happily. At ths stage, you can either use the designated throttle cut button to see if you can obtain a dead cut of said engine. You might have to back off the throttle carby travel limit screw to allow the servo to go from fully open, to fully closed. This is where you will find out how accurate your servo's are. Not too hard really, take it one step at a time. Have fun, the effort is worth it.

Glad it all worked out for you Gary. to be quite honest, I don't think you would have noticed the small discrepancy in open to closed on the throttle, even though as you say, one was +84 and the other was -90. But its nice to have it all correct. I have had my DX6's quite some time now, well ever since they came out, and the "Wireless " Buddy box works a treat. Anthony.

Just as a thought BugBear, you might also go into your travel adjust screen, and check that they are all on 100%, you might well find that they may not be correct for the throttle channel, and remember you also have the fine trim screen to consider. Anthony.

Hi Mr Moderator. You just pipped me with the answer for BugBear. You are correct, they are waterproofing the sets with a C prefix. I used to do my own years ago with clear lacquer, when I had model boats. As for your throttle wedges, did you notice that there was a chamfer on one side of the wedge. That chamfer has to face into the centre of the gimbals. You might just have ne of them around the wrong way. If that is not the case, then you may have missed the stick calibration screen. as Pete B suggested. Let us know how you get on. Anthony

Hi Trebor. THey are rubber plugs that cover holes located directly over the tension spring screws. They are only held in place by the friction and expansion of the rubber in the holes, I used a cocktail stick to start to ease them out and then you can probably pull them out the rest of the way with your fingers. Don't be too worried, there is nothing to break, unless you are really heavy handed. I used the lid of the box, to hold the DX6 upside down, so that there is no pressure on the sticks. Hope this helps Anthony

Ahh!! you lovely people. After a very frustrating evening, I have finally got my two DX6's bound together and I have a dummy rig set out on my table and everything is working perfectly, including the Master override. Very many thanks to Paul Marsh and to Pete B Moderator for a very enlightening video. The handbook instructions do not explain it very well, but now I know. Thanks again lads. its nice that you look after us old "Fogies"

Good evening all, Handyman here with a thumping great headache through trying to set up my two DX6 transmitters to operate in the buddy box mode. I have read the book over and over again, but I still cannot bind the two transmitters to each other. Can someone please give this 73 year old aero modeller some step by step instructions on how to complete this operation. I need to get these two bound together before the weekend, I promised a good buddy some stick time, and I hate to only use one tranny and have to snatch it back at crucial moments. I hope some whizz kid can put me right, but slowly. I don't think too fast these days. Many thanks...Tony.

Hi,can anyone enlighten me as to what has gone on in the UK Warehouse of Horizon Hobby. I have always had good serrvice from them, with no complaints, So what has caused this major problem to get them all sacked???

Its made up of "Bits and pieces" of Depron so why not call it a "Bitsa". Seems very apt to me

Hui James, are you by any chance flying on Cannock Chase near Stafford. Just curious. The area seems familiar. it's a cracking piece of film and you had me cringing a couple of times, when the trees seemed scaringly close. Please post some more when you have time. I love them.

Have a look in your local Maplins stores, they have loads of different switches and nuts of all shapes and sizes. Some years beck I broke one of the Rate switches onb my Futaba Challenger, and the price quoted by mu local hobby shop seemed way over priced for such a small switch. Went to Maplins and lo and behold, got the same switch for a couple of quid complete, 30 minutes with my soldering iron, and job done. Have a look, you will be surprised. Let us know if they come up trumps

Hi Steve. So sorry to hear about your series of mishaps. I had a similiar experience with my trusty DX7 some time ago, when I had a model go in for no apparent reason and then my other model using the same DX7 proceeded to fly away downwind, not responding to my control inputs for a good 30 secs. Was I sweating, you bet I was, but suddenly I regained control. I immediately brought my plane back over the strip and dumped it into the long grass and stopped flying. I sent it back to Horizon Hobby, who give an excellent after sales service, and in most cases do not charge if the gear is found to be faulty. Send it back to them and let them check it out. I can recommend their service.

Hi everyone, I have just got a new laptop which unfortunately came with Windows 8 installed. To say I am baffled is an understatement. I should have read the "Spec" more closely. I have a laptop with Windows 7 home premium on it, and I recently purchased a disk to reinstall the operating system on it again, i.e. to return it to factory settings. Would this disk work on my new laptop, by that I mean, could I load Windows 7 Home premium into it and be able to use Windows 7 instead. I am more comfy with that version. I flounder in the dark with Windows 8. I cannot find out how to make a backup copy or mirror image of Windows 8 into the bargain. Mind you, I am 73 and this technology leaves me baffled at times. Anyway, that's my excuse and I am sticking to it. Tony.

Yes you probably did Tim, but I was always taught to cut through the blurb and give my students the simplest way to remember things. Now I have pre-ordered the new DX6 and the buddy cord is going to be a thing of the past,(Hopefully). Tony.

I was always under the assumption that when you use the DX8 as the master, you select P-Link on the DX8 which means that you do not have to worry about getting the two transmitters with identical settings, as you have to do with the others in the range. But I agree that you should still check that all the controls are acting in the correct sense, for the aircraft that you are flying. Hope this helps. Tony.

Thanks again Adrian. I think Spektrum may have played a trump card with this new DX6. No Bling but plenty of extras as standard. It seems to me that they have taken the best bits of the other radio's and combined them into this set. I can see them becoming the "Market Leader". I am only a Sport and leisure flyer, no competitions for me, although I admire the people who put these helicopters through their respective routines, but I still prefer a leisurely flight at a nice steady speed around our patch, I leave all the speed stuff to our younger member,(we have only got one, luckily), we could do with some more new blood though. Most of us are well into our 60s and over. Anyway, we are off to Weston Super Mare for a couple of days, my Missus wants ti go and se the Wookey Hole caverns again, she has not been there since she was a child. A bit of nostalga. Best wishes and happy flying. Tony.

Hi Adrian, that was a quick response, and yes the deregistration was also very quick. Thanks for your help. The trouble is, at my age,73 your brain power seems to diminish and simple tasks become a nightmare. But job done and my buyer will be pleased. I am just waiting now, to get my hands on a New Spektrum DX6. It's already pre-ordered, I just have to be patient. Have a great day, and thanks again. Tony.

Hi all, hope someone is around on this blog. I have a small DX8 problem. I have recently sold my unused DX8 to a Heli flyer and he is very pleased with his purchase. I had to change the Mode over for him as I fly Mode 1 and he wanted Mode 2. I must have registered the DX8 in my name last year when I purchased it, and now my new buyer wishes to register the set in his own name, but the Spektrum site is telling him that it is already registered. Is there a way around this for my buyer, or do I have to do de-register it myself, and if so, how do I go about it. I think I read somewhere that you can contact Horizon Hobby and get this done through them. Any help would be greatly appreciated by myself and my buyer. Tony.

Hi Tom. Just a quick observation, I always thought you had your blades turning anti-clockwise, If my old eyes do not deceive me, yours on the "Fun Cub" are turning clockwise. ?????? Any reason for that, and does that mean that it will try and roll to the right as opposed to your CFL which always seemed to roll to the left. Just wondering. Tony Bamford.

I cannot believe that you are all so short of glue. I used to make my own at woodwork class in the 1950s We should all stick together on this one. See what a fuss you have caused now Mr Ashby. Shame on you Sir!!!. How many drops of this glue will the winner get anyhow????

Hi flyboy3. Bowden cable is okay for throttle but I would not recommend it for rudder or elevator. Rudder could be worked with a pull-pull system using a double horn. That gives you plenty of pull without having to worry about blow-back. As regards elevator, I would use a solid balsa pushrod with piano wire ends with "Z" bend on both ends and try and arrange it so that you pull for up, if that would be possible,