Tony Harrison 2

I have the Dx6i which I bought new, and an old JR TX, which used to form a perfectly good buddy-lead setup - from the start it worked perfectly. Now it doesn't. Neither unit has been banged or otherwise mistreated. We tried swapping the double-3.5mm jack lead end for end, made no difference. Any suggestions? I don't want the expense of getting a 2nd Dx6i, which still seems popular and commands high prices on Ebay. rgds Tony

OK Denis, thanks for clarifying. If I'd looked more closely I might have spotted the jack socket on that dongle... Will order from Amazon, fingers crossed. rgds Tony

I must be rather thick today, Denis, but I don't follow! I see no Phono plugs (aka RCA plugs) just a double-ended 3.5 mini-jack lead; my Dx6i takes a 3.5 mono mini-jack; I thought the point of the dongle was to provide cordless communication - ? (I'd be concerned anyway about getting that to work - my experience has been that with my various Bluetooth devices, it's very flaky, even my high-end Astell & Kern music player is a bug*er to get connected) So why plug anything into the dongle? Does it have, against all logic, a 3.5mm female socket? Very happy to be corrected here... rgds Tony

Thanks, though I'm not sure about this - all a bit strange, various connector leads I wouldn't use, sodtware disc??? rgds Tony

Thanks Steve - pic shows a stereo 3.5mm, not sure that would work since the Dx6i socket is for mono. rgds Tony

Thanks Denis, I did, but can't locate one in France. rgds Tony

Thanks Ernie - RSC have been around forever but I hadn't known they were in France too. Just found their site. rgds Tony

Thanks for the helpful advice. Looked briefly on Ebay but no suitable offers at present. rgds Tony

Thanks, useful. I see what you mean about the dongles on Amazon, but I'd be bound to have problems setting one up, and since my TX is used right next to the PC a lead is convenient, cheap, no connection problems. Realflight seems expensive, so I'll try the Clearview free trial first. I use an external monitor, though not as big as your TV... rgds Tony

Your experience echoes mine from a few years ago when trying a flight sim: everything is too small and distant, even on a large external monitor. I hear what you say about Clearview: even if RealFlight is far superior, there's a limit to how much I'll spend on software that doesn't really simulate the real thing properly. I just want to play around, exercise my TX, boost my confidence before trying solo flight again at the field. rgds Tony

Thanks Shaun. Nexus want £34 for this, which seems excessive! Since my TX will be right next to the PC, a lead will do. rgds Tony

Model shops or otherwise - I need a lead, USB-A to 3.5mm mono minijack. I thought it would be a cinch on Ebay or Amazon, but it proved to be not so. Searched Amazon France too (I'm there currently) with same result. Good supplief suggestions?

Indeed Denis, it did seem counter intuitive- must get a lead from Amazon. rgds Tony

Hi Bob. Double-ended 3.5mm jack, "trainer" socket on back of Dx6i to "audio" and "mike" sockets (I tried each) on PC.

BTW don't know why I wrote Win7 - my PC runs Win10Pro. Downloaded the trial version of Clearview and cannot make head or tail of the setup procedure - doesn't seem to "see" my Dx6i, even though I connected that prior to loading the program; the input selection list has options for keyobaord, plus two for "Receiver" - no TX brand names listed, which isn't helpful. So far, this weirdness is exactly what I've experienced previously when trying to run RC flight-sim software - strange English in the instructions (written by non-native speakers?), guidance that refers to things I do not recognise or understand... I am computer literate, having first used PCs in the early/mid 1980s, but these sim progs seem like oddballs. rgds Tony

Thanks Denis. I'll have a look at Clearview, maybe the others.

I finally got around to searching for suitable software yesterday. Almost immediately I was enmeshed in a ludicrous tangle of outdated advice, ancient threads, programs which needed (according to differing opinion) this or that software gizmo incorporated to make them work... I downloaded something called "Smartpropoplus", plugged my Dx6i into the laptop, no response at all - error message "TX not connected" - found references to an add-on call "vJoy" or some such... I really do not need this absurd degree of complexity and fiddlyness. A few years ago I had a program, forget its name, installed it and hooked up the Spektrum - worked straight away. I'd appreciate advice for a good, clear, realistic sim software that works without faffing around. I'm working up toward trying (again) to fly solo, but I despair at the thought of yet another almost-immediate destructive crash, so simulated flight might give me added confidence. Thanks - Tony

Andy, when I offered the opinion here recently that the magazine isn't terribly good, and that I was a member chiefly for the insurance, it was pointed out to me that BMFA performs a valuable service at national level, fighting their corner on behalf of model aircraft flyers. This is a fair point, and I'm grateful. But I'd say BMFA is reasonable value - not "excellent". It would be better value without the magazine - and a reduced annual sub. On receipt of my mag copy, I flip through it when I have a moment, admire one or two pictures of models, then it's recycled. As a fairly new (returned) modeller I find almost nothing in it I want to read. I hasten to add that I hardly ever buy commercial mags like RCME! But that's because I hardly ever buy any magazines, barring The Spectator or sometimes The Economist... Shockingly expensive, and again, modelling mags have very little content relevant to my interests. Re the BMFA website, when I renew each year I find the site consistently rather weird, logging on via this strange third party - it's not the most intuitive site, somewhat clunky. rgds Tony

Thanks Peter, but as a freelance photographer and journalist, I'm retired - and I have far too much going on in my life to take on what you suggest! In the past I edited (voluntarily) the magazine of a national angling club, and it took up a lot of my time - in fact a big chunk of my spare time. As a tyro I doubt my input would be well received anyway - and I spend a few months each year abroad... I'm glad you appreciate the BMFA magazine, but I don't think it's terribly good, and it's not why I got back into aero-modelling after a very long time away. rgds Tony

Peter, thanks - I'm actually aware of the value of the BMFA in the respects you mention, and I didn't mean to belittle it. I was trying simply to emphasise my comparative lack of interest in the magazine, other finctions of the BMFA being in my view considerably more important. My post was really about the magazine, and my opinion of its quality. rgds Tony

Off the top of my head... The feel of the mag is old fashioned and although I'm over 70 myself, sometimes I think it's aimed at average readers even older than me! Lots of historical photos & articles with pics of Fred Bloggs flying his steam-powered Clodhopper in 1947 - that kind of thing. The fairly regular coverage of social events with elderly/old blokes in DJs handing one another trophies and certificates - it's not the sort of thing I ever associated with flying model aeroplanes, frankly, and I don't want to read about it. (I did buy a DJ myself in the 1970s, a cunning plan to impress a girl. Never wore it after 1978...) The amateurish and deeply unamusing cartoon inside the front page - if nothing more professional and funny is available, scrap it. I've done lots of writing (freelance) and editing in my time - many of the articles are too long, disjointed, and badly need editing. I mean, people lament that too few youngsters get into this hobby, and it could be that one look at the magazine helps to put them off - despite there being a few pictures of young modellers. Added to that, the mag seems very definitely aimed at long-experienced modellers - those old blokes in DJs, probably - and much of it passes over my head since I hadn't built a flying model aircraft in around half a century when I joined BMFA. There could be fewer photos - but bigger images spread across big chunks of the page, maybe a full DPS even, good quality images too. Yes, I'm a former pro photographer and not everyone can produce the goods, but there are an awful lot of modellers out there with good cameras producing huge file sizes, so... The technical articles tend to be esoteric, specialised - need more "intro to" articles, covering basics, features on individual model builds - that sort of thing. I could go on, but...

Interesting - I wonder when that was, what sort of questions were asked, and what the figures were?

I'm sure you're right - but I doubt I'm the only one who finds the mag disappointing and/or a waste of time. It really is out of date, old fashioned, clunky, dull and amateurish. It might be interesting to survey the membership on the subject.

On the contrary, EB, everything's looking rosy. I'm just curious to know what you think is the reason or justification for the magazine. I can see perfectly well that a really good mag would be an asset - but I don't think it's good.

Neither of these is obviously true in my opinion, and I'm not sure what you mean by "what's going on" - unless it's shows, open days etc? In general I find neither the magazine nor the occasional BMFA emails informative - at least, no information that I want or need. And my post was at least half concerned with the actual quality & style of the mag, not simply the existence of a mag for BMFA members. I'm sure others enjoy and appreciate the magazine, as you clearly do, but I just don't think it's terribly good.