EvilC57 Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 I have an AR8010T 8-channel receiver in a model which had its 2nd and 3rd flights yesterday. Using the telemetry Flight Log facility on my DX8 (Gen 1) Tx after one of the flights, I noticed that the 'A' receiver was showing 3458 antenna fades, and the right receiver 261 antenna fades, along with 160 Frame losses. But fortunately no Holds. See screen pic below: I see that the notes on the back of the packet for a Spektrum Flight Log unit I also have, say that 50 - 100 antenna fades during a flight are normal, and that frame losses should be less than 20. I've heard that the new 'antennaless' AR 410 and AR620 receivers are prone to very high numbers of antenna fades (bourne out by my own experience), but didn't know this also seems to apply to the AR8010T. The AR81010T manual says nothing about anything to do with telemetry or Flight Log indications as far as I can see. So my questions are: 1. Which aerials on an AR8010T correlate to the 'A' reciver on the Flight Log indications, so that I know which one(s) to try relocating for a better signal? 2. What constitutes an accepatble number of antenna fades and frame losses? 3. Presumably the 'right receiver' on my 8010 is the satellite reciever, which is plugged into one of the Remote Receiver Ports? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Griff Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 As a matter of interest did you fly more clockwise or anticlockwise or a good mix of both ? Videos I have seen people seem to like anticlockwise ala control line. I was taught to fly both directions...back in the 35meg days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 A year maybe two years ago There was a whole post on this very topic with questions similar That of which antenna was doing which job One conclusion was that despite fades and drop outs We were all flying successfully with no knowledge of it I will look again for the post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 My understanding was the internal one was prone to a lot of fades. Pretty sure the R will be the satellite. Frame loss figure seems quite high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC57 Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 OK thanks guys. I was flying a mixture of clockwise and anti-clockwise circuits, figure 8s, and low passes - nothing too clever as it’s a twin, and I don’t want to provoke a dead engine one side! I have placed the 3 aerials in X, Y & Z orientation as per usual good practice, but yes (assuming that the ‘A’ receiver refers to the internal aerials), it seems the satellite is giving the better signal strength. I guess as long as there are no Holds, I’ll have to live with the high number of fades - as Denis said, a lot of the time we’re flying like this and have no knowledge of it. Shame things aren’t better explained in the manuals though… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 How long was the flight, or another way, what’s the frame loss per minute of flight. There was a thread on here, and it related to telemetry on orange receivers working with Spektrum transmitters. And we ended up referring to an American site, where the system developer Andy Kurtz? lurks. I remember he was quite relaxed about fades, more that the instructions suggest. No holds obviously, but I can’t remember his view on frame losses. But as Dennis said, we didn’t worry too much when we didn’t have this information. Was the aircraft flying OK, because a symptom of excessive frame losses is a courseness in the control response. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 (edited) I agree with Evil having access to the information, to use it, so that set ups are optimum. Microwave communication like ours, is designed to operate in difficult circumstances and research like this can only improve installation and aerial placement. Edited October 10, 2021 by Denis Watkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC57 Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 Don, the two flights were around 8 to 10 minutes each (still establishing the optimum time to set the timer to, by inspecting the remaining fuel after landing). No coarseness was noticed in control or flying response. Sounds like it might be worth posting my questions on somewhere like RCGroups.com as well, in case this Andy Kurtz(?) chap lurk there. Or a phone call to John Norris at Logic RC maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackinBlack Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Andy Kuntz is the fellow, he works for Spektrum and often answers questions on RCGroups forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC57 Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 OK thanks for that BackinBlack. I’ve just emailed John Norris at Logic RC in the meantime. I’ll let you know if he comes back to me… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Andy is to spektrum on rcgroups what Jon is to laser on here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Fry Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Thanks for filling in my memory gaps gentlemen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC57 Posted October 12, 2021 Author Share Posted October 12, 2021 On 10/10/2021 at 18:32, EvilC57 said: OK thanks for that BackinBlack. I’ve just emailed John Norris at Logic RC in the meantime. I’ll let you know if he comes back to me… John came back to me by email yesterday, and just suggested I send the receiver into them so they can check it out. Im still trying to decide whether it’s worth ripping it out of the model and putting it at risk in the post, as it’s all plumbed in at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Walby Posted October 12, 2021 Share Posted October 12, 2021 Hi, Depends on if you want John to check it out and how difficult it is to remove, the alternative is carry on as is and what the risk of losing the model crash/injury? IMO I would send it to John for piece of mind, but then again I don't bury RX's that need ripping out to gain access to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC57 Posted October 17, 2021 Author Share Posted October 17, 2021 Update: After carrying out some more extensive range testing on the ground using the Flight Log error count facility in the DX8, while walking a 30m radius circle around the model out on our flying field, I reconfirmed the high error count from the ‘A’ receiver. However after moving one of the aerials down into the nose of the model, further away from servo wiring etc. the error rate for that particular receiver has gone down from several thousand during the course of a 30m circular walk around the model, to just a couple of hundred - a similar number to those from the satellite receiver. This is repeatable, and I’m happy I’ve fixed the problem. So I don’t believe there’s any need to bother John Norris with it now. Just goes to show how careful you have to be siting aerials! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redex Posted August 10, 2022 Share Posted August 10, 2022 Hi All, Slightly off topic but I did not want to post in the 'AR620 Problem' as I don't have a problem, but just need some clarification on a telemetry issue. My AR620 Flight Log data works OK and outputs three parameters. F: H: O: The AR620 receiver user guide does not define what these parameters are or how they are to be interpret. However I know what the F: and H: parameters are (from an AR8020T user guide), but I do not know what O: is defined as, or how to use its data. Any help/advice would be gratefully received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 If the "O:" field actually looks like "0:00" then that's the flight timer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redex Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 Hi Nigel thanks, my NX8 displays O:05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted August 11, 2022 Share Posted August 11, 2022 Sorry. NX8 I'm not sure on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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