DX6i on the way

[GCK]

Well I finally got it done and ordered the DX6I radio today. Should be here next Tuesday. Not sure if I should be excited about this or scared do to the complexity of properly setting up one of these computer radio’s. I was holding off on getting it as after cleaning the pots on my stock radio using WD-40 instead of contact cleaner my servo jitter was completely gone. DierWolf has an excellent video on this in the sticky section. Anyway, after fixing my radio I had several successful glitch free flights up until Wednesday night. The first battery went fine. A couple of minutes into the second battery as I was flying past the front of my house I had the motor cut and the heli rolled to the right. Not enough to cause a crash but it did scare the hell out of me. I turned it around and flew the heli back to the other side of where I was standing. When I was about 50 feet past the heli rolled very hard to the right. I was able save it and promptly brought it in for a landing. In the process of trying to figure out what was going on I found my wife in the garage talking on the cordless phone. I waited until she was off the phone and the tried the helicopter again. I managed to fly out the remainder of the battery pack with out any more glitches. I’m bringing home a spectrum analyzer from work this weekend to see what I possibly could have going on with these phones in the 72MHz range when the phones are suppose to be operating at 5.8GHz. May be the phone had nothing to do with it and it was something else in the area. One heck of a coincidence though. Anyway I’ve fought this long enough and my flying will never progress further until I get this put to bed. I’m sure when my new DX6I radio gets here I will have a ton of questions on setting it up. I have one question now however. It appears that this setup has two receivers. The main one I plan to mount where my stock one is now. Where on the helicopter do you recommend mounting the second one?

[Jonnyheli]

You have made a good choice. The menus are easy and you should know how to use it. just watch some of finless Bob's videos and that should help. Also scroll through the menu and what ever you don't understand just hve a look at it in the manual.

I got used to mine on the first day... Thats how easy they are to use.

-Jonny

[another_finn]

Don't worry about the programming - as soon as you know how to access the menus, it's easy and logical. I also got used to my DX7 on the first night.

Ideally, the secondary receiver should be mounted as far away from the primary as possible, with the antennas perpendicular to the other set. That way the receivers see a different RF environment, and at least one of them should be able to pick up a good signal in any orientation. I usually have one in front with the antennas horizontal, and the other one in the back of the helicopter with the antennas vertical.

[Ian 777]

Very good radio for the price mate. they are only complicated to those who can't be bothered to follow the instructions. as Mika and Jonny say the menu is logical and intuitive. I got mine sorted on the first day too and I have moderately bad ADD :happyd

[muppetman0]

Very good radio for the price mate. they are only complicated to those who can't be bothered to follow the instructions. as Mika and Jonny say the menu is logical and intuitive. I got mine sorted on the first day too and I have moderately bad ADD :happyd

Don't know if Mike (Helihathnofury) would agree with you ;) but it is a very good radio for the price.

[Ian 777]

Sorry, that statement was not in any way aimed at our beloved friend:hug:
He was't in the best mind set to approach setting it up. His hand had been smashed to a pulp, and every other thing that could go wrong was doing (and still is).
Without those factors weighing him down he would have walked it

[GCK]

Ok I received my DX6i transmitter and receiver today. Not sure when I'll have time to play with it as my son has BMX races this whole week as we head into the state race. Does anyone have any pictures to show the mounting and location of the two receivers on there Belt CP? I'm just looking for the ideas on the best way to mount the two receivers to keep the antennas perpendicular to each other and still have reasonable accsess the servo connections.

Thanks!

[sutty]

My instructions said that keeping them perpendicular, in theory should help with RF path diversity, however they also said that they had no actual evidence to support this premise. It certainly seems logical, but since they are the manufacturers, and most likely are experts at RF, I decided if they couldn't prove it, the benefits must be very small. On this basis, and because of the layout of my helicopter, I just put the main receiver where the stock one was positioned, and put the satellite receiver where my original stock rate gyro went. This has worked perfectly since I got it many months ago.

[GCK]

Well I got my DX6I radio installed into my helicopter today. The menus to my surprise are relatively intuitive as you all said. I got everything dialed in and did a bit of hovering in the warehouse here at work. I’m comfortable that I have everything working as well as I did with the Stock radio as far as control inputs go. I’m sure I will do more tweaking and experimenting in the next few days. A couple of questions I have though at this point. I bought this radio from USHobbySupply and Michael sent along a word document on setting up the DX6I with the Belt CP. Thank God for that as it made life much easier for me. In this document it told me to go into the swash mixing menu and set these values to –60% from the default of 60%. I see that this changes the servo direction under collective pitch by going from +% to -%. But why –60% versus –80% or –50%. What exactly am I changing here? –60% works great as far as I can tell at this point but I would just like to understand what this is doing. Also I would like to play around with expo on the cyclic control. If I go into the D/R&EXPO menu and change the INH% value to say 10% this should make the cyclic stick 10% less sensitive around center stick correct? Would there be any reason I would want to limit the servo travel by lowering the D/R from less the 100%? I hope these questions don’t sound to dumb but keep in mind this is my first computer radio. My first CP helicopter for that mater.

Thanks

Greg

[Ian 777]

Hi Greg

Yes 10% Expo will desensetize the middle stick movement by 10% negative expo would increase the sensitivity around middle stick. both will leave the overall travel unchanged.

people use dual rate for different types of flying you don't want as much control throw
for sport flying as for extreme 3d


The swash mix alters the amount each function of the swash plate moves rather than the individual servo's. -60% is just an informed guess really

If you increase it to -80% the swash plate will move 20% more:) cunning eh!

I set the swash mix to give as much cyclic and collective movement as possible without any binding with full combined stick deflection (ie full aile, elev, pitc together)

You can always use DR to tame it. If your happy with the feel of your heli at -60% then
leave it as it is.

I have never used expo and find the heli easier to fly with quite sensitive controls but that is personal and the CopterX head makes it very stable.

Ian

[GCK]

Thanks lan 777, the more I thought about the swash mix what you say makes perfect senese. -60% is just a percentage of movement that happens to give me the same maximum pitch as what the manual for the Belt CP shows (+7Deg to -7Deg Stunt mode). I see now how I can play with that value and what its doing now. As for the expo I may end up thinking the same way you do but I got to play with it and see. I also like how you can get the servo arms perfect with the subtrim. On the stock radio it always seemed to be off just slightly because of the resolution of the splines. Now I move the servo arm to get it as close as I can and them make it perfect with the subtrim. This radio is very cool compaired to the stock one.

[mnwizard]

Great thread guys!

Ian -- That's the best, most concise explanation I've ever seen for the computer Tx options. Maybe I will get one...

BTW - UsHobbySupply is my favorite, I always check their site first. Sending along instructions like that is just one example of their first rate customer service.

[Ian 777]

Cheers guys

There is no need to be put off by the complexity of computer radios everything is logical and the flexibility is there to help you. The DX6i is just plain exellent value.

I really dont think you would regret buying one Jack

Ian