Orange RX/TX - Hobbyking Rant

[Autotechnica]

Hey guys,

So I've been messaging hobbyking back and fourth about a orange TX module I had in my Taranis that failed recently. It won't turn on, no beep, no green light. I have 2 modules, one that works and one that stopped working recently. I showed them a video I uploaded to youtube that shows that when I plug one in and switch on the Taranis, it beeps, green light comes on, the other one, do the same thing, nothing happens. My discussion with customer service went no where, the lady tried to tell me that the Taranis is incompatable with the Orange TX modules. That's odd, I could have sworn I was flying my MCPX and T-Rex 450 with it. I must be going crazy. I just LOL'd and she refered me to a product specialist. The product specialist then told me that powering on the Module without the atenna attached automatically fries the internals of the module? My question is, before I tell HK support to F*CK themselves, I would like to confirm if there is any truth to this? I always power on my modules without the antenna attached. Both Frsky and Orange and none have ever gone bad until now. They may as well tell me not to use their equipment during a full moon. Sigh...

/rant

[04fxdwgi]

Originally Posted by Autotechnica

Hey guys,

So I've been messaging hobbyking back and fourth about a orange TX module I had in my Taranis that failed recently. It won't turn on, no beep, no green light. I have 2 modules, one that works and one that stopped working recently. I showed them a video I uploaded to youtube that shows that when I plug one in and switch on the Taranis, it beeps, green light comes on, the other one, do the same thing, nothing happens. My discussion with customer service went no where, the lady tried to tell me that the Taranis is incompatable with the Orange TX modules. That's odd, I could have sworn I was flying my MCPX and T-Rex 450 with it. I must be going crazy. I just LOL'd and she refered me to a product specialist. The product specialist then told me that powering on the Module without the atenna attached automatically fries the internals of the module? My question is, before I tell HK support to F*CK themselves, I would like to confirm if there is any truth to this? I always power on my modules without the antenna attached. Both Frsky and Orange and none have ever gone bad until now. They may as well tell me not to use their equipment during a full moon. Sigh...

/rant

The statement of powering without antenna connected can damage transmitter is true.

Old rule of thumb... Never, ever power any transmitter without the antenna attached as it can possibly fry the output (and maybe other stuff) in the transmitter. This has been true since day one of solid state transmitter use. Tube type transmitters, not so much.

No antenna causes what is called High SWR (Standing Wave Ratio). Essentially, no antenna bounces signal power / potential backwards into the electronics, possibly frying them. Most commonly seen in CB radios years back when antenna wire broke and fried the "final" stage in the transmitter. I would bet it's the same thing on these xmitters, also.

Won't happen every time, but certainly has the potential to do so.