Question: Buddy Box Set-up DX6I -> Hitec

[Adventurer]

Hi All,

I'm thinking about budy-boxing my 6-year-old on his MCPx. He's flying with my old Dx6I, and I have an Hitec A9. How easy would it be to make-up/buy a buddy cord that would work? AFAIK - they both use ear-phone type jacks for the trainer cord.

[Mixmaster Pilot]

Not sure if they will work together, but no harm in trying with just an mcpx. Get a cord with 2 male earphone jacks.

[ahahn]

The Channel order isn't the same between the two radios. In other words, the Spectrum Ch1 is throttle, while on the Hitec, Ch1 is aileron, and throttle is Ch3.


So even though the cable can be modified to carry the Hitec serial stream to the Spectrum Serial stream (like the cable for the Phoenix Sim), the control will be impossible.

[Adventurer]

Originally Posted by ahahn

The Channel order isn't the same between the two radios. In other words, the Spectrum Ch1 is throttle, while on the Hitec, Ch1 is aileron, and throttle is Ch3.


So even though the cable can be modified to carry the Hitec serial stream to the Spectrum Serial stream (like the cable for the Phoenix Sim), the control will be impossible.

If the channel order is the sum-total of the issues, then I should be OK. In this case, the Dx6I will have to be the master, and on the A9, all the channels are fully assignable, so I should be able to match-up the two channel sets.

[skunkworx]

If that is possible, then yes you can do it. I think the mixes are dependent on the master anyways so really the stick movements are the only important thing to transfer. I've done a lot of Spektrum/JR buddy cable work and it's difficult to do just between the same manufacturer and model so you've got your work cut out for you heterodyning the two brands. The other thing to contend with is the channels may not be on the same signal pulse or maginitude so you will have over/underlap of signals which you have to diligently correct for with EPA's.

The long and the short of it, you're probably best off either finding a cheap, beater 6i or get one of the cheapy TX's out of a CX2, BCPP, or any other DSM2 BNF radio that's on 2.4Ghz.

Oh yeah, BTW, don't bother with trying a simple stereo cable. You get all kinds of glitches and distortions of signal. Put the money into the dedicated and shielded JR cable and be done with it. Otherwise you're likely just wasting $6 unless you already have one sitting around for your iPod or ther media device.

[SQRT(-2)]

Ya, if the little TX that comes with some of the RTF works, that would be great, you can find them for sale cheep.

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=399207

Would that work?

Or this?

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=404187

Or this?

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=405570

[skunkworx]

I'm not too sure on the DX4e's, but the HP6DSM will work with a little modding (I think you have to make a jumper wire or something). I'll see if I can find the link to how it's done (very, very simple BTW. I just don't recall how to do it off-hand).

[Adventurer]

Ok,

There's good news as far as the original question goes.

I found an old analogue data cable that has a male earphone jack at each end. After not too much fiddling around, voile the A9 can indeed control the MCPx via the Dx6i. I've not yet flown it with the A9, but certainly all the controls are correct.

So it's looking positive so far.

Tomorrow, I'll give my son the DX6i with strict instructions to keep the trainer switch up, and fly the MCPx with the A9 and see how it feels. If it's docile enough, then we're in business.

Thanks for the pointers and help. Helifreak rocks.

[Mixmaster Pilot]

How did it go?

[Adventurer]

Sorry to keep you hanging. I was suddenly reminded that I was supposed to attend a parents evening at school, so the promised test has not yet happened.

Tonight's not looking too good either. I'll post once it has happened.


Sent from my BlackBerry 8900 using Crapatalk

[Adventurer]

The answer is that it works - sort of.

With the A9 connected as a pupil radio to a Dx6I, I am able to fly the Mcpx with either radio, and the controls are about the same sensitivity.

BUT (and you knew that there had to be a "but")

The first training session ended rather poorly. The in-flight take-over of the DX6I does not go smoothly. Whenever I released the trainer switch, the heli's motor would cut to almost off and the heli would go down regardless. This would happen irrespective of the throttle position on the master tx, it happened even at full throttle on the master. It lasts for about 2 seconds then the heli is fully responsive again.

I guess that the switch-over causes some sort of glitch in the pulse train going out, and that this glitch messes-up the electronics on the Mcpx for 2 seconds.