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Radio - Servo - Gyro - Gov - Batt > Spread spectrum

Mark C
Key Veteran
Location: Houston, TX - USA

Spread spectrum early adopter - Updated

Well... Couldn't resist buying my own Christmas present.

I gots me one of these http://www.horizonhobby.com/Shop/By...?ProdID=SPM2460

The radio is really nice - It's definately a re-tasked XP662 from JR. All in all it looks like alot of radio/servo/receiver for the money ($199).

I will be putting it in a Hummingbird Elite that I am already flying and I'll will report back after a few flights.

12-15-2005 Over year old.

vertolfan
Senior Heliman
Location: Bloomington, Illinois

I ordered mine two months ago, but still haven't recieved it.. Have they said when it's available? Hope it doesn't turn into another Vibe situation..

12-15-2005 Over year old.

JKos
Elite Veteran
Location: City of California in the state of Maryland

They are out and available. I picked up mine from my LHS yesterday.

- John

MSH Protos

12-15-2005 Over year old.

vertolfan
Senior Heliman
Location: Bloomington, Illinois

Really? Thanks I guess I better call them..

12-15-2005 Over year old.

Mark C
Key Veteran
Location: Houston, TX - USA

Same here. Got mine from LHS. He had 2 of them.

12-15-2005 Over year old.

Mark C
Key Veteran
Location: Houston, TX - USA

Update

Well ...the receiver dropped straight into my Hummingbird Elite. Piece of cake. The 2 little antennas just kind of find their own way and posed no problem. The little receiver is fantastic and I give it high marks.

Setup on the CCPM hummer was pretty darn simple also. Pretty much copied my values of my 10X to the appropriate spots in the DX6.

The DX6 menus are a breeze to navigate (I believe 100% identical to the Xp662) and I had an easy time setting it up. I spent about an hour and 1/2 last night playing around with the setup in the house (motor disconnected from the ESC) and was pretty pleased. No issues.

This morning I went outside and did the range test by the book and I like the way you use the "bind" button on the back of the TX which drops the power output of the TX for testing range. Worked easily at 30 paces (90 feet) with the bind button pressed as the manual instructs.

I did 1 full flight on a 1320 lipo - about 15 minutes. Spent most of the flight on the tweaking of the setup and a lot of FFF.

Take note that I live in the Woodlands TX. Everybody on the street has cordless phones and microwave ovens and I can see 3 other Wireless routers on my Linksys other than my own. Plenty of RF noise in the 2.4 Ghz band to deal with. Also keep in mind that this Hummer was a glitchy little turd on a R700 FM receiver and had fallen out of favor for that reason. I was going to change it over to PCM.

The 1st flight went without an issue and after it was over I practically forgot I was using a new system.

I did 2 more flights and on the third flight I probably got 100+ yards out down the road in front of all the other houses. No issues. Not so much as a hiccup.

I saved a little on the last battery for some testing. I planted the Hummer on top of an upside-down plastic garbage can and walked off down the road about 100' while I held down the bind button to cripple the TX output and I put my fat body between the TX and the RX by putting the TX behind my back and at about 150' the reception cut out.

Now here is is the good part: The moment I would release the bind button or move the TX from around my back I would regain control - instantaneously! This relieved one of my concerns. I was afraid that once the link was broken it would take some time to re-sync but it indeed does not. It acts just like my PCM JR system and you get it back instantly.

I then looked straight at the RX and with the bind button released I walked all the way out to the end of the street which is about 185-200 yards and I still had full control. It was pretty hard to tell since the Hummer is pretty much a spec at that distance and I don't think I will ever get it out that far.

After all of this playing my concerns of being able to maintain control of the heli with this new technology were put to bed. But only time will truly tell and I will update here if I come across any issues.

Here are some pros and cons of the system thus far:

PROS:

Reliability - seems really good so far. Better than it was with the PCM10X with the R700 receiver. Not a single glitch. And this is the most critical of all the features. Without reliability all other features are moot.

Receiver - Nice and compact. Two short antennas at right angles find easy places to hang.

TX menus - Easy navigation and good features. Holds 10 model memory. Accommodates helis, airplanes, CCPm and all sorts of wing configurations. Pretty case with nice texture on the back of the case. I have always liked JR's switch placements.

Fail-Safe and Binding - There is a "bind" feature which binds the TX the RX and also sets up a PCM-like fail safe system. Good feature. Nice that it also cripples the TX output for range testing - need this on my 10X.

Gyro Setup - Nice options for moving the gear channel control to any switch on the TX to use for gyro gain setting. I settled for the flight mode switch.

Flight pack - Servos are really nice even though I did not use them yet since the Hummer was already set up.

Manual - nicely done and pretty explanatory. Will need a revision to fix minor error but it's all in there with nice diagrams. 95 pages and easy to navigate. Separate airplane and heli sections.

TX Antenna - Nice little sort 6" TX antenna is GREAT. In flying e-helis at close quarters I have hit my antenna no less than 3 times. I had my Blade CP take the end of my antenna off. Had a Hummingbird CP clip my antenna once. And there is a thread on here somewhere where I had a swash on a T-Rex separate on it's maiden flight and try to take my head with it on the way by. It did of course manage to get the antenna on the 10X. So the nice shorty antenna on the DX6 is a real nice byproduct of the technology.

Value - A lot of TX/RX/Servos for the $199. Easy on the pocket.

CONS:

TX Battery - The TX battery is only 600mah and after an hour of setup and three flights it's down to 9.8v. Now I'm not too sure if this is bad since I did spend a lot of time on the setup. Time will tell and since it is a standard JR type TX pack it is easily upgraded.

Throttle Curve - The throttle curve could use more than 3 points. 3 points is kind of light for a heli and I actually use more throttle points on an E-heli than I do on a nitro heli. Many will use the built in governor feature on their ESCs but I never do and the near-hover to FF curve on most of my e-helis requires 3 or 4 points in just that area of the curve get to get it right. In all honesty the Hummer flew great on 3 points but I do see where this could be an issue.

Gimbals - The spring tension on the gimbals is waaaay toooo tight for me and I had to remove the back and give the centering springs a stretch - there is no adjustment for this. Even the TX that comes with the Blade CP has adjustments for this. JR should consider this.

Throttle stick - I had to put some fuel tubing around the throttle detent spring to remove the detent type operation. I don't even like this feature when using planks. I like a smooth throttle stick. I can't really consider this a con since I was able to easily fix to my satisfaction. But others who may be afraid of removing the back will have to live with this.

Do note that these cons most likely apply to the XP662 TX as well.

OTHER:

So far this is a great Christmas gift. I have yet to explore the airplane menus and there may be some other pros and cons there. I do plan to get another RX and set it up in a foamy park flyer that I can fly up and down the road during the winter.

I will post back after I get 50 or so flights in on this system.

Everyone have and safe and wonderful Christmas.

Mark C.

12-17-2005 Over year old.

ShempHoward
Key Veteran
Location: San Francisco, Ca - too many beggars + bad drivers

How can you see a Hummingbird at 100+ yards out?? The orientation would be pretty damn difficult I would think.

12-17-2005 Over year old.

Mark C
Key Veteran
Location: Houston, TX - USA

Yup. That's pretty much why they restirct the use of this new system to Park flyers and micro helis. Keep it in good range.

12-18-2005 Over year old.

Paul Beard
Senior Heliman
Location: San Jose CA

Mark,
Can you post a photo of your throttle detent fix please.
Thanks,
Paul

12-18-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

rogeroverout
Senior Heliman
Location: DFW area, TX

I also have an early Spektrum DX6. My comments are EXACTLY the same, right down to how I setup, tested and all. I used a T-Rex that had been glitchy on both a JR 6UL and a Berg6 and had been semi-retired... the spektrum made it rock solid. Took less than 1 hour to replace the rcvr & setup the tranny.

I agree with your pros and cons as well. Exactly...

One thing I would add: The "Stunt" throttle curve is really only settable at low and middle; the high point is forced to 100%. You can overcome this (sort of) via some diddling with endpoint on throttle channel... but still. On most electric helis, a 3 point stunt curve will be close to 100-xx-100 anyway (where xx is 80 or 90 or so) therefore not a big deal.

So, all in all, a pretty cute little radio, and how nice to say, when asked by the next guy down the flightline "What channel are you on?" to reply: "None, really

12-18-2005 Over year old.

Mark C
Key Veteran
Location: Houston, TX - USA

I'm not a big digital camera guy and not yet a member of the $20 club. But it's easy enough to describe.

Simply remove the back and slide a 1/4" piece of silicone fuel tubing over the end of the detent spring. Lighten the tension a litte on the spirng by "tweaking" it a bit. Replace back cover. Done.

Mark C.

12-18-2005 Over year old.

Mark C
Key Veteran
Location: Houston, TX - USA

Reporting in after a weekend of flying on it.

WOW

This is really nice. I'm now down to having a blast with it and not one single glitch.

Now they just need to bring it on for th big boys. I gots a fleet of 50's and 90's I would love to push over to this technology.

Mark C.

12-20-2005 Over year old.

Mark C
Key Veteran
Location: Houston, TX - USA

Weeeeeeeuuuulll. I would think it is bound to intefere. Or at least likely to. Your 2.4GHz video is on the same band and I do not believe it uses spread spectrum technology. I believe the video link you are using uses straight analog on the 2.4GHz band.

So I think the interference you see is by design. The Specktrum Xmitter is broadcasting on 2 different frequencies at once. Likely one of them is on top of the freq or near enough to the freq your video system is using.

If the interfetence you had made the picture look "blocky" or pixelated then your video system is spread spektrum and digital (and expensive). If what you saw was video synch or noise or issues then your video system is analog.

If the video system were spread spectrum the would get along happily.

Mark C.

12-20-2005 Over year old.

Lorents
Elite Veteran
Location: Oslo, Norway

Thats interesting hotwire, what downlink are you using?

There are lots of positive posts on spread spectrum now, so it seems like the thing is working

What comes around goes around.

12-20-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

RC-CAM
Senior Heliman
Location: USA

Others have reported the video interference too. The recommended workaround is to turn on the Video Tx first, then the R/C system. Then "bind" the R/C system. This way the Spektrum will "see" the video signal and use an open frequency pair. Assuming this works well, it does not offer a remedy if you are up flying with your video gear and another Spektrum user shows up.

12-21-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

JKos
Elite Veteran
Location: City of California in the state of Maryland

> Then "bind" the R/C system. This way the Spektrum will "see" the
> video signal and use an open frequency pair. Assuming this works
> well, it does not offer a remedy if you are up flying with your video
> gear and another Spektrum user shows up.

This is not quite correct and I would like to clear up a misconception the above statement gives.

The Spektrum system listens to its environment every time it is turned on, not just during the binding process. Therefore, turning on the video system first, then the tx, then the rx is all that is necessary. The tx will steer clear of the specific frequency range being used by the video transmitter. Going through the binding process is not necessary.

Also, if another Spektrum user shows up, his transmitter will do exactly the same thing if your video system is operational. It will sense that activity and steer clear.

- John

MSH Protos

12-27-2005 Over year old.

drdot
Elite Veteran
Location: So. California, Orange County.

fwiw..

Easy fix for the detent...take the leaf spring off and turnit over, tension to suit...DX 6 is the beginning of the future of RC

John.

12-27-2005 Over year old.

Nugz
Heliman
Location: N.J.

just picked up one for my x-400 pro cant wait to get this going

MFD

12-29-2005 Over year old.

Micro-Maniac
Elite Veteran
Location: Pasco,Washington Formerly: Captain Chaos

I bought a DX6 myself to use in a new small plank I'm getting and to see what I think of it in my micro heli. The radio is very impressive. But I went to set it up in my H2 micro heli, everything went impressively peachy until I realized theres no exponential for the rudder! Bummer. Flying without rudder exp is clumbsy and hard to get smooth tail motions. For us heli pilots, rudder exp is just as important as aileron and elevator exp (perhaps moreso). I imagine that alone will knock most heli pilots out of the DX6 market. I know I was disappointed about it. Sqwhirly little micro helis without rudder exp, yikes! What were they thinking?

01-05-2006 Over year old.

fritzthecat
Key Veteran
Location: New Orleans

Strangely, I've never heard of anybody using expo on the rudder - nitro, gas or electric helis. I certainly don't use it on my Scaler, my Futura or my Trex. Elevator or Aileron get 30%.

Fritz

'Send Money, Women and Guns!'

01-05-2006 Over year old.

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