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Main Discussion > Radio manufacturers, where art thou?
 
 
Fish Eagle
Heliman
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Manufacturers, please step up.

I'm in the mood to start a pointless topic because I just know the manufacturers will ignore me.

(Me on my soapbox now).

I have a JR radio and I am upset being limited by which switch I can assign to what function, being limited by the amount of mixers I have available and also what I can do with those mixers. OK, the Futaba is better in this regard, but not much better and around here Futaba is much more expensive than JR. The Multiplex is even better but is not available around here at all. So maybe I will save up and replace my JR, but I want a smarter, more flexible radio.

Lets face it. What is a radio more than a bunch of inputs (sticks, pots and switches) and outputs (the duty cycles for the pulses on the channels). Why not provide us with a radio which gives the user more power over the control of those. Imagine a radio that comes with a programmers manual with a library of functions which allows you to create a new mixer, give it a name and then add it to the list of already supported mixers that comes with the standard s/w. One should then be able to write this new mixer on a PC and then download it to the radio, and even share it with others over the internet.

Imagine the ability to write a mix that control the pitch on tail rotor if the radio does not support it, or to write a mix for the retract gear which will allow you to control the time it takes for the servo to transition from minimum to maximum deflection, which will look much more real without having to buy other gadgets that will do it.

Also, why not provide us with the ability to update the s/w on our radios if updates and bug fixes for the s/w becomes available. We could then download the file from a manufacturer's web site and then update the radio's s/w from ou PC through a utility provided by said manufacturer. Imagine, no more having to send the radio in to the distributer if you are smart enough to do it yourself.

Look at today's top radios. They already have big LCD screens and lots of input keys with (apparently) smart microprocessors. They just need smarter, flexible s/w and some s/w utility for a PC. And for those that don't want it, the standard s/w should be sufficient, and the manufacturers may even sell the same version of the radio without the s/w utilities if the price will be influenced. At least it will provide the power user with more options with a little more money.

(Me off my soapbox now).

So manufacturers, what do you think. And you, radio user, what do YOU think. Am I just plain nuts to want a smarter, more flexible radio.
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
GMPheli
Veteran
Location: W. Bridgewater, MA USA

The Airtronics Stylus has any switch assignable to any function, including ganging of switches. It also has program cards that can be changed to upgrade the software. I know what you're talking about though. It seems in this day and age, radios would be a lot more flexible
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Christian
Senior Heliman
Location: Boston, MA

JR radios don't have switch assignability because modelers are too stupid and lazy. Don't believe me? Ask JR! http://horizon.hobbyshopnow.com/articles/1144.asp
08-14-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
z11355
rrMaster
Location: 10000 is enough time wasted.

it's not in their economic interest to
provide a modern open architecture
computer based radio. How else would
they convince you that you needed this
years model w/ some slightly tweaked
software and maybe an extra channel.

The Stylus and some of the European
transmitters like the Graupner &
Multiplex (Hitec) have different facets
of these features but no one has put
them all together yet.
08-14-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Alexandre
Senior Heliman
Location: Florida USA

Remind me when I was in Hight scool, Bought a $100 calculator with hundreds of maths functions !
Still have it ! I use it when I'm on ebay ......
08-14-2003 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Fish Eagle
Heliman
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Geez, it was a pain to get this reply posted. The internet is a real dog here today with the new Blaster worm. A few SysAdmins were caught with their pants down again.

Anyways, GMPheli, the Airtronics radios is not available here, only the SANWA version (RD6000). So, no, I can't get it.

Christian, yep, I read that report, and their argument almost seems to hold water until you realise that they supply you with the ability to change your JR to work in Mode 1, 2, 3 and, forbid, 4. So now your buddy would not just switch your heli in throttle hold mode instead of changing your HH gyro from Rate to HH mode (using the damn Gear switch), he would not be able to fly your heli at all if he flies mode 2 and you fly mode 1. And that situation happens around here alot. Half of my club flies mode 1, the other mode 2. I wonder how JR would counter argument that. Also, since around here we get radios from all over the world, switch positions is not cast in stone. This is different for you guys in the US where you have a distributor with a big enough market to convince the manufacturer to supply a model specific to your market's requirements and preferences.

And yes z11355, I agree. Only problem is, around here with our useless Rand we are not able to buy the latest and greatest radio every year or two. When we buy a radio, it is for the long haul (10 to 15 years), and then it better serve you for that time. I would rather spend my hard earned moola on a new heli than another fancier looking JR radio which still lacks the features I was looking for.
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
bluefronted
Veteran
Location: South Africa

This was one of the reasons , I changed to Futaba from JR
Futaba are by no doubt the leaders in r/c electronics.
The others will have good products , but will be a mile behind Futaba wrt technology

Futaba ....

Sythesized RX's and modules
Governors
On board glow lighters
Range of radios , for everyone
Superior Gyros
etc , etc

But I love JR Heli technology
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
DKflyer
Senior Heliman
Location: Huntington, WV

I agree!! With todays computing power, you should be able to just tell it what you want and have it do it. Like with my Ultrastick airplane on my 9C, I have to put in all kinds of p-mixes to get it to do a "crow" with the flaps and ailerons. Same thing when you use two servos for the two elevator halfs, you have to set up mixes so they will operate together. You should just be able to tell it which servo output channel is on which flying surface, and the computer should do the rest. Then you could just tell it switch A = crow and it would do it. Sounds easy to me, but I guess they don't want to invest in making changes to keep up with computing power.
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Doug
Elite Veteran
Location: Naples Florida....

I think you have a good point and that's where it will all go but how long it takes is up to the gods

First member of Member of Bearings Anonymous
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Optech
Key Veteran
Location: Vista/Oceanside, CA.

DKflyer,
You can almost do that with the Airtronics Stylus with the optional ACRO card. When you set-it into "Fun-Fly" mode, each servo gets a channel that is fully tunable and mixable. You can use the pre-set mixers or build your own as well assign stick switches, boolean and/or switch assignments or simple single switching.

Mike

Viva La Airtronics!
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
lightman
Senior Heliman
Location: ShowTown MO

I agree with Fish.
How about a perset swash/throttle mix that won't overdrive the throttle servo? Sure the 10X does it, but my 2 month old 8103 doesn't. Perhaps that same mix could be a seperate mix apart from the standard 3 mixes. Preset rudder throttle mix would be nice too.
I've eaten up all my mixes with those 3 which should be standard. Oh, they ARE standard with Futaba.
As far as the switches go, I agree with JR. My flying is instinct, the moment my brain tries start thinking I start making mistakes. A VERY bad thing when your inverted and mowing. I did however take a hard look at a couple of switch locations and make some decisions. How often do I use my gear switch? NEVER. I don't have any aircraft with retracts, and I found I'm a HH type of guy. Then I looked at the flightmode/flap switch, I use that thing a TON. I wanted it at instant fingertip control without having to take my fingers off the gimbals. So I swapped the flightmode switch with the gear switch when I was removing the throttle detent. Took an extra 4 minutes and now I have the flightmode switch at the top left of the radio(airplane version) which is easily operated by my left index finger. WHAT a cool deal. Flightmodes are easily accessable, and flaps/spoilers are used much more than just takeoffs and landings in the planker world.
Other thoughts I have are a split elevator preset mix. With all the new funfly aircraft, and larger scale birds using a servo for each elevator half this feature should be STANDARD. It took me 2 days to figure out which mix and which aux to use to allow the use of elevator trim to trim both halves. Turns out it was the GEAR and mix one. Well great, but what if I had a plane with retracts AND 2 ele servos? What then?
It wouldn't take much to update my 8103 with new software that would include these features, however JR has to get off of their butt and start making forword progress. Falling behind the progress is a bad thing in business. Keep up or get out.
I do really like my 8103 however

Wade
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Optech
Key Veteran
Location: Vista/Oceanside, CA.

>>> As far as the switches go, I agree with JR. My flying is instinct, the moment my brain tries start thinking I start making mistakes. <<<

Wade,
I don't buy that excuse. I flew for several years with the default auto switch location on my Stylus. It took me exactly a second to get used to a new switch location after, like you, I decided I wanted the function closer to my finger tip. Never once have I reached for the old location because of "instinct". All I had to do was spend a few seconds in the menu system.

Also, just because switch assignments are selectable, does not mean you HAVE to move them around. If you "instinctly" prefer the default switch locations then fine, you could leave them there. But Joe Blow next to you might want to customize his set-up. He should have that option.

Mike

Viva La Airtronics!
08-14-2003 Over year old.
 
 
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