Yesturday I took my new plane for its maiden prior to making it FPV!
I am using an Orange R800X and Spektrum DX8 and the first thing I did was to do a range check. To my surprise I only got 20 paces but I lost sync. As I had a friend with me, I was able to observe the RX whilst they walked away with the TX, and even when it was in "Full Power" mode the LED on the RX started to flicker as soon as they moved off.
My assumption was that the RX was fault.. So was about to pack up and go home, but decided to "rebind" it.. After this I was able to get 40 paces in Low Power mode before I lost signal..
SO it seems that re-binding has unlocked extra range.. Does this make sense? Should I worry.
Jon
Quote from: jweaver on September 29, 2014, 12:03:50 PM
Does this make sense? Should I worry.
Jon
in a word. YES.
did you rotate the model 360 degrees while you were range checking? it sounds like a duffer to me. rebinding may get rid of it, but for the price of one of these receivers I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it.
when you were only 20 paces away could you see either antenna on the rx? if you can't see them then the odds are the rx can't hear your tx either. try mounting the antennas 90 degrees apart and if they are currently in the fuselage pierce a small hole and poke it through into the air. then try again.
if you have someone who can help I'd be tempted to do a full power range test and go half a mile away speaking on the phone. just drive off somewhere nice and flat and then get out of the car.
you should get 40-50m away in low power mode.
sorry if this is all teaching you to suck eggs.
/Steve
Quote from: stevec on September 29, 2014, 02:00:02 PM
Quote from: jweaver on September 29, 2014, 12:03:50 PM
Does this make sense? Should I worry.
Jon
in a word. YES.
did you rotate the model 360 degrees while you were range checking? it sounds like a duffer to me. rebinding may get rid of it, but for the price of one of these receivers I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it.
when you were only 20 paces away could you see either antenna on the rx? if you can't see them then the odds are the rx can't hear your tx either. try mounting the antennas 90 degrees apart and if they are currently in the fuselage pierce a small hole and poke it through into the air. then try again.
if you have someone who can help I'd be tempted to do a full power range test and go half a mile away speaking on the phone. just drive off somewhere nice and flat and then get out of the car.
you should get 40-50m away in low power mode.
sorry if this is all teaching you to suck eggs.
/Steve
During my initial test, the antennas were inside tubes that I had mounted into the fuselage. And the wing was also on.
So to rule this out, I pulled out the RX and sat it outside of the plane with the antennas in full view.. And it was EXACTLY the same.
Then I did a rebind... And was immediatly able to get 40m in low power mode.
So its either a glitch or a fault.. And I wonder if I should scrap it, or try to get a replacement since its new?
Jon
At 40 paces mate I wouldn't trust that as far I could p***.
I think the worst range I've ever had is with the stock Turnigy 9x receiver, although it's never let me down the range on the ground was still 500 paces, both antennas visible to each other, and about 1,2ks in the air. Nothing to write home about, enough for LOS but that's it.
Anyway, I thought you had a LRS system?
It is right 😀
Quote from: Lola on September 29, 2014, 07:33:13 PM
At 40 paces mate I wouldn't trust that as far I could p***.
I think the worst range I've ever had is with the stock Turnigy 9x receiver, although it's never let me down the range on the ground was still 500 paces, both antennas visible to each other, and about 1,2ks in the air. Nothing to write home about, enough for LOS but that's it.
Anyway, I thought you had a LRS system?
It is right 😀
40 paces at "low power". Surely thats OK, as the TX says to test to 30 paces.
Obviously 40m at full power would be bad, but during a range test i was sure this was ok.
As for LSR? Whats LSR?
Quote from: jweaver on September 30, 2014, 12:35:42 AM
Quote from: Lola on September 29, 2014, 07:33:13 PM
At 40 paces mate I wouldn't trust that as far I could p***.
I think the worst range I've ever had is with the stock Turnigy 9x receiver, although it's never let me down the range on the ground was still 500 paces, both antennas visible to each other, and about 1,2ks in the air. Nothing to write home about, enough for LOS but that's it.
Anyway, I thought you had a LRS system?
It is right 😀
40 paces at "low power". Surely thats OK, as the TX says to test to 30 paces.
Obviously 40m at full power would be bad, but during a range test i was sure this was ok.
As for LSR? Whats LSR?
LRS 433mhz system.
It is right 😀
Quote from: Lola on September 30, 2014, 07:41:10 AM
Quote from: jweaver on September 30, 2014, 12:35:42 AM
Quote from: Lola on September 29, 2014, 07:33:13 PM
At 40 paces mate I wouldn't trust that as far I could p***.
I think the worst range I've ever had is with the stock Turnigy 9x receiver, although it's never let me down the range on the ground was still 500 paces, both antennas visible to each other, and about 1,2ks in the air. Nothing to write home about, enough for LOS but that's it.
Anyway, I thought you had a LRS system?
It is right 😀
40 paces at "low power". Surely thats OK, as the TX says to test to 30 paces.
Obviously 40m at full power would be bad, but during a range test i was sure this was ok.
As for LSR? Whats LSR?
LRS 433mhz system.
It is right 😀
Ahh.. I get it.. Nope. Thats not me.. I am running Spektrum 2.4ghz kit..
I don't know about other TXs but on the Spektrum you can do a 'range test' which turns the power down.. And it claims that if you can get 30m in this mode, you are fine.. I got 20m first.. And then after rebinding again, 40m.. So on paper, it seems fine.. But I still need to do more tests before I fully trust it.
Well.. sone would say that with spektrum... you will get rubbish range as standard.
Quote from: jweaver on September 30, 2014, 11:37:45 AM
Quote from: Lola on September 30, 2014, 07:41:10 AM
Quote from: jweaver on September 30, 2014, 12:35:42 AM
Quote from: Lola on September 29, 2014, 07:33:13 PM
At 40 paces mate I wouldn't trust that as far I could p***.
I think the worst range I've ever had is with the stock Turnigy 9x receiver, although it's never let me down the range on the ground was still 500 paces, both antennas visible to each other, and about 1,2ks in the air. Nothing to write home about, enough for LOS but that's it.
Anyway, I thought you had a LRS system?
It is right 😀
40 paces at "low power". Surely thats OK, as the TX says to test to 30 paces.
Obviously 40m at full power would be bad, but during a range test i was sure this was ok.
As for LSR? Whats LSR?
LRS 433mhz system.
It is right 😀
Ahh.. I get it.. Nope. Thats not me.. I am running Spektrum 2.4ghz kit..
I don't know about other TXs but on the Spektrum you can do a 'range test' which turns the power down.. And it claims that if you can get 30m in this mode, you are fine.. I got 20m first.. And then after rebinding again, 40m.. So on paper, it seems fine.. But I still need to do more tests before I fully trust it.
Ah, didn't know about that power mode setting. Sounds ok though now you've explained it.
Got me thinking though, if I run out of range then surely the AP takes over if you set the failsafe and goes to RTL. That's what happened with my APM, trouble was it went into circle mode and by doing that it kept coming in and out of range so obviously it then just circled into the deck. Like a plonker I just stood and watched it all happen on the screen instead of flicking the RTL switch when it did circle into range. Still, lessons learned.
Some bloke on a german forum reckons he got 6ks from his 2.4 with one of those boosters from fleabay. Anyone got any experience with that?
It is right 😀
Jon
I recently found out my DX6i has a US output setting that gives a 200 mw output from the Tx,
it came set up for EU of 100mw,
tonight I enjoyed a flight without any RTH activation :)
Much further than I thought possible... I only turned back because I didn't have the bottle to continue :o
Ray