Mini Talon Crash (EzUHF problems)

[FPVSteve]

will have a look. Might do it the old fashioned way tomorrow ... have a nice little drive across the field to check I have at least 1km range lol

[English Turbines]

will have a look. Might do it the old fashioned way tomorrow ... have a nice little drive across the field to check I have at least 1km range lol

Good idea...with the Diamond 771 on m8....:)

:vulture:

[English Turbines]

If you programme the EZ reciever to cppm (muxed)....the Tornado (and Storm) can handle this, it would be pretty easy to place your RX out on the wing.....Away from your ESC and its cables...both a potential noise source...

  :vulture:

[MarkLloyd]

Hi Steve,

Sorry about the crash...  it looks very much like the problem I've had with my ezuhf setup, which I imagine is pretty similar to yours.

I don't know if you saw my vid....  I lost signal at about 100m, luckily the plane came down undamaged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBqI53R8oww

I swapped rx's and also tx antennas, ground tested but had the same problem, range about 100m.  I wondered whether the JR module was damaged as I'd run it without noticing the antenna was off for a couple of minutes not long after I got it.  I sent the module to Dave at the UK immersion rc  repair centre who checked it out and said power output was fine and there were no problems  ( Briliant service from Dave by the way, no charge, even for the return registered post) .

Now, this is where I may have been a bit thick.  Although I'd tried two different antennas on the JR module and two different RX's, thinking back I don't think I tried swapping  rx antennas,  I think I tested on the same antenna.  I haven't had chance to get out to the flying field to try a different Antenna yet but Dave at Immersion said " we have seen some issues where the thread is too long and the antenna tightens up onto the nut instead of screwing all the way down. "

Having read good things about bignose13's dipole antennas, I'm having a couple made up and Simon like Blueflyer, said the quality of some Rx antennas is poor, with poor or worse soldering and can be the cause of these problems.  I was using a sander whip antenna from banggood on the RX. I can't pry the cover of the back to check as BF suggested but have tried !

I'm Running 1.53  and extreme hopping

I hope you track down the problem, I'll let you know if I solve mine.

Regards

Mark

[FPVSteve]

Think I'm gonna listen to Omegooliebird on RCGroups and get the Rx away from the ESC and out onto the wing. Even if it doesn't matter about the ESC, I'd like a dipole on there anyway and it'd be much easier to do in the wing than where it is now.

Can't see it doing any harm in any case.

[BlueFlyer]

Certainly won't do any harm, but I'm not convinced that's the cause of this problem.

ESC noise wouldn't cause a drop out at that distance in my experience.

But you're right about the dipole, the wing's the best place for your EzUHF RX if you want a dipole.

[FPVSteve]

Well. Seems to me then that this deserves at least a range check on the Diamond "as it is" before I start cutting more foam.

Perhaps it was just a really crap antenna.

[Brucey]

Unfortunately Steve, your crash highlights a classic assumption that UHF = plug and play, sadly this isn't the case. The up side is that others will hopefully learn from this post.

Getting your Rx away from other components will help loads. Lots of other kit seem to create noise on the UHF band.

The spectrum analyser function is really good for helping with this, but you always do the tests with the UHF TX off!

I'd also update the firmware to 1.53, the changelog of 1.52 mentions a problem with binding poorly. This can lead to poor range.

And as mentioned above, switch both your Rx and Tx to extreme hopping.

I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it, just a shame it caused a crash.

[English Turbines]

Interesting point about the Sanders and their bad fitting SMA connector....I dont think mine has a screw in cover either..?....That said, a simple continuity test on the active element should be easy enough....
  I must admit to dumping the Sanders entirely and using home made Dipoles with 200mm of coax on them....with Dipoles mounted out on the wing.....Made two now, and they just seem to work.
  Separation is a good thing, and wing mounted Dipoles are not difficult....I just buy pigtails off E-Bay and make them.
  I agree with Brucey totally on this, and Steve, Im using firmware version 1.5 (6) on 3 recievers now without problem.

    :vulture:

[FPVSteve]

Well I'm afraid to admit I've bottled sorting this out and I've put my FrSky gear back on the Mini Talon.

Why? Well, I planned the layout based on 2.4GHz and it was working perfectly - if I make another plane I'll be able to separate everything out properly for EzUHF. In the meantime I have a system that works adequately for my needs, although I'm still going to have to have a think about how to fly out of the car this winter. Perhaps having the antenna at the glass window will be enough since it's RF transparent. We shall see.

Additionally, I have no experience with UHF and don't want to risk screwing what is a really nice plane any more. It's not like I'm desperate for the range given how I fly, the FrSky gear is more than adequate.

The FrSky gear also has telemetry to tell me that I'm going out of range which I like in the absence of RSSI on the OSD.

So all in all, UHF is not for me at the moment but I'll build it into my next plane (whatever that is!)

The good news is the MT is ready go again, all patched up :)
Bad news is I don't get to have a cool, wiggly antenna on my tx :(

:laugh:

[BlueFlyer]

Put the UHF gear on your skywalker and fly it LOS to troubleshoot your UHF issues, just as an ongoing project or something

[Lola]

If you have a second rx you could use that to do the scanning whilst you have your TX and plane rx switched on.

Just a thought.

[FPVSteve]

Put the UHF gear on your skywalker and fly it LOS to troubleshoot your UHF issues, just as an ongoing project or something

No chance, my Skywalker is set up perfectly (also on FrSky + Cyclops Tornado) :)

I do have an "old" Bixler though.

[BlueFlyer]

Ah, that's what I meant... I thought you'd stripped the walker to build the mini talon

[gt40driver]

Hi Steve
Just read the post with interest and sorry to see your having issues. As you know I have a EzUHF
Tx and two receivers. Have flown 2 aircraft with it fitted without issue and all the electrics really
just thrown in. All the stuff is in the fuselage's and have paid no attention to separating it. I haven't
had any issues (but probably will now!) I know it doesn't help you but just wanted to give you a bit
more info to mull over. The Diversity Rx's have the stock antenna's fitted and the Tx has a Diamond
SRH 771 on it.
Martin.