Field Radio Settings - Post Your Success Stories

[swanley007]

Hello All,

This post is one that I am creating to help those that are utilizing their own field radios in RealFlight. This post will be similar to the router configurations thread that was started. If you have a successful set-up that is not already here, please feel free to post it, so that other may benefit.

**Please do not turn this thread into a discussion for or against using your own field radio. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I do truly respect that, but I feel that this thread could become a resource for those wanting to use their own radios.

Thank You All in Advance!

If you are having difficulty using your own R/C radio through the built in interface on the USB InterLink Controller, here are a few tips that should help you overcome most of the difficulties users encounter:

1. Make sure you radio is set to PPM or FM mode and not PCM. Your radio will NOT work with the built in interface on the InterLink Controller if it is in PCM mode. Refer to your Radio's manual for instructions on how to set your radio correctly to FM or PPM mode.

2. Ensure that your transmitter batteries are fully charged. If your transmitter did not "power up" automatically when the interface cord was inserted, turn the transmitter power "on" at this time.

3. If you are using a transmitter which requires the use of a small "pigtail" adapter ( i.e. Futaba, Airtronics, HiTec, etc.) between the main interface adapter cord and the trainer port on your R/C radio, unplug this "pigtail" from the main interface adapter cord. Firmly re-attach this "pigtail" to the main adapter cord, listening for an audible "click" confirming that a proper connection is completed. Likewise, momentarily unplug the "pigtail" adapter from your R/C radio and firmly re-attach it to your R/C radio.

4. It has to be able to connect to the Interlink controller with one of the adapters( the longer cable ).

5. Please also be aware that there is more to using your own R/C radio with RealFlight than just attaching it to the InterLink Controller with the provided adapter cords. Make sure that you are also "telling" the software what you are doing, since RealFlight has no way of "knowing" when you want to use your own R/C radio instead of the InterLink Controller. Here is how to do this:

6. Once you have your R/C radio properly connected to the InterLink Controller, you will want to start up RealFlight (if it is not already running). Select the "Controller" menu, then click"Select Controller". From the "Select Controller" window select your transmitter not Currently, you should have "InterLink Controller (Joystick Mode)" selected. "Joystick Mode" means that the software is (currently) looking for the InterLink Controller, not your R/C radio (this is the default setting).

7. In the transmitter, ensure that you have a blank model set-up for RealFlight specifically, and that all channel mixing is disabled or inhibited. Also, if you transmitter is so equipped, ensure you are in training mode, and/or software radio.

__________________
Don't Look Back, Something May be Gaining!!

[swanley007]

1) Ensure you have a blank aircraft model
2) Leave it in SOFTWARE RADIO

Model Type: ACRO

DeviceSEL:
Gear - Gear SW
Flap - Flap SW
Aux2 - Aux2 SW
Aux3 - Flap LEV
Aux4 - Mix SW

Out: set all to ACT, Flap to SYS.

You must also make changes under travel adjust in the 9503 in order to get full functionality in RealFlight; set everything to 110%. Before that I'd toggle a switch and nothing would happen, or I couldn't get full response from the throttle on some models.

In RealFlight under Channel Mapping:

Channel:.......Reversed:......Map to:
1.......................................Channel 3 - Throttle
2........................X.............Channel 1 - Roll
3.......................................Channel 2 - Pitch
4........................X.............Channel 4 - Yaw
5........................X.............Channel 5 - Dual Rates
6........................X.............Channel 8 - 3 Pos. Switch
7.......................................Channel 9
8........................X.............Channel 6 - Knob
9........................X.............Channel 7 - Smoke


Thank You to Mr. GS for providing this information to me. This post should be an example of what the thread should be like.

Thank You All!

[swanley007]

**This controller does not work very well, as it has channel mixing always on. I did get it to a playable control by doing the following:

I have the IDLE UP Switch in the up position

Channel:.......Reversed:......Map to:
1.......................................Channel 6 - Knob
2........................X.............Channel 2 - Pitch
3.......................................Channel 3 - Throttle
4.......................................Channel 4 - Yaw
5.......................................Channel 5 - Dual Rates
1.......................................Channel 1 - Roll
7........................X.............Channel 7 - Smoke

Thank You All!

[swanley007]

The procedure to use a Spektrum for basic use is.

1. Set up a new model just for use with RealFlight. It should be an airplane with no special wing mixing. This
way if you need to change trim or throws, you will not have to change the settings for your aircraft.

2. Make sure that the transmitter is turned off, and plug the adapter cord into the trainer port. This will turn on
the transmitter in trainer mode.

3. Go to the Controller Menu and select the Interlink transmitter. If you have G4, you should validate the
controller before selecting the transmitter.

4. Go to Channel Mapping under the Controller Menu. Change the values in the left column
Line 1 (Roll) to 2
Line 2 (Pitch) to 3
Line 3 (Throttle) to 1

Line 1 (Roll) should be reversed
Line 4 (Yaw) should be reversed

5. Make sure that one of the switches on the transmitter will control Channel 7 (Smoke). You may need to
change the value in the left column to 5 or 6 to get control of that channel.

6. Exit Channel Mapping and go to Controller Calibration to calibrate the transmitter.

7. The transmitter is now ready for RealFlight. The spacebar can be used to reset after a crash.

There are more advanced setup procedures at www.knifeedge.com . If you search the forums for Spektrum you will find several threads about setting up the transmitters to work with RealFlight. Here are some of the better threads - http://ironcreek.net/dx6i/plane.php - http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19998

Thank You All!

[swanley007]

THIS IS NOT MY POST, BUT PULLED FROM THE FORUMS IN ANOTHER THREAD.
THE LINK TO THAT POST IS:

http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/show...light=Spektrum


Not about a DX6, but I hooked up my DX7 and used it. Here's my observations. First, like a JR, it needs to be powered off when you plug in the cable (the unit that's powered off is the trainer's unit, the one powered on is the teachers unit, and you want it to act like it's the trainer's). If you want to be able to use anything other than just the normal flight controls, like flaps or smoke or langing gear, then don't use either of the P-Link modes in the trainer selection screen, use normal mode instead (or you can leave trainer mode turned off entirely, when you plug in a trainer cable with the power switch turned off, my controller automatically goes into trainer mode as the slave).

I would highly recommend that you set up one model in your controller solely for the purpose of interacting with RealFlight. Here's why. If you use a model memory slot that is also used to control a real plane, and you have adjusted the end points of your servos for that model, then when you calibrate the controller in real flight, the channels that don't have a stick to them (gear, flaps, and aux2 in my case) will *not* get calibrated correctly. For example, if you have set the end point on your elevator servo to be 125% of normal, then after calibration, RealFlight will think your gear flap is at 80% when activated, not 100%. I can't be sure, but I think RF assumes that when one channel goes up to some high servo activation level, that the highest one it sees during calibration is the max output for all the non-stick based channels. So, in the model memory that I set aside for controlling Real Flight, I made sure that all my sub trims were set to 0, all my travel adjustments were set to 100%, and all my dual rates/exponentials were set to provide at most no more than 100% servo travel (so high rate goes from nothing to 100%, low rate goes from nothing to 67% in my setup).

Once you have the model setup, turn the transmitter off, plug in the link cable from the interlink controller, and do the normal stuff the instructions say to calibrate the controller. The one tip I have here is that when you get to the screen in real flight where it tells you to move the sticks in several circles, also throw the switches for the 2 other channels. This seems to help them get calibrated more accurately, but that could just be my imagination.

Once that's done, if your DX6 is like my DX7, you aren't quite finished. The channels from my DX7 do not map to what RF thinks they should. So, I had to go into Controller->Channel Mapping and reset the mapping to get things to work. Here's what I used:

Channel 1 -> no Reverse -> Channel 3 - Throttle
Channel 2 -> Reverse -> Channel 1 - Roll
Channel 3 -> no Reverse -> Channel 2 - Pitch
Channel 4 -> Reverse -> Channel 4 - Yaw
Channel 5 -> Reverse -> Channel 7 - Smoke (this is the channel I would guess you are most likely to not use having only a 6 channel transmitter, so you may have to move the items I have on channel 6 and 7 around to 5 and 6 in order to get things to work like you want)
Channel 6 -> Reverse -> Channel 6 - Knob
Channel 7 -> Reverse -> Channel 8 - 3-Pos. Switch

With that mapping, I can fly the P-51 Mustang and gear does gear, flaps does flaps, and aux2 does smoke. I set up the controller itself so that the dual rates on the controller is controlled by the elevator D/R switch so it would match the interlink's D/R switch location.

My only complaint with this setup is that it occasionally has little glitches in the control inputs. I don't know why the DX7 as a trainer has glitches, I assume it has something to do with the signals going over the trainer cable because in actual usage with a real plane my DX7 has been 100% glitch free.

Anyway, HTH.

[swanley007]

Channel:.......Reversed:......Map to:
1.......................................Channel 1 - Roll
2...........................X...........Channel 2 - Pitch
3...........................X...........Channel 3 - Throttle
4.......................................Channel 4 - Yaw
5.......................................Channel 7 - Smoke
6.......................................Channel 6 - Knob
7.......................................Channel 5 - Dual Rates

Thank You All!

[12oclockhigh]

The short 1 foot long cord is designed to plug into your field radio not the Interlink. If you try to use this cord plugged into your interlink it cannot connect because the pins are not right. Use the 5 foot long connector instead.

http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29399

[12oclockhigh]

You must follow these directions closely to get the radio to work. Do not skip any steps. It is really not difficult or hard to do... only a few real steps

A big thank you to Jerry for loaning me a DX7s to complete this explanation and make this possible.

To start with, the DX7 has 7 radio channels, the Real Flight Interlink Elite is 8 channels, so one channel is not available to control the airplanes designed to be flown with the Interlink Elite controller. This can be a slight limitation if you let it become one. The DX7 does not communicate like the DX8, still I only used one model memory for planes and helicopters.

I chose a model memory and cleared the memory so that I was starting from scratch on a clean model memory. The model type is of type; airplane and gave it the name; RealFlight. You have a 10 character limit for the length of model names. The Spektrum Dx7s' airplane model type will work for both airplanes and helicopters in the simulator. Using the helicopter model type will cause you to loose a second control channel, so don't do it.

After plugging in the Spektrum radio (always with power switch set to off) into the connected interlink, the software will recognize the DX7 radio in the 'Controller', 'Select Controller' menu... I selected the radio selection 'Interlink Elite Transmitter 8 channel' even though it is a 7 channel radio and created the channel mapping as shown below. I noticed that at times the DX7s is recognized as a 9 channel radio, but it does not seem to stay that way.

Here is how I have mapped things to be as close as possible to the Interlink setup.; (see picture below)

1. The DX7's flap/gyro channel#6 is used as the 3 position channel 8 Idle Up switch of the interlink.
2. The DX7's knob (radio channel 7) is the Channel 6 knob on the Interlink and used for flaps or gyro gain.
3. Map the DX7s radio's channel #5 to channel #7 smoke/throttle hold on the Interlink as shown in the screen shot below.
4. We will setup the dual rates in the DX7s ratio. Go to the D/R & Expo menu in the DX7s, set the aileron channel 0 D/R setting to 50%. Do the same thing for the elevator and rudder channels. The 50% number can be adjusted to your flying style. Please take note of the airplane only paragraph below.
5. You can increase the 'Travel' in the 'Servo Setup' (aileron, elevator, rudder) from 100% to 150% if you would like a hotter 3d Helicopter or plane. The number used would be to your preference.
6. I would not use DX7s radio's Expo settings as the aircraft already has expo designed into the setup. In effect, you would be doing expo on top of expo.
7. With the DX7s radio dual rates setup, you need to always do the Real Flight calibration function with full rates selected on the DX7s. If you calibrate on the half rates... full rates will not work.
8. You can combine all the dual rate switches to one switch by assigning all three of them to one switch at the bottom of the 'D/R - Expo' menu. I assigned mine to the Elev DR switch to mimic the Interlink Elite as much as possible.
9. The Spektrum DX7s' mix switch and F mode switches are unused in this setup. You have used all the available channels.
10. The throttle hold function is enabled by enabling the 'Throttle Cut' function in the DX7s radio, and assigning it to 'Mix1'.
11. When flying helicopters with throttle hold enabled, you have two switches that will cut the throttle, the mix/hold switch and the gear/mix switch. Both have to be in the on position for the heli to spin up.

Proceed to run the calibration routine. If the DX7s sticks do not move the same as shown on the animated calibration radio there is something wrong, you need to check or uncheck the reverse boxes on the channel mapping form. The mapping screen shown below is your guide. If you have setup radio dual rates... you need to have full rates selected when you calibrate.

Originally Posted by 12oclockhigh

AIRPLANE ONLY MODIFICATION If you would rather use the Real Flight's preprogrammed dual rates as built into each model you will change the mapping of DX7s radio channel 5 to be mapped to channel 5 Dual rates. Doing so will disable the ability to fly many helicopter models as they need channel 7 to control the throttle hold. You do not need to enter D/R - Expo settings in the DX7s if you choose this option. So only make this change if you don't fly helis.

I have not spent a lot of time using the 50% low rate on the transmitter as I just use the rates that the model maker set up (airplane only) or change them in the model editor. I tried to use the Radios default settings for as much as possible for this explanation.

I used the simulator's radio calibration routine and started flying. For the DX7 Radio, that is all there is to it. There are no pass through settings, etc. etc. and the DX7 Radio's dual rates and expo work in the simulator. Keep in mind that you have ONLY one set of DX7 radio rates and expo that will work with each plane, unless you use the airplane only modification.

You do not need to edit the models or do anything else. I just did this with my radio... I have firmware Release 1.00 installed in the radio, but the version number should not make any difference.

Originally Posted by 12oclockhigh

Using the DX7s Radio:
Start the simulator without the DX7s connected. You must press the Interlink Elite Red Reset button at least one time before connecting the DX7s radio. From the menu, select 'Controller', 'Select Controller', and then 'Interlink Elite Transmitter 8 Channel'. I don't know why it appears as an interlink or as 8 channel, but it works.

Since you don't have a Red Reset Button on the DX7 Radio... you can turn on auto reset or press the space bar after a crash. Here is a thread link to turn on auto reset: http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/show...ght=auto+reset I use a value of 2 seconds. You must press the Interlink's red button one time at the start of the session, then autoreset will work.

In this post, I have given you everything needed to use the DX7 radio with Real Flight6, start to finish... this is all you need to do.

Originally Posted by 12oclockhigh

Connecting The DX7s to the Interlink Elite
Special Notes: I had a couple of different connecting cords around here, I don't know exactly what comes with RF6 so I will tell you what worked. I have a cord that has a rectangular 6 pin plug (Futaba Micro Plug) and the other end is a male mono audio plug. The cord is about 5 feet long. I am pretty sure this came with Real Flight. The 5 foot long cord works.

I also have a short 12" piece with rectangular plug (Futaba Micro Plug) http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=LXCGR6&P=Vand the other end is a female audio cord receptacle, to that I plugged in a mono audio cord (bought at Radio Shack) with male plugs on both ends. Also known as a spectrum trainer cord. This cord does not work. See message #22 for more information on this issue. Once I plugged in a working cord (5' long) and radio, the radio showed up in the controller menu and it was selected from the 2 available choices. If you do not see a second choice in the controller selection, you have connection issues.

I also want to note that when a helicopter model type is selected in the DX7s radio, channel 6(pitch) and channel 1 (throttle) both move the same. This prevents using the channel 6 from being used by the simulator. This is by design and nothing can be done about it.