Frsky - Taranis

Hi MikeB

Have been sorting out my taranis and wow, what a piece of kit I'm very impressed. You cannot beat a £1.85 sensor that plugs straight into RX and tells me via speech from the TX what my lipo pack voltage is doing whilst in flight, wow again.

I'ts complicated with all the various options but the simple stuff is still simple. Have got it to do what my optic did with no problems. Just trying to get my head around the extra bits and EEPROM programming / downloading via laptop. It seems that every single function is programmable.

Will probably be tapping you up for some info Mike on the odd occasion, I hope you don't mind.

Tom

Tom.
This tx sounds good, will have to follow your experience as i will need to upgrade one day.

Simon

Here are the specifications. Personally I am not convinced to buying one at present.

When the first batch was released, dealer T9Hobbysport was virtually sold out immediately. Many enthusiasts had pre-ordered this new transmitter to ensure they were the first to have the Open Source software powered controller. Designed to be fully programmable by the user. However, it takes some "learning curve" to get to grips with it. See T9Hobbysport. WMAC member Mike Blandford, who wrote some of the software will be talking about this TX at Club Night on January 10th.

The most important aspect for any transmitter is maintaining a rock solid connection with the receiver. FrSky is well known for the frequency hopping ACCST technology taking advantage of the entire 2.4GHz band resulting in excellent range and reliability. FrSky knows many things can affect the connection between Transmitter and receiver so RSSI (receiver signal strength indication) is incorporated into all telemetry receivers. The Taranis transmitter is continually monitoring the reception quality at the aircraft. Taranis will alert the pilot before signal quality becomes critical. In addition to RSSI, Taranis has other safety features.

Receiver Lock allows you to lock a specific model in the transmitter to one and only one receiver. No more flying with the wrong program selected.

Taranis has three different types of Failsafe. 1 - Hold last known commands, 2- Goto a programmed state (cut throttle, flaps down, etc. 3- No output. (Triggers flight controllers with "go home" feature.) The RSSI feature means you probably won't ever use the failsafe.

Voice Alerts Just like having a copilot, the transmitter will give you voice alerts on speaker or through the headphone jack. Count down timers, low voltage warnings, landing gear down, thermal mode entered, etc. can all be set up with human recorded voice of your creation, or sound packages shared online from other hobbyists

The open-source software for the Taranis has been developed by hobbyist’s in the R/C community. The programmers of the transmitter’s firmware and companion software which runs on Linux, Windows, and Macintosh are very receptive to input and requests from users

With 60 model memories, tons of mixes, 9 flight modes, sequencing, servo speed, programmed delay all kinds of triggers, and the ability to assign any channel to anything, it is hard to come up with something this radio can't do. With this level of complexity, you would think the programming would be a real nightmare, but thanks to the forward thinking of the open source community, we can set up and test our programs on our favorite computer (PC, Mac or Ubuntu), it even features a handy set up wizard that will take care of most of the work! But they also made it easy to share programs freely via the USB port, or micro SD card on the back of the Taranis.

Are you heavily invested in another RF system? No worries, the Taranis actually has a normal JR style module on the back that will accept modules for other transmitting protocols. In the model setup you simply tell the system if you are using the external module, and it shuts down the internal FrSky module. Now you can use your Futaba, Spektrum, JR and other receivers if you have a transmitter module that fits in a JR style module bay.

Features:

• Full Telemetry RSSI alarms (warns you of signal reception problems before disaster can strike)
• Self test of the transmitter antenna
• 16 channels (more when combined with external module)
• 60 model memories
• 64 mixers, 9 flight modes
• 16 custom curves with 3-17 points each, 32 logic switches
• Voice or custom sound alerts
• USB and SD card slot for system expansion
• Long range system capable of up to 3 times the range of current 2.4 systems
• Quad bearing gimbals that are silky smooth
• State-of-the-art open source software
• Large 212 X 64 backlit LCD screen
• Real-time data logging
• Receiver lock (program locked to aircraft - limited to FrSky receivers running PXX protocol)
• JR Style module bay for additional RF modules and so much more
• Selectable flight mode (1, 2, 3, or 4)
• 2 timers, count up or down, throttle %, talking, etc.
• Trims - Adjustable from course to extra fine with extended and exponential trims
• Standard trainer jack
• ARM Cortex M3 32-bit 60MHz
• Integrates with CompanionTX – a FREE computer program that is a transmitter setup buddy. CompanionTX (Windows/Mac/Linux) is used to set-up models with the wizard, save, edit and share your models and settings as well as simulate your transmitter or model setup.
• USB connection for firmware upgrades, sound editing, R/W to the microSD card and integrate with CompanionTX
• Sticks and pots can be calibrated by the end user
• Multiple language support (Radio arrives configured for English language)

So why are you not convinced Phil?? If its as good as you just said it was it sounds like a bargain

The specs are indeed excellent as you can see from my copy and paste input. Really have to make careful comparisons with two top notch JR transmitters that I am considering. The new 11ch and the Zero. The former is DSM and DSMX and is also getting rave reviews and the latter, the Zero which I tend to favour with the use of modules so can switch from DSM2, DMSS and possibly any other future frequency/modes. I am thinking 5.4Ghz!

The Taranis has voice prompts. A bit gimicky or useful? The case looks very JR but does it have quality dual ball bearing gimballs for long life and precision?


Taranis - The price is very attractive but somewhere some corners have got to have been cut, regardless of open source software. So, does this mean that the top brands are charging 75% of the cost of a TX just for their software which cannot be that much different. The main chip is generic with some slight mods probably from brand to brand.

No-one wants to throw good hard earned cash at a piece of essential equipment and wish they bought the other. The jury is out in my case!

If anyone is considering ordering one, just spotted one for sale on the BMFA website.
Guy lives in Dorset BH12PQ and was supplied by T9.

Regards

Colin.A