Fsky Taranis X9D Plus

Hi Brian,

My X9E came with a little stub antenna, and I was not convinced I was getting the same signal strength I had when borrowing Mike's X9D. We have both since changed our antenna to conventional 2dB antenna. At the time I did wonder about the antenna with greater dB, but my research suggested that, yes you can get greater range, but at a cost, it's more directional. I came to the conclusion we really just want an omni directional, or as close as possible, antenna so that there are no dead areas to the sides.

I believe that the industry has standardised on the 2dB antenna as it best suites our intended use, and EU law has put a limit on the broadcasting power, so I can only assume that given ideal RX aerial placement that one system is going to perform very much like any other.

Are you experiencing range issues? Frequent RSSI low or Telemetry lost warnings?

I haven't flown with the Taranis yet Chris, but I have had some problems with Spektrum DSM2. I'm waiting for a couple of parts for my X9D, then I'll be able to do some proper testing at Cashmoor. I have wondered why the X9E has such a short aerial, I thought it was due to the fact that it had two. Didn't realise that one aerial is for Bluetooth. Leaving the aerial alone on the X9D is a relief, thanks for your comments on distance and direction. In any case, I don't think I could have soldered the tiny connections to the board, it looked quite fiddly.

I have had another flight with the 3 meter Fox Glider on the Taranis today with no issues. Have previously flown the Fox very high and a long way out the log file does not show any signal loss that would trigger a warning from the radio.

I have noticed too that the Open TX receivers lock on instantly when initially turned on compared to my DSM2 Spektrums and JR receivers which sometimes take several seconds or more.

Brian, I asked a friend who has been using his x9d for several years. His response is...

"I don’t think there is much to gain in the antennas but more how the antenna is installed. You can make things worse considerably and even wreck the board. The connector where you screw on the antenna also gives losses. The biggest reason why people started messing with it was when we had the 2015 EU firmware and lost 3/4 of the range! Since the LBT firmware the range is back to full and only if you have a dodgy one is it worth “fixing” it. You could then also consider getting the distributor to fix it."

I've fitted M9 gimbals to my X9D. The job was easy, I watched it on YouTube first. They have a good "feel" to them. The spring pressure is a bit firmer than the originals. There have been comments about gaps around the sticks, perhaps mine are different, the gaps are no worse than the original sticks.

All starting to sound like "Triggers Broom", it seems like everything from the gimballs to the antenna to the software to the firmware needs replacing routinely?

Oh John, It all depends on the spin you want to put on it.

The original gimbals are fine, but FrSky developed hall sensor gimbals (M9) and offered these as an optional upgrade for those that want them, they also put them in a "posh' version of the radio for those that like all the bells and whistles. They also developed a shorter throw gimbal for quad pilots. You could say they produced what the market wanted, or you could say they produced poor potentiometer based gimbals just like every other manufacture and made new versions because they could

OpenTX doesn't update all that frequently, it just happens that there has been a new substantial update recently. And you don't have to upgrade.

Firmware updates for TX and RX seem very infrequent, in fact the X8R firmware was changed in 2015 because of EU regulations and the Listen Before Talk protocol was introduced. I see the receiver now has a new firmware to take advantage of a new feature in the latest transmitter... I'm not sure how that's a bad thing?

I'm not suggesting OpenTX and FrSky are for everyone, but I do think post that suggest it's incredibly hard to use, or that they are forever changing things might put people off even considering it. I don't know when the X9D came out but I've seen the whole Spektrum line up change in that time and the X9D is still selling.

I'm off me soap box now

And after all this customising Brian, it is time to actually use it and drop a RX into a plane and fly it.......

I didn't intend to offend anyone when I bought a very cheap Taranis X9D (plus!) from the BMFA website. I was surprised that it was so cheap, even more surprised when the seller accepted a much lower offer for it. I bought the outfit after reading about it and talking to Taranis users at Cashmoor. The quality of the plastic case isn't up to the standard expected from Futaba/JR and the like, but its the insides that do the biz, not the bling. Now I've been able to update the firmware, found that I didn't need a different aerial.I found also that a lot of fliers using Taranis exchange information, not always relevant to those who fly fixed wing aircraft. Hence my questions regarding a higher gain aerial. However, installing Hall effect gimbals with upgraded bearings, gave a feel similar to my old JR sticks, and so far I've been quite pleased that I fitted them. I am now in the process of converting to the Taranis system. I'll be keeping my Spektrum DSMX receivers, I intend to fit a Spektrum DSMX compatible module to the Taranis, Hopefully, I won't lose yet another model due to signal loss or some other shortcoming of the Spektrum set-up. With a bit of luck,adding a DSMX module to my X9D won't equate to a "Trigger's Broom" , and having a mis-match between handle and broom head.

Chris001 wrote: I'm off me soap box now

I have increased your Karma by 1