Fsky Taranis X9D Plus

Regarding which receivers to buy...it's a no-brainer. The X-series running EU-LBT will give you up-to-date telemetry options and integrate best with the latest version of OpenTX. You could use D-series to save yourself a few quid but then you lose the options of using the latest telemetry sensors. And if you were wanting to fly beyond your line of sight you might want to get a long range receiver but then you have no telemetry at all. Finally, you might want to consider the S-series receivers if you wanted built in gyros.

MikeSeale wrote: Spektrum are not backward compatible anymore...the loophole was closed and their latest offerings can only transmit DSMX and not DSM2.

Loophole. Yes they did, I remember reading that a while ago. Therefore all the more reason to jump ship. I had better hang on to all my DSM2 receivers.

I am using X series.

I was hoping to get enough gen on the Taranis to be able to make a decision on the system.. I haven't spent a lot of time(yet) tinkering with the simulator. The huge Taranis front panel that shows on screen is a bit daunting. So far, all I've managed to do is set a timer that starts when the throttle is opened to max. What I don't understand is why do I have to weigh all the control surfaces? Does a 20g aileron demand more force from the servo than a 15g one?
To be honest, I wasn't expecting the complexity of OpenTx programming. For those happy souls who can write line after line of faultless code, the Taranis is probably something they could master in a matter of minutes. As a failed builder of IKEA flat-packs, I find it a struggle, especially as the system doesn't seem to be intuitive in any way . Perhaps someone will eventually publish an easy method, enabling those of us without a degree in computing to understand how to "speak" to the system. Something like an easy to read flow chart might help. Hopefully, with time, OpenTx will become used more, magazines will publish articles and flyers will trade their new found knowledge on the Internet. Until then, I'll stick with JR/Spektrum, although I think it might be time to stop using DSM2.
Thanks for starting the thread on the Taranis Phil, it certainly made me think about whether I should change over to OpenTx.
Mike, I ignored Phil's post as you suggested, but I don't believe that Phil will go quiet, not yet anyway.

I'll start an OpenTX thread just for OpenTX.

Brian, I too was daunted somewhat to learning a new way of doing simple things like flying a toy plane. Then as previously mentioned Spektrum have closed the firmware loophole for people like me who use DSM2 on my JR. Fortunately I have a lot of DSM2 & early DSMX.

Now here was my angst. Buy a new JR 11 or 14 @ £499? new DMSS receivers @ £69 at least. Add expensive telemetry modules?
Go OpenTX? Turnigy 9 or Taranis. Taranis X9D with 8 ch receiver with Sbus and Smart port the latter for adding modules or second redundancy receiver. £185 from HK. 8 ch X receivers £32. Built in Vario version £37. Being retired with fixed income I have to make choices very carefully.

See what an issue I had to mull over. Remembering the recent times of a crash course on C+ to program AtMega chips and here I was thinking of learning another new system. I still love my DSX9 but will persevere with OpenTX.

I have zipped an eepe file for you to play with for my Fox glider. work in progress!

Out of curiosity what telemetry are you guys using, I never look at the TX whilst flying so most of it seems like a gimmick to me

I am missing something??

The new JR RX's come standard with voltage telemetry but as I use a powerbox which regulates the voltage before it gets to the TX this function no longer serves any purpose, if you weren't using any kind of regulator I can see how this would be useful to check the battery voltage before each flight, not sure what else you need to know whilst flying

Telemetry is spoken by the TX is the big gain for me. Low battery RX and TX, power consumption, altitude, pitching up or down, airspeed, GPS to name but a few.

Hi Chris,

The X series RX provide two sources of telemetry back to you built in, one is received signal strength, the other is RX battery voltage. You automatically get a voice warning if your received signal strength hits the low threshold level. I have set my radio to warn me if My RX battery drops below a certain voltage, as I generally run HV servos from a 2S lipo this is helpful, less so if you are using a BEC.

I've got a another sensor that reads the individual cell voltages of the main flight pack, this is also set up to warn me if the pack voltage drops below a threshold I've set.

All of these sensors as well as stick inputs are logged onto an SD card.

I borrowed a GPS sensor from Mike, it was fun watching it draw my flight on google earth, but in reality it bore little resemblance to the smooth and graceful lines I was flying , I think it would be better in a none acrobatic plane or glider. I will put a vario in a glider so that I can set it up to kill the power at a certain height.

Other than real warnings or the timer, I do not want my radio taking to me.

Chris has highlighted some of the best options of telemetry.

Talking Transmitters! Surfing around I found a set up where if the plane is below a certain height and nose down the TX shouts "Pull Up Pull Up".:lol: Just for fun I assume.
The latter voice file is not in the standard sound pack but you can create your own by converting your voice file to a low bit-rate mono wav file.

JonTappin wrote: Following this thread as an outsider having never played with a Teranis (I have flown with Stuart's but never tried programming it) it does sound like a huge amount of faff to set up a fairly basic programme. Is it, or is Phil just making it sound like it is?

Setting up a new model with the transmitter is a simple 2-minute job. After selecting a new model memory you use a wizard to run through a few steps to decide what controls the model has (aileron, flaps, motor, etc). After that you have to do the usual malarkey of servo reversing, end points and so on. This is no easier or complex than it is on any radio that you are used to. For example, I have tried helping Simon Osborne (futaba) and Ernie (DX6) with their models and did not find it easy or intuitive.

Chris73 wrote: Out of curiosity what telemetry are you guys using, I never look at the TX whilst flying so most of it seems like a gimmick to me

I am missing something??

The new JR RX's come standard with voltage telemetry but as I use a powerbox which regulates the voltage before it gets to the TX this function no longer serves any purpose, if you weren't using any kind of regulator I can see how this would be useful to check the battery voltage before each flight, not sure what else you need to know whilst flying

You are correct that receiver battery voltage is meaningless if using a regulated supply. But as Chris has pointed out, you can use a sensor to relay the voltage of the battery and individual cells if you wanted to do so. I would also agree that telemetry is mostly a waste of time when all you want to do is fly. I have had telemetry with my Jeti equipped Multiplex transmitter for several years and did not use it after the first few months - looking at screens and listening to beeps was not that helpful! Voice alerts make it more useful and the added bonus is that it really annoys Mitch when he's flying next to you :evil: