Banked turns.

[sacko]

It's proportional to the stick input, and nothing else.

[Ruston]

The way I think of it is HH is like connecting the tail to a spring, if the tail is moved by an external force (wind) it will create a force to move the tail back to its starting position. Rate mode is like connecting the tail to a damper, the restoring force is only present whilst the tail is moving, so it'll slow the response to an external force down but not get you back where you started from.

[Biffa]

I run some expo on the rudder so there's less cross over of movements when using pitch/throttle but as others have stated it's really a personal thing and will also differ from each model you have.

To slow the tail down you could lower the rudder endpoints on your TX, just make a note of what they are at now though so you can always revert back to stock.

One more thing about expo if you add any is to work your way up to a figure and not put in a high % and work down. Too much can easily leave your model uncontrolable.

[Vikki]

Thanks, Biffa.

Thanks all. Very useful info. I shall dabble and learn

Vikki.

[jimmyhorns]

Hi Vikki, back to your original question, it might not be just a matter of whether expo would be good, but also what your piroette rate is.

What I mean by this, is how many degrees of rotation you get at full deflection of the rudder stick per second. If I dont reduce this on my hawk, I get mindblowing piroette rates but it makes the gentle smaller inputs much more difficult.

You may want to think about reducing the piroette rate as well as adding in some expo. I run about 20% expo on the rudder depending on model and whether I remember to put it in when programming

[Vikki]

Thanks, Jimmy. I'll have a play and see what I settle on. Hadn't thought about piro rate, will certainly look at that.

[cjcj1949]

What is rate mode?

It's something to do with balsa and dope I think.

[Vikki]

What are you on, CJ? Whatever it is I want some

[cjcj1949]

I started with 70% rates and 25% expo. I needed that to be able to get any control. I now use no 100% and no expo when trying to roll or loop inverted. I forgot to use rates the other day and I thought I had a problem with the heli, so I've learnt to adapt to different settings. I've been flying things since 1980 and I do tend to adapt rather than notice. I'd try the settings on Phoenix first and see how you get on, you might find it destroys your feel and confidence, or you might hardly notice it. You'll soon know. Try small changes first.

Do you have a deep voice by the way?

[Vikki]

Thanks, CJ.

Nope, you lost me on that last sentence.

[James A]

Hi Vicki, I guess you may also be experiencing the steep learning curve of Helis, it's amazing how everything seems so fast at the beginning. I recently flew my Blade SR again having not flown it in ages and was amazed by how slow it was on the cyclic etc and more importantly by how far I had to move the sticks to get it to do anything compared to my 450 and 500. With regard to Expo on the ruder, I don't think I use any, but I did notice something interesting the other day when switching through to rate mode, basically because of the limits of motion I have set in the gyro all my rudder motion takes place in the first half stick (or so) and beyond that it does nothing. I guess this means I should change the % on the dual rate (D/R) so that effectively I move the stick further for the same amount of input. For me it's not too big a problem but it might be an issue you have making things more sensitive.

[Jez N]

Ok this is difficult to explain, so sorry if this all sounds rediculous ...

When the heli is flat, when you turn it is all about the rudder.

If the heli was at 90 degrees then you would need no rudder input to turn. It would all be about the elevator, which would essentially be acting like your rudder.

So learning to do banked turns is all about training your brain to put more stick input into the elevator than into the rudder as the rudder and the elevator are sharing the job of turning the heli

Expo will help reduce unnecessary movements and reducing ATV will reduce the piro rate. But only practice will make you put in the right amount of stick input into the elevator to make a nice controlled banked turn whilst adding in just enough input with the rudder to make it all look nice without the tail slewing round and making it all look untidy!

Once you can do those banked turns and continue them on full circle keeping them nice and tidy you are into the realm of starting funnels and hurricanes, where all of a sudden the elveator turns into the aileron and the aileron becomes the elevator and the brain starts to go into meltdown for a few months interspersed with smacktalkrc videos!

Anyway, i hope that made some sense. But i guess what i am trying to say is that it is all about practice and not necessarily about changing the amount of expo or the piro rate

[AcidDrink]

Most rudder gyros have about 50% expo built in.

[cjcj1949]

Thanks, CJ.

Nope, you lost me on that last sentence.

It's about bringing down the tone....

[Vikki]

Too subtle for me, CJ, too subtle. Jeepers, man! I only got a brain slightly bigger than a larger than average walnut