Why not a USB to Dongle Adaptor?

[Kozmyk]

Hand inches towards debit card ....... beads of sweat appear on brow

Cheers for that Andy.

I'd be more inclined to use a sim both as general flight practise and manoeuvre training AND for helping me to judge when I was ready to move up a step.
As in "If I cant fly that type in a good sim, what are my chances of flying a real one?".

Unfortunately there's no local RC shop in this town any more and I'm between vehicles, as it were, so going to see one up close would be difficult right now.
I have mobility problems so I avoid public transport unless it's absolutely necessary.

I think tomorrow could well see me ordering a DX6i. Something to look forward to eh ? It's less than a week since my birthday so I reckon I'm still in the good excuse zone for buying new toys ... ermmmm serious recreational equipment.

[xygax]

Koz.....

Just go and buy your self a trex 700 and a 12 FG.... Yuo can then have the same sort of bank issues we all have.... and you could just about be justified in moaning about them....

Fly safe.....

[waveydavey]

Koz, have you thought about looking for a second hand Tx. Either BMFA classifieds or ebay should see the price come down a bit. For me I would put the extra to it and get the DX7. I don't use one but I do have a DX6i and they aren't the best tx in the world.

[spunkmyer]

Ooookay ....

I've shopped around and found a DX6i with AR6200 Rx for 114.99 OR DX6i Tx Only for £84.60.
While I'm doing this "looking into the future" lark I think it's quite likely that I'm going to come to a stage where I'll be wanting to put a Receiver into something and I can't find an AR6200 for anything like the difference (£28.40) so I guess it's the combo for me.
Sorry if I'm doing my thinking out loud here.

Hmm I would go here : Al's Hobbies - Spektrum Radios

DX6I for £79.99 with out rx so at least you can choose a good rx that you want.

[GravityKills]

remember, a sim is only useful if you are planning to use it. It takes a lot of time.

Yes you can go straight for a real model and learn your lessons the hard way. If so, chances are good that you'll always feel second-best, compared to the other guys at the field who use the sim frequently. It's not really about talent, but mostly about hard work and motivating yourself. There is no general rule, for some it works, others fail miserably. Most sim-haters (in my experience) progress at a much slower rate than those who learn to use the sim efficiently.

Also, you should know that surprisingly many flyers give up after the first serious crash, because they don't understand why it happened and don't see how to avoid it the next time. In this case, be prepared to write off basically everything, the re-sale value of a crashed heli is rather low.

[unwind-protect]

Hmm I would go here : Al's Hobbies - Spektrum Radios

DX6I for £79.99 with out rx so at least you can choose a good rx that you want.

Inwoods are a couple of pounds cheaper. I'm sure there was someone in the BMFA rag advertising the DX6i for about £50!

Don't forget you'll also need 4 AA rechargable batteries and a recharger, or a big pile of disposable cells.

[Kozmyk]

the re-sale value of a crashed heli is rather low.

Heh heh. I like that one.

Turns out I have a friend of a friend "in the trade" so I'm waiting to hear what deals might be doable.

Gives me time to ponder on the "DX7 vs DX6i" issue.

"Does the temptation never end?" I ask myself.

[andylinney]

Heh heh. I like that one.

Turns out I have a friend of a friend "in the trade" so I'm waiting to hear what deals might be doable.

Gives me time to ponder on the "DX7 vs DX6i" issue.

"Does the temptation never end?" I ask myself.

Quick answer to that question is no lol. You've seen the DSX9 and 12 right?

[waveydavey]

Inwoods are a couple of pounds cheaper. I'm sure there was someone in the BMFA rag advertising the DX6i for about £50!

Don't forget you'll also need 4 AA rechargable batteries and a recharger, or a big pile of disposable cells.

Some clubs won't allow dry cells and the BMFA advises against the use. I converted my sons DX6i to a NiMh, very easy and you can re-charge through the jack on the side.

Again, personally I would go for the DX7, it's not that the DX6i is really bad just that the DX7 is so much better. I use a PCM9X2, a superb Tx although 35meg and you can get them cheap now.

[moyesboy]

I thought almost any unprogrammalbe tX will work wirth Phoenix? is there not a jack on your esky tx you already have?
all the Heli mixes are possible in the Phoenix software, you can set eveything there, you just need a 4 channel tx to fly anything (all the extra stuff, t hold, flight mode, retracts etc) is on the keyboard too. Phoenix can even de-mix an eccpm signal and make it into separate elev, aileron and collective so a cheap dedicated heli tx will fly planes.

From what I understand USB controllers won't necessarily have the proportional functions of an RC tx and might not work in a useful manner.

Look on ebay for a horrible cheap and nasty chinese 35Mhz tx. I got one from a member on here a while back for my son to play with on phoenix at insignificant cost. an FTC06P or something like that. It works on phoenix fine via the stereo jack.

[heliphil]

I have got a Planet 5 radio from J Perkins - yours for a tenner posted - it works fine with Phoenix

[Kozmyk]

Some clubs won't allow dry cells and the BMFA advises against the use.

Are they also against NiMh rechargeables?
Is it the risk of disconnection they don't like or the discharge voltage characteristics of alkaline cells?

[glen_j]

its the risk that the connection on the battery terminals could become intermittant due to being a spring type connection

[malloryn]

its the risk that the connection on the battery terminals could become intermittant due to being a spring type connection

Yep, this is what started to happen on my DX6i after removing the batteries for charging. The spring aren't great and soon loose their tension.
Overall the loose cells and cover doesn't seem to be the most secure option.

BTW I've made the mod to use a standared Nimh pack. Simple and much more secure. In fact I now need to lever the pack out it's such a good fit.