Nearly lost Heli lol

[Gav]

Just a little 'heart stopping' story I had from a recent relaxing evenings flying lol.

I have been using a 35MHz PCM set up for ages now and have never had a problem flying my Hirobo Shuttle or even flying my Electric 450 till I started increasing the head speed and pulling loops and trying new things. 3 times now the receiver in the heli has stopped responding and it's ended in tears lol.

I nearly lost my chopper completely the other night as it decided to fly off on its own after a lockout using 35MHz PCM. Luckily the heli was upright and was travelling forwards and up when it happened - no response on the controls. I was legging it across the flying field like a Looney with the aerial waggling like mad on the tx, jumping through the long grass. I hit the throttle kill switch so I could tell when the radio started communicating again with the receiver in the heli. By this time the heli was almost a spec in the sky. At that time I had a vision of someone in their garden discovering a crash landed 450 heli miles from where I was flying lol. Few moments later it dropped like a stone, so I switched off the throttle hold and eventually gained orientation and caught control, phew. Landed then looked around to make sure nobody was watching. Looking forward to swapping out to 2.4GHz lmao.
cheers
Gav

[unwind-protect]

Sounds like you haven't set up the failsafes properly. 2.4GHz won't fare any better if you don't tell it to close the throttle in the event of losing the signal.

[SJMII]

Yep I know the feeling ..
Its just soo annoying Not only your flying skills but also to worry about reception ..
2 years I am on 2.4Ghz ..
Honestly I dont understand anyone still using antiquated FM systems
Once you have 2.4Ghz you will never even think about glitches and blackouts ..
See my singature ...

[SJMII]

Sounds like you haven't set up the failsafes properly. 2.4GHz won't fare any better if you don't tell it to close the throttle in the event of losing the signal.

???yes but I never even seen one or had one ..I know some people insist this can happen but I never seen it in 2 years and almost ALL pilots around here use Spektrum ..or at least 2.4Ghz ...I dont see anyone with a long antenna anymore ...
The absolute most imp[oratat development in RC over the last few years ..and still people dont take it ..not that it was long overdue anyway ..
My dad used 35Mhz in 1976!!!! And the technology almost didnt move for decades ...Just my 2 cent but sell your PCm and buy spektrum
You will soon forget what a glitch is

[scallybert]

Once you have 2.4Ghz you will never even think about glitches and blackouts ..

Based on my experience, I think you should think about it...

I'm pretty happy with my Spektrum kit - but it doesn't like static.

[SJMII]

Aye ..dont nitpick ...of course your right and you provide for the extreme and set a failsafe but what i said it it doesnt happen ..at least to me in 2 years
I dont even have static problems but then again i dont have a really small heli and i think this is an issue on the smaller helis (400)

[Gav]

Sounds like you haven't set up the failsafes properly. 2.4GHz won't fare any better if you don't tell it to close the throttle in the event of losing the signal.

failsafe was set but havent and wont bother looking into it closely to work it what happened - going to spend the time on the 2.4 settings when I have an evening spare - bye bye 35MHz.

[SJMII]

<APPLAUDS>

you wont regret it ...welkom to the frequency free zone ..Fly and dont worry about others ..another benefit of 2.4GHZ

[unwind-protect]

failsafe was set but havent and wont bother looking into it closely to work it what happened - going to spend the time on the 2.4 settings when I have an evening spare - bye bye 35MHz.

Ah, well that's different. Usually people's complaint is it going into a failsafe condition when they don't think it should; not sure I've ever heard of a PCM failsafe just 'not working'.

[acwman]

Quite a storey, and must have been a scarey moment for you watching your heli just fly away from you!

Have to agree that going to 2.4 was the best move that I made aswell. Back before 2.4, I was having the occasional glitches on 35mhz on the nitro belt driven helis.. especially in very dry summer days.

I then tried electric helis, and was forever getting problems with the interference. Other ppl seemed to fair better by moving electronics around etc. but I eventually had to throw in the towel with it.

Since the introduction of 2.4, I went straight back to electric helis, and never looked back...basically install radio and fly with no worries!

I did have one problem with one small heli with static. but was sorted out with a bit of silicone spray on the belt. Never had a problem with it since...And also, only ever had the problem on that one heli.


Andy

[Holst]

A friend of mine had the same thing happen to his plane.

It flew around for ages doing loops and getting further and further away.

Eventually it went too far away to see and he lost it, he did search for it but it could have come down miles away.

[scallybert]

Aye ..dont nitpick ...of course your right and you provide for the extreme and set a failsafe but what i said it it doesnt happen ..at least to me in 2 years
I dont even have static problems but then again i dont have a really small heli and i think this is an issue on the smaller helis (400)

It is a bit of a nitpick...

...but I had horrendous static problems on a v small EP100, that were really demoralising at the time - and expensive.

I'm pretty sure others have had problems on 450s (T-Rexs, maybe). Possibly not as extreme, but still not what you want.


So, I reckon it's well worth:

• being aware static can be a problem (as can brown outs) with Spektrum 2G4/DSM2
• making sure you have QC Rx firmware
• watching those Rx LEDs after flights for warning

[brin]

i would agree with scallybert on that one i also had loads of static problems i even had three complete loss of signal incidents with the ar500 in two of my planes ,one of them i may have tracked down to frequency noise from some jr371 servos the others i havn't a clue so in my view 2.4 is very good but not 100%.

[p4ddy]

I wish i'd been there with the camera LOL

Not a laughing matter i know & i'm so glad you recovered it safely.

[Dannyyy]

This guy im Subscribe to Uploaded this yesterday:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4Bl6DpqrqU]YouTube - TRex-450 V2 BAD Crash."Transmitter Nuked" 25/05/09[/ame]