Re: 72 Mhz radio question

Hi Brian,

Welcome to the club.  Pretty much all of us old timers learned just like you
are.  The only difference is we didn't have the option.  There weren't any
RC sims back then.  Shoot, there weren't any home computers back then!!
Experienced pilots were very few and far between and the radio systems
didn't have buddy box capability even if the experienced guys were around.
Just keep doing what you're doing.  You'll get there just fine.

No offense, but I've heard that before!  ;-)  The more you learn and the
more comfortable you get with the model, the more you're going to want to
do.  Basic aerobatics like loops and rolls aren't that big a deal and once
you get them down, they're the building blocks toward more complicated
maneuvers.  You'll see!

Have fun and Fly Safe,
Steve R.

I guess I'm somewhat unique in the training department.

I've had lots of sim time (20+ yrs), but not RC sim time.
So I know what does what and how it all interacts.

I fashioned my own training gear, and took baby steps.

I crashed quite a few times learning but I took it in stride.

I've had zero buddy time.

A year on I'm still not pushing myself hard. I have yet to
even consider a nose in hover. I can fly back and forth OK,
as long as the turns are nose out.

I just take the attitude that if I were in a real bird, I
wouldn't be pushing my envelope and risking death, so why
should I with an RC?. I'm at the point that if I get squirly
I just point the tail in and hover. I don't crash anymore...
well, I do....once in a long while and it's usually not hard.
In fact, my last one didn't even crack the blades.

To be honest, I don't think I'm all that interested in doing
3D or other stunts with the heli. I think it's cool enough
just to see that tiny machine sitting there in the air.

Now...my P51 is another story. I'm worried the wings are going
to snap off.

Brian

I recently watched a You toob vid of a guy who had his "supposedly" first
flight fimed. The clip was up to about 4 minuteswhen he was holdeing a
pretty good stable hover. Unfortunately, he forgot to mention that the clip
wasn't shot "as one", and most definitely not on the same day. One day he
had traing gear on and at the 4-5 minute mark, it mysteriously disappeard. I
knew it was bo9llocks, but the comments showed that others cicn't.

I know I've saved a lot of guys a sh.t load of money and grief over the
years by rescuing dead helicopters seconds before they died :-)

Most guys want to fly like the experts on their first day and it comes a a
bit of shock to most when they discover that's not going to happen. Sims are
a must for those types.

Yep and I'm not impressed with the ease at which a Li-Po can self ignite
either.

I wouldn't ever try to teach someone at the field with an electric heli.

Persackerly.

I agree with what Beav has said here.  Definitely get the sim.  I taught a
guy a few year ago.  We setup his Stinger 30 (a Raptor knock off) with a
buddy box and I took him from raw beginner to soloing on his own in about 6
months.  He was actually ready to be free of me before that but just wanted
the security blanket.  It was a lot of fun for both of us.  He had spent a
lot of time on the sim before we hooked up and was nicely solid in his first
hovering attempts.  I figure I saved him a couple dozen rebuilds when he
started moving the bird around.  It takes a while to develop the orientation
skills needed when the bird flies away from you and we were able explore all
angles of orientation together.  Between me and the sim, he picked up
nose-in hovering pretty fast.  I've also found that most folks try to
advance way faster than they should.  A sim can make all the difference with
that.

I also prefer nitros to electrics at this point.  Lipo batteries can be
expensive, especially for the larger birds, although that's getting better,
and you'll need the charging equipment for them.  The batteries aren't that
bad, price wise, for the smaller birds but then you run into the issues of
stability and visibility.  They get small, "real fast" when they fly away
from you.  The positive side of electrics is that, once you've got the
batteries, you're pretty much done.  Nitro fuel isn't cheap either and nitro
birds are messy compared to their electric counterparts.  In the case of my
ex-student, I'm glad we had a nitro bird to work with.  Unless you've got a
fair number of batteries to play with, you'll be spending down time waiting
for batteries to recharge.  That's not an issue with nitro powered machines.

Good luck & Fly Safe,
Steve R.

First port of call would be a simulator. As for a "proper" heli, I consider
anything that's equipped with collective pitch and not electric powered to
be getting close. Heli's of choice that I've used for teaching for the past
20 years are:-

Kalt Cyclone. 50/60 powered (nitro). No longer in production.

Kyosho Concept 30. 30 powered (5cc nitro). Again, no longer in production.

Thunder Tigre Raptor. 30, 50, 60 and 90 powered. All good but none as good
as the Concept. Still available.

A thing to bear in mind is size (and weight). The more inertia a machine
has, the easier it is to control and with size and weight comes inertia. Not
as "flighty" as something palm or "sports hall" sized and capable of
handling winds without trouble. Of course, as inertia is the force that
keeps stationary things stationary, it also keeps moving things moving, it's
easier to keep the heli still (hovering), but once it "gets away" from you,
it gets away at a f.cking good rate of knots. An instructor is a f.cking 
good idea as is a well set up machine.

It's well known that I'm not a great fan of electric heli's, even though
I've owned a few over the years and have recently bought another two, but
these latest ones are for farting about with trying to knock one out of the
sky with the other (my son handling the offensive manoeuvres:-). This isn't
to say that they're crap, but they're not noisy enough, not smelly enough
and they don't fly for long enough to suit me. Nitro powered heli's have the
right amount of inertia for their size, but generally speaking, they used to
cost more than electrics although I'm not sure this is true now.

Electrics are easier to get started with, but given the choice between a 50
sized electric and a 50 sized nitro powered heli, I'd go with the nitro
every time. Look at the TT Raptor range as they're possibly the best value
for money nitro machines out there.

http://www.chopperhobbies.com/helicopter-kits/nitro-kits/raptor-30-kits/standard
-helicopter-kits/thunder-tiger-raptor-30-v2-sc-super-combo.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6L-feZnj5k&feature=related

Not bad for not much money.

Beav, what would be your choice of a 'proper' helicopter, for my experience
level, considering I am presently sitting at zero hours of experience with
RC Helo flying.

Danny

And it needs to be. The falcon 40 is (almost) a "proper" RC heli, while the
co-ax is something slightly above a fun time toy.

Best thing you can do.

There needs to be some sort of match between the crystal in the Tx and the
one in the Rx. It's more than likely that there isn't in your case. They
have to share the same frequency band (27, 35, 49, 72mHz etc) and they have
to share the same "slot" within the band. Example being 35mHz.... 35.000,
35.010, 35.020 ad nauseum All the crystal controlled radio's need to have
hises matches.

They'll be there to reverse the direction of the servo's associated with the
channel numbers next to the di switches. Leave them be.

For now :-)

Make up a training undercarriage for the Falcon for at least the first few
flights. Plenty of examples to see on the web (trainging gear for RC
heli's). This will keep damage to a minimum if nothing else.

Don't f.ck about with the dodgy radio, get it sorted by the manufacturer and
use the training gear.

I am new to this group and new to R/C helo flying.  I'm a long time M$
Flight Simmer and love to fly the helos in the sim. But I know full well
that flying with a joystick and flying with a two stick transmitter is a
completely different technique.

For Christmas I was given an Falcon 40 and a co-axial AH64 Apache, by Colco.
Both are 4 channel machines. The transmitter that came with the Apache
appears to be of less quality than the transmitter that came with the Falcon
40. It apparently has an electrical short in the internal circuitry and
works sometimes and dead other times. I will be addressing that matter with
the seller this week.

In the meantime, I took the Tx crystal out of the bad transmitter and put it
into the Falcon 40 transmitter to see if it would work but I get no response
from the Apache when the Tx is turned on.  The TX radio for the Falcon 40
has some dip switches on the back but I have not made any attempt to change
them as I have no idea what these switches control.  That radio works great
when the Falcon 40 matching crystal is installed in the radio. I can't fly
it yet. I did have to give it a try and got it off the ground an inch or two
for 3 seconds or so, then set it down before I could damage it.

Any suggestions or comments about the radios will be appreciated.
Danny