Buddy Cord set-up

[Pij]

Can anybody help me with this problem?

Between me and my son, we have a JR Max66 (mine) and a JR Quattro (his). I had thought that was a good combo for a buddy-box arrangement, and we have successfully used it on conventional planes.

BUT when I tried to use the arrangement on the Duck, his sticks controlled one servo each ie his elevator stick moved one elevon, his aileron stick moved the other elevon.

I had thought that the mixing issue would have been handled by the Master Tx, but obviously that was not happening.

How have others setup for buddy-box flying on combat wings? Have you needed to program the appropriate mixing on the slave TX too, or am I missing something?

(The Quattro is not programmable.)

[thevon]

Pij, yes I did the same thing to teach my son, but I used Hitec, and I was surprised because I thought that the programming would be by the master, but in fact both radios needed to be completely programmed for that plane! I think you need to set up both radios so that you can fly the model yourself using either, and then buddy them. When you're flying, your son can make trim changes and they don't affect your radio.

It's a great system - good on you for doing it. It really helped us. Not only for Nick, but other friends who came along to watch could have a go too, which is a heckuva lot more interesting than just spectating!

Then I broke my switch on the Optic 6, and even after putting in a new one it didn't work - must have fried something. Now I'm on Multiplex and I doubt that it's compatible with Hitec - but will try!

Cheers
A

[Pij]

Son's radio is a simple. non-programmable 4-ch radio, unable to do mixing or adjust rates. So we won't be able to train this way with the current gear.

I'd have to save up to get another radio like mine.

I read some Americans talking about Multiplex and Hitec being in fact the same ownership, thus using many of the same systems. Your MPX might in fact be compatible with the Hitec. Worth a try.

[Hamburglar]

Or you could always use it as an excuse to buy a new glider

The setup should work with a conventional aileron/elev glider.

[Pij]

VERY good point. I have my eye on the Windrider Easy Pro, which I hope will be a good, forgiving, light-air slopy, and a possible thermal trainer too.

My son wants to save up for a MPX Easyglider Electric. I'm enjoying the unpowered type of flying too much to be much interested in that myself, but I think it's a good choice for him, as a first aileron plane. He's only done a few minutes with my aileron electrics.

[thevon]

Buddying radios is often a vexing issue. One major limitation is that the radios being used must both use the same channels for the functions. Generally no problem at all for elevon foamies, with just Ch 1 an Ch 2 and with a bit of servo reversing and trimming you can quickly get another radio working. But with sailplanes, when you have (e.g.) a 6 channel Tx for master and a 5 channel Tx for slave, you may find that these radios use different channels for flaps, for example. Aaah, but why not just ignore the flaps, I hear you say?? Problem is that soon as you switch over to the 2nd radio it's sending a different flap centring signal and they come down halfway! Or something like that. It's possible that the 2nd aileron may use different channels too. There may be ways around it but I found it quite a headache. But as I said, no problem for foamie wings.

[ding]

Well I've been using JR's to buddy box for training for 20 years now and never had a problem (apart from feeling old)!

I'd suspect that you've got the mode on one of them set wrong. That would be the first thing I'd check.

[Pij]

What do you mean?

I don't have a problem buddying on a normal plane setup, just on the elevon arrangement. The slave radio is not programmable, has no mixing, has no dual rates, has no end-point adjustment etc. But I had hoped the master would do all that stuff. My conclusion to this point is that the slave radio needs to be able to be set up to fly the elevon glider, as Andrew has said, before it is capable of successfully operating the elevon glider as a slave.

If you have information to the contrary, I'd be happy to hear it.

Which "Mode" setting are you referring to? Do you mean mode1/mode2, as in whether the throttle is on the left or right? Neither radio is able to change that without surgery. They are both mode1.

Do you mean Heli/Plane/Glider mode? Only one radio is able to be set. The other radio does not have such a function.

Or do you mean something different?