per.takman

I just bought a Futaba 18MZ and discovered that there are no virtual channels like on my 12FG.


Unless I'm mistaken I have to use two real channels in order to utilize the butterfly and camber mixing menus. This seams like a waste when all the required processing can be done in the TX anyway. Another option would be to use the prog. mixers, but they don't allow hardware assignment to a function not assigned to a real channel. Somewhat of a catch 22 it seems.


Have I misunderstood something or has this been overlooked by the Futaba software engineers?

Best regards,

Per Takman

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

Nothing has been overlooked. To get 18 channels in the 18MZ, room had to be made somewhere, so virtual channels went out. In the old 14MZ, you had four virtual channels, but only 14 actual channels. You now can have 18 actual channels.

In the programmable mixes, you can most certainly use a switch, knob, or slider to be the master. When you touch "Master" in the first screen, you go to the page that allows you to select the function that is the master. In the lower right-hand corner is a touch labelled, "H/W". That allows you to select hardware as the master. Touch it and you go to the screen that will let you choose what the master control is.

per.takman

Thank you for your quick answer Bill!

Unfortunately, your answer generated further questions and comments.

I fully understand that I can use programmable mixers to assign any hardware to be the master. This is a great feature! However, when it comes to the slave assignment, it seems to me like I can only choose from the functions that have been assigned to real channels. This means that unless I commit 1 channel for Butterfly and 1 channel for Camber I can't choose them as "slave".

This is unfortunate since both Butterfly and Camber are virtual channels by definition with the purpose to mix aileron(s) together flap(s) and elevator. Both of these mixer menus are special in that they never refer to a physical channel on the radio, but rather several channels.

It seems like one should be able to avoid loosing two channels if there was either two virtual channels available in the functions menu or if the programmable mixers would allow assignment to any function name registered in the function name menu in addition to the real channel functions.

These two schemes are basically the same and all processing would be done in the TX software, which means that no hardware would have to change.

Can you shed some light on why this is either impossible or an unwanted feature?

Best regards,

Per Takman

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

As far as your opinion of how you Futaba should have programmed the 18MZ, we don't have an answer. We don't have information on how it was done by Futaba, in Japan. We are the support center for Futaba products in North America and are not a part of Futaba corporation. In fact, you are the first person we know of to have this "difficulty" with how Futaba designed the software for the 18MZ.

per.takman

Thank you Bill!

Don't get me wrong; the 18MZ is a fantastic product and I get your point. If possible, could you relay my question to Futaba Japan and see what they have to say about it? Both me and my fellow gliders agree that this feature could really improve the product.

I guess my question may sound strange, but my ASH31 7 m glider could really benefit from this feature. I use the 18MZ in combination with a Powerbox System Champion SRS, so I can use the built in servo matching feature for aileron 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 respectively. However, if camber and butterfly was assignable by other means I could have used the channel assignment below, thus avoiding using the Champion SRS for servo matching.

[TABLE="width: 151"]
[TR]
[TD]TX channel[/TD]
[TD]TX function[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Elevator[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Rudder[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]Motor[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]Aileron[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]Aileron2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]Aileron 3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]Aileron 4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]Airbrake[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]Airbrake[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]Flap[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]Flap2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]Flap3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]Flap4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]Brake[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]Gear[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]Tow[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]VC1[/TD]
[TD]Butterfly[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]VC2[/TD]
[TD]Camber[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]DG1/17[/TD]
[TD]Picolario[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]DG2/18[/TD]
[TD]-[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Again, thank you for a quick and honest answer!

Cheers, Per Takman