can someone help me to understand programing my tx. dual rate and expo. why and how would expo benefit me and my flying. can someone please explane? thank you

yeah sure. expo is used to soften the response around neutral, without reducign the total throw.

most people swear by it, i can't stand it. i have a bare minimum 20% on high rates on my foamy and 0 on low.

High/Low rates. this is so that you can have low travel for landing/takeoff and high travel for aerobatics/3d. some high end radios support triple rates

hope that helped.


richo

I in fact agree with richohealey on the expo... Yes, it is OK to "soften up" the rudderthrows on foamies and wild 3D-planes but I never use it on real RC-planes. (3D and foamies are NOT real models, they don`t fly like a plane...)

But on the other hand I use dual-rates the opposite way from richohealey on acromodels. On takeoff and landing I have the dualrates OFF to be able to correct for gusts. And when I start to fly acro I switch the dualrates ON to get the proper rudderthrows to suit my flying, throws that are small enough to be able to do unnoticeable (for the judges) corrections through loops, CubanEights, VerticalEights and so on. As an example I prefer the elevator throws to be so small that I use appr 3/4 of the stick-movement to perform a BIG loop. Which gives very smooth flying! And for the landing I of course need more elevator to be able to flare properly and to correct for gusts again.
I use my dual-rates a lot, switching through flights. And also they are a great help when testing a new model.

thanks for the reply. if i were to use expo what should i start the setting out at. im new and the plane i have is sensitive.

What plane do you have and what transmitter are you using?

Yes it depends on the plane as reneb said...

But you said your plane is sensitive. If this is a foamie or a wild 3D-machine I would suggest 40% expo on ailerons and rudder and 60% on elevator as the first attempt. In addition use dualrates on your first flights to avoid just snapping into ground before you have learned the behavior of the plane.

On really wild 3D`s it is not unusual to have 80% expo on the elevator and 50-80 on ailerons depending on what you like and what suits your flyinghabits

thank jooNorway. that helps. i would never had gussed that people would go as high as 80%. i have a tensor and a gws corsair. futaba 6 chanel radio

Be sure and use negative numbers! (-40%) to soften the feel on Futaba

mmm that's interesting jooNorway. some of my planes i fly around on high rates the whole flight and only have low so that dad doesn't freak out when he flys them. but with my foamy, (it's the most aerobatic model i have for now), low rates are a must when landing etc. at 45 deg travel on everything it takes one reflex push to the edge to un-roll if the wings catch the wind to roll it into the ground VERY fast. like your style though. one thing i should point out, test your expo before you fly, different radios use positive or negative to soften, the other way to harden them (bad). also think about whether you should have all the surfaces on one switch ofr seperate. liek on my sportster, i have 3 switches, so that i can have low aileron and still high rudder and elevator if i want it for some manouvers. but my foamy i need to be able to switch from 3d to normal very quickly, and so have them all on one switch, because if i fumble down low, it's all over.


hope this helps


-richo

I would start at -35% on your Futaba--- Remember it just softens the movements of the surfaces AROUND THE CENTER of the stick travel- Full stick still means full throws! It will make your flying smoother and as you improve you may actually want the airplane to be more sensitive- My airplanes are ridiculously sensitive, to the point that my friends do not enjoy flying my planes cuz they seem twitchy!

I started in 1982 before we had D/R and expo. (At least I did not have it-) and it helped my flying. Now I can fly a plane that is SUPER sensitive without overcontrolling it... Mainly because I learned that the more I moved my thumb, the more the airplane would move

WHat are you flying and what is your experience level?

Take care and have fun!

richohealey, it is especially on more pure acro-machines I run on "low" in flight and "high" during takeoff and landing. On my Funtana90 I prefer to have dualrate on "low" for my ailerons on landings and takeoff yes, it could be a short ride into ground on such a sensitive bird. Problem is the gusts on the airfield...
The way we prefer to program and use rates and expo on our transmitters is not the same for everyone, after some years we have our personal preferences and bad habits