Ok so I maidened the Extra 300s yesterday and was successful with three flights and three fair to good landings. I have to say the plane seemed to fly pretty good. Was pretty stable in the air and trimmed out nicely. It is fast on the elevator (may need a tad bit more nose weight) and flys nicely at low speeds. Was able to float in for pretty good landings. I will say that I never landed it hard by any means but it seems that any landing with some what splay the landing gear out a bit. My third landing was really nice and soft and it even bent the landing gear out a little?? Seems to be really weak aluminum for a plane of this weight?? I was experiencing a real problem with the plane seeming to loose all control at certain areas in my flight path?? Not sure if I was looseing signal or what but it would just shoot all over the place with no input from the transmitter?? Not sure thatit was a distance issue or what cause in one area Iseemed to be further awayfrom the plane and had total control and then in a certain area (almost every time in that certain area) the plane would just go really crazy all over the place and then I would get control again??? What is happening here?? Seemed that all servos were osolating and just haphazaredly moving everywhere??? Really scary like it was just one flinch away from burying itself in the ground. I was flying on my bros land and near a large metal barn, but I don't think that would cause this behavior?? The radio is a JR6channel. New and operating on 72mhz on channel 18. I did the feild check where I walked away with the antenna in and checked the opertion and all seemedgood. Am I loosing signal or getting some sort of interference? I need some help in diognosing this problem guys!!! I have too much time in this build and it seems to fly too good to loose it to aradio glitch!!! Isthere some way to test this operation to see if it is loosing signal? Or a test to check for interference???? Anyone have this problem, and can tell me what to do to fix it???? Help guys!!!


Thanks for reading!!

What was the distance from you with the tx to the barn? When you experienced the erratic movement, what was the distance of the plane to the barn?

Sounds like it could be either destructive/constructive radio interference. (Destructive would cancel or attenuate the amplitude signal whereas constructive would enhance/"broaden" or strength the amplitude of the signal.

My suggestion would be to test the airplane out with another TX-RX set, preferably 2.4ghz. It will let you identify whether its a radio problem or mode sickness (you know, new airplane... feels as if you are not in control but in reality you just dont know what you are doing)

Do if before you dig the airplane in. A plane in hand is worth two in the bush (wait... that cant be the right saying)

By the way, you didnt tell which make airplane, engine and servos you used

Ameyam

ggraham500 ... I would say I was about 30 yards orso from the barn and the plane seemd to be the closest to the barn during my flight path that I was flying. The plane was probavbly around 60 to 80 yards away when it was going irratic.


ameyam... No mode sickness here... the plane was actually flying really good. didn't take me long to get a good handle on the feel of this plane.
The plane is the Aero Sport Extra 300s 60 size with a Magnum .91 4 stroke motor... I used the jr 5300 or something like that servos.

What I was always taught was never point any antenna directly at your aircraft. Always at a tilt. I use about 30-45 degrees when I used 72MYz and now with 2.4GHz. My impression is that there may have been some RFI (radio frequency interference) from echo signals from the metal barn.

Can you fly where the barn would be at your back? Maybe worth a try and see if that makes any difference.

Certainly needs further testing perhaps with another rx. Perehaps additional info on radio, servos, battery may help. Surprised you got 3 flights in.

I am using thr rx that came with the Jr Transmitter. It's like a jr610ul or something. I am learning that this is possibly for ultra light aplications? The battery i am using is 4.8v and is 2000mah.
The radio and receiver are both 6 channel. Could the "ultra light" rx be the problem? using 5 standard servos with this rx setup??? Trying to learn as I go here fellas!!!

If you haven't done so already, you should do a range check out to 100 yards. The symptoms sound like an intermittent weak signal - is it worse further away or occasionally occurs close in as well? I think you should try it at another site where there is no barn to see if that makes a difference. If not, the first step might be to replace the Tx. You don't want to fly anymore than you have to until you fix the problem.

I posted the below info concerning the componants I am using. Is there any concerns as to the "UL" designation on the Rx I am using. Seems as though this is for Ultra Light applications. Could the standard servos I am using be "overpowering" the Rx in some way. Does anyone think that a R700 receiver may fix my problem? Thanks again for everyone's patients and info/advise!!!


I am using the rx that came with the Jr Transmitter. It's like a jr610ul or something. I am learning that this is possibly for ultra light aplications? The battery i am using is 4.8v and is 2000mah.
The radio and receiver are both 6 channel. Could the "ultra light" rx be the problem? using 5 standard servos with this rx setup??? Trying to learn as I go here fellas!!!

Have you taken the plan out to the spot where you received the "glich". In otherwords, take the plan out there and set it down. Now go back to where you were flying rom and see if it still gets interference. You may need a buddy to help. If you keep getting interference in only this one spot I'd say the BARN is the problem. Try moving where you fly from and test to see if you can locate yourself where you get no interference.

not exactly. Putting the planer on the ground at the same spot and having it engine on and 50-300 ft in the air is a totally different set of geometrics. Not comparable.

Ok fellas I am looking for someones opinion on the RX I am using???? Is it the problem. Can they be overpowered?? It is suposedly for an Ultra Light application rx??? I am pushing 5 standard servos through it?? Seems to me if it has the hookups for those servos, and that many servos,it should handle them....but I don't know much about it?? I definitly don't want to have to just start buying parts to fish around for the problem!!! Some are saying the Tx... some are saying the Rx..uuuggghhh!

Thanks again for the help!!

Marko.

Ok so I purchased a new RX for the JR Tx I'm using and was finally able to give it another go yesterday morning. The plane flew pretty much the same as the first flights with pretty stable flight anf predictable resposes to inputs. It doesn't seem to be experiencing any of the interference or lose of signal issue that I had before. That's good news. This seems as though it will be a fun plane to fly!! I did have a mishap on my first flight. The swivelthat attaches the throttle linkageto the throttle servo totally came off. I was stuck at aprox 3/4 throttle!!!
Could not land under those conditions!!!! I was forced to fly it until it ran out of fuel and then hope I was in a positon to deadstick it in!!! I kept it in an area that would give me the best opportunity to to just that.... She ran dry and died pretty ubruptly, but I must say It seemed like I got a good 15 to 18 min of flight at 3/4 throttle(14oz tank)!!!!! I was not able to make it all the way to the runway for a landing and brought it in pretty nicely in some tall grass in the feild just short of the runway. The tall grass totally ripped the landing gear from the bottom of the plane!!! Nothing else hurt. Pretty sure I have it ready to go again after some 5 min epoxy. She only has 4 flights on her and she is already somewhat cobbled together!!! I will fly her till she won't go together any more!!!! Hopfully I will get many more flights out of her without incident!