I'm trying to mix in some elevator with rudder on my Futaba 6EX. I am able to only get it so it gives up elevator with left rudder and down elevator with right rudder, and vice-versa. How do you get it to always give up elevator regardless of rudder direction? Can't find it in the manual.

Thanks.

Please....

You might be running into a limitation of that radio. Some people think they are only paying for an extra channel with a 7c but in reality they are buying more flexable software and mixing options.

Yeah I looked at the manual for the 7c last night, WAY more flexible (includes directions for doing exactly what I want to do). I'm pretty disappointed with this radio now. What a waste of $$$.

I'm going from memory here, so I maybe wrong, but I believe you need to move the elevator stick to "up" when inputting the mix. You should see arrows change on the screen when you move the controls.

DaveB

It may be worth posting this to the Futaba Support Forum.

Regards,
=Adrian=

Yeah,I've personally never done this,but this is the way most of the other controls work. I too have the 6EX and it is a great radio. For a pilot of your experience,it will have MORE than enough flexibility. You just have to read the manual closer and learn how to use it before being "disappointed" in it. And if you still think its a waste of $$$.....just give it to me!!!

no, you can do it. Did you use one of the "free" mixes they allot you? I was able to program rudder in with ailerons so you should be able to do this.

Believe me on this one; I've read the manual, gotten help from the 'radio guru' at my club, and have been talking to the pattern guys. This mix is not possible on the 6EX. There are no 'arrows' under the P-mixes, except to denote the direction of the switch to turn the mix on and off. There are arrows for setting the expo and dual rates, but not for the P-mixes.

Yes, you can link rudder with ailerons; you input one direction of rudder and get one direction of aileron. For opposite direction of rudder, you get opposite direction of aileron. This is a 'linear' mix. I want to get SAME direction elevator with different input directions of rudder. Not linear. I read the manual for the 7c, in which this mix is possible (it has the 'arrows'). Also read the directions for Airtronics RD8000, which has the 'arrows' also, as does the Spektrum DX7.

I will happily sell you my radio. It is 2 months old and still has the plastic protective covering over the faces. Original box and packaging. Being so new I won't 'give' it away for some really low price.

I, fortunately or unfortunately, have progressed pretty darn fast in this hobby. I am entering my first pattern competition next weekend, and am already at a deficit because of my radio. Sure I can use my thumbs to correct for stuff, but when flying pattern there is A LOT to think about and account for, so every bit of help I will gladly take.

Sorry if this sounds mean or anything, I just really am upset that I spent the extra money on a 'better' radio and already am finding limitations in only 2 months. Now that I think about it, it seems like a marketing scheme. The radio does have 'arrows' and adjustable mixes for dual rates and expo. It is a capable radio for many things, but it's probably designed this way to make you want to get a more capable radio. That bugs me.

Actually, you are at a deficit because you haven't learned to fly yet. Pattern is not all about mixes and expensive radios.
Learning to make your fingers mix the sticks now will help hone your skills as you progress into Presicion aerobatics. If you
are doing a contest this weekend you will be flying sportsman. You will be so nervous standing in front of the judges for
the first time you might forget where the rudder is. Worry about the important aspects this weekend not about whether
your planes dives or rolls a bit with rudder input. Fly straight lines, Make sure your 45 ups and downs are actually 45 degrees, learn to find the
center line, learn to fly in the box, and learn how to make maneuvers look right. The last thing you should be worried about is
flying the rudder. I flew the sportsman routine last sunday a few times and the only time I used rudder was on my Stall turn.

When you get a pattern plane you can worry about mixing the channels, right now just relax and enjoy your first contest.
I have a flying buddy that uses the 6EX 2.4 in his Giles 202, and he has done a good job at the last few pattern contests
he attended.

Good luck, May all your scores be 10's
Chris

It's frustrating because everything I'm doing now I can do with a cheap 4 channel radio. I thought I went for 'the better radio' and it's just not that much better. (well, I do appreciate digital trims and throttle kill). I'm not too concerned with using mixes right now, I understand and believe I need to work on my own flying skills. It's just frustrating to know that I can't even do this simple mix if I wanted to. I know right now a mix isn't going to make a difference in how well I perform in this, or the next few events. Really what gets me is when people tell me every day at the field "why don't you just mix that out?" and I say "I can't" and they don't believe me, saying all computer radios can do that, then they see my radio and say "oh." That's disappointing.

You will be fine. I purchased a 7C a few months after I started flying and found out it doesn't have all the things I need. I can however
make the mix you need. but you would think I could mix dual elevator servos and I can't. I am witing for the 10C to be in stick at tower
and I will be purchasing one of them for next years pattern season.

I noticed you live in VT. are you flying the competition in Hudson NH, on the 12th? I fly in District 1 also (sportsman for the remainder of this season)
I can't make that contest but hope to see you at some next year. You will learn more about aerobatic flying at 1 pattern contest than you could in years
of sport flying. Keep your ears open and ask the judges to comment on your flights, try to find a caller who flys the intermediate class as, as he is only
one step up from sportsman and should remember the sequence.

Again good luck and don't worry about mixes, there will be enough stress without them.

Thanks Chris.

Actually I'm a Jersey Bird myself (Glen Rock, Patterson area). I do plan on flying in NH on the 12th, and maybe even one in NJ sometime. The mix I want is mostly for knife edges, which I don't have to do in the pattern comp anyway, although it would be super helpful when I make corrections in my line with rudder. Anyway, can't be done and there's nothing I can do about it. I wasn't thinking I would be too nervous at this one since I'm so new; I don't really have any expectations. If I can take off and land I'll be happy

It's amazing how many people don't understand pattern. I was flying with a couple of guys today, who kept trying me to chase them, saying I needed to do that if I wanted to fly pattern well, and they kept talking about speed. They've been in the hobby for 20 years, and have even worked in hobby stores selling rc plane gear! I think guys at the club wonder why I'm not doing more challenging 'tricks' when I'm actually challenging the heck out of myself, trying to make partial loops of equal radius, fly in a straight line, etc. It's hard! There's definitely a lot more going on than meets the eye, that's for sure. Heck, this whole next week is going to be devoted to trimming! Probably a good 4 days and a gallon of fuel, just trying to get the plane to fly straight. I'll bet they think I'm nuts.

Anyway, maybe I'll see you in JerZ one day. We should keep in touch or something.

I have the 6EXA and just tried mixing rudder with elevator and got the same result gaRCfield got. I retract my earlier post. I would agree with other comments and refer it to the Futaba Support Forum.

Daveb

Thanks Dave

Yeah,I at first didnt realize you wanted to have up elevetor for both left AND right rudder movement. This might be more difficult. I was initially thinking something else,lol.

Jus out of curiousity....why do you want this particular mix? The only thing I can think of is for knife edges.

Mainly for knife edges, or for smooth, low-rate rolls. Also when I give a little rudder correction in a line the nose drops a bit. It would help with all these things.

For those maneuvers I think that pilots are better of adding in elevator themselves than counting on a radio mix to "cheat" the maneuver. Especially for rolls. If you want to do a very slow roll you'll need to add in elevator manually so that you can react to what the plane is doing. Some times the plane will need more elevator when inverted, and other times it will need less. You should be reacting to what the plane is doing in the air instead of counting on the radio. Many factors such as wind, fuel load, or even a slightly different throttle setting can make planes react differently each time through a roll.

Ken

The more I think about this I think it has to do a lot with when my plane broke into two pieces. Fortunately or unfortunately my LHS proprietor helped me fix it, and wouldn't really let me try to get things perfect. Sure it looks OK, but the tail is a few degrees off to one side, and also a few degrees down. I've got it trimmed for straight and level flight, but maybe it's more noticeable as I start doing pattern maneuvers.

I agree that I need to learn how to fly the plane without 'cheating', and I intend on it. But I'm going to a competition next weekend, and I know 90% of the pilot's I'll be competing against will have these things mixed out of their planes with their radios.

I haven't met a person who's been flying for any length of time who doesn't mix bad tendencies of their plane out with their radio. The programming is in there for a reason.

This is called "rationalizing". You are trying to justify the fact that you want to use the radio to make up for skills you don't have. Of course you are free to do what you want as it's your plane after all. But I'll tell you this much. If you start relying on the radio now to do this stuff and not learn how to do it properly yourself, you never will learn how to fly it. I don't know how many times I have seen somebody with pure skill totally embarras somebody that is using a lot of technology to try to compensate.

You can make the mix in a radio and you may find out that you're going to be worse off relying on it than you would your own skills and fingers. Like I said earlier on, you need to know WHEN and HOW MUCH of a control to put in during a maneuver such as a slow roll. You may very well find that when you rely on the radio the maneuver will actually look worse off than if you had learned to properly do it with your fingers.

As I said, you are free to do what you want, but in my opinion you would be better off relaxing and learning to properly fly instead of trying to start competing just weeks after you have soloed.

Ken

GA, don't worry if 99.9% of the guys that you compete against have mixes in their radios. You are not even close to
worrying about being competitive, consider this contest the best pattern practice you will get. Like Ken said, YOU JUST SOLOED.

A few things about the sportsman routine to remember.
1. Take Off, this is judged starting at the takeoff roll until the model is approximately 6' off ground.
Make sure you have the model far enough away from the centerline so you will lift off
Somewhere close to the centerline. No yanking the stick (smooth steady rate of climb)
Call out to the judges "TAKING OFF" before starting the takeoff, after plane reaches 6'
Call "TAKEOFF COMPLETE" this helps to remind the judges that the maneuver is complete.


1a Trim Pass You will take off into wind, then make a free pass downwind in front of yourself to check the plane for trim.
I like to go hands off and see if the plane will fly straight and level. also at the end of the trim pass i do
a half reverse cuban 8, This will set may baseline altitude for the rest of my flight. Try to stay 2 mistakes high
During the sequence.

2. Straight flight out . Enter the aerobatic box with the plane tracking parallel to runway, If you have a crosswind use a crab angle
to adjust for wind. try to keep the line at a constant altitude and no deviation from parallel to runway. Try no to wiggle
the wings alot, just use small adjustments to keep a straight line.

3. Stall turn no rolls. as plane comes to the end of the aerobatic box, execute a gentle pull to verticle. let the plane fly vert. for a second,
then reduce throttle to idle, as the plane shows signs of slowing down, feed in rudder and try to stall into the wind,
Goosing the throttle as the plane starts to pivot should help the plane rotate throught the stall better. if the nose is tilted
left or right bfore the stall add rudder in that direction whether it is into the wind or not. after the stall fly a straight verticle
downline for a second and perform a gentle pull to straight and level flight (you may have to add some down elevator
during verticle descent to keep the plane from trying to pull itself out.

More to come.

Guys, I agree with you. I need to learn how to fly the plane. I was just upset that my 'better' computer radio can't do the mixes that everyone else's can do, that's all.

There's nothing I can do about it now anyway except fly my plane with the radio I have.

Also I'm definitely not worried about what happens in this competition. I am very aware that I just started flying. I wanted to go just to observe and learn, but everyone says that you learn so much by competing. If I'm gonna drive 3 hours to see people fly, I might as well bring my plane and join 'em

Again, Ken I think you're absolutely right and I agree with you 100%, as usual It doesn't mean I'm not disappointed that my radio can't do the mix though

I guess I need to hear this. I did believe all this before, but every time I go to the field people are trying to take my radio and put expo, rates, mixes, etc. and tell me it's a tool, not a crutch. EVERYONE tells me this stuff, then they look at my radio and say "oh." I hate that.