Mr. RPM

Hi, I have flown my 120 about 15 times and I love it. I'm still just practicing tail-in and side hovering. When I range check with TX ant. colapsed I get 50 feet in certain spots, but as I walk around sometimes only 10 feet before servos and motor spasm. Now this is with the whip antenna mounted parallel the tail with the coil (blue part) 2 inches from servo. No metal or wire touches other metal. This is the best spot I've found. Mounting where it should on the aluminum crutch is not good at all. I've had near disaster when only hovering about 20 feet from myself. Another good spot is off a skid. Any thoughts or help?

My Hitec Feather is pretty good; has range about 500 feet--more than enough. When I reconnect original antenna, it's okay, but that has to be stretch back to the tail fin. I want to use the whip

My atomic force has all caps and diode installed. The esc has pretty short leads. I've tried different timings on motor. No excesive vibrations.

thanks for help

RockyHelpU

I don't know if you meant to say that the TX ant. is collapsed but if you're flying with the TX ant collapsed you should really reconsider that.

r_coy

Hey,
Is their anyone you could swap whip ant. with to test. I have hitec focus with the excess receiver ant. wire sandwiched in behind the receiver and the whip ant. in stock position. With the original ant. working fine, I'm thinking somethings wrong with your whip ant.

KLRico

About the Tx antenna being collapsed, he's talking about a range check. (i hope )

How long is your rx antenna before it goes to the whip antenna? Is it routed near any servo wires, electronics, etc? Can the whip vibrate or anything? I had slight interference problems on my 117 with wood crutch, and then i made a little support kind of thing to hold the tip of the antenna still. I haven't had a problem after that.

FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

I've never had any luck with Deans whip antennas, anytime I had interferrance I always had better results with the original Rx wire!

Mr. RPM

Thanks. Yeah, a range test is what I was talking about ( I'm not good enough to fly far from myself yet). A range test should be consistant when you walk a circle around the heli, cause if you piro you don't want it to fall when it gets to that bad position. I did a test with the original stretched out, then the whip laid out, far from everything; they seemed to be about the same. When I mount the whip, is when it gets bad. It could be defective though. I don't know anyone with a whip. (I live near lancaster ohio.) I may make a bracket thing that holds it on the tail, far from everything. The whip end does vibrate some, but I didn't think it mattered that much. Most of its length is in a little coil in the blue part; I used to think that it was coiled in the white whip. I just don't like a green wire stretch back to the tail fin, I like good looks.

r_coy

Mine shakes like a rattle snakes tail, and the range is further than I could see to fly. The only other test I can think of is trying to use your original ant. to pick up any interferance from the electronics.
I've seen the whip ant. placed everywhere you could think of on rcgroups and still look good. One was even bent to the angle of the hyper drive tail rotor rise.

TIA

Mr.RPM,

Take my advice and throw that Hitec feather away! That was the pain I went through for some time. Replace it with a Berg V or VI. Doesn't matter which one. I tried heli's, gliders, to park flyers. It is just junk! I couldn't get any range out of it at all. Glitched my $500 Mini-Acacia composite glider into the ground DEAD!!!!!!

If you want to solve the problem you will take my advice,

Repeat after me:

"Get rid of the Feather Altogether, Then buy the best and you'll achieve success!"

[X(] [8D]

Mini Boy

RPM:

Farfromwerkin is correct about the HiTec Feather, but you could also replace it with a HiTec 555 DOUBLE CONVERSION receiver, and eliminate the interference problem. Never use a single conversion receiver in anything worth more than $10.00 ! The difference between single conversion and double conversion is night and day !! Below is a link to Hitec:

http://www.hitecrcd.com/product_fs.htm

Go there and click on receivers, then 75 Mhz. aircraft receivers, and check the specs on the Feather's 1,000 ft. range compared to the 555's 1 mile range (5 times + the range!) .... that should answer your question.

My 2 cents,

Russ

MKCROSS

I have a Hitec 555 with Deans Ant. Glitch city!!! Think I'll try a berg.

Mini Boy

MKCROSS:

Hhmmm .... interesting. My Corona with a HiTec 555 and Deans whip is as smooth as silk. Maybe the brushless motor and the absence of sparking brushes makes the difference ?!?

Although I have never used Berg receivers (guess I really never had the need to), I have certainly heard / read a lot of good things about them.

I have always had excellent results (even with gasoline power with spark coils and spark plugs) with a reasonable quality F.M. TX / RX like Futaba and HiTec, but always a double conversion receiver, which is actually the difference between a reasonable quality radio and a not so hot quality radio IMHO.

Russ []

MKCROSS

Mini Boy,

Not sure why I have the glitch problem. This is my set-up:

Corona 120 Aluminum Crutch
Astro 020 Brushless
CC45 ESC
Hitec Laser 4 Tx
Hitec 555 Rx
Deans Whip
Futaba Gyro
Voyager landing gear

Have read in other posts people saying they have had problems with CC45 and 555 combonation.
I have tried re-routing wires, unplugging gyro, moving rx. Problem persists.
Some days not too bad, Other days terrible glitching but always must stay no more than 15-20 feet from model. (yes, my antenna is fully extended).

Mike.

Mini Boy

Hi Mike ........

This is kind of a lonnnnng post, and unfortunately may have no conclusion ........

Your setup sounds to be a good one.

Mine is very similar:
Stock wood crutch with clear polyurethane finish with beautiful wood grain showing ... old fashioned, like me.
Hacker C-40-12
Hacker (Jeti) Master 40-P-3 ESC
Futaba GY-240 HH Gyro
HiTec Laser 4 TX / 555 RX / HS-81-MG servos all around
Sanyo 2600 NiMh 7 cell packs in
E-Voyager landing gear

Your Astro, to the best of my knowledge, is a brushless motor, and should not be causing glitching.

There have been many situations with the CC ESC's where the motor would just plain "cut out" for a half second at a time from time to time. As I recall, the problem arose with a new batch of controllers in the 35 to 45 amp range around a year to a year & 1/2 ago, and all were replaced at no charge by CC. I really don't know what the problem was, but at any rate, CC fixed it. But some got loose, and MAY still be floating around out there in the LHS's.

Since the introductionof the aluminum Corona crutch, always wondered how much interference it would create, as it has a certain amount of inherent shielding effect, depending on where you mount your antenna, and which side of the machine the TX is on. Since nothing is really "grounded" to the crutch / chassis, one might wonder how much simple RFI, static, and who knows what the aluminum chassis is accumulating, with no real way to dissipate it, espcially when the machine is in the air. I have no way to scientifically prove this, but having a long career in the electronics industry, I have to wonder. This is a slightyl overzealous example, but consider building a Piper Cub fuselage of sheet aluminum, and putting the antenna inside the fuselage ?!? I don't think many would give that a try.

When I was laying out my Corona (and these were the days PRIOR to the aluminum crutch incidentally), there were all kinds of suggestions by our most helpful forum contributors as to where to mount the various electronic components for best results. One of those was to have the gyro on a "shelf" to the rear of the mainmast, near the tail boom. "Ya gotta keep the gyro awy from the RX" some said. Because I was aving a CG issue, and wanted the battery pack to fit into both ends of the E-Voyager gear, the machine was getting tail-heavy. So, since I had lots of room up front, I tried mounting the gyro ON TOP of the RX! Never had a problem. This setup , with the advice of many subscribers of these forums, is as smooth and predictable and glitch-free as you could ever hope for.

(Pics attached)

Gyro on RX 1st pic
Deans ant. 2nd pic

SO, what can a guy make of all this?? I wish I could offer you a solution, but perhaps you will glean a little something from my lengthy dissertation, catch a clue that I missed ?!?!

Just My Thoughts,

Russ []

TIA

Since it’s sporadic I almost wonder if there’s a break in the antenna somewhere?

Ron.

MKCROSS

Thanks for the post Russ,
My problem is not only with split second motor cut off but also with servo jitter. Sometimes I get the jitters while the heli is sitting on the bench with the Tx a few feet away. I think I might be getting interferance from some source. I have an array of TV and radio antenna not far from my house. Perhaps I'll drive to another location and see what happens. I dont know. Seems like the Berg Rx has worked for others and worth a try. If that does not work I'll give Mike Roffee a call (whom I bought everything from) and see if he can help.
Mike.

MKCROSS

Yes Ron I agree.
Acts like I have NO antenna!!!
Mike.

Mini Boy

Mike:

There is no doubt that extraneous radio / TV / cell phone / pager signals (RF) in your neighborhood could wreak a ton of havoc!

Ron makes a good point, maybe the Deans antenna is defective ?!?

Try disconnectong the Deans, and sticking the other part of the original antenna onto the receiver, even with an alligator clip, a couple of twists, or some tape just to see if the problem goes away or changes. And, your idea of taking a ride to another location a few (5, 10 ??) miles away could be interesting !

Exactly how far away from your house is this antenna array ??

EDIT ... A situation existed with a flying field in my area, and it turned out that it (State Police radio tower) affected only 1 channel in the 75 Mhz RC aircraft radio spectrum, so the gutys avoided that channel. You MAY be able to fix this with a crystal cange, IF in fact it is RF Interference ?!?!?!?!

Russ

MKCROSS

Russ,

Radio/TV towers are only perhaps 1/4 mile away. I can see them clearly from my house.

I did think of changing channels. I have a new Hitec laser 4 on channel 54. Do you think the Tx Crystal would need to come from Hitec?
I ordered the Berg Rx with Ch. 54 to replace the Hitec 555 Rx. Mabe I should call RC Direct and change that channel before it ships.

When the Berg comes in, I plan on not attaching the deans until I know it works with the stock antenna.

I have notice that sometimes when I touch my gyro with my finger, All the servos go crazy twitching. Maybe my body is picking up RF.

Thanks All,
Mike.

Mini Boy

Mike:

Stay calm.....

If you have the Berg receiver on order, why not give it a try first. No, don't change channels yet, you never want to change two things at once .... one thing at a time. I would, however, advise testing the Berg receiver with the stock "longwire" antenna to see if your "glitches" go away. Later, you can try the Deans whip.

About the "touching the gyro and the servos go crazy" part ... I, personally, am a tad suspicous about those aluminum crutches and their RFI absorbtion, reflection, refraction, confusion etc., blah , blah.

Just my thoughts,

Russ

jhbwaller

My corona 120 is about 4 months old and I am having the problem of the half second disconnect from the transmitter. I suspect it is the Deans whip antenna. I mounted mine on the back of the aluminum crutch stick down and back. I had to bend the last 2 inches parallel with the skids so it would stay off the ground. But I also have the wire coiled up and tied to the crutch inbetween the Reciever and antenna whip. Maybe I wil try to run the excess wire down along one of the skids and back to the whip. I wonder if that is why I am tearing up servo gears so much?

I am using a futaba reciever though.

jhbwaller

[img][/img]

Mini Boy

Hi jhbwaller:

It sounds as though yo have a lot (or all) the original antenna wire rolled up and tied down between the receiver and Deans antenna ?!? If so, that is not recommended. You are sort of running two antennas (antennae) in series, so to speak. Measure your original antenna and jot the number down in the radio instruction book, and then cut all but 4 or 5 in. off, and connect that to the Deans antenna. The orientation of your Deans is good, as the optimum position is in a vertical plane, but with heli rotor blades whirling around, that is usually impossible. If you are using a Castle Creations ESC, be aware that there were some problems with them a year or two ago, and they would shut down the motor for a split second, and then recover.

Hope this helps,

Russ

jhbwaller

Mini boy

You might be on to something there. Mine did that and it finally got so hot it melted the plastic cover on it. It is a Phoenix-35. It did some other wierd stuff too. I replaced it with another one and it seems to work fine now. I guess I should call Castle Creations and ask about them. On the antenna I cut of 5 to 6 inches of the antenna wire like the instructions said, unless I read them wrong... But I ran the excess wire down one skid and back up to the brace to teh whip. It isn't cutting off anymore, but as you pointed out it may have been from the ESC Phoenix-35.

Thanks for the help

jhbwaller

weather is good, but the wind won't let up. The seas tomorrow are supposed to be 8 to 10 feet. That makes fishing out and keeps my Corona on the ground.

[img][/img]

ZeekWorld

Hi guys,
I have a little bit of trouble with my brand new feather receiver.
I got a brand new receiver feather 4ch that i want to use with my new optic 6, when i got the receiver y plugged the battery on channel 4 and two servos on 1 & 2 just for test porposes. Everything looked good at that time, the problem is when i turn on the optic, the servos will start to move fast on any directions without stopping. I'm using a single conversion hitec crystal, which i share also with a HFS-04MG Negative Shift and works great. I thought it was a factory defect and i sent ti to hitec to repair. I've been told that it had a twicking problem and was fixed. I got the receiver back yesterday, and when trying to test it the same thing happened. I'm not shure i'm doing something wrong.
It's ok to plug the battery in channel 4 and test it with two servos?
The receiver is a negative shift. Do you think is the optic 6 not getting along with the feather receiver?
Just a few lines from you guys will be a lot of help.
Thank you for your time.
My email is [email protected]
Zeek Ferraros.

Mini Boy

Hi Zeek:

This is just a shot in the dark ... you may be overloading the reciever by having the TX too close with the antenna extended ?!? Try rolling up the rcvr. antenna and collapsing the TX ant. The batt. in ch 4 should be fine, that's how my 555's are. Incidentally, you will usually have less interference from irroneous sources with a dual conversion rcvr.

Did you send the rcvr, back with the crystal in it ???

Russ

ZeekWorld

Thank you Ross for your opinion.
No i did not send the crystal.
I was just on the phone with the tech from hitec and basically he said they don't have an extra feather receiver to send me because is a discontinue product, he will send me a HFS-04MG instead and then i'll have to send the feather back. What do you think about this receiver, is it better than the feather?
Zeek