divergoff

So I finally bought a nice radio and added flaps to my MUS, and love it. I always hear about people using expo. on their comp. radios. Simple question, what is it? I was thinking like hi/lo rate but like I said newbie to computer radios, been flying(RC) for several years though(Real airplanes my entire life which is crazy since I'm still in college).

speed367

Its not a high or low rate what it is,,,, Its how fast the surfaces respond to your movement. If you go to climb its how fast the elevator will respond to your stick movement. If you set it down you will find the plane wont be so jumpy it will respond smoothly. I might also add that setting them down wont change the throw of the surface just the speed that they respond.

BillyGoat

Exponential or Expo for short, refers to a mathematical function where the curve grows steeper the further away from center it gets. Essentially expo is a way to decrease sensitivity a low stick angles, and yet have full motion at full stick deflection. A lot of flyers use this to smooth out flying around stick center.

High and low rates or dual rates are a different function. These are used to reduce the travel of a flight surface, in flight, by flipping switches. Dual rates are also used to reduce a model’s sensitivity but through the whole range of the stick movement.

The manual for your transmitter should explain both of these functions and how to set them up.

da Rock

Want a dumb/simple idea what expo does for you?

It gives you High/Low rates without having to flip a switch.

Your transmitter stick will give you results at the airplane in the 1st half of it's movement like you had low rates on. It'll give you results in the last half of it's movement like you had high rates on.

That's actually too simple (or too dumb), but it illustrates the reason we have expo. It actually gives you more precise control and the airplane is less twitchy around center stick. That's really the reason for it. Little stick movements around center don't give you lots of movement by the airplane.

It's an excellent thing to have. You'll still have full capability out of your stick movement. Full stick gives full surface deflection. But the movements around center, like the fine adjustment to pitch you need when landing, are more precise and easier to do.

hrrcflyer

divergoff,

Please pay close attention to your manual when setting up Expo. With Futaba for example, you want to use negative numbers for your Expo. The reason is if you use positive numbers, the surface will be MORE sensative instead of less sensative. BTW JR radios are just the opposite. IMHO, if you want to try it, I would start with between 15 & 25% and see how you like it. Personally I don't care for it.[:'(] I want a plane to respond when I move the sticks.

Give it a try on your MUS and see how you like it.

Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

Another thing about expo is that smaller percentages do very little for you. The larger percentage you set, the less sensitive it will be around center. For example, on a 3D type plane where I might use over 45 degrees of travel, I normally set 75% exponential for a start. This way, I can easily fly the plane with very little sensitivity around center, but get the full control I want at full stick deflection.