A thought
08-07-2008, 03:07 AM
#1
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Location: JohannesburgGauteng, SOUTH AFRICA
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A thought
Was playing a game on my PC last night (good ol' Starlancer, in case anyone was wondering), using a Sidewinder II joystick, which got me thinking...
How come, after all this time, our transmitters are still essentially just boxes with two little sticks?
It would be pretty easy to build a Sidewinder joystick type transmitter, giving you full control over your plane with just one hand.
Guess it's just a case of, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But flight becomes so much more intuitive through a joystick.
Even better, you could build a Tx joystick with mercury switches, so that it would be sensitive to relative angles without requiring a static base. So x axis is ailerons, y axis is elevator, thumb toggle is rudder and modified trigger button is throttle.
Would be pretty cool!
How come, after all this time, our transmitters are still essentially just boxes with two little sticks?
It would be pretty easy to build a Sidewinder joystick type transmitter, giving you full control over your plane with just one hand.
Guess it's just a case of, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But flight becomes so much more intuitive through a joystick.
Even better, you could build a Tx joystick with mercury switches, so that it would be sensitive to relative angles without requiring a static base. So x axis is ailerons, y axis is elevator, thumb toggle is rudder and modified trigger button is throttle.
Would be pretty cool!
08-07-2008, 05:09 AM
#2
Senior Member
RE: A thought
There was a "single stick" transmitter layout that was available some years back. It didn't really develop enough following to remain in the market.
When you've got rudder and throttle functions to include, it gets harder to come up with an intuitive layout for just one hand to deal with. I'd guess the industry hasn't tried again simply because it's too risky to expect a public that's still uses Mode 1 and Mode 2 to embrace a single solution.
Ideas like yours typically catch on only after someone sees a market, creates his own company and product to supply that market, and takes the gamble.
How would you place all the functions on one stick so that one hand could operate them all at the same time?
When you've got rudder and throttle functions to include, it gets harder to come up with an intuitive layout for just one hand to deal with. I'd guess the industry hasn't tried again simply because it's too risky to expect a public that's still uses Mode 1 and Mode 2 to embrace a single solution.
Ideas like yours typically catch on only after someone sees a market, creates his own company and product to supply that market, and takes the gamble.
How would you place all the functions on one stick so that one hand could operate them all at the same time?
08-07-2008, 01:13 PM
#4
RE: A thought
One of our locals has a commercial unit that was purchased as a fire sale item from the delveloping company. They were a producer of systems for apparently some military RPV's in some way. This unit used the internal components of a new Futaba 9Z with in an instrument panel and utilized full scale like trim wheels on three axis.
I doubt that any were ever sold at their original pricing. Any way I have flown it a number of times I beleve its a poor idea certainly not much fun And I spent most of my life driving full scale for a living. Its a major pain to set up every move and even the owners soon abandoned the thing. Don,t know if they still have it or not after the first three or four outings they never bothered anymore.
John
I doubt that any were ever sold at their original pricing. Any way I have flown it a number of times I beleve its a poor idea certainly not much fun And I spent most of my life driving full scale for a living. Its a major pain to set up every move and even the owners soon abandoned the thing. Don,t know if they still have it or not after the first three or four outings they never bothered anymore.
John
