Simple 4-channel airplane setup for beginners:
What is described here is a setup for a very simple airplane. This applies to a 4 channel
airplane with elevator, rudder, throttle, and aileron controls. I will lead you through the complete
setup from selecting and open memory slot, to setting up dual-rates. Let’s get started.
First turn on your radio and go to the home screen. From there hold down the ‘-’ key
to the left of the screen. This brings you to ModelSel screen 1/6. Scroll down to an empty slot
then press the ‘-’ key again. You should now be at modelsel screen 2/6. Use the ‘DN’ key to
highlight the name. Pressing menu will allow you to change the models name. When you are
done editing the name press menu again. If you want to setup a timer on your model that is
also done on this screen. Scroll down and the minutes should be highlighted, again as with the
name pressing menu allows you to change the number of minutes. One thing to note: the ‘+’
and ‘-’ buttons work backwards. Some people have taken the actual buttons out of the radio
and switched them. The different timer modes are explained elsewhere in the wiki. I have
always set mine up for ‘THR.’ This way whenever the throttle stick is not at idle the timer is
counting down. We are done on this screen so let us switch to the next one. You may find this
easier than scrolling back to the top of the menu. Pressing the exit key once returns the cursor
to the top right of the screen. This x/6 number is the setup screen that you are on. You can see
there are 6 of them. Once back at the top right use the +/- keys to switch between the screens.
We are going to screen 4/6. This is the mixer screen. Here you will setup what input controls
what channel for the output. If you are used to using a “normal” radio they had already picked
what each channel was doing for you. We will use the standard for plugging the servos into the
receiver for this setup. I am assuming that you are converting an already setup plane to this
new radio/firmware, and so you won’t have to be rewiring your receiver. The standard receiver
layout is usually:
Channel 1- Aileron
Channel 2- Elevator
Channel 3- Throttle
Channel 4- Rudder
Remember that we are on screen 4/6. scroll down to highlight the 100% to the right of CH1.
Then press menu. Under source scroll until it says AIL for aileron. We are going to leave the
weight set at 100%. This is actuall the amount of input stick movement you want mixed into this
output channel. Trim is ON. Curves should be ‘---’ meaning no curve. Multpx stands for
multiplex and this is how the input is to be mixed into the channel. Just leave this as add. There
are several delay and slow settings just leave these set to 0 for now. Those are for advanced
features and will be covered by a more advanced setup tutorial. Press exit to return to menu 4/
6. You will notice that the source column has not changed to AIL for channel 1. Do the same
for the other 3 channels that we need to setup. Setting each channel with its appropriate input.
I should make a note here also that the first scroll down from CH1 puts an underline under CH1
instead of going to the CH2 100%. This is how you add a new mix to the same output channel.
Here is an example. Let us say that this model we are setting up is electric. You should have a
throttle cut switch programmed so that the motor won’t start. Scroll to where CH3 is underlined.
Then press the menu key. Set the source to ‘MAX’ and the weight to -100. Set the switch to
THR. Which is the top left farthest back switch. You can use any other switch for the throttle
hold function if that is what you want. Press exit to leave the mix edit menu. You will now see
there is a line between CH3 and CH4. This is how you know what mixes are on each channel.
Now to add another mix to CH3 you will notice that the gap has an underline when you scroll to
it. Our model is now pretty much setup. You can now turn the plane on and you should see all
of your surfaces move with your inputs. Screen 5/6 allows you to set the limits, subtrim, and
inversion for each output channel. If you ailerons were not quite centered you would scroll down
to highlight the value under column subT for CH1. There you could press menu and adjust the
value as necessary. Scrolling across lets you get to the limits settings. Move the aileron stick
back and forth and you will see that the arrow shows what direction the control surface is
currently moving. Finally the inv column for for setting the channel reverse. If your control
surface isn’t moving the right direction change this first before setting the limits. This isn’t the
only way to reverse a channel though. Remember on the mixer screen when we set the weight
to 100%? If you were to set it to -100% it would have the same effect as setting the channel
reverse here. That is just something to keep in mind for more complicated setups. Finally, we
had skipped over menu 3/6. This is the menu where you setup dual rates and exponential.
Listed are your 4 inputs channels. Scroll down to one of the lines, I’m going to use the rudder
channel for my example. Hold down the menu key for a second until you get into the edit menu.
Just touching menu allows you to change the value right on that line. Now that we are in the edit
menu. First expo is highlighted. If you increase the value and watch the curve you will notice
that only one side changes. To change the other side you have to move the stick to that side.
The cross-hairs on the graph will move to show you which side you are editing on. Some people
ask why you can set the dual rates and expo different for each direction. Maybe you have a
model that acts slightly different in one direction or the other. Mostly it is because it can be
setup that way and someone might need to set up their model like that. So back to the edit
screen. The dual rate works the same as the expo. First set one side and them set the other to
match. Now you will notice there are 2 positions for switches. You can have triple rates instead
of dual if you choose to. Maybe you have a 3D model and need low-rates, high-rates, and 3Drates. For our simple model you can set only 1 switch and just have dual rates. Again exit will
bring you back to menu 3/6 and you can go on from there.
Here is what my mixer menu (4/6) ended up looking like:
wt srcswcrv
CH1100% AIL
CH2100% ELE
CH3100% THR
R-100%MAX THR
CH4100% RUD
CH5
CH6(and so on down)
I should make a note here about menu 6/6. This is the curves menu and is not needed
for this simple 4-channel model. This will get covered in another tutuorial sometime.
Also from menu 1/1 you need to hold down the exit key to get back to the main screen while
flying.