DX6 Head Tracking Pan AND Tilt procedure setup

llebreknit1

Junior Member
First Person View (FPV) has been a huge technological advancement and is within reach of the community today. I've been fascinated with FPV (coming from the real cockpit) for quite some time and it's awesome to have the 'in the cockpit' experience of your model. What's better than 'straight forward FPV???' Pan and Tilte of course!! Most of the videos or articles I have read/watched use expensive 6+ Channel radios and Receiver to obtain this experience. What if I told you the NEW Spektrum DX6 can do this with a 6 Channel Receiver..... Shall we begin....

The Problem:
No in depth reviews or video for setting up the new Spektrum DX6 for head tracking (pan/tilt)

Solution:
YOUR READING IT...in depth look at setting up pan/tilt utilizing the Spektrum DX6 and 6 Channel Rx.
Approximately 30 Steps that are quick and will get you on your way to the "true cockpit experience."

Equipment list:
Fatshark Teleporter V4 (or your head tracking goggles in the Fatshark arena)
Spektrum DX6 (got it specifically to to fly FPV with pan/tilt headtracking)
6-Channel Receiver (I'm using orange Rx R620)
2- servos for Pan and Tilt (Gear and AUX1 Respectively)
Pan/Tilt apparatus (I haven't made mine yet)

SIDE NOTE: Now there are videos out there about setting Spektrum transmitters up using the DX8 and I tried to follow those instructions since the AirWare is almost identical to the DX6. In short....DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME...it doesn't work unless you have the DX8. Spektrum created a neat feature called 'FPV' in the Trainer Settings WAY TO GO SPEKTRUM....stinking awesome!

Now to the good news who have the DX6. Follow the step in the video and procedural hookup and it'll work.
VIDEO for configuring and setup is at the CONCLUSION
Pre-setup procedure:
1) SAFETY FIRST....Remove your prop!
2) Make sure your DX6 is bound to your receiver of choice and your Flight control channels work.

DX6 Setup and Configure:
1) Turn the DX6 ON (hold roller button and then power on to enter 'System Setup' (or scroll to system setup)
2) Scoll all the way down to 'Trainer'
3) Click 'Wired Trainer'
4) You'll see 'Inhibit'...scroll to the right until you see "FPV."
5) Click FPV
6) The FOUR channels shown are the flight control channels that should be in "MASTER" settings
7) Scroll down to the Switch and Assign it to one of your choice. I chose switch H because it's a 2-position (on/off).
NOTE:I like to have the option to turn off head tracking (also will center your camera if you get disoriented) that's why I went this route.

8) Scroll to "NEXT" The Page Title is "HEAD TRACKER" Look at that...Spektrum...you knew we wanted it!

Step 9-12 are for PAN
9) Scroll down to 'Output Channel" and set to Gear for PAN
10) Scroll down to "mode" and set to SLAVE since the Fatshark goggles will control it through the trainer port.
11) Scroll to "input channel" and select '5.'
12) Scale will control servo travel and Direction will control Left/Right (You look left, servo goes right...REVERSE it)

Steps 13-16 for TILT
13) Go back to 'Output Channel' on same page AUX1 for TILT (radio saved your PAN settings so don't worry)
14) Scroll down to "mode" and set to SLAVE since the Fatshark goggles will control it through the trainer port.
15) Scroll to "input channel" and select '6.'
16) Scale will control servo travel and Direction will control Up/Down (again if you need to reverse you can)

GOT IT....Almost there...
17)Scroll to 'BACK'
18) "Trainer" FPV page is shown...verify you assigned a specific switch.
19) Click 'LIST'
20) Click 'MAIN'
21) You may get a screen that says "WARNINGS NO SLAVE!"
NOTE: It says this cause the trainer port isn't physically being used at this time and the assigned switch is activated. Flip the switch you assigned to the opposite position.

22) Turn OFF your radio

Initialization Step-by-Step Procedure (Sequence of steps)
Radio is already bound to Rx (I played around with different sequences and this worked and seemed to make the mose procedural sense)

23) Make sure your 2 Pan/Tilt servos are plugged into your Rx (Pan - channel 5, Tilt - Channel 6)
24) Turn on your DX6
25) Plug in your Rx battery or flight battery (Confirm Radio is bound and connected)
26) Plug in your Fatshark Goggles Head tracking/data port. (Anetnna Attached...don't burn up your equipment)
27) Plug Trainer cord into DX6
28) NOW...power up your Fatshark goggles.
29) Do you have any movement??? If SO, great!!! If NOT step 30 is for YOU.
30) Remember that switch you assigned...FLIP IT. You should have Pan and Tilt while controlling you flight controls.

Disconnect Procedure:
1) Goggles power OFF
NOTE: If you flip the assigned switch you'll receive a message "WARNING NO SLAVE!" because the Goggles are the MASTER for Pan and Tilt. This will appear if you're flying without FPV just flip the assigned switch to opposite position...don't freak out...you still have flight control, it's just warning you the Pan/Tilt servos are inoperative.
2) Trainer cord from DX6
3) Head Tracking/Data port cord
4) Unlplug Flight Batter/Rx battery
5) Turn off DX6

STEP by STEP Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhL8Rjrd2uY

Conclusion
Setting up the new Spektrum DX6 for head tracking using FPV option in the DX6 is an amazing feature that Spekrum seems to have given thought specifically for that purpose. The process is fairly simple and straight forward and will give you that true "in cockpit experience" through the pan/tilt option. Enjoy and let me know if there are any questions or comments. Thanks...also, submitted for FT Article.
 

bgfireguy92

Senior Member
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! I have both the Gen2 Dx6 and Gen 2 Dx7. Wonder if its the same on the Dx7? I bought all my FPV gear (FatShark) with pan/tilt in mind to put on the Bix3. In fact I bought a spare FPV tray for the Bix3 and set it up before I had even bought the plane. LOL. Just got the plane yesterday so soon......
 

llebreknit1

Junior Member
I bet you it is the exact same setup from the DX6 to the DX7 gen 2...you just have the possibility for the pan, tilt, and ROLL due to the 7th channel??? Maybe?? The AirWare software is most likely identical. Let me know if it works in the DX7. The above was submitted for an article so hopefully it is accepted to get the word out. Were the instructions easy to follow and the video?
 

herk1

Trash Hauler emeritus
Hey that's really neat that they put in that extra FPV setup option to the Trainer setup! Thanks for sharing that great news. Maybe (hopefully!) they'll add that in to the next DX9 software update. I also have the Fatshark/Spektrum Teleporter V4 goggles, and I setup the head-tracking through the trainer cord on my DX9. I see two advantages with the new setup method on your DX6: 1) it guides the user along better so there's less head-scratching, and 2) it gives you that extra option to reverse the HT servos from the radio (which you would otherwise only be able to do from the Fatshark goggles, and that is a pain).

For a pan/tilt mechanism, I bought the Fatshark combo that includes the pan/tilt and 600TVL camera preassembled (this). It works fine. Only problems I've had with the head-tracking are 1) it loses track of center now and than, which means taking a hand off the radio to push the centering button on the goggles, and 2) when panning full left (which gives 90 degrees of servo travel with the included pan servo), the servo stutters. And it's not because of a bad servo in the pan/tilt device, because I tested it with a regular servo plugged into that channel, and it did the same thing. So the V4 goggles are generating the "jitter." And unfortunately you can't set servo endpoints to prevent full travel, because, once again -- that servo is under control of the goggles alone. I wonder if that "Scale" option you showed in the video would fix that?

bgfireguy92 - I also am using a Bix3 for my FPV ship. But I didn't use the included FPV plywood tray because the camera would collide with the fat width of the center section at full down tilt with some pan in. So instead, I built a plain flat ply tray without the hump in the middle, then fashioned two mounting posts out of basswood to mount the pan servo onto.

I found that my Bix3 FPV balances perfectly with a 3S 3200 in the regular (front) spot for the battery. To get even more flight time, I bought some low-C-rating 4000 mAh LiPos that are about the same weight (actually a bit lighter, link).

If your DX7 doesn't have the cool new FPV menu option as llebreknit1's DX6, here is the only place that I was able to find instructions for setting it up the "regular" way:

http://www.amain.com/fat-shark-spektrum-jr-head-tracker-data-cable/p353313

And I felt darn lucky to have stumbled across that! Hard to believe that the manufacturer doesn't bother to give you proper instructions for some of these expensive toys.

llebreknit1 - I'm pretty sure that the V4 goggles don't have a third (roll) channel capability. Because in the instructions for the goggles, they only give you options for assigning channels and direction for two axes - Pan and Tilt. I am using a 9-channel radio and a 9-channel receiver on my FPV ship. One of the extra channels I am using for flaps (and I had to relocate the flap channel since the one of the HT servos is using it, which in itself made things more painful to setup!).
 
Last edited:

llebreknit1

Junior Member
As to losing the centering, I assigned pan/tilt to a single switch so I can look around and inhibit the head tracking when I want it re centered. So, you bypass the fatshark and the Radio's servo center are the Master. I played with it a while it came back true all the time. Food for thought. The endpoints can be adjusted for the pan tilt via the servo setup menu. I believe scale is the other method as well
 

bgfireguy92

Senior Member
And I did look real quick the new DX7 Gen 2 does have it setup on there already so I'll be seeing this up on my Dx7. And herk1 I'll have to check on it again but I don't think i have a problem with that. But I'll double check.
 

herk1

Trash Hauler emeritus
The endpoints can be adjusted for the pan tilt via the servo setup menu.


No, unfortunately you can't (or I can't on my radio anyway). The servo setup parameters have no effect on any channel that is taken over by the trainer/goggles (i.e. the gear/flap HT channels).
 

llebreknit1

Junior Member
herk1, hmmm...I'll have to look but maybe the 'scale' in the fpv menu does the trick. haven't been able to play much after the write up. There definitely should be a way to adjust servo travel at least with the power of the radio software...hopefully...if body I bet spektrum could modify the software in an update. I think im running 1.02 for the dx6.