Receiver lockouts at FF15

[herk1]

How many other people experienced receiver lockouts at FF15? In nine years of flying 2.4 GHz radio gear prior to FF15, I only had a receiver lockout one time (and it wasn't at FF14, which I attended). But at FF15, I had control lockouts on three separate occasions (with three different planes). And three other folks in my immediate area that I spoke to had at least one lockout each.

 

[ScottyWarpNine]

I didn't have a any, I was running mostly DSMX and some DSM2. What protocol are you running?

 

[Gryf]

A couple of guys in our part of the field reported lockouts, but I didn't notice any problems when I was flying. I use a Tactic radio and receivers, for what it's worth.

Gryf

 

[Rames]

I had my very first lockout during the Saturday morning combat. I flew a few circles then augured straight in. I was running a DX8 with an Orange rcv. I'm not too surprised. There must have been 60 planes in the sky! I had no problems the rest of the weekend with similar gear.

 

[ZoomNBoom]

Organizers of events as large as this should seriously consider banning older radio equipment that is not compliant with EN 300 328 or similar regulation if that exists outside EU. In a nutshell, compliant equipment is far less likely to cause interference by limiting spurious out of band transmission, tricks like "listen before talk" etc.

For most of us, normally these things dont matter, if you have a handful of radio's, even older protocols are resilient enough, but when you have many dozens of radio's (and countless cell phones and wifi-what-have-you) concentrated on such a small place, it sure as hell does. Having the latest compliant radio is no help if everyone else uses noisy old equipment that stumps over your signal.

In practice this would mean barring older 2.4 protocols, including Spektrum DSM2 (DSMX is compliant), Futaba FASST (FHSS is a bit unclear, may depend on firmware, but probably safe in practice), and Frsky V8 and D8 (D16 EU version is compliant,the non EU version probably in practice also no problem)

 

[SP0NZ]

I so Badly wanted to destroy my Red Bloody Baron in the NASBWACC on Saturday. I lost signal three different times less than 2 minutes into the event. The first two I got my signal back with enough time to recover (and probably should have just landed, but the heat of the moment prevailed and I didn't). Third time I augured it in pretty good but still couldn't kill the plane. I'm pretty sure my brownouts are from running DSM2 with the OrangeRX T-Six transmitter and Lemon DSM2 receiver. I was able to fly the same setup again with fewer planes in the air later with no issues.

 

[Montiey]

I had a bunch and eventually lost my 65% Storch to the evil bean field.. I was using a cheap little ORX receiver (DSM2). I also flew all of my horizon micros, and they also run on DSM2 and the lockouts weren't too bad, but still there. My Sport Cub, (DSMX) had no lockouts whatsoever and was a total blast.

 

[PeterGregory]

This sounds like a good topic for a show, or at least a podcast.

 

[Strix]

I switched all my radio gear to DSM-X prior to last year's FliteFest.

This year, I flew my ORX equipped Versa and Storch on Wednesday night without any trouble. Both experienced lockouts on Thursday, but were recovered in time to avoid a crash. I didn't fly them after that, opting to repair and fly my Nutball (ORX) instead. The Nutball went down in the bean field three times and I had a heck of a time finding it, but I did each time. It's still in working order.

I flew my blue Spitfire several times on Friday and Saturday without any issues. It has an AR610.

I didn't fly my MiG, but it is equipped with a Spektrum receiver. I didn't completely trust my ORX gear before this, and now I don't trust it at all. I have 4 receivers that I will probably use in cheap, easily replaced, or crash-resistant stuff, but models I put a lot of time and effort into will get 'real' DSM-X receivers from Spektrum.

I agree with ZoomNBoom that it would be good to ban older radio gear. As much as I would hate to see someone not be allowed to fly, it would help assure a decent RF environment for everyone else. And of course there is the safety aspect to consider.

 

[herk1]

I didn't have a any, I was running mostly DSMX and some DSM2. What protocol are you running?

The planes I brought all had DSM2 receivers...a mix of Lemon and Orange. But one lockout was when there weren't as many planes in the sky as usual (but who knows how many receivers were powered up under the build tent?). And one of the fellas I spoke to who had a lockout said it was with a DSMX receiver. So I think ZoomNBoom may be onto something with his comment about the crowded frequency spectrum contributions from other devices (cell phones, wifi).

Of the three lockouts I had, one plane was splattered, another went for a nasty cartwheel tumble crash but had only minor damages, and the third occurred with a trimmed-up plane flying straight and level, and I got back control after a few seconds without issue. Just glad no one got hit with an out-of-control plane.

 

[nerdnic]

Flying Taranis I had 0 issues.

 

[Timmy P]

I was there both years. 4 days and flying alot.. At times walking from one end of the flight field to the other while flying. Using all Spektrum equipment DX6i and AR610 rx I had zero problems.. I have never had an issue with anything made by Spektrum.. I didnt even know it was possible with 2.4 technology. I guess it comes down to quality of components used. I don't hear anything good about Orange or Lemon except for the price of the product lol... Might be time to upgrade to quality equipment. A solid radio is most important.. You dont want to hurt someone because you went the cheep route do you? lol

 

[krinaman]

I had zero problems running DSMX with Spektrum transmitter and receivers.

 

[PeterGregory]

I was there both years. 4 days and flying alot.. At times walking from one end of the flight field to the other while flying. Using all Spektrum equipment DX6i and AR610 rx I had zero problems.. I have never had an issue with anything made by Spektrum.. I didnt even know it was possible with 2.4 technology. I guess it comes down to quality of components used. I don't hear anything good about Orange or Lemon except for the price of the product lol... Might be time to upgrade to quality equipment. A solid radio is most important.. You dont want to hurt someone because you went the cheep route do you? lol

Many people at my club are flying OrangeRX with no problems. Do you really hear that much bad about OrangeRX and Lemon? It would be better to share details than launch/repeat rumors.
The OrangeRX 615x's are great for my foamies, I have about 5 of them - great price. DSMX.
However, for any balsa-built models I will move up to (at least) the OrangeRX R620X with diversity, failsafe - and satellite.

Cheers,
Poughkeepsie Pete

 

[Jimmyp]

I had about 4 one resulted in a trip to the bean field. The rest picked up right away again and I carried on.

 

[Timmy P]

Many people at my club are flying OrangeRX with no problems. Do you really hear that much bad about OrangeRX and Lemon? It would be better to share details than launch/repeat rumors.
The OrangeRX 615x's are great for my foamies, I have about 5 of them - great price. DSMX.
However, for any balsa-built models I will move up to (at least) the OrangeRX R620X with diversity, failsafe - and satellite.

Cheers,
Poughkeepsie Pete

Not trying to spread rumors.. Just sharing others experiences with those products.. And I see it as a numbers game.. Its like its 15 percent of people use Orange and the other 85 are using Spektrum.. Yet you only hear bad stories about orange even though there are very few in use in perspective of Spektrum users.. So the reality is... Orange < Spektrum

Like stated before.. Those having problems at FF had solid control at their club field. Its when you get around other radios that they really start to show their limitations.. you get what you pay for..

 

[nerdnic]

The issue was/is the limitations of DSM2, this has nothing to do with whose name is on the RX.

 

[Spastickitten]

I wasn't there, but it was lockout city for me. I have a rp-sma antenna (the wrong one!) on the orx module on my 9xr with a nano qx, but my umx sport cub and my dsm2 lemon have no issues

 

[mybad]

Proper Positioning

My biggest problem was reckless "hotshot" pilots whizzing through all the slower aircraft, including mine. A one-day build destroyed in seconds.

Anyway, I wonder if everyone is positioning their receivers correctly? Here is a link to the HH site which has a short informative video. Just an FYI for those who have never seen it, not trying to slam anyone here.

http://www.spektrumrc.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleID=2292

This is interesting as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaoXipp_288

 

[RichB]

Not trying to spread rumors..

And yet that is all you are doing. So congratulations on being so efficient at it that it comes with no effort.

If you have some actual reason to believe that the orange or lemon-branded receivers are unable to properly emulate the pretty simple but flawed DSM2 spec, let's hear it.

The issue was/is the limitations of DSM2, this has nothing to do with whose name is on the RX.

Exactly!