Receiver signal loss at FliteFest 2022

DbleDuce

Member
Not sure if this is a common problem, but the first time I flew combat this year my plane stopped responding after about 1 minute into the flight. I have a Spektrum DX6 and was using an Orange R615X receiver. I figured maybe the receiver was the issue, so I patched up the plane, put in a Spektrum AR6110e that I had and went to the next combat. Issue repeated itself. So I figured that maybe a new receiver was needed. Got a new AR410 from the store, again patched up the plane and went to combat the next day...same issue. I figured that with so many planes in the air caused the issue, but then again, other planes remained in the air.

For some background information. I flew this plane at other times during the day with all 3 receivers...and it flew just fine.

Any thoughts?
 

Piotrsko

Master member
Too many same brand skip hopping transmitters using up the available spectrum. Since controller function is a controlled conversation between the transmitter and reciever, when part of that fails the reciever goes into failsafe mode which looks a lot like LOS (which technically it is) too many systems in the air at the same time causes the transmitter to stop the broadcast so it wont interfere with an existing broadcast and the process repeats at the next hop because somebody is there before you again. Having a non standard system helps because the hops aren't the same. I fly 72 mhz and never have THIS problem ( but have others)

@Hai Lee has a headache provoking treatise about this over in another section.
 

Piotrsko

Master member
Since most of you don't have wifi experience from the early days of 2 gigahertz routers, metal stuff and 3cm wavelengths dont play well together. Everything metallic becomes an overlength antenna causing reflection, or absorption and re-transmission of signal. Since the reflected signal is a mirror of the original transmission, it "confuses" the receiver into doing odd things but a couple micro seconds later. And then the receiver programming decides this confusion is cause to stop commands to the servos or drive them to the stops. Otherwise known as bad juju
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Mentor
RF Interference was more of an issue this year than any other past events. I have given some detailed info to the Flite Test crew and they are looking into mitigating the interference issues for next year and beyond. It was also discussed in the podcast on 6/30/2022. I believe Josh mentioned that he spoke to Alex Greve from VAS about this as well. The oil derricks are potentially a big part of the problem. It is being looked into and should be addressed by next years Flite Fest.
 

Bricks

Master member
What Gen DX6 do you have the first gen only had one antenna in the transmitter, I have had two Spektrum transmitters that I had to send in having problems with the RF deck, one a DX6 and one DX9 only charge was shipping too them. If it happens to be a Gen 1 pointing the transmitter at right angles to the plane can help in congested situations.
 

Yankee2003

Well-known member
RF Interference was more of an issue this year than any other past events. I have given some detailed info to the Flite Test crew and they are looking into mitigating the interference issues for next year and beyond. It was also discussed in the podcast on 6/30/2022. I believe Josh mentioned that he spoke to Alex Greve from VAS about this as well. The oil derricks are potentially a big part of the problem. It is being looked into and should be addressed by next years Flite Fest.[/QUOTE

I was flying Futaba and never had an issue. Flew in two combats as well. Maybe it was the lack of Futaba users or luck I don’t know.
I feel for the guys who lost their planes.
 

tamuct01

Well-known member
At previous FliteFests, I never had a problem with any of my FrSky models. The only plane I lost due to signal issues was an OrangeRx DSMX receiver flying near the oil derricks. As previously addressed, I believe they are at least one part of the problem.
 

Piotrsko

Master member
Go wander around the site with a router sniffer/checker and see what signal turns out being or if there are spurious beams floating by. Everything else is swag speculation. I have such a beastie as software app on my phone that works adequately for RC.
 

Mr NCT

Site Moderator
Go wander around the site with a router sniffer/checker and see what signal turns out being or if there are spurious beams floating by. Everything else is swag speculation. I have such a beastie as software app on my phone that works adequately for RC.
That's useful! What app do you use?
 

Mid7night

Jetman
Mentor
The number of planes in the air is definitely part of the issue. I have heard several people having trouble flying near the oil well.

Number of people flying this year is not as high as it's been previous years, and there were FAR more RF interference issues this year; It's the oil derrick for sure. But as @SP0NZ said; Josh is aware and the team is on it. :D
 

Merv

Site Moderator
Staff member
Number of people flying this year is not as high as it's been previous years, and there were FAR more RF interference issues this year; It's the oil derrick for sure. But as @SP0NZ said; Josh is aware and the team is on it. :D
I was at the other end of the field & didn’t experience any RF issues. I have heard complaints about the oil well for many years. This year, there were far more RF complaints than in the past, most were near the oil well. Something at the oil well changed from past years. Even so, there have always been more RF issues when more planes were in the air.
 

Tench745

Master member
I was at the other end of the field & didn’t experience any RF issues. I have heard complaints about the oil well for many years. This year, there were far more RF complaints than in the past, most were near the oil well. Something at the oil well changed from past years. Even so, there have always been more RF issues when more planes were in the air.
I wonder if they changed how it was grounded or something silly that would make the derrick itself act more like an antenna.
 

AIRFORGE

Make It Fly!
Moderator
I wonder if they changed how it was grounded or something silly that would make the derrick itself act more like an antenna.
They're wifi connected. More than likely, they were transmitting above the maximum power level, and caused interference.
It's possible that simple Faraday cages/shielding can prevent interference. FT mentioned they were checking in to that.
 

Musdang

Not Quite Legendary
Guy, you’re all wrong. There not oil wells or derricks or anything else.
There actually called Money Pumpers. They are everywhere in Kentucky and Tennessee. It’s common fact that there called Money Pumpers with the local folk. :LOL::ROFLMAO:
 
RF Interference was more of an issue this year than any other past events. I have given some detailed info to the Flite Test crew and they are looking into mitigating the interference issues for next year and beyond. It was also discussed in the podcast on 6/30/2022. I believe Josh mentioned that he spoke to Alex Greve from VAS about this as well. The oil derricks are potentially a big part of the problem. It is being looked into and should be addressed by next years Flite Fest.
Sponz, wondering if this is going to be addressed for this year's Flite Fest?
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Another thing to consider is the recent proliferation of ultra low latency protocols like ELRS, GHOST, ETC. To get low latency they are very chatty which takes up a lot more of the limited RF bandwidth. You really need to use a protocol analyser to figure out what the root cause is while the issue is happening in addition to doing a site survey before FF.
 
Another thing to consider is the recent proliferation of ultra low latency protocols like ELRS, GHOST, ETC. To get low latency they are very chatty which takes up a lot more of the limited RF bandwidth. You really need to use a protocol analyser to figure out what the root cause is while the issue is happening in addition to doing a site survey before FF.
That could be, the problems I had with DMX was near the oil rig. Could be just anecdotal?