Well, I'm new to the hobby. My son and I are building the FT22 and have it looking good. Our radio arrived today, and I am a little ticked at HobbyKing right about now. I want to post my story here so other newbies will learn from my folly.
So my five year old say some youtube videos and said, "Dad can we do that?"
"Sure, we can build anything, as long as Mom says it's ok." I said
So with the Commander and Chief's permission we picked out our speed build kit, order the necessary electronics and away we go. I wanted to get started as cheap as I could and could not decide on a transmitter. Do I spend a little more money now and get something I know will work well, or do I save a little now just in case this hobby goes the way of the dodo when baseball season starts. After hours of spec searching and price hunting I decide to get the HK-T6A V2. It's not a super sweet setup, but it looked as if it would work well for our single trainer. It can be programed for elevon mixing from my laptop and I had done my research on the product and found it would do everything we would need.
So the radio arrives today and we unbox it, and it feels ok. I keep looking in the box for a USB cable of some kind to connect the tx to my laptop. After I realized there isn't one in the box, I don't really care, I have a ton of them anyway. So I start to look around the tx for the usb connection so I can get this thing programmed and ready to fly. NO. NO USB Port. Just my luck, it must connect to the trainer port on the back with a special cable that got left out of the box for some reason. So I email HK right away, then being the IT guy that I am decide that if it does hook to the PS2 port on the tx, it can only have 4 wires and a ground, and to talk to another tx it would have to be serial. So I get out my #1 tool (Google) and my USB to RS232 converter. Peace of cake right, I don't have to wait on no stinkin' cable. I'll just make one.
So I began my google search with the phrase "HK-t6a Serial Adapter". Bam! Right there it is, "How to make your own...", hold on, wait a second, What the...There it is 3rd on the list "Hobby King 2.4Ghz 6Ch Tx USB Cable"! Sweet, it's cheep and it's in stock in the USA. Checkout time. $18.00 S&H? for a 60g cable? From the US to the US. I think not. Back to plan A. After reading a few articles and some trial and error, its clear to me that I will have to spend some money on a TTL Serial Adapter to get this to work. So I get this one from NewEgg on the way. http://tinyurl.com/qa74l6c
Now that I've spent my afternoon getting the part I need to setup my tx, I get madder and madder at HK for not including the stinking cable. It states clearly on their site that advanced features must be programmed on a PC. Why not throw in one more sentence with a link to the USB adapter you know everyone is going to need. ERRRRRRRR! I mean it's a $3 dollar part? Come on. If I had known about it I would have ordered it at the time anyway. Either make it clear that I'll need it or include it. Don't think you'll trick me into ordering it once I get the tx and pay you again for shipping.
My rant today is not a knock on the tx. It seems to be good enough for what I need. Once I get it to where I can use it I'm almost certain it will get my son and I to our first crash. Instead my rant today is on the Hobby itself. I like Flite Test because of the content that my son and I can enjoy together. The community seems to be a great place to learn from one another. What I found most goofy in this whole conundrum was that HK looks like the best place to go to get what you need. Then you get hit with crazy S&H fees, BTW the USB Adapter from NewEgg, FREE SHIPPING!! I think it would be great if there were more resources for the newbs out there, and I'm not talking about how stuff works resources. I'm talking about better product reviews, retailer reviews, etc. Where the best place to buy stuff from would be a great start. HK is a good source for parts, if you know what you're looking for and are ordering enough to justify the shipping.
I am well aware that this is par for the course when getting into something new. There will be little things you learn along the way. My goal though is to make sure that when I learn something new, I share it with the FT community. It will not help most of you, but those that start in the hobby after me will get a first hand account of how their not the only person who is new to the hobby and if I can help one person thats good enough for me.
I look forward to finally flying the FT22 and I promise to post some photos as soon as I can. Thanks for the great work you guys do here. I hope to someday be as helpful to others as you guys have been to my son and I.
Fly Safe!
So my five year old say some youtube videos and said, "Dad can we do that?"
"Sure, we can build anything, as long as Mom says it's ok." I said
So with the Commander and Chief's permission we picked out our speed build kit, order the necessary electronics and away we go. I wanted to get started as cheap as I could and could not decide on a transmitter. Do I spend a little more money now and get something I know will work well, or do I save a little now just in case this hobby goes the way of the dodo when baseball season starts. After hours of spec searching and price hunting I decide to get the HK-T6A V2. It's not a super sweet setup, but it looked as if it would work well for our single trainer. It can be programed for elevon mixing from my laptop and I had done my research on the product and found it would do everything we would need.
So the radio arrives today and we unbox it, and it feels ok. I keep looking in the box for a USB cable of some kind to connect the tx to my laptop. After I realized there isn't one in the box, I don't really care, I have a ton of them anyway. So I start to look around the tx for the usb connection so I can get this thing programmed and ready to fly. NO. NO USB Port. Just my luck, it must connect to the trainer port on the back with a special cable that got left out of the box for some reason. So I email HK right away, then being the IT guy that I am decide that if it does hook to the PS2 port on the tx, it can only have 4 wires and a ground, and to talk to another tx it would have to be serial. So I get out my #1 tool (Google) and my USB to RS232 converter. Peace of cake right, I don't have to wait on no stinkin' cable. I'll just make one.
So I began my google search with the phrase "HK-t6a Serial Adapter". Bam! Right there it is, "How to make your own...", hold on, wait a second, What the...There it is 3rd on the list "Hobby King 2.4Ghz 6Ch Tx USB Cable"! Sweet, it's cheep and it's in stock in the USA. Checkout time. $18.00 S&H? for a 60g cable? From the US to the US. I think not. Back to plan A. After reading a few articles and some trial and error, its clear to me that I will have to spend some money on a TTL Serial Adapter to get this to work. So I get this one from NewEgg on the way. http://tinyurl.com/qa74l6c
Now that I've spent my afternoon getting the part I need to setup my tx, I get madder and madder at HK for not including the stinking cable. It states clearly on their site that advanced features must be programmed on a PC. Why not throw in one more sentence with a link to the USB adapter you know everyone is going to need. ERRRRRRRR! I mean it's a $3 dollar part? Come on. If I had known about it I would have ordered it at the time anyway. Either make it clear that I'll need it or include it. Don't think you'll trick me into ordering it once I get the tx and pay you again for shipping.
My rant today is not a knock on the tx. It seems to be good enough for what I need. Once I get it to where I can use it I'm almost certain it will get my son and I to our first crash. Instead my rant today is on the Hobby itself. I like Flite Test because of the content that my son and I can enjoy together. The community seems to be a great place to learn from one another. What I found most goofy in this whole conundrum was that HK looks like the best place to go to get what you need. Then you get hit with crazy S&H fees, BTW the USB Adapter from NewEgg, FREE SHIPPING!! I think it would be great if there were more resources for the newbs out there, and I'm not talking about how stuff works resources. I'm talking about better product reviews, retailer reviews, etc. Where the best place to buy stuff from would be a great start. HK is a good source for parts, if you know what you're looking for and are ordering enough to justify the shipping.
I am well aware that this is par for the course when getting into something new. There will be little things you learn along the way. My goal though is to make sure that when I learn something new, I share it with the FT community. It will not help most of you, but those that start in the hobby after me will get a first hand account of how their not the only person who is new to the hobby and if I can help one person thats good enough for me.
I look forward to finally flying the FT22 and I promise to post some photos as soon as I can. Thanks for the great work you guys do here. I hope to someday be as helpful to others as you guys have been to my son and I.
Fly Safe!