Tag Archives: radiomaster

ELRS … So The Commodore Was Correct ….!!

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Our Commodore, Phil H, has long been very keen on the performance of his Radiomaster-ELRS receiver… “never dropped a signal”, he says.

Can you read that table above ? – it’s a tad blurry, but I think you can. These are ground-to- ground test results of some major transmitter-receiver brands aimed at the Radio Flying community, …who are interested in distances measured in kilometres..

The test might also typically be using receivers with a lot more channels than we use in sailing. The test person gets more into the transmitters, but receiver capability will be a big part of the equation.

You have to keep a sense of proportion – flyers seem to worry about ranges measured in kilometres, whereas, honestly, if our boats are 100m away I panic about whether I’ll hit a mark…. or not be able to tell which one of the pack is “me” !!

No need for us to be extremely picky about range and distance, but it’s all relative….

Sure enough, Phil – the major conclusion of the test is that ELRS is basically in a class of its own. FrSky Tandem was quite close (see our recent website article), but we don’t see many of those. You can see why the tests were controversial, but essentially they left the receivers in one spot then drove the transmitters into the distance (flattish undulating terrain) until they dropped signal. I think at one point they drive over a hill and see if the signal is regained the other side.

When you are dealing with radio sailing distances of 100 metres or so, if you have signal drops you probably need to check out other parts of the system. … Interesting though…. The full link of this 2024 video is given below – it’s long and much of it somewhat heavy going. If you skip forward to around the 1’17”, the summary and results start around there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LargnWPSX04

FR Sky Transmitters…!!

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I managed to get my hands on one of these a couple of days ago. From the airplane and gliding world, the FrSky Tandem X20….. Bit of a wow. It was interesting to see what they use over in flying.

They cost about double (450GBPs) what radio sailors would think of as “pricey”, but can you tell the difference?

Amazingly – a resounding “yes”…. the feel was a huge step up from what we are used to. The body was a lot more solid (alloy maybe) and interestingly weighed about 900g so a bit heavier than common radio sailing transmitters. It felt very good in my size/shape hands. The “Apple” of transmitters maybe.

Gimballs (“Hall gimbals”) very smooth and more central on the console which somehow gave a nice balance (nearer centre of gravity perhaps) while you used it. Thinking about it more, if you move the screen to the top of the unit (most of our transmitters have the screen at the bottom), you can then move the gimbals down lower on the console itself.

Another thing I noticed was that the gimbals can be rotated slightly for those in search of more comfort over longer periods. Somehow, the whole thing looked more showerproof too. Really tightly fitted together.

When we decided to write the radio sailing manual for Radiomaster transmitters, I came across FrSky because the previous range FrSky along with Radiomaster use the same OpenTX software. FrSky seem to have abandoned that OpenTX strategy now as it was holding them back. They have done their own modern looking operating software called EthOS. That’s amazing too – it’s like having a full iPhone aboard, …all icons, colour and sexiness. Lots of preloaded configurations for power mixing and the like.

I might have misunderstood, but the owner said you could send updates (like custom model configurations) to it “over the air”…. so he can swap configurations with friends very easily.

The owner of the unit that I tried was a Competition Gliding fan. I asked what he used previously, and interestingly he had a Spektrum DX6E – which of course is very common in sailing.

Way over-configured for the needs of radiosailing, but it was interesting to see what £450 would buy you.

Beginner’s Guide : Choosing the Switches on Your Radio Transmitter…..!!

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Do you think radio control aircraft flyers ever get cold hands?? I’m beginning to wonder…

Maybe they don’t!! Radio Sailors on the other hand usually do want some warm, dry, hand protection and it’s extremely usual for us to use “Transmitter snugs” to keep our fingers warm !!

Our transmitters are generally model aircraft transmitters and we use a tiny proportion of their capability in Radio Sailing. Not all of them come with switches for aircraft pilots to play with, but the more you pay the more switches you will see on there. Lets be clear – far fewer radio sailors use ANY of the switches, but if you find yourself tempted quite possibly your transmitter is festooned with the them..

By “switches”, I am referring to those little silver spikey things such as the ones you can see in the photos above. If you are tempted to try one of these switches for sailing, then read-on.

In way of a suggestion, consider whether when inside a “transmitter snug” the switches can get inadvertently flicked/activated by the very material that is keeping your hands warm. Certainly when you take your hands out of the snug and perhaps place the transmitter to one side, you are open to this happening.

It won’t happen on the Radiomaster Pocket (switches safely recessed) but Flysky, Spektrum and the Futabas generally have them running along facing you on what I think of as “the top” …. meaning the console where the joysticks are located. Futaba and Spektrum also have switches on the back panel, slightly hidden away from you. To make it more interesting there are often two different switch arm lengths. What I have been finding is that the longer switch arms (lovely action!!) are the ones that can snag on the inside of the transmitter snug. When it happens, it’s quite difficult to spot until something doesn’t work on the boat as you expect…. usually at a crucial moment!!

The Flysky I tried at the weekend additionally needed those switches all in the off position just to power up successfully. The Flysky only has switches along “the top” if I recall correctly. (see photo above)

So my suggestions if you really, really want to try switches would be :-

1/ Choose the short stubby switches if you can, as they are often “protected” against snagging by a tall switch located next to them.

2/ Consider only using short stubby switches on the back panel if it fits your way of thinking. A reduced chance of snagging back there….

3/ If you get cross, don’t throw away that transmitter snug!!