FRSky Taranis

Really liking this radio (the FRSky Taranis, available in the US from www.alofthobbies.com/frsky-taranis-x8r-combo.html ani in Oz (with C-tick) from www.extremerc.com.au/estore/ - in Europe from T9. It is, at this writing, in short supply while the manufacturer tries to keep up with demand. Occasionally HK or Banggood will have them in stock, but I recommend one on the premium dealers already listed due to warranty repairs, etc. Aloft is also carrying spare parts and bits.
CAVEAT: The radio is not battle tested yet. However I have a hardware 1:1 ship turret simulator I am developing the mixes on, and have done a lot of bench work with it so far. The RF link has been battle tested and worked fine, so I expect no issues. In fact, field reports indicate that it is much more reliable, especially when you have 30-40 or more units operating at the same time, than the DSM2 system.
Bottom line: Feels really good (the plastic sliders on the shoulders that I am using for depression are the least "quality" feel part on the radio, and they are fine). Balance, sticks, switches, all feel good and ergonomic in my hands, Has a lot of the ergonomics of the old popular JR 9300 and 9500 radios, as the shell was licensed from a clone of those.
Comes with an 800 ma 7.2v NiMh LSD battery which I esed for several hours of programming and fiddling, and is supposed to be good for 3-4 hours of flying (or, in our case, battling). Aloft now has 2000mAh 7.2v LSD NiMH batteries ($13.50) which ought to get you threoug a full day of battling. The charger is built in to the radio, so you can just add a 12v AC or DC power source (no, not a straight 13.8v or more car plug, it needs to be rebulated down to closer to 12v to charge form your car socket).
The miximg capabilities of this thing are incredible, mych like the multi-thousand dollar MulptiPlex Profi 4000 - you have to retrain your brain.
Every channel is individually mixed to whatever source(s) of input you want, and in whatever way(s) you want. Once you get the hang of it ,it is incredibly flexible and powerful. If you have never worked with a programmable radio before, you will find it easy and straightfoward, if you take it one step at a time. if you have worked with programmable radios, you will need to unlearn a lot of stuff. Reports from the field indicate beginners take to this radio much faster then older Futaba or JR or Spektrum power users.
While you do not need a computer to do any of the programming, there is an open-source software (free) called Companion9x available for Windows, Mac, and Linux that lets you play with the programming and upload/download models and the underlying firmware to and from the transmitter. It also has a simulator built in, so you can try out the mixes and see what is happening at the servo level on the screen. I sggest getting Companion installed and play with it some, and watch a few of Scott Page's videos www.youtube.com/user/PagesFlyingCircus to get you up to speed and see if you want this shiny new toy. You will want to look through the manual, as some things, but mainly to get an idea of wher to look in the manual if you want to do something you can't get easily. code.google.com/p/opentx/wiki/OpenTx_FrSky_EN
For those who do not need all the power, it is very simple to set up and fine tune, is ergonomic, and has lots of nice features (plus you can grow with this one if you later want more functions or functionality).
For those who are power users - up to 32 controlled channels and the smarts to help take the command load off the captain's shoulders. Plus, you get telemetry, voice alarms, etc.
You get 2 sticks, 2 rotary pots, 2 shoulder sliders, 6ea 3 way switches, 1ea 2 way switch, and 1ea 2 way momentary switch. Oh, for the $200, you also get a battery a 16 channel RX with SBus, and an aluminum carrying case (and neckstrap and balancer, and power supply for the built-in charger) and a mini USB interface, and headphone jack, andJR wtyle buddy box input. Oh, and if you have a bunch of models on some other protocol, no worries, it has a JR style TX module bay in the back, so you can stick in a DSM2 or FASST or FlySky type module. Oh, and there is not really any "Mode 1" or "Mode 2" on this. The sticks can both have the vertical axis set to ratchet, smooth friction, or spring return to center. I happen to like the throttle to return to center if i let go so that the ship will go all-stop. YMMV.
For the MWC and IRCWCC guys who rip out a stick and put in buttons - here you have a bunch of 3-way switches that can be replaced or parallelled with 2 buttons - no resistor bridge or other fancy mods needed. There is even some space on the back that appears perfect for this mod.
For $200, I am liking it. A lot. And the receivers are quite reasonably priced. Ceck out the specs at Aloft. Huge amount of bang for the buck. For the price, you get a radio superior in capability to many radios 5-10 or more times the price. And, the firmware is open-source. If you find you want it to behave differently in some fashion (can't imagine what, as it is incredibly flexible and powerful to the point of being almost overwhelming if you try to take all the features/possibilities in at once), and cna do a lottle C coding,, you can roll your pown mods to the operating system (above my pay grade).
Again, liking it a lot so far. In fact, I have gone on the waiting list again for another.
For what is worth, my current setup (fine tunig it bit by bit on the simulator as I get time):

• Left stick is throttle and rudder. Right stick is unused presently.
• Right rotary pot is primary target designator (points Turret #2 at the target).
• Right shoulder slider is primary target range (Turret #2 depression).
• Trainer switch, currently, is fire all available guns on selected target.
• Left rotary pot is secondary target selector (direction from Turret #4 of a 3-4 turret ship).
• Left slider is secondary target range.
• Switch A forward selects primary target for all guns available.
• Switch A back selects secondary target for all guns available.
• Switch A centered gives the forward guns to the Primary, stern guns to Secondary controls respectively.
• I will probably take Switch F and break it out to two buttons and use it as fire on selected target or fire forward, fire aft depending on the position of Switch A. Or, I could just use the right stick for this.

Again, I am liking this radio a lot so far. In fact, I have gone on the waiting list again for another.
Cheers,

 

Great review. But as one of those old-skool (yes, I misspelled "school" to seem cool) MWC types, your current setup made my brain hurt. LOL
Left stick forward / back for throttle. Left stick right / left for rudder. Right stick back for stern guns, side-to-side for sidemounts. Landing gear switch to turn pump on / off. KISS principle.

Jeff

 

Ayep. Jeff, for MWC or IRCWCC, ship setups are admittedly a lot simpler setup with far fewer proportional channels needed. Your setup would work just fine. The only reason I did a primary and secondary target setup is to allow those captains who want to go into a melee with targets on both sides of the ship at the same time or similar complex attacks (or who prefer to use their forward stern turret as the target designator as opposed to Turret #2, my current preference). Horses for courses, and all that.
You can do a simpler simplified setup for Big Gun, too, by tying all forward guns to rotate and depress together mechanically, and not even use proportional rotation (just push left to rotate to port and right to rotate to starboard, release when on target). One guy has his set up where vertical is stern rotation and horizontal is bow. Thus just push up to the top left corner, and everything rotates port. Push it to the lower left, and bow goes port, stern starboard. Pretty slick and intuitive to learn, and he is quite deadly with a 6 channel radio. He doesn't even have controlled depression (it is fixed and set manually at the dock).
But, part of this has been the unavailability of sail winch servos at a reasonable price to allow for proportional rotation and a lack of radios capable of controlling 8 or more channels and less than the cost of the ship.
Now, you have a $200 radio that is pretty much, "if you can imagine the functions you want, it can do it." That is for 16 channels if you add the RX stuff, for about $220-230, and 32 channels (all of which can be fully proportional) at a total investment of under $300 (you need an extra TX module RX and some more SBus decoders). If you need all that, cool - now you can get it. If not, for the base $200, you get a rock-solid RF link, model match memory, voice warnings, telemetry (how low is your battery?) etc. in a nice ergonomic package and LSD (low self discharge - I like my radio on LSD) batteries. The RXs are inexpensive, as well, and I have found sail winch servos for under $15.
So, for Big Gun, with a little creative programming, you can pretty much concentrate all available guns on a target without even seeing the guns to aim them. You can set up the tactile feel so that you never have to look down, and with voice proompts, don't even have to look at the display for important information such as battery level (TX and RX). Again, the point is increasing the captain's control while reducing his load.
For IRCWCC, MWC, Treaty, and other less demanding needs, it is probably an easier radio to mod to get the on-off channels you need. In fact, you can get rid of the double throw firing boards and use a separate channel for each circuit if you want - you have plenty of channels.
Cheers,

 

By the way. I know 2.4gHz does not penetrate water well. But, the Taranis has RSSI and can determine signal strength. Some pilots use this to locate their planes by various methodologies. I wonder if it would help locate a lost ship if you were close enough, not necessarily for control, but for a signal strength reading at all. And at what depth. We may have to test that at the pond one of these days.

Cheers,

Wreno

 

McSpuds,
That is one of the great things about the Taranis for Big Gun, you can program it to take a lot of the load off the captain as to what to aim where compaed to other radios. For other formats, it does add sound (so you can play Ride of the Valkeries or whatever is appropriate as you attack).
By the way, Remember me saying this is fluid - Flysky still does not have their i10 in the market, and...

The FRSky Taranis (aka X9D) is slowly entering the marketplace as they ramp up production (they already have an early production, model A and Model B our, each with slight improvements), but are still hard to come by at the moment (I have one in hand, one in shipping, and one on a waiting list - I like this radio for Big Gun), and they just made the following announcement:

Radio: Taranis X9D +
Estimate available within two months.
The Taranis X9D+ will have some new features and functions over the Taranis X9D, including haptic, upgraded sliders, dual-color LED backlight grey-scale display, 6-position replaceable encoder, etc.

* Current Taranis X9D radio can obtain parts of new X9D+ features via components replacement and firmware upgrade.
And, in addition, Turnigy is introducing the 9XR Pro (under $100) that should give you at least 16 channels and uses the Sky9x motherboard for more memory and speed. Supposedly in time for Christmas (they didn't say of what year, though).
I personally like the form factor and feel of the Taranis over the Turnigy 9XR, but don't hate the 9XR, either.

If you need a flexible and powerful radio (not all do) and can get a Taranis now, no real reason to wait, as you will be able to upgrade the features you want later.

Cheers,

 

WOOT! Congratulations, Tug!
On first handling, what do you think of the ergonomics as a potential battle radio?
Latest updates on mine: The splash screen now has my name on it, along with the logos, and the power up (female yoeman) voice now greets me with "Hi, Wreno, I, your trusty Taranis, have undergone systems checks and report ready for action." then any errant switches and targeting selection.
Also, on selection, it reports (in a nice female yoeman's voice) "Primary target selected", "split targeting selected", and "secondry targeting selected' depending on which targeting mode I have selected with Switch A.
On testing on the hardware simulator, though, found that Turret 3 was acting wonky (mimicking Turret 1 or 2 instead of converging with them). I did not have all 4 turrets set up on the hardware simulator yet - it is still set for USS Missouri. The display indicated all the correct positioning signals were going out.... What the heck? Then I had a brainstorm, and plugged in Turret 4 to Turret 3's position and it worked as should. I believe the issue is that I was using an SBus decoder for the turret azimuths and may have programmed channel 11 as 8 or 9. I will dig out my programmer and confirm once I get my garage door unfrzen.
Cheers,

 

For the voice, I am using www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php , though there are other text to voice packages out there (this one is free for what we are doing, I believe). I happened to choose Lauren as my yoeman, but your mileage may differ. Acapela has one with moe choices, some pretty humerous. Or, you can record your own - specs are in the documents. A lot of people like Acapela's Heather, but you might find something like English (UK) Graham more fun.
Use less than 8 charactes (no spaces) in the name of the track, make it a WAV (full specs in the documentation, and, perhaps the new beginners guide www.alofthobbies.com/files/Taranis_..._Guide.pdf
If not, try the code.google.com/p/opentx/wiki/OpenTx_FrSky_EN
You will want to place the WAV file in the Sounds/En folder, I believe, on the SD card. Then you can call the up with a Custom Function.
A bunch of other useful info and URLs are here:openrcforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php
So much information, kind of like trying to sip from a firehose, I know. But not really hard if you forget everything yu know about how other radios work, and tackle one thing at a time.
Cheers,

 

Or, as an alternate, a male voice with a scottish accent for those difficult engineering announcements?

 

Yep, Darren, had thought the same thing. Found a wonderful UK English voice on Acapela that sounded more or less Scot. Gotta love the sweet, dulcet tones of the yoeman, though. Somewhere, I found an old guy (old Will?) that sounded kind of like an aged salt that would have been fun. And, there are kids' voices out there, too.
One guy on RCGroups has already named his radio the (bit obvious) Tara, by the way. I have to admit, my Osborne 01 luggable computer was named "Dot".
There is a relatively new beginner's guide for the radio, and Extreme RC in OZ has gotten it properly C-Ticked if I understand correctly (and carries it when he can get it in stock).
Cheers,

 

dupe, sorry

 

Hobby Kings international warehouse just got a whack of Taranis' in stock incase anybody wants one.

 

All 32 are sold out as of 2am.