Operation Manual

The assignment
process
for
helicopters
lf we disregard the early,
very
simple
helicopters, which
managed without collective
pitch,
the model helicopter
requires at least five
primary
control
functions:
1.
Collective oitch
2. Pitch-axis
(fixed
wing:
elevator)
3. RolFaxis
(fixed
wing: aileron)
4. Yaw-axis
(tail
rotor
-
fixed wing: rudder)
5.
Throttle;
usually
linked
to and derived
from
col-
lective
oitch
Commonly used auxiliary functions:
6. Gyro suppression
and
7. Mixture adjustment for the motor.
Assigning the
"transmitter
control
"
end
of the system
At
the
transmitter end the four main control f unctions:
COLLECIIVE
PITCH, PITCH-AXIS, ROLL and YAW
have to be assigned to the two transmitter sticks
in the
usuar
way.
As the
"THROTTLE"
function
is
controlled
in
two
ways
-
partly
via a derived signal from
"COLLECrIVE
PITCH" and
partly
via a separate control
(more
details
later)
-
a transmitter control
must
also be assigned to
it;
usually one ol the
two
sliders.
The other slider
is
used
for mixture
adjustment.
Start by
moving to the
"Assign
transmitter controls"
menu as described before. Assign the transmitter con-
trols
A
-
D to the control Junctions COLLECf IVE
PITCH,
ROLL, PITCH and YAW using the arrangement
you
pre-
fer.
Assign slider E or
F
to
"THROTTLE";
then
the remain-
ing slider
to
"
MIXTURE".
lf
you
are using a
gyro
which
can be controlled
trom the
transmitter, a
further transmitter control needs to be
assigned to
it; for
example
one of the
"switched
chan-
nels"
H; in
the
transmitter's language: transmitter con-
trol H
=
GYRO.
lf
you
do not need
mixture
adjustment,
you
could
assign
one of the sliders to the
gyro.
Assigning at the
"servo
end"
Here
things
get
a little more complex. But let's do things
in the
right
order!
In
the
model there are three
groups
of control functions:
1. The tail rotor
(yaw)
control system,
including
gyro
suppression
2.
Throttle
control system
including mixture
adiustment
3. Swashplate
(main
rotor) control
system.
No helicopter can manage without this:
The tail rotor control system
Move to the
"Assign
servos" menu. Select in the usual
way the desired servo number, and activate the servo
f unction field in line 2 with the
Z
key.
"
Leaf through" with the
E
key
until
"TAILROT."
appears:
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In our example servo No. 3 is now assigned to tail rotor
control. This automatically makes available the essen-
tial mixer which
passes part
of the collective
pitch
sig-
nal to the tail
rotor
servo.
All
you
need
to do
later is
set
the level of the two inputs.
lmportant:
Be
sure to assign
"TAIL
ROTOR". lf
you
assign
"YAW"
instead,
you
will have the normal stick
func-
tion, but
not
the collective
pitch
mixing
-
i.e. no
static
tail rotor compensation!
Set up
gyro
suppression
in the same way:
As the
"sensitivity"
input of the
gyro
is
connected to the
receiver in the same way as a servo, the
"formal"
des-
ignation
here is:
"
Servo
No. ..
controls GYRO".
In
our example
the
gyro
is connected to receiver output 6.
So:
press
the
S
key and select servo No. 6. Press
Z
and leaf through until
"GYRO"
appears:
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Leave the menu as usual; that's it
-
done!
The throttle control system
First the
mixture adiustment
At the
"Assign
servos" menu select, say, servo
No. 7;
then
press
the
Z
key and select
"MIXTURE":
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Now the
"throttle"
servo.
First
we
select
the
appropriate
servo again; in our case
No. 4.
Now
instead of the simple
"THROTTLE"
function as on
a
fixed-wing aircraft, we are otfered the
mixed function
"DYN.-THROT."
(dynamic
throttle).
This mixed tunction
allows
you
to
"switch
in"
part
of the ROLL, PITCH and
YAW control signals
to the throttle signal. This is desir-
able because every control
movement requires extra
power
from the motor. lf
you
do not want to use this
fea-
ture. the ROLL. PITCH and YAW inouts
will
be set to
zeto.
So:
press
the
tr
key, then leai through with the
E
key
until vou see
"
DYN.-THROT.":
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That's all there
is
to
it here,
too.
lncidentally: if
you
don't hold with such
refinements,
you
can always use the simple
"THROTTLE'
lunction.
In that case the mixing arrangements simply do
not
appty.