Home >> Hobbies >> Aviation

How to Set Radios on RC Planes

Any RC flight radio must be precisely tuned so that it provides the most stable and controllable flight for pilots. Depending on the type of craft and the pilot's level of experience, the model's control surfaces may be programmed to allow for a desired level of responsiveness and control throw (or the amount of deflection the surface gives). These settings can be accessed within most programmable RC radios and ultimately will control how the aircraft flies.

Instructions

- 1
  Power on your radio and make sure the throttle stick is all the way down.
- 2
  Connect the model's electronic speed control output to the battery leads in order to test all control surfaces.
- 3
  Slowly begin moving both control sticks in all directions and watch for the corresponding movements on the model's control surfaces. When pulling back on the right-hand stick, ensure the elevator deflects to the "up" position. Ailerons must also be coordinated to achieve proper turns. When attempting a right-hand turn, the left aileron should deflect down, while the right aileron moves to the up position. If any of these are incorrectly set, the model will be uncontrollable. Use your radio's servo reverser option to restore correct surface movements.
- 4
  Enter your radio's main menu and proceed to the dual-rates/exponential menu. Here you may not only choose between a milder or "scale" flight setting and a more advanced aerobatic regime, but also program how sensitive your control inputs are around mid-stick. You can enter in exponential values --- expressed in percentage points (usually between 10 percent and 50 percent) --- to soften control responses and make the model easier to control.
- 5
  Navigate to the radio's mixing setting to maintain level flight during aggressive throttle input maneuvers. When applying power, most airplanes climb as a function of the increased lift provided by the additional airspeed. You can choose to offset this behavior by programming in some "mixing". This provides a degree of automatic down-elevator to compensate for the model's tendency to climb.

Aviation