GR6 Receiver Range Problem

[hotdogx]

I have an X-Lite S transmitter and Archer GR6 receiver installed into a DLG, running ACCESS. The DLG fuselage is fiberglass - no carbon. The receiver bound just fine and all the controls are working as expected after programming. Telemetry is working fine. However, I am having range issues. I do not get the recommended range on the range check, and even at full TX power I get RSSI low and RSSI critical wanrings when the DLG is only 100' - 200' away from the TX, with the DLG well above the ground. I changed the RX antennas so that they are sticking out of the fuselage sides at 90 degrees to each other, and it made no difference at all. I also have a Horus X10S TX running ACCST on three G-RX6 and two G-RX8 receivers, and I have had no range problems at all.

Any ideas on how to solve this problem? I'm wondering if I have a defective GR6 RX.

 

[Konrad]

Have you changed the RSSI values for ACCeSS per the file download notes?

35 for low and 32 for critical

 

[hotdogx]

Konrad, thanks, I was not aware of that. It would be nice if FrSky put that into the two page GR6 manual, or at least sent a note with it.

 

[HENNY]

?

 

[Konrad]

FrSky does have that note in all their pamphlets.

Quote:
"FrSky is continuously adding features and improvements to our products. To get the most from your product, please check the download section of the FrSky website www.frsky-rc.com for the latest update firmware and manuals"

 

[hotdogx]

If you buy a new FrSky TX using ACCESS and OpenTX, they should tell you that the RSSI alarm values need to be reset for ACCESS. I don't consider that an improvement. Just my opinion.

 

[HENNY]

FRsky does have it noted but really its a current limitation of Opentx.

 

[Konrad]

If you buy a new FrSky TX using ACCESS and OpenTX, they should tell you that the RSSI alarm values need to be reset for ACCESS. I don't consider that an improvement. Just my opinion.

I agree!

FrSky does a piss poor job with software implementation and configuration control. ACCeSS is just the latest disaster. I hope you are aware that there are two incompatible versions of ACCeSS. Again there is nothing in the nomenclature or labeling of the RF component to tell you this. I learned of this through Wayne at Aloft. A simple sticker on the TX and RX would help a great deal! But will FrSky do that, fat chance! Their position is that these issues are common knowledge. Yes, to those in the FrSky world. But to those of us customers that want to fly FrSky rather than live FrSky not so much!

I'm not aware that there is a technical reason for the OS to not be able to change the RSSI value as a function of the RF protocol being selected. I think this is a classic example of poor software integration as the contracts probably don't address these cross platform (FrSky RF and OpenTX OS) interactions. This isn't unique to FrSky. Many other firm have older products that need to have drivers fixed. But the hardware firm doesn't want to pay the software firm that wrote the code (for older products) to rewrite the code. I think this RSSI is a contractual issue.

To be clear RSSI is an indicator of range or power and signal quality. It has nothing to do with actual range and power. If you perform a 2.4 gHz range test to the same standard we used with the old 72 mHz. You will find that the 2.4 gHz TX & RX combo will drop out at the same distance regardless of the RSSI value in the TX program. Think of the RSSI as the red line on your car's tach, it is just an indicator.

Thinking about 72 mHz, I recall we had receivers that could auto detect neg or positive shift and switch automatically depending on the TX used. (Futaba used a non-standard neg shift pulse train). With the computational power of today's RF chips one would think that the FrSky RX could auto sellect the RF protocols. But alas no.

 

[hotdogx]

Konrad,
All good points. I wasn't aware of the two incompatible versions of ACCeSS; thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll have to research that to find out what version is on my X-Lite S TX and GR6 RX. That's the one bad thing about using FrSky stuff - you have to be willing to do a fair amount of on-line research to learn everything that you need to know. So it ends up taking a lot of time getting up to speed. Two years ago I got a Horus X10S, put it on OpenTX, and learned what I needed to make it work. That was before ACCeSS. So I'm back on the learning curve again now with my X-Lite S TX on OpenTX with the GR6 RX. I'm willing to do it because I like using the tiny GR6 RX in my DLGs, and the small size and weight of the X-Lite S TX. But life would have been easier for me if the TX had come with a note telling me to change the RSSI alarm values for ACCeSS (since the TX came with OpenTX). I appreciate you replying to my posting here about the change in RSSI values. I thought it was odd when I range tested that the controls were still working fine at 30m away but the TX was saying RSSI critical. So when I saw your reply about changing the RSSI alarm values I said aha, it makes sense now.