Single Stick X9E

[Old Swashplate]

I read some threads on RCGroups about the old “single stick” style radios and it got me thinking about trying it. Way back Aloft was even toying with a producing a Taranis single stick version, unfortunately as far as I know it never came to fruition. So since it’s winter and I’m bored and needed a project I started looking for a three axis gimbal. I was surprised to find one that would work and was reasonably priced. I’ve disconnected the rudder/yaw so the left stick is now only throttle and the rudder/yaw is on the knob of the third axis stick. While I haven’t flown anything with this setup yet I believe I’m going to like it. I’ve broken several bones if my left hand through the years and now age/arthritis is setting in making it all but impossible to “thumb” with my left hand so I’m going to try pinching with this setup. It wasn’t a terribly difficult mod, it basically dropped in and only required sacrificing the mounting plate from my original X9E gimbal for a spacer. Alright so I admit my radio has become a “hobby within a hobby”. There, I feel much better now. Anyway I may find I don’t like pinching but if that’s the case I can easily change back to the M9 gimbal. I mostly fly my quads nowadays so this should work out well. Oh and I promise to let everyone know how long it takes me to crash ? .....JW

Edit: Wayne if you ever get any FrSky third axis stick ends in I’ll still take one. ?

 

[gnichola]

That is a lot of switches! May I ask what you use them all for?

 

[Old Swashplate]

Hey gnichola,

My initial plan was to use one side of the switches for helicopters (Spirit/GeoLink) and the other for quads (iNav), sounds good in theory but in practice was not so good. Since I seldom fly my helis anymore I’m in the process of rethinking my switch layout. With iNav there’s plenty of features to select from:

Prearm
Arm
Acro/angle/horizon mode
Heading hold
Headfree
Turn assist
Beeper
LED on/off
Loiter mode
Altitude hold
Position hold
RTH
Airmode
Camera switching
VTX on/off
Rates
TX backlight on/off
Voice call out on/off
Timer reset
TX volume

Like I said I’m still rethinking the switch setup and several of the above features I‘ll seldom use so it‘s definitely a “work in progress“ as of now. Let’s just say, it’s nice to have plenty of options and with OpenTX it seems I’m always coming up with something new to try. ?