Not sure when I'll get to it but planning a part 2 to this after I upgrade my TX16S antenna to compare performance. Part 2 will be much shorter.... lol Thanks for watching and for the sub!
This is an excellent test, and test procedure. A few years ago I got back into the hobby, so all this 2.4ghz gear is still new to me. The deal is, I have a radiomaster boxer, and pocket and have been using it on some small electrics. I still use (and completely trust) my old futaba pcm gear on nitro planes. Back in the day a Futaba 146ip was considered a "short range" receiver at a range of 300 meters, even then people were taking this receiver out way farther than that with no problems. This new stuff to me still seems really fiddly. I think the new ELRS gear looks very promising, but yeah back in the day you could put literally any receiver in a plane, and as long as your gear wasn't smashed or crashed, you could expect to sky out as far as you could see. The old 72mhz stuff was good to about 5 miles out once FPV'ers started using it, and it wasn't at all sensitive to receiver voltage (brownouts). I think this stuff will all work fine for line of sight, but as for me I've personally had so many fiddly issues with the new gear, antenna placement, transmitter antenna angles etc. I'll probably end up conforming..but I feel so relaxed with the old stuff, and no one is flying it so the band is all clear now.
Great test! Very interesting outcome with the RX antenna placement. I would also like to see comparison with Spektrum and ELRS. I was going to take my R88 v2 out of my plane and replace it with a different rx, but thanks to your test I can confidentially leave it in.
Thank you for a very informative video. You did a fantastic work. I was concerned to use this receiver on my 30cc plane. I have been flying HITEC receivers before. But can't find them anymore. New or used. So I got a tips on a forum to use this R88. Thanks again from Sweden
This is valuable data and shows solid results for this configuration. Nice job in designing and implementing the test procedure. Interesting test bed and data acquisition techniques. I'd be interested in a similar test with ELRS and the Radiomaster ER8 - However I'm not sure I've seen you use this equipment. Thanks for putting in the effort and presenting the results.
Thanks. So far I haven't delved into the ELRS world but that would be a good test. I have a feeling it might exceed the range of my drone though! Maybe soon I'll get myself some ELRS equipment.
Yes, pretty sure it will do better than my drone, best I can do is a mile or two I bet. At that point, just need to install the ELRS receiver in the drone with a flight controller & gps for the testing but that's not uncommon, just never seen a standard RX tested like this.
I agree with the ELRS range based on some other testing I have seen. But SNR, RSSI and antenna orientation might offer some useful results for us LOS flyers..@@shanesdiy
@@Mikeylikesit1968 Maybe not. My BetaFPV ELRS Lite Receivers V1 (ceramic antenna) failsafe at about 100 feet. The replacements V2 they sent me, as they said the V1 was faulty, failsafe at about 200 feet. Not all ELRS receivers are made equal. BTW: Great effort on the video Shane. Got a new subscriber.
I've been curious about the RadioMaster D8/D16-compatible receivers, and how they stack up against the XM+'s and X8R's I have in dozens of models. With a RadioMaster Zorro equipped with a 4in1 multiprotocol internal module and stock antenna, I can easily hit 2-3km (after a frequency tune!). But with their seeming abandoning of existing customers with Access shenanigans, I'm hesitant to give FrSky any of my cheddar, for new builds or rebuilds. While I'm only 11 mins in, I see you're about to start _Science-ing the Snot_ out of this test, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you populate all of those fields, and the results. At worst, I waste $11. Oh, and the plane or quad, no biggie lol
Interesting. I've not used the R81, I know it has different antennas than the other R series receivers. Be sure to properly fine tune the frequency. I've heard good things about the ia6b but haven't tried it.
Hi Shane, I love this test,. You mentioned also the the connector on the side can be used as battery telemetry, can you tell what pinout from the connector is?
I was planning to make a quick on on binding to all 3 compatible protocols soon. S-FHSS, FrSky D8 and D16. Other than that, nothing to program. Did you see my recent video on getting the R88V2 to read flight pack voltage? It's part 2 of my voltage telemetry videos. I'll work on that binding video soon. Anything else you are specifically interested in? I will also do the frequency tuning as well as part of that.
Great job with a lot of information Shane. My question now would be: how much RSSI increase would we see if we were using a 2.4 YAGI antenna. Of course this one would be pointed at the receiver. But how far out would we lose signal strength?
You mean a yagi on the transmitter? If you know of a specific antenna that will work on the TX16S 4in1 internal module let me know, if I can find one at a reasonable price I'll give it a try!
Very systematic test, thank you. But in my case, I recently bought a batch of six R88 receivers. Every one of them suffers from the so-called "swamping" issue. If you have the transmitter too close while you are testing the receiver and aligning your control surfaces, after about 10-15 minutes, the connection between the transmitter and the receiver goes bad. The servo responses become erratic with any control input from the transmitter. I will not trust these things in my airplane. Love the transmitter, hate the receivers.
Just curious why you believe the "swamping" issue is a problem? Not trying to change your mind, I actually thought many more people would be of this opinion when I produced this video. I've heard folks complain of the "swamping" issue many times and my opinion is why do I care if it doesn't work when my transmitter is
@shanesdiy it's simply a question of confidence. I am not entirely certain that I lose signal because of a so-called, swamping issue. Radiomaster has not released any bulletins or advisories about a swamping issue. This is mere speculation from online users who have experienced the same quirkiness. But here's the reality of the situation. I have a receiver in one hand that gets goofy after about 10 or 15 minutes, and I have another brand of receiver in the other hand that doesn't do it. Both are relatively inexpensive; so which one am I going to trust with my expensive model, which I may have spent months building? Again, it's simply a question of confidence. One squirrely receiver, I can understand. But six -- in 6 different aircraft? Sorry, I do not have confidence in the R88 receiver.
@@Ed-eq8ui Certainly, if we are talking about hand made expensive models, the R88 would not be my choice of receiver, fully agree with you there. I'm just interested in them for my cheap foamies. Regarding, Radiomaster releasing some sort of bulletin on the issue, I'm not sure it is something created by them or a defect in manufacturing. FrSky, which they share the protocol with, has a history of being susceptible to "swamping" as well. It is not all that uncommon in other industries either, where a transmitter and receiver are in close proximity. Even with WiFi I've experienced poor signal when a PC is too close to the WiFi router. I am curious about the 10-15 minute timeline where yours start acting up. That's strange. I have two R88's I've been experimenting with and both don't function if I put my TX within a few inches of the RX but I've not encountered any odd anomalies over time. I'll pay more attention to that as I do more testing. One thing I've found with my two R88's that is contrary to what I've read online, the fine tune value for each of my R88's was different. I had read that once you fine tune your TX for the FrSky protocol that will be the same value for all future receivers of that protocol you bind to. My two R88s had different values after going through the procedure. Did you perform the fine tune procedure for each of your receivers and did you notice they were different? Very curious your take on that. Thanks for the interesting discussion!
I get 35m range test with my 16S and about 300m in flight. Radiomaster tech said to replace the 4 in 1 module and USD55 later I had no improvement. Waste of my time as well as money!
cutting out at ~.3mi seems really short for me. In an area with really dense rf noise that's kinda unacceptable imo. I lost a really nice plane to an r88 signal loss with perfect antenna placement. I wish I had seen your testing before I trusted them.
Curious what you are flying beyond that range? The distance I got was acceptable to me because I only fly fixed wing LOS and no way I could see any of my planes at that distance. Anything FPV where you are shooting for ~1.0 mile or more I'd be looking at ELRS. I have a Spektrum receiver range (re-)test coming hopefully soon, too many videos on the to-do list.
@@shanesdiy I've had range issues with Spektrum, non full-range frsky rx, and the radiomaster ones. I exclusively use full range frsky or full range elrs rxs now. I think it's a combination of a bad area and flying planes that are a bit bigger so I fly them further out. My smallest on a regular basis is a 1.2m edf and largest is 1/4 cub. I know people that fly really cheap rxs like the 10ch flysky or admiral ones on the regular, but I'm a whole lot more selective with what I put in my planes now.
Other than the failsafe setpoints, there isn't anything to reset. Can you explain what you are trying to accomplish? To change/set the channel failsafe positions, power on the transmitter, then power on the receiver. Hold all of the sticks in the position you desire for failsafe and in 5-8 seconds press the bind button once. The receiver will save these channel positions as the failsafe values. One important one is to have the throttle set to minimum so if you get disconnected it doesn't power up and fly away!
Not a bug, called "signal swamping". Not uncommon in RF systems. You can google it and get quite a lot of info. Unless you plan to sit on the plane to fly it, this is a non issue. There are several RC manufacturers that when binding you must separate the tx and rx by a few feet/meters to get a successful bind. I've had surface vehicle users have the issue and they do tend to get close to their vehicles for rock crawling, for example, so I suggested they enable "low power mode" which reduces the issue if you need to be that close.
@@shanesdiy not is one problem but I have to know to avoid it. During this lost signal the motor can start ? I don't have to hold the radio at 5 or 20 cm, I asked others with tx16s and it happens to them too. Not is one problem but it seemed strange
Doesn't just happen with the TX16S. For an aircraft ESC, no, it would be very unusual for the motor to start when the tx and rx lose connection. The receiver will enter failsafe so you need to be sure and setup the failsafe. Get the vehicle in safe condition (prop off for example) and turn off the radio to see how failsafe currently reacts. If it is all ok then you are good. If you do need to change it for the R88 V2, for example, to reset the failsafe channels, have the transmitter on and all channels set where you'd like them for failsafe. Primary channel is the throttle channel (usually ch3) to minimum. Power on the receiver and after about 5-9 seconds (must be within 10 seconds) press the bind button and the receiver will store those channel values as the new failsafe values.
Agree, I use D16. Get more telemetry with D16 as well. Better all around. Why would anyone use D8 anyway? Maybe if they have an older transmitter that only did D8 I suppose?
@@shanesdiy it was for a old 9xr pro with a djt module. the problem is they advertise it with D8 mode but there is no documentation that says it won't have failsafe in D8 mode.
I still have my old Futaba 6NFK in the box, thing was so cool back in 1992 when I purchased it! Pulled it out the other day and the gimbals are sticky and don't move well. Do you recall what sort of range you got at 72mhz?
This was great! I have been flashing a bunch of the discontinued R168's I stockpiled to V2 and using them in all my mid sized foamies. Subbed!
Not sure when I'll get to it but planning a part 2 to this after I upgrade my TX16S antenna to compare performance. Part 2 will be much shorter.... lol
Thanks for watching and for the sub!
This is an excellent test, and test procedure. A few years ago I got back into the hobby, so all this 2.4ghz gear is still new to me. The deal is, I have a radiomaster boxer, and pocket and have been using it on some small electrics. I still use (and completely trust) my old futaba pcm gear on nitro planes. Back in the day a Futaba 146ip was considered a "short range" receiver at a range of 300 meters, even then people were taking this receiver out way farther than that with no problems. This new stuff to me still seems really fiddly. I think the new ELRS gear looks very promising, but yeah back in the day you could put literally any receiver in a plane, and as long as your gear wasn't smashed or crashed, you could expect to sky out as far as you could see. The old 72mhz stuff was good to about 5 miles out once FPV'ers started using it, and it wasn't at all sensitive to receiver voltage (brownouts). I think this stuff will all work fine for line of sight, but as for me I've personally had so many fiddly issues with the new gear, antenna placement, transmitter antenna angles etc. I'll probably end up conforming..but I feel so relaxed with the old stuff, and no one is flying it so the band is all clear now.
Wow amazing work ! lots of work ! Futaba radios only have option of flat pointing right or point up and strait out. Interesting topic!
Great video, I have three of the R-88s and never had a problem.
Excellent job 👍
Absolutely very very useful information, thank you for all the testing!!
Great test! Very interesting outcome with the RX antenna placement. I would also like to see comparison with Spektrum and ELRS. I was going to take my R88 v2 out of my plane and replace it with a different rx, but thanks to your test I can confidentially leave it in.
I feel confident with this receiver for sure. I do need to pick up some ELRS equipment. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for a very informative video. You did a fantastic work. I was concerned to use this receiver on my 30cc plane. I have been flying HITEC receivers before. But can't find them anymore. New or used. So I got a tips on a forum to use this R88. Thanks again from Sweden
Thank you sir, your efforts are greatly appreciated. Have a nice day.
This is valuable data and shows solid results for this configuration. Nice job in designing and implementing the test procedure. Interesting test bed and data acquisition techniques. I'd be interested in a similar test with ELRS and the Radiomaster ER8 - However I'm not sure I've seen you use this equipment. Thanks for putting in the effort and presenting the results.
Thanks. So far I haven't delved into the ELRS world but that would be a good test. I have a feeling it might exceed the range of my drone though! Maybe soon I'll get myself some ELRS equipment.
Would be hard to test elrs as it can go miles and miles
Yes, pretty sure it will do better than my drone, best I can do is a mile or two I bet. At that point, just need to install the ELRS receiver in the drone with a flight controller & gps for the testing but that's not uncommon, just never seen a standard RX tested like this.
I agree with the ELRS range based on some other testing I have seen. But SNR, RSSI and antenna orientation might offer some useful results for us LOS flyers..@@shanesdiy
@@Mikeylikesit1968 Maybe not. My BetaFPV ELRS Lite Receivers V1 (ceramic antenna) failsafe at about 100 feet. The replacements V2 they sent me, as they said the V1 was faulty, failsafe at about 200 feet. Not all ELRS receivers are made equal. BTW: Great effort on the video Shane. Got a new subscriber.
I've been curious about the RadioMaster D8/D16-compatible receivers, and how they stack up against the XM+'s and X8R's I have in dozens of models. With a RadioMaster Zorro equipped with a 4in1 multiprotocol internal module and stock antenna, I can easily hit 2-3km (after a frequency tune!). But with their seeming abandoning of existing customers with Access shenanigans, I'm hesitant to give FrSky any of my cheddar, for new builds or rebuilds.
While I'm only 11 mins in, I see you're about to start _Science-ing the Snot_ out of this test, and I'm really looking forward to seeing you populate all of those fields, and the results. At worst, I waste $11. Oh, and the plane or quad, no biggie lol
Nice! I use flysky ia6b but I’ll check this out. The R81 doesn’t work that well for long ranges
Interesting. I've not used the R81, I know it has different antennas than the other R series receivers. Be sure to properly fine tune the frequency.
I've heard good things about the ia6b but haven't tried it.
Hi Shane, I love this test,.
You mentioned also the the connector on the side can be used as battery telemetry, can you tell what pinout from the connector is?
Here's the video I did on that.
th-cam.com/video/JRlW26yaVJE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=s6p8vdlyHSMHlNaA
@@shanesdiy thank you Shane
I have been wondering about those...Thx buddy
Will you make an Indeph video on the radiomaster r88 v2 programming and setup???
I was planning to make a quick on on binding to all 3 compatible protocols soon. S-FHSS, FrSky D8 and D16. Other than that, nothing to program. Did you see my recent video on getting the R88V2 to read flight pack voltage? It's part 2 of my voltage telemetry videos. I'll work on that binding video soon. Anything else you are specifically interested in? I will also do the frequency tuning as well as part of that.
Great job with a lot of information Shane. My question now would be: how much RSSI increase would we see if we were using a 2.4 YAGI antenna. Of course this one would be pointed at the receiver. But how far out would we lose signal strength?
You mean a yagi on the transmitter? If you know of a specific antenna that will work on the TX16S 4in1 internal module let me know, if I can find one at a reasonable price I'll give it a try!
A google search and I see a yagi that slips on the TX16S factory antenna. You referring to something like that or replacing the stock antenna?
Well I'd start with that and then an actual yagi mounted on the TX16S. A 2.4 ghz yagi will not be that big. Let me see If I can find one.
Perhaps to stay true to the theme of the channel I should "DIY" a Yagi to put on the TX16S...
That sounds like the way to go. Then you could add another spread sheet page to the group.
Very systematic test, thank you. But in my case, I recently bought a batch of six R88 receivers. Every one of them suffers from the so-called "swamping" issue. If you have the transmitter too close while you are testing the receiver and aligning your control surfaces, after about 10-15 minutes, the connection between the transmitter and the receiver goes bad. The servo responses become erratic with any control input from the transmitter. I will not trust these things in my airplane. Love the transmitter, hate the receivers.
Just curious why you believe the "swamping" issue is a problem? Not trying to change your mind, I actually thought many more people would be of this opinion when I produced this video. I've heard folks complain of the "swamping" issue many times and my opinion is why do I care if it doesn't work when my transmitter is
@shanesdiy it's simply a question of confidence. I am not entirely certain that I lose signal because of a so-called, swamping issue. Radiomaster has not released any bulletins or advisories about a swamping issue. This is mere speculation from online users who have experienced the same quirkiness. But here's the reality of the situation. I have a receiver in one hand that gets goofy after about 10 or 15 minutes, and I have another brand of receiver in the other hand that doesn't do it. Both are relatively inexpensive; so which one am I going to trust with my expensive model, which I may have spent months building? Again, it's simply a question of confidence. One squirrely receiver, I can understand. But six -- in 6 different aircraft? Sorry, I do not have confidence in the R88 receiver.
@@Ed-eq8ui Certainly, if we are talking about hand made expensive models, the R88 would not be my choice of receiver, fully agree with you there. I'm just interested in them for my cheap foamies.
Regarding, Radiomaster releasing some sort of bulletin on the issue, I'm not sure it is something created by them or a defect in manufacturing. FrSky, which they share the protocol with, has a history of being susceptible to "swamping" as well. It is not all that uncommon in other industries either, where a transmitter and receiver are in close proximity. Even with WiFi I've experienced poor signal when a PC is too close to the WiFi router.
I am curious about the 10-15 minute timeline where yours start acting up. That's strange. I have two R88's I've been experimenting with and both don't function if I put my TX within a few inches of the RX but I've not encountered any odd anomalies over time. I'll pay more attention to that as I do more testing.
One thing I've found with my two R88's that is contrary to what I've read online, the fine tune value for each of my R88's was different. I had read that once you fine tune your TX for the FrSky protocol that will be the same value for all future receivers of that protocol you bind to. My two R88s had different values after going through the procedure. Did you perform the fine tune procedure for each of your receivers and did you notice they were different? Very curious your take on that.
Thanks for the interesting discussion!
That's why I like the Flysky rxs, there cheap in price as well. Also the antennas could care less where they were mounted
The RX antennas on the R88 didn't care either according to these tests. TX antenna is another story.
@shanesdiy I'm now using a ELRS boxer with Radiomaster ER6 rxs. Wont have to worry about range issues and rxs are still cheap in price
I get 35m range test with my 16S and about 300m in flight. Radiomaster tech said to replace the 4 in 1 module and USD55 later I had no improvement. Waste of my time as well as money!
That's my problem
Man mine won’t turn on , do I need an esc to make it work or can I plug in a battery straight? With4.8v pack of course.
I've powered mine from a power supply. Sure you've got the power connector the right way around?
cutting out at ~.3mi seems really short for me. In an area with really dense rf noise that's kinda unacceptable imo. I lost a really nice plane to an r88 signal loss with perfect antenna placement. I wish I had seen your testing before I trusted them.
Curious what you are flying beyond that range? The distance I got was acceptable to me because I only fly fixed wing LOS and no way I could see any of my planes at that distance. Anything FPV where you are shooting for ~1.0 mile or more I'd be looking at ELRS.
I have a Spektrum receiver range (re-)test coming hopefully soon, too many videos on the to-do list.
@@shanesdiy I've had range issues with Spektrum, non full-range frsky rx, and the radiomaster ones. I exclusively use full range frsky or full range elrs rxs now. I think it's a combination of a bad area and flying planes that are a bit bigger so I fly them further out. My smallest on a regular basis is a 1.2m edf and largest is 1/4 cub. I know people that fly really cheap rxs like the 10ch flysky or admiral ones on the regular, but I'm a whole lot more selective with what I put in my planes now.
Good info! Great work!
Is there a way to factory reset the R88 receiver
Other than the failsafe setpoints, there isn't anything to reset. Can you explain what you are trying to accomplish?
To change/set the channel failsafe positions, power on the transmitter, then power on the receiver. Hold all of the sticks in the position you desire for failsafe and in 5-8 seconds press the bind button once. The receiver will save these channel positions as the failsafe values. One important one is to have the throttle set to minimum so if you get disconnected it doesn't power up and fly away!
Bravo.thenks
I discovered a bug radiomaster r88 v2 if the radio it is located at 5-10cm the receiver turns off (but if one problem tx16s or receiver?)
Not a bug, called "signal swamping". Not uncommon in RF systems. You can google it and get quite a lot of info. Unless you plan to sit on the plane to fly it, this is a non issue. There are several RC manufacturers that when binding you must separate the tx and rx by a few feet/meters to get a successful bind.
I've had surface vehicle users have the issue and they do tend to get close to their vehicles for rock crawling, for example, so I suggested they enable "low power mode" which reduces the issue if you need to be that close.
@@shanesdiy not is one problem but I have to know to avoid it. During this lost signal the motor can start ?
I don't have to hold the radio at 5 or 20 cm, I asked others with tx16s and it happens to them too.
Not is one problem but it seemed strange
Doesn't just happen with the TX16S.
For an aircraft ESC, no, it would be very unusual for the motor to start when the tx and rx lose connection. The receiver will enter failsafe so you need to be sure and setup the failsafe. Get the vehicle in safe condition (prop off for example) and turn off the radio to see how failsafe currently reacts. If it is all ok then you are good.
If you do need to change it for the R88 V2, for example, to reset the failsafe channels, have the transmitter on and all channels set where you'd like them for failsafe. Primary channel is the throttle channel (usually ch3) to minimum. Power on the receiver and after about 5-9 seconds (must be within 10 seconds) press the bind button and the receiver will store those channel values as the new failsafe values.
How range r88
The main issue with these receivers is that they dont have failsafe when used in D8 mode.
Agree, I use D16. Get more telemetry with D16 as well. Better all around.
Why would anyone use D8 anyway? Maybe if they have an older transmitter that only did D8 I suppose?
@@shanesdiy it was for a old 9xr pro with a djt module. the problem is they advertise it with D8 mode but there is no documentation that says it won't have failsafe in D8 mode.
Last time I range checked a plane was when I flew 72mhz .
I still have my old Futaba 6NFK in the box, thing was so cool back in 1992 when I purchased it! Pulled it out the other day and the gimbals are sticky and don't move well.
Do you recall what sort of range you got at 72mhz?
@@shanesdiy pretty much as far as you can see
Range is sad.. Got btter with my old hobbyking 6ch rx on tx16s
Recall the protocol you were using for the Hobbyking 6ch receiver? I have more range testing videos in progress and always interested in helpful data!
Hk tr6a v2 using afhds.. Use this rx before with turnigy 9x
Hk tr6a v2 Afhds.
I use this with my old turnigy 9x before but now with tx16s.
@@shanesdiybtw on spec this r88 v2 can reach 1km, how to get that?