Art Tech & Mic Port - Like I cant calibrate it

[LostMan]

Hi I am new to r/c, well except for a stint 20 years ago, and new to simulation. I have an Art-Tech Cessna to cut my teeth on and am not to proud to confess that I crashed it straight into the ground after my first ever hand launch. Anyway I digress.

My problem is that I cannot get the TX to calibrate successfully via the mic port. The tx is recognised by FMS and shows up in the resources available dialouge, via smartpropo I assume, it all came on the cd. I have the signals also register on R/C Signal Analyser as recomended on these boards. The Windows sound recorder also detects the TX.

I simply cannot calibrate the TX successfully. The blue bars go haywire. I am on a 4 channel TX and can't understand why channels 5 & 6 also move when I try to calibrate certain channels. I assumed that when I move one stick in one axis that only the corressponding bar/channel in the calibration window should move but that doesn't seem to be the case. My Cessna is simply unflyable by the TX but works fine on the keyboard.

Somebody please help me out and save my blushes down the local park!

LostMan

PS I run XP Prof with service pack 2.

[shaul_eiz]

Hi Lost Man,
You seem to be pretty much close to the solution.
I can recommend a few things:
1. Try to move the Tx to the Line-In audio input.
2. Try to use the latest version of SmartPropo. It is located on the home page of this site.
3. Are you using the right SmartPropo dll? The is one per modulation technology. If your Tx is set to PPM use the PPM type DLL etcetera.
4. Is the DLL correctly located? It should be located on the same folder fms.exe is located.

Please get back to me to see where we are.

Shaul

[LostMan]

Hi Shaul,
thanks for taking me under your wing, so to speak.

1.First off I only have a mic port, no Line in. I am using a Panasonic CF-T1 laptop.
2. I have now tried the latest SmartPropo with similar results.
3. Am I using the right SmartPropo? Whos knows?:D Ok I used the dll that came with the disc and was already installed in the FMS.exe dir on installation which gave me the results I initially posted. Since then I have tried ALL the latest dlls and they all give similar results.
I am using the Art-Tech TX, E-Fly 4 channel that came with the plane and can't find anything about the type of modulation it is using so assume it is PPM, being the most popular. How can I find this out for sure.
4. Yes the dll is in the same dir as the FMS exe.

OK some more questions. Am I right in my assumption that only one bar in the calibration window should move when I move one stick in one axis only? And I am using a 4 channel TX so why do channels 5 & 6 want to get in on the action in the calibration window. I know it is a 6 channel RX but dont understand why the 2 extra channels are 'active' in the calibration stage.

Any ideas? Thanks, LostMan.

[shaul_eiz]

Hi Lost Man,
I'd assume that the original SmartPropo, that is the one that comes with the CD is OK. Anyhow, I'm quite certain that your Tx is PPM. PCM is used by the more advanced ones.
You can verify that FMS really links to SmartPropo by opening the "controls" dialog box, selecting "Joystick Interface" then clicking "resources" - under "Joystick 1" you should see "SmartPropo" or if you use my version of SmartPropo - "SmartPropoPlus - PPM Version".
Now, that we are sure that FMS recognizes and links to SmartPropo, and assuming you are indeed having a PPM Tx, let's go back to the calibrating process.
Usually, each stick is accountable for a single channel. However, there are two cases I can think of when it does not:
1. The Tx is employing channel-mixing to control V-tail or a Delta wing.
2. The Tx is a 6-Ch transmitter sold as a 4-ch transmitter. The manufacturer then disables channels 5 and 6 either by neutralizing them or by tying them to one of the channels 1-4.
Another thing that crosses my mind - maybe your microphone jack is over/under sensitive. Maybe you should play with the "Recording Volume" mic volume.
One more thing. I was using to view my raw wave pattern. If you manage to do it we both are going to be wiser.

[LostMan]

Hi again,
the original SmartPropo that came with the cd I couldn't calibrate properly either which is the reason I turned to this thread.

I have tried playing around with the recording level from barely on to full with similar results.

I suspect this could be a 6 channel TX as the reciever is 6 channel and I can't see anyother way for the calibrator to have 6 active channels. In the resources available dialouge it tells me I have 6 axes active but it only registers 5 blue bars.

I can use oscilloscope 2.51 but don't know what I should be doing or recording. I have 'played' with it though and moving the sticks seem to make little or no difference to the signal recorded/generated. Perhaps you could give me some guidance on what I should be doing and then we could take it from there.

Cheers, LostMan.

PS I downloaded your version of SP from the FMS home page and copied the dll to the FMS exe dir but in resources it shows up as SmartPropo, not SmartPropo Plus PPM version. Is this correct?

[phildc]

Look at your ppm signal thru the audio (mike?) input with Analyser31.exe that can be found at:

Select interface=audio in the menu, then press MONITOR.
Phil.

[LostMan]

Shaul_eiz here is a screen grab of Oscilliscope 2.51 reading my TX with the sticks at neutral.

[LostMan]

Philcd I have used the analyser and this is what happens to the bars when I move the sticks.

Left Stick Vertical (Throttle)
Forward: 3 goes down. When hard forward 4 goes up and 5 goes from down to hover around neutral.
Back: 3 goes up, slight downward reaction to 5.

Left Stick Horizontal (Rudder)
Left: 4 down 5 up.
Right: 4 up 5 slight reaction down.

Right Stick Vertical (Elevator)
Forward: 2 down.
Back: 2 up.

Right Stick Horizontal (Ailerons)
Left: 1 up.
Right: 1 down.

Here is a link to a grab of the analyser with the sticks in neutral.



Does that give us any clues?

Thanks, LostMan.

[phildc]

Assuming your signals are stable and can be repeated on Analyser31.exe:

Looks like you are in MODE 2 (sticks to function assignment) with a PPM signal using a Hitec-like channel assignment:
1: ailerons or roll (heli H1 swashplate)
2: elevator or nick
3: throttle or pitch
4: rudder

For the channel 5 movements, I don't know. This is normally the landing gear but could be a gyro setting for an heli, but maybe this is too complex for your transmitter.

As Analyser31 uses the Windows MM (Multimedia) standard audio tools, Smartpropo should work with the PPM dll of the new version.
Concentrate on the Windows aspects (configuration panel, joystick, aso.) as explained in other topics.

Phil.

[phildc]

Looking at the jpg, your landing gear (ch 5) and the flaps (ch 6) could be in one of the end positions.
If the movements on these channels are very limited, it could be some noise.



"Forward: 3 goes down. When hard forward 4 goes up and 5 goes from down to hover around neutral. Back: 3 goes up, slight downward reaction to 5." => Ch.4 reacting on 3 looks like an heli reacting to more pitch by giving more rear rotor??

Phil.

[shaul_eiz]

LostMan,
Phil is doing a good work, but I'm affraid your mic connection does not take your signal well. Do you see this lazy slope up? it should go up much more quickly. Try to play with your microphone volume (run command sndvol32 -r) and see if it helps.
BTW, you have a PPM 6-ch Tx, but channels 5 & 6 seem to have very high values - probably random ones. My advice is to ignore those 2 channels and treat your Tx as a 4 channel Tx.
While you are trying to see if you can work with what you have, I will work on improving SmartPropoPlus to take this lazy slope better.
Keep me posted.

Shaul

[Blue lizard]

:p I apologize for butting in. I cannot figure out how to start a new post. My problem is that my tx is not being recognized through my parallel port. The simulator used to work. I am using Win xp, with the latest version of simulator. When I try to calibrate my controls, nothing happens. Thanks for any suggestions. The person who introduced me to simulator is off to college and I need some help. :p

[LostMan]

shaul_eiz.
by moving the volume upto around 3/4 I get a much steeper trace. However then when I come to calibrate the blue bars are full height and will not move when I move the sticks.



I have to move the vol to about half to get the bars to move, this still gives a much steeper curve. OK what I dont understand is when I move a stick along one axis in the calibrator many bars also move, for example channel 1 (alileron) right, bars 1, 2, 4, and 5 all move in a wide range and by a similar amount. But when I move the same stick left nothing happens to any bar

WTF is going on? I really need this now as I have just totalled my plane.

Another thing that I need clarified and to pick up on what phildc said. Ok so smartpropo takes the signals from the mic port and turns these into an 'emulated' joystick. So do I need to have any joystick/games controllers installed under control panel? Or does SmartPropo take care of this? (I have none installed). Or does SmartPropo associate the emulated joystick with a 'real' one in device manager?

Thanks to all those trying to help me out here. I feel I am close, just something not quite right or I am VERY dumb and missing something, LOL.

LostMan (truley)

[LostMan]

Come on guys, don't leave me here in limbo.

Someone please answer my previous post so at least I have a better understanding of how it all should all inter-opperate.

I am thinking of trying the usb interface as we seem to have come to a full stop with the mic port. What do you all think?

Thanks, still LostMan.

[phildc]

Shaul should give an advice.
Smartpropo and Analyser31.exe rely on the same internal Windows resources, but Smartpropo is more complex, as it is a DLL and must emulate a joystick for FMS. In Analyser31, everything happens in one process, which is easier.
Phil.