If you could design your own transmitter, what would you include? That is exactly what FrSky asked their customers. The result is the Taranis! FrSky has succeeded in introducing a transmitter at an entry level price that outperforms many of the best name brand systems on the market. You may worry that the quality has been cut to keep prices down. Compromising quality for the sake of price is not the FrSky way. FrSky may lack a fancy ad campaign and huge marketing budget, but they do not skimp on the hardware!
The most important aspect for any transmitter is maintaining a rock solid connection with the receiver. FrSky is well known for the frequency hopping ACCST technology taking advantage of the entire 2.4GHz band resulting in excellent range and reliability. FrSky knows many things can affect the connection between Transmitter and receiver so RSSI (receiver signal strength indication) is incorporated into all telemetry receivers. The Taranis transmitter is continually monitoring the reception quality at the aircraft. Taranis will alert the pilot before signal quality becomes critical. This saves planes and makes the hobby much safer!
In addition to RSSI, Taranis has other safety features. Receiver Lock allows you to lock a specific model in the transmitter to one and only one receiver. No more flying (crashing) with the wrong program selected. Taranis has three different types of Failsafe. 1 - Hold last known commands, 2- Goto a programmed state (cut throttle, flaps down, etc. 3- No output. (Triggers flight controllers with "go home" feature.) The RSSI feature means you probably won't ever use the failsafe. Voice Alerts Just like having a copilot, the transmitter will give you voice alerts on speaker or through the headphone jack. Count down timers, low voltage warnings, landing gear down, thermal mode entered, etc. can all be set up with human recorded voice of your creation, or sound packages shared online from other hobbyists
The open-source software for the Taranis has been developed by hobbyist’s in the R/C community. The programmers of the transmitter’s firmware and companion software which runs on Linux, Windows, and Macintosh are very receptive to input and requests from users. There are no limitations based on marketing decisions. If you can think of it, chances are the Taranis is capable of doing it. With 60 model memories, tons of mixes, 9 flight modes, sequencing, servo speed, programmed delay all kinds of triggers, and the ability to assign any channel to anything, it is hard to come up with something this radio can't do. With this level of complexity, you would think the programming would be a real nightmare, but thanks to the forward thinking of the open source community, we can set up and test our programs on our favorite computer (PC, Mac or Ubuntu), it even features a handy set up wizard that will take care of most of the work! But they also made it easy to share programs freely via the USB port, or micro SD card on the back of the Taranis.
Are you heavily invested in another RF system? No worries, the Taranis actually has a normal JR style module on the back that will accept modules for other transmitting protocols. In the model setup you simply tell the system if you are using the external module, and it shuts down the internal FrSky module. Now you can use your Futaba, Spektrum, JR, Aisin, and other receivers if you have a transmitter module that fits in a JR style module bay. Our UHF friends, can pass 12 volts directly to a UHF module, eliminating dangling wires and extra battery packs.
FrSky has taken the hobby to a whole new level as they have evolved the transmitter to be more than a steering wheel. This is something truly special!
- Full Telemetry RSSI alarms (warns you of signal reception problems before disaster can strike)
- Self test of the transmitter antenna
- 16 channels (more when combined with external module)
- 60 model memories
- 64 mixers, 9 flight modes
- 16 custom curves with 3-17 points each, 32 logic switches
- Voice or custom sound alerts
- USB and SD card slot for system expansion
- Long range system capable of up to 3 times the range of current 2.4 systems
- Quad bearing gimbals that are silky smooth
- State-of-the-art open source software
- Large 212 X 64 backlit LCD screen
- Real-time data logging
- Receiver lock (program locked to aircraft - limited to FrSky receivers running PXX protocol)
- JR Style module bay for additional RF modules and so much more
- Selectable flight mode (1, 2, 3, or 4) Ships in Mode 2, Throttle on left stick.
- 2 timers, count up or down, throttle %, talking, etc.
- Trims - Adjustable from course to extra fine with extended and exponential trims
- Standard trainer jack
- ARM Cortex M3 32-bit 60MHz
- Integrates with CompanionTX – a FREE computer program that is a transmitter setup buddy. CompanionTX (Windows/Mac/Linux) is used to set-up models with the wizard, save, edit and share your models and settings as well as simulate your transmitter or model setup.
- USB connection for firmware upgrades, sound editing, R/W to the microSD card and integrate with CompanionTX
- Sticks and pots can be calibrated by the end user
- Multiple language support (Radio arrives configured for English language)
- Open source community-driven firmware, so unlike with major manufacturers if you need a special function or have good improvement suggestions just raise your voice, and don't be surprised if it's implemented a couple of days later! Visit http://www.openrcforums.com to meet the developers!
