Spektrum NX Setup: Dual Rate and Expo Tutorial (NX6/NX8/NX10)

[@josephdelillo206]

BD your videos are great! You speak nice and clear and go through each step so well that makes it easy to understand! I’ll admit that sometimes I don’t get it right on the first try but the clarity of both your video and voice make you the go to source for information on the Spektrum NX radios. Thank you for taking the time to teach us!

[@BDTennessee]

Appreciate the good words Joseph!

[@kevindechambeau7762]

As a brand new pilot at 52 years old I greatly appreciate this video trying to educate myself on Expo as I learn my way. Thank you

[@HciContractor]

Damn brother you are such a big help! I didn't understand Curve until I looked for another guy having same probs! These manufacturers should be sending you free products brother for all the work you've done. Thanks again.... second huge help today so far. Lol 😂

[@BDTennessee]

Thanks! 2 in a row :D

[@reasonitout9087]

Thank you. I have been pulling my hair out over the last 3 weeks trying to figure this out and I got less hair now than a hairless cat. :) But since I watched your excellent video jjust now I think my hair is gonna be grow'n back just fine. The most advanced radio I had before was a Futaba FM 6 channel back in 1996 so after all these years I am getting back into RC planes. I bought a Dx8G2 computerized transmitter and receiver with all the AS3X and safe stuff which I think is all wonderful. Maybe it's just me but I had a real hard time setting this radio up to the instructions in the Twin Otter 1.2 instruction manual. But I think I see the light now and thank you very much again. I bought a duplicate receiver , 2 outrunner motors and ESCs that I'm gonna install in my old Graupner Partenavia twin. It will have all the modern advantages of safe select and AS3X. And telemetry. Really looking forward to this plane taken to the skies again. I'm training myself with the EFlite Twin Otter 1.2

[@BDTennessee]

Hahaha,glad i helped with hair problem :D Welcome back to the hobby! DX8G2 is good radio too. Eflite Twin otter is a fun bird to fly!

[@old-rcplane-phart]

D/R on spektrum us 100% backwards from futaba. (I ran futaba for decades. Switching over, I was confused for many flights! 😱). Discovered it on my DX6e. (Started re-flying Dec 2020 with the DX6e. Didn't like it, bought the NX6. NEED 7+ channel, bought the NX8. ((It arrives tomorrow! 👍😁)). Yes, 3 transmitters since December. Wanted the NX10. It's never in stock! Great information & videos my friend. I subscribed! 👍

[@BDTennessee]

Spektrum and Futaba do things little different thats for sure. Glad you on track now with the NX8! Thanks for the sub and support!

[@txkflier]

Make sure the graph shows the proper curve - flatter around neutral, not steeper.. ;-)

[@jlphhs2003]

I'm pretty good with tech and computers, use them daily at work as its my field, and getting my NX8 setup right for a carbon cub s2 has been the vain of my existence for several weeks now. Your vids definitely help. Subbed👌

[@BDTennessee]

Glad videos are helping! Thanks for the support and sub,if you need help anytime just reach out :)

[@anybodysguess960]

Great video. I was afraid of this radio until watching your videos. Thank you.

[@BDTennessee]

Thank you AG!

[@dwightgoodman2116]

I too appreciate what you teach us. Great videos. Kind of new to the hobby again since it has been 20+ years since I flew RC. Question....when setting up a switch with low, medium, and hi rates/expo...should the low (70%) start at position 2 (85%), then 1 (100%) throws?

[@BDTennessee]

Basic planes or something not aggressive (3d planes and jets). Most of the Horizon Planes are default low 70 and high 100.

[@manuelbeltranmeza]

segunda vez que me ayuda este video. gracias

[@albertburton4151]

Nice clear video. Thanks

[@BDTennessee]

Thanks Albert for watching!

[@f1matt]

Thanks! Setting up my NX8 and this helped!

[@BDTennessee]

Glad it helped! Thanks for watching and make sure to sub for future content :)

[@bradfordtownsend9698]

Your tutorials are helpful. Thanks buddy

[@BDTennessee]

I appreciate the feedback,thanks for watching!

[@CastroLohr]

Thanks. This helps

[@BDTennessee]

Good to hear,thanks!

[@williamhoodtn]

Useful to me, a newbie! BTW: Where are you in TN (I'm in Knoxville)?

[@BDTennessee]

Glad video was helpful! Im in East TN too :)

[@old-rcplane-phart]

Bristol here! 👍 Hi neighbors! 😁

[@BDTennessee]

@@old-rcplane-phart hey! Welcome to the channel neighbor!

[@old-rcplane-phart]

@@BDTennessee IF we're close enough, WE outta get together & go flying 1 day! Im in virginia side, I have a place off exit 7. IF that gets full, I have access to a huge church parking lot 2 minutes away! 😁 (Acquired yesterday)

[@BDTennessee]

@@old-rcplane-phart i fly on a 330ft pave runway at KCRC field in knoxville :)

[@txkflier]

I use A for gear, B for flight modes, D for flaps, and H for throttle cut. Position 0 on these switches is gear down, low rates, flaps up, and motor on. IOW, my planes are flyable with all switches in Position 0. Positions 1 and 2 will often put my planes into a mode that could be unsafe, so they are not my default positions. I normally store my airplanes with the gear up, so before I turn my transmitter on, I put all switches in Position 0 except for the gear and throttle cut. When I have the plane where I can lower the gear, then I set switch A to Position 0. And when I'm ready to use the motor, I set switch H to position 0.

[@BDTennessee]

What switch or switches controls the rates/expo? Is that what your referring to as the flight modes?

[@txkflier]

@@BDTennessee Yes, B would be flight modes. When I’m setting up a SAFE receiver, I’ll use switch C to control the receiver’s flight modes. Position 0 will be AS3X/SAFE off, 1 is AS3X on, and 2 is SAFE mode. Once I have the receiver set up, I’ll put the receiver flight modes channel on switch B. Position 0 then becomes low rates with AS3X, 1 is high rates with AS3X, and 2 becomes SAFE mode. I mainly do this on EDF’s. On aerobatic type planes, I use two switches for 5 flight modes. The first switch is B and the second switch is the rudder stick position switch (SPS). I set the SPS to switch at + and - 85%. With switch B at position 1, when I apply more than 85% rudder, the elevator and ailerons switch from low rates to high rates. Also, I have a THR>THR mix on positions 1 and 2 of switch B to idle up the motor on my electric planes so that the prop will push some air past the rudder and elevator to help with spin entry. Position 2 will be 3D mode with even higher rates and less expo..

[@txkflier]

Here’s an idea for your next video - show how to swap (cross) the trim levers between the left and right sticks. I couldn’t find one on that subject..

[@BDTennessee]

@@txkflier sounds good. Cool setup on flight modes too!

[@HciContractor]

@@txkflier that is a cool setup! I'm not there yet. I need to start in safe mode. Maybe one day! Appreciate the sharing of your knowledge brother!

[@RCPlaneReviewer]

Great job BD!!!

[@BDTennessee]

Thanks for watching!

[@derrickward8031]

Hi BD, I really enjoy your videos and have shared them with many friends. They've been very helpful. I have a question for you. Do you have a video that shows how to set up the spectrum NX8 with a spectrum receiver plug and play?

[@BDTennessee]

Thanks DW! Yes,if you go into playlist or check out videos. "How to setup RC plane without a template".

[@bigbird930]

BD thanks for you videos, I have a question. under the switch assignment is the switch position. what exactly does the black dot represent. I made the mistake of turning on more than one black position. it then gets gray lines through it and the different positions no longer work. So basically the 3 positions no longer work it's stuck on one. NX10

[@BDTennessee]

Black dot is switch position. When you have grayed or lines, a value is off. Problem is Curve , Switch Position and number in box isnt the same. (example: Switch Pos 0 ,Curve 0 , Box number 0). Needs to match all three switch position.

[@pauljanci2588]

Yeah that one kicked my butt too. Thanks.

[@RCGDL]

This is a really useful video, especially how to match the expo settings, thank you. I'm using a single switch for all settings and somehow I've managed to disable switch positions 2 and 3 for the ailerons and elevator and can't see how to re-enable them? Any help appreciated.

[@BDTennessee]

Check the curve and switch position. Switch position should match the curve. Pos 0:Curve 0, Pos 1 :Curve 1,Pos 2: Curve 2.

[@RCGDL]

@@BDTennessee Yes, manually selecting the curves and matching to the switch positions works - thank you!

[@BDTennessee]

@@RCGDL great! Glad you got it fixed :)

[@rjdssi]

All your videos are very helpful!! This one especially on dual rates/expo. My question is, have you flown the Turbo Timber Evolution? Did you set yours up with the rates/expo percentages same as the values in this video??

[@BDTennessee]

I dont own one personally.I have flown one a few times. 70 low 85 mid and 100 high with 20-25% expo could be a good start for you

[@rjdssi]

@@BDTennessee Thank you for the great info and reply, and you apply your 20/11 rule on all planes? I know in the video you used 30 or 35% expo

[@BDTennessee]

@@rjdssi if im going to use expo yes 20/11 setup. 30 and 35 was just what i used in video.

[@trainroomgary]

Hi BD Tennessee: I understand what Dual Rates do - But it would have been more helpful if you would have showed us the movements of Expo and then what it is doing to the control surface. On the airplane. Thanks - Gary from Michigan ✈

[@Lando62]

Have you ever seen the 3 boxes for a 3 position switch get "grayed" out? What happens when you change the settings under "curve". 0 and 2 are grayed out and 1 is normal. I must have done something. All my other planes on my NX6 work just as you say. But my new Beechcraft D18 setup is doing the above.

[@BDTennessee]

Curve,Switch Position and Highlighted box need to be the same. (Ie: Switch Position 0 , Curve 0 , Highlighted Box 0)

[@kendonnelly3248]

I am not sure you have a video of it. But the 3 boxes on the bottom you can edit and WHY?

[@BDTennessee]

Allows you to disable certain switch positions.If you put them on different numbers than switch position or curve ( IE Pos 1 / Curve 1) it messes up switch toggle and rates/expo.

[@waynemiller6070]

Hi BD, Your videos have been very helpful, and I need a little more of your knowledge. I'm using an NX8 and the AR 620 receiver. I didn't want to "Y" the duel elevator servos because I wanted the pushrods to be "mirrored". With your help I assigned left elevator to aux 2 and it works fine with expo. I ran separate channels for the ailerons as well using the 'gear' channel for the left aileron. The idea is to eventually use flaperons or "Harrier flaps". But first... Expo is only working on the right aileron. Can you tell me how to get the gear channel to respond to expo in the same fashion as the right aileron. Thank you BD

[@waynemiller6070]

Thanks anyway BD, I'm not sure exactly how but I poked buttons long enough to stumble across the solution.

[@BDTennessee]

@@waynemiller6070 glad you got it figured out :)

[@islandrc-duke1972]

cool set

[@BDTennessee]

Thanks Duke!

[@kendonnelly3248]

Is there a tutorial about the boxes on the bottom of the Dual rates menu. Somehow mine got edited. But What are they for. . I couldn't find it in the manual.

[@ricardotaveira7197]

Boas dicas .obrigado

[@k-ninebike2180]

Pos, curve, and switch position all match. But i cant get dual rates to work in SAFE. Take it out of SAFE and dual rates work. Can you tell me what I'm missing. Have been watching several of your videos and have been very helpful for me. 72 year old wannabe. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[@rjdssi]

Hey BD...I typically use 30% expo on highrates and you 20/11 formula for the other rates.....im getting my first 3d plane. Extra 300 3D and would like to know what expo should be used? im guessing more than 30%

[@BDTennessee]

Which extra 300, Eflite?

[@rjdssi]

Yes, forgot to mention that. E-flite

[@BDTennessee]

@@rjdssi book rates show the normal 70 for low and 100 for high. If you run those i would turn the expo up for sure. Book rates are very sensitive for most. Id start out on 80 with 50 ,60 with 40,and 40 with 30

[@we4fm175]

I cannot get 3 rates for some reason. I set low to 70, then set mid to 85, high to 100. But on low and mid it stays the same 85. Tried reversing the procedure and get mid at 70, and low at 70. Same thing happens with the rates. Set mid and low at different values but comes out being whatever value was set first. Seems like the B switch is acting as a 2 position switch even though it's a 3 position and shows it as a 3 position in the Rates and Epo setup. What am I missing?

[@BDTennessee]

One of the curves is numbered wrong/ Should be Pos 0 Curve 0 , Pos 1 Curve 1 , Pos 2 Curve 2

[@we4fm175]

@@BDTennessee your correct BD! One of them was off. Glad you new that because it would have taken me along time to figure that out. Thank you, for your help and all your help in the past!

[@BDTennessee]

@@we4fm175 glad to help anytime.Thanks!

[@toysforboysrc]

So it’s the same process whether it’s individually or combined, the difference is if you assign Them all to the same switch? I have mine 1 switch per wing/servo, but to make it simpler just put them all on the same switch? Okay., NOW…. What if I DO want all my expo values on one switch BUT., I still want to select individual expos values per wing? If switch A does all expos at once, and switch B is for elevator, is one switch going to override the other? Still leaving here lol with my nx8 and simulator before my maiden so I need to be prepared bcs I don’t know how the plane flies yet. Thanks!!

[@BDTennessee]

Correct, assign individual or separate. You could have separate rates and expos with some creativity. Sounds like new pilot or new plane. I wouldnt get involved with that at this point. Assign different surfaces to individual switches if you want flexibility.

[@toysforboysrc]

@@BDTennessee …. Yea new pilot, new plane (3D) and new NX8… I’m not amateur or inexperienced, just been a really long time bcs I’ve been into rc cars and drones. It’s a pre owned plane so the servos/arms should be aligned. I know what to expect and I have not flown this 3D plane yet so I need to be able to switch modes quick and easily. It’s only a 4 ch receiver so I can’t get flaperons or trim my servo independently so I re-adjusted one of the ailerons so now at rest their booth a tiny smidge lower. No safe no stability. I’ve spent so much time on the simulator and with the most difficult settings that I feel more then confident. But everyone crashes regardless how much exp.

[@BDTennessee]

@@toysforboysrc Gotcha. Well good luck with maiden.Holla anytime.

[@toysforboysrc]

@@BDTennessee .. thank you 😎

[@brianbrewer6542]

When you are moving the stick for expo and looking at the monitor are you moving until the vertical center line in as the bottom of horizontal line in the middle of the graph for the 20 and 11?

[@BDTennessee]

Im looking just at the numbers at the bottom of the screen where it shows "20 -> 11". Graph just shows the curve.

[@brianbrewer6542]

@@BDTennessee thanks learning a lot from your videos

[@BDTennessee]

@@brianbrewer6542 awesome! Thanks for watching! Sub for future content too :)

[@garyvale8347]

now that I have learned to fly a little better and have a better feel of what rate and expo settings I prefer, I set up my rates on 3 different switches, but find this set up a little difficult to quickly remember in flight on my DX8 ( which switch is for which control surface ) .....are there any helpful tips you use?...thanks

[@BDTennessee]

Set them up to what makes sense to you. Also set the switches the same on every plane. Rate switches are the main things to customize. Normal operating: A-Gear , D-Flaps, H-Throttle Hold. Spektrum radios had a default for rates to on older radios. C-Elevator , F-Ailerons , G-Rudder, B-Flight modes

[@garyvale8347]

@@BDTennessee thanks much for the info. and help

[@BDTennessee]

@@garyvale8347 your welcome,anytime!

[@chaindriven61]

Hi thank you for the video: Question, I'm trying to setup launch mode to switch H on the NX6. All I want to start out is: Five clicks up elevator during launch and then be able to switch off launch mode and go back to cruise mode. Reading the manual if I understand it right is to: "setup a mix first" assign it from there. (When I setup a mix the elevator did not move) Any help would be great! Best, Greg

[@BDTennessee]

I can help you with that! Do you want the H switch in Pos 0 (away pos) or Pos 1 (towards you) to add 5 clicks of up elevator? Which would make the opposite turn it off.

[@chaindriven61]

@@BDTennessee Hi thank you. Yes down is "0" and back towards me is 1 (I think is on) when I previously set up the mix down indicated off.. yes Pos1/5 clicks of up elevator for launch only, Pos 0 would be flight/cruise mode. thank you in advance!

[@BDTennessee]

@@chaindriven61 Im asking because I can set it up either way.Do you want the elevator up with switch in Pos 0 or Pos 1?

[@chaindriven61]

@@BDTennessee Thinking about it now - Elevator in Pos 0.

[@BDTennessee]

@@chaindriven61 5 clicks of up elevator on the elevator trim is -3.If you actually want 5 make the number -5. Go to mixing screen, Change INH>INH to -H- > Ele , Rate: -3% (Left number) 0 Right number. Offset: 0 , Curve: 1 , Switch: On That will setup Up elevator in Pos 0 and no elevator correction in Pos 1.

[@garyvale8347]

can I just add my d/r and expo on my F- modes?

[@BDTennessee]

You can assign them to same switch as flight modes.So it will control both.

[@dwightgoodman2116]

Let me correct myself...low rate (70%) position 2; medium rate (85%) position 1; then high rate (100%) position 0?