Interference

Well, many days of not posting - the Tiger Moth was finished, flown, crashed, flown twice well, flown more and crashed.

I am getting radio interference on flying and it is causing big problems with trying to fly the TM.

Here is one lesson I know for sure:

If you cannot do a radio check up to 20-30 metres without getting jitters etc then do not take off. I know you want to fly - I did too, but it will just end badly.

So, I have been trying to figure out what is causing the radio interference.

By isolation I have eliminated:

The servos
The receiver (have switched in a known good receiver)

The remaining possible culprits are:

The crystal.
The engine.
The Speed Controller.

Given the interference is occuring when the engine is not running neither the speed controller or the engine seem likely culprits - after all, they need to be running to be generating significant interference.

Have consulted widely for advice - thanks to the guys at Toyworld and Paul @ Nitrodude. Still looking. I have a crystal on order, so maybe will be able to test that tomorrow if it arrives.

Some notes on the setup for those that want the gory details:

Plane: GWS Tiger Moth 400
Engine: 400 speed brushed
ESC: GWS 480Li
Receiver: 27Mhz set recovered from dead electrafun carcass
Battery: 7.2 volt 2300mAh Lithium Ion
Symptoms: Jittering control surfaces and occasional engine spin ups at 25-30 metres on very fresh transmitter batteris, 15-20 metres on 85% transmitter batteries.

I have had a few good flights with the TM and I love the way it flys - nice and slow, gentle airleron roll in. If I can just get this radio problem sorted I might be able to bring the thing down in one piece each time - it has had a lot of hard landings, and whilst it is not ruined yet shortly it will be more hot glue than foam.

Am also thinking of trying to use some aluminium foil to see if I can shield the receiver from the ESC. The speed controller might prove to be the culprit yet - I have some concern I may have damaged it whilst soldering the connectors for the new battery into place by creating a short on the circuit board. Although I thought I had probably fixed it I didn't have a solder sucker so just scrated a break in the circuit. Opinion from the experts is that if I had shorted the ESC it probably wouldn't work at all, not just have minor issues.

I'll try and update the flight log tomorrow - not looking forward to writing up all my crashes - grim.