This post covers QGroundControl radio setup and calibration. In QGroundControl the RC transmitter is referred to as a radio. After calibrating your radio, you will set your ‘flight’ modes, and setup an arm/disarm switch on your transmitter.
If your receiver and transmitter are bound and you have set up the switches on your transmitter then proceed with the steps below.
Flight Mode
- Power on your transmitter and the Pixhawk, plug a telemetry radio into a USB port on your computer, and open QGC
- Click on the Gears icon
- Click on ‘Radio’
- Move switches SA and SD and watch the Channel Monitor. You should see the sliders move for channels 5 and 6
- Calibrate the radio by clicking the ‘Calibrate’ button and follow the instructions on the screen
- Click on ‘Flight Modes’ and in the ‘Flight mode channel’ drop down menu select ‘Channel 5’
- Set ‘Flight Mode 1’ to Manual. This corresponds to the upward position of Channel 5 (switch SA)
- Leave Flight Modes 2 and 3 alone
- Set ‘Flight Mode 4’ to ‘Loiter.’ This corresponds to the midpoint position of Channel 5 (switch SA)
- Set ‘Flight Mode 6’ to ‘Auto.’ This corresponds to the downward position of Channel 5 (switch SA)
- Toggle Channel 5 between its different positions and you should hear audible announcements when the flight mode changes, or pre-arm check warnings
Arm Switch
- To use Channel 6 (switch SD) to arm/disarm the vehicle, click on ‘Parameters’ at the bottom of the screen
- In the Search box, type ‘RC6_’ and all the options for RC channel 6 will appear below
- Click on ‘RC6_OPTION’, enter 41, and click ‘Save’
- Toggle Channel 6 (switch SD) on the transmitter and you should hear two tones and a warning that pre-arm calibrations need to be performed. These warnings indicate that you tried to arm the vehicle, but the sensors are not calibrated
After you have finished with QGroundControl radio setup and calibration, proceed to Junction Box Construction