Gyro’s

Gyro’s are probably the one thing that causes more confusion on set up than perhaps any other bit of equipment.

Futaba GY401

Regardless of make of transmitter it is best not to use the radio’s gyro gain software as this will probably only make set up more complicated, just use a spare channel which can be controlled by a two position switch, the gear switch and channel is normally a good choice.
Set the travels for the channel to about 60%, one way will be heading hold (AVC) the other will be normal mode and if you’re a beginner set the travels on the rudder channel to about 60% as well to give a slower rate of rotation to start with.
Remember the tail servo travels are set by the little limit pot on the gyro and not on the transmitter!
You want to set the tail linkage up to you get equal throws in both direction, in other words full use on all the travel available to the tail pitch slider and don’t worry about having the right amount of pitch at centre stick, having full travel is all that matter with Futaba gyro’s, it will be out of trim in normal mode but just fly the model constantly in heading hold mode (AVC). Try to use a servo arm that will allow about 100% on the limit pot, if you have to set it much lower than this then you risk wearing out the servo sooner. If you using a digital servo don’t forget to switch the gyro in to digital servo mode, if your not using a digital servo then get one it will improve the performance a lot!
Futaba GY601/611
Regardless of make of transmitter it is best not to use the radio’s gyro gain software as this will probably only make set up more complicated, just use a spare channel which can be controlled by a two position switch, the gear switch and channel is normally a good choice.
The default display on the gyro amp screen will show you the gyro gain and mode so use this to set gain values and adjust the gain channels travels on your transmitter to achieve this. You want the gyro amp screen to show a value of about gain value of about 35 to 37% you can go higher than this and chances are you won’t see the tail wag as the gyro’s/ servo’s response is so quick but it will wear the servo out quickly.
You want to set the tail linkage up to you get equal throws in both direction, in other words full use on all the travel available to the tail pitch slider and don’t worry about having the right amount of pitch at centre stick, having full travel is all that matter with Futaba gyro’s.
Remember the tail servo travels are set on the gyro display screen on the gyro amp and not on the transmitter, it will be out of trim in normal mode but just fly the model constantly in heading hold mode (AVC). Try to use a servo arm that will allow about 100% throw in each direction, if you have to set it much lower than this then you risk wearing out the servo sooner.

CSM Gyro’s

The basic set up procedure is the same on all the following CSM gyro’s} ICG360, ICG540, SL310, 420, 630 and 720
Regardless of make of transmitter it is best not to use the radio’s gyro gain software as this will probably only make set up more complicated, just use a spare channel which can be controlled by a two position switch, the gear switch and channel is normally a good choice.
The CSM gyro’s have most of their parameters set from the transmitter while the gyro is in set up mode, how to do this is detailed in the instructions but guys are always concerned that they might permanently screw something up while the gyro is in set up mode, don’t worry you can’t! Just keep redoing it until you are happy everything is working as you want, it doesn’t matter how many times you go though the set up mode, you will not permanently damage anything while in this mode.
Remember tail servo travel is set while in the set up mode, the radio’s rudder channel travel limits just control the speed of rotation (pirouette speed)