FrSky Taranis - the start of a beautiful friendship?

The Taranis has finally been put though its paces - three flights with my Acacia F3F, at Ivinghoe. And very successful they were, too!

Porting an F3F setup from the Multiplex 4000 to OpenTx

Most of us are familiar with open-source software, whether it's operating systems, office suites or any of the thousands of other programs. But open-source firmware for R/C transmitters? It may sound a little strange in a world of commercial R/C systems. Well it exists... and it's called 'OpenTx'.

And very soon you're going to hear a lot more about it, as FrSky have adopted OpenTx as the operating system for their forthcoming Taranis.

FrSky Taranis - spiritual successor to the Multiplex 4000?

There's been a lot of interest in the FrSky Taranis recently. In fact it must be one of the most eagerly anticipated R/C system in recent years.

The reasons are not hard to find. First there’s the price - just $175 / £139.99 (Tx only). Second, it offers the kind of capabilities you'd expect to see in a high end set. 

It's sure going to ruffle a few feathers over at Futaba and JR, not to mention the boys at Bretten-Gölshausen.

Programming your transmitter for F3F

F3F models are fairly demanding in terms of programming (if not quite as complex as F5J or DLG!). Aside from having four-servo wings there are ergonomic and trimming considerations which need to be taken into account, especially for competition work.

Over the years, I've competed in over 140 F3F competitions [as of Feb 2025] and programmed a variety of radios for this task. These include the Futaba FF7 Super, MPX 3030, MPX 4000, MPX Royal Evo, MPX Cockpit SX, Futaba 12FG and FrSky X9D+ running OpenTx. More recently, a FrSky X20 running Ethos.

Multiplex 4000: End of an Era

On Friday 28th October a message appeared on the Multiplex Yahoogroup that production of this landmark radio has finally come to an end, and the news was confirmed to me by Multiplex in Germany. A shortage of key componenents has led to this situation, and no doubt what remaining stocks are left will be held back for spares.