Cougar Notes

[Puck]

Just got my new Cougar two days ago.  Came out of the box with some issues.

1. Gimbal play in the center.  I've got a friend who runs an instrument shop at a university in Washington (they make...instruments, so this is right up their alley) who's going to take a look and see if he can construct a better, more stable system.  I'm debating whether or not to send him Dr. Cougar's UberCougar mod information; I'd kinda like to see what he can dream up.  This is one of the guys who machined parts for the lunar rover, so he's not only good, he's been at it for a while.  Once I get my USB Fighterstick back from CH (been in the shop for repairs) I'll ship the Cougar off for some surgury.

2. Nasty detent noise.  I moved the idle detent all the way down, so you're only in it when the throttle is off.  Upper detent is a 90% of stick motion.  A couple  thin leather washers has turned the CLUNK into a respectable click when passing through the 90% detent.

I wrote some config files last night.  One of the things I like best is the throttle axis:  THR 5 1 (90 100) WEP where WEP = /P p /R p.  I then calibrated the throttle axis in AH and made sure I stoped moving it when it ran into the 90% detent.  What I end up with is normal throttle motion into that last detent.  If I keep pushing out of the detent I'm in wep, and when I bring it back in I'm at normal power again.  WEP is therefore controlled by throttle position without having to drop below 100% to get out of wep.  I _REALLY_ like that feature.

Still tweaking the rest of my config file.  I have most of it assigned, but I want to fly some before I decide if I like it.

So far I'm pretty happy, though I'm really interested to see how it works after it comes out of the machine shop.

[TheFox]

Sounds a good idea - but being a complete novice on this programming bit, where do I insert this macro ?



Fox
Krait Squadron

[Puck]

You can make two files; one is a .tmj (Thrust Master Joystick) and the other a .tmm (Thrust Master Macro).  In the .tmj file include the line USE MDEF .

The nice thing about the macro file is you can put all of your commands into plain language.  Right now I'm using Revvin's macro file with some mods to suit the way I do things, but the .tmj file I built from scratch.  

Basically you end up with instructions in the joystick file like:

BUT H1U /H Look_Forward_Up

which is a bit more intuitive than

BUT H1U /H h

(I set my look forward up to h in AH so I wouldn't need to chord the keys...I'm lazy).  In the macro file there's this line:

Look_Forward_Up = h

I'm shipping my cougar off to the surgeon today, so I'm back to the CH stick for a while.  Wanted to get that done before I got too used to it and was unwilling to live without it for a few weeks  

If there's anything else I can do to help you get yours set up just let me know.

[TheFox]

Thanks for that Puck - but I still can't get it to work. Can you show the exact line of code you have put in, or better still email the macro file to me and then I can copy it.

Thanks

Fox
Kraits

[Puck]

Sure.  I'll send what I have when I get home tonight, though the joystick file is still a work in progress  

[Revvin]

Here's my profile adapted to put WEP on the throttle axis.

The zip only includes the .tmm and .tmj file you need to use the profile, if you'd like a graphical overlay of what each button does you can download the full package version of my profile here I would have attached it here but the graphical overlay makes the zip too big to attach to the forum post