3DR radio installation and use
I finally got this radio MAVLink all working this morning after wrestling with it for the last three days; I wanted to show how to set it up and shoe the problems that I had and how I overcame them.
I cover the following in the video --
What comes in the pack?
Two radios
Antennas
Connecting cable (will not work with the dedicated port on the APM 2.5)
Connecting to the APM -- UART0/3DR dedicated port -
Cable for the wrong connection -- what you need to buy -- connectors for dedicated ports -- DF13 5 position and DF13 4 position connectors/cables
What you need to do to connect it -
Ground station
After XP -- no need to install driver
Air station
Make a suitable cable remembering to cross the TX and RX cables
How to set-up -
• Plug into PC
• Power up model
• Solid green light shows an active link (red LED shows activity)
• Start Mission Planner
• Go to Initial Setup -- 3DR Radio -- Load Settings
• If you can see both radios on this screen the ground station and air side radio are working
To use -
Select COM port and click connect!
Gotchas -
• 57k baud
• If you can't see the APM over the link
• Check the cable from APM to Radio -- swap TX/Rx pins
• Update firmware in both radios
• Ground station use connector supplied
• Air side use the FTDI connector and the special cable