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Radiomaster MT12 - Review and Guide

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This radio is smexy! This feels like an expensive radio!

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This radio is smexy! This feels like an expensive radio!

View attachment 204065

View attachment 204066
It LOOKS "smexy"!!! 😍😍😍
How do all the buttons and switches feel? Do your's all feel "good quality" too?
Trigger and wheel? Are they adjustable at all?
Does it come with larger grips? (does it need them?) I have big hands. Small radios tend to feel "toyish" to me sometimes.
 
It LOOKS "smexy"!!! 😍😍😍
How do all the buttons and switches feel? Do your's all feel "good quality" too?
Trigger and wheel? Are they adjustable at all?
Does it come with larger grips? (does it need them?) I have big hands. Small radios tend to feel "toyish" to me sometimes.
Everything on the radio feels pretty solid. Trigger has adjustment screws so its adjustable to some extent. Wheel I dont believe is adjustable but I'm not at home to look at it closer. I dont recall it coming with additional grips but the radio itself is not small. I have fairly big hands and the radio feels right in my hand. The plastic feels good and the radio has some weight to it further making it feel more "quality" than its $130 price tag would suggest.
 
The amount of receivers it can bind to is crazy.
You can buy other modules that plug into the port on top of the radio to add even more protocols.
 

Upgrading the Firmware


READ: Do NOT plug your radio into your computer until instructed to do so. Your computer will likely install the incorrect driver, and you will have to remove that device from the device manager on your pc for the correct driver to install.


Getting Your PC Ready - DO THIS FIRST

BEFORE trying to update your Radiomaster MT12 or even plug it into your PC, I would suggest you download this software so your PC has the correct drivers to talk to the radio:
https://www.st.com/en/development-tools/stm32cubeprog.html
You will need to create an account and log in before downloading the software.

Scroll down to this section of the page and select the proper file for your PC. If running Windows, you will want the last file...
View attachment 203574

If that is too much trouble, you can grab the Windows 64 bit file directly from my drive here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CTfVTCH6WxnLKIlJMrPeK3G1C12KSgT-/view?usp=drivesdk

Download that and run it. Just follow through the prompts to install it. Restart your computer.


Backup Your SD Card in the Radio
NOTE:
There are two USB Type C ports on the MT12. The one at the "heel" or back of the base of the radio, just above a button labeled "SD", is ONLY for charging your battery pack.

To access the radio and SD card you need to use the USB port under the rubber cover on the left side of your radio. See pic below.

View attachment 203576

Before updating your firmware, you want to backup the contents of your SD card on the radio. To do this, turn your radio on and let it boot up. Then connect the included USB cable to your radio (remember, use the USB port on the left side of your radio) and plug it into your computer. You will see a popup on the radio to 'Select Mode'. Select the option 'USB Storage (SD)'.
View attachment 204047

Then on your computer you'll want to open your PC window where your drives are and look for your radio. Open that and select all the folders/files to highlight them and copy them to a backup folder on your computer somewhere. I suggest you make an MT12 folder in your documents folder to store all your files for this radio. You will likely accumulate more. Create a Backup folder inside that folder and stick your radio SD card backup in there.

READ: Turn the radio off and unplug it from the PC. You will be plugging it back in.


Upgrading Your Firmware

After you have the STM software installed, the SD card contents are backed up, with the RADIO OFF, plug it back in to the PC. Your PC should go bing-bong confirming the radio is plugged in. Then click the link below to go to the EdgeTX site to update your radio's firmware to the latest version.
https://buddy.edgetx.org/#/flash?version=v2.10.4

On the next page there will be a panel on the left to select the firmware version and your radio. You'll want the latest version, unless you are rolling back to an older firmware.
View attachment 203575

On the next page you You'll need to click Add Device.
View attachment 203623

A window will pop up. Select 'SMT32 BOOTLOADER' from the list and click 'Connect'
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You should then see 'SMT32 BOOTLOADER' in the list of devices. Select it and click 'Next'.
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Simply click 'Start Flashing' to flash your firmware.
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And you're done!
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Are you still finding THIS to be the end of pc involvement or are there more things to unlock, install etc?
My laptop is looking grim. Updates end or have ended now.
Hasn't been online in a few years anyways.
I don't really want to have to buy a new computer so I can run my r/c's! 🤣
I can borrow one for above though!👍🏻
 
Are you still finding THIS to be the end of pc involvement or are there more things to unlock, install etc?
My laptop is looking grim. Updates end or have ended now.
Hasn't been online in a few years anyways.
I don't really want to have to buy a new computer so I can run my r/c's! 🤣
I can borrow one for above though!👍🏻
When they have updates for these open source radio's you kinda want to stay up to date on them because they are community driven. So as the community comes up with good ideas, they implement them into the firmware releases. But other than firmware updates or playing with the files on your SD card, you don't really need a PC for anything else.
 
When they have updates for these open source radio's you kinda want to stay up to date on them because they are community driven. So as the community comes up with good ideas, they implement them into the firmware releases. But other than firmware updates or playing with the files on your SD card, you don't really need a PC for anything else.
LUA scripts maybe but thats going to be advanced user stuff there.
 
LUA scripts maybe but thats going to be advanced user stuff there.
Right. If I get into advanced use I think I'd like to have a good computer here to use anyway.
I doubt I'm going to ever need more than the "base" functions of this radio.
This thing is awesome!
 
Did a quick video on binding the MT12 to our Deadbox.
Have you ran into any problems with signal loss on any of your bashers? I watched the Kevin Talbot video on it and he said it sucked but I believe you guys more than him lol.
 
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