How to Setup Radiomaster Pocket Radio | Upgrades, Tips and Tricks

1.6K

So, you’ve got yourself a Radiomaster Pocket? Great choice! Now, let’s ensure you get the most out of it. I’ll guide you step-by-step through the setup process for the EdgeTX-equipped Radiomaster Pocket radio, sprinkling in some handy tips and tricks along the way.

Still wondering if the Pocket is suitable for you? Check out my in-depth review of the Radiomaster Pocket here: https://oscarliang.com/radiomaster-pocket/

Understanding the Controls and Switches

Here’s a diagram of all the available controls, buttons and switches on the Radiomaster Pocket. Familiarise yourself with it so you don’t get lost :)

Battery Installation

To power up your Radiomaster Pocket, you’ll need two 18650 Li-ion cells. Simply remove the back rubber handles, and pop them into the battery slots. Both flat top and button top types fit well inside the Pocket.

Unfortunately, the batteries are not included, but you can get them here. Higher capacity cells will give you longer flight time, but they might cost more. Here are my battery recommendations:

Radiomaster Li-ion 18650 2500mah:

• Radiomaster: https://oscarliang.com/product-0239

Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mAh:

• Amazon: https://amzn.to/2W93Uwp
• GetFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-h1sg

Molicel P26A/P28A 18650:

• RDQ: https://oscarliang.com/product-1np7
• GetFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-ghz0
• Amazon: https://amzn.to/3A99ocl

Sony VTC6 18650:

• Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zMZfSm
• GetFPV: https://oscarliang.com/product-rlio

Potential Start-up Warnings

To power on, press and hold the radio’s power button for a couple of seconds.

Ideally, a brand new radio should fire up without any fuss. However, if your screen flashes a warning, don’t panic. Here’s a breakdown of potential alerts and their quick fixes:

• Throttle Warning: This pops up if your throttle stick (the left one for Mode 2 radios) isn’t at its lowest position when powered on. Pushing it all the way down will get rid of this warning.
• Switch Warning (also known as Control Warning): This signals that some switches aren’t in their default positions. To clear this, ensure all switches are in their HIGH position
• Alarms Warning: This appears if the Sound mode is set to mute. If you configure this on purpose, you can press the Enter button (scroll wheel) to safely skip this warning.
• SD Card Warning: This indicates a version mismatch between the SD card content and firmware.
• If you get this warning, follow this guide to fix it

If everything goes well, you should be greeted by the radio’s default home page.

Radio Settings

The Radio Settings are where you’ll adjust your display, audio, system related parameters, and so forth.

Kick things off by pressing and holding the SYS button; this will take you to the TOOLS page. From there, hit the PAGE> button twice to scroll to the Radio Setup page.

I’ll walk you through the initial changes you might want to consider. Anything I skip over can be left default.

1. Set Date & Time.

2. Battery Range:

• For Li-ion battery: 6.4V – 8.2V
• For Lipo battery: 7.4V – 8.2V

Why these ranges? This setting defines the battery indicator on-screen, specifically when it displays as full or empty. You might wonder about the minimum 6.4V for a 2S Li-ion, which can indeed be discharged even more. Yes, you can set it to 6.0V. However, having it a tad higher offers an earlier visual cue. As for the 8.2V max (instead of 8.4V), it’s due to voltage sag. The moment you power up, the battery’s voltage drops slightly. You will never see 8.4V on screen, so think of 8.2V as “fully charged.”

Sound:

• Mode: Opt for “All” to hear “beeps” when navigating the menu. Alternatively, go with “Nokey” if you prefer more silent operation.

Contrast (backlight brightness): 15

Why? It offers sharp text clarity without that pesky “black ink” background effect.

Alarms:

• • Battery low (threshold for audio and haptic warning, if you fly long range you might want to set this higher so you have enough battery to make your way home.)
    • For Li-ion: 6.4V
    • For Lipo: 7.4V
  • Inactivity: 10 minutes (if the radio is left untouched for this duration, you will hear the “inactivity alarm” audio reminder)

Backlight

• Mode: “Keys”
• Duration: 15 seconds (backlight stays lit for this duration)
• Brightness: Keep it minimal to conserve battery life.
• Alarm: Enabled (so the backlight turns on with any radio warning)

Why Keys Mode? By default, both the sticks and buttons can activate the backlight, which is a touch excessive. You aren’t really looking at the screen when flying so it’s just wasting battery. By setting it to “Keys,” only the menu buttons will activate the backlight, conserving energy.

Pwr On delay: 1s

This is the time it takes to hold down the power button to turn on the radio.

Pwr Off delay: 1s

This is the time it takes to hold down the power button to switch off the radio, this is a safety feature to avoid accidentally turning off the radio. I personally set it to 1s for faster shut down, but if you want to play safe you can set it longer.

USB mode: “Ask”.

Head over to the Hardware page by pressing the PAGE>, scroll down to Int. Module. If you’ve got an internal ELRS module, set it to CRSF with a Baudrate of 5.25M. If you have the internal multiprotocol module, set this to Multi. It’s generally configured correctly by default, but always double-check.

According to ExpressLRS Wiki, Radiomaster Internal ELRS module can handle 5.25M baudrate. But just because you can set the Baudrate higher, doesn’t mean you should. If you’re experiencing constant Telemetry Lost/Recovered even with the receiver nearby and/or if the Lua Script fails to load properly, then it’s a sign your radio and/or module cannot work on the selected Baud Rate. Lower it down a notch and test again. Or settle with a 400K baud rate.

Lastly, within the Hardware page, ensure the ADC Filter is turned off (unticked). Why? see this section.

Adjusting Gimbal Tension

To customize your control experience, the Pocket allows you to adjust gimbal spring tension from the back of the radio (through the holes in the back housing). However, I found that the process can be a bit challenging since the screws for adjustment are deep inside the radio.

I’d recommend taking off the back housing (there are only 4 screws). This grants direct access to the gimbal spring screws, making the process a breeze. And the best part? Once it’s set, you likely won’t have to fiddle with it again.

A heads-up, though: for these adjustments, you’ll need a 1.5mm hex tool. It’s a slight shift from the Philips screws common in older gimbals.

Here’s a breakdown of where the gimbal tension screws are for roll, pitch, yaw and throttle.

Gimbal Calibration

Before flying with your brand new radio, you should always calibrate those gimbals. You might also want to do this if you’ve recently updated your EdgeTX/OpenTX firmware.

Navigate to the Radio Setup page, then hit the “PAGE>” button a few times till you land on the “HARDWARE” page. From there, select the “Calibration” option. This will initiate the calibration process for both the sticks and sliders. The on-screen instructions are clear, so just follow along.

Make sure you only move the sticks as shown in the following image. For best result, avoid moving the sticks in circle. Be as gentle as possible when pushing the sticks, so the radio reads the end points correctly.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to calibrate the slider too (top right rotary control – S1).

Battery Voltage Calibration

To ensure you’re getting the most precise battery reading possible, take a moment to calibrate your radio’s battery voltage.

With a digital multimeter in hand, measure the voltage of the Li-ion batteries inside your radio. Given that the cells are connected in series, you should expect a reading between 6V to 8.4V. The goal is to make sure the measurement on your multimeter matches the one displayed on your radio.

Navigate to the “HARDWARE” page. Once there, scroll down until you find the “Batt. calib” (Battery Calibration) option. Get the reading here as close to your earlier measurement as possible using the radio’s wheel button.

Model Profile

The Pocket comes with 4 pre-created Model profiles that cater to different types of models. All you need to do is pick one that suits your needs. To see what models profiles are available, you can go there by holding down the MDL button.

For FPV drones, you can use the “Pocket” profile. It has everything you need setup out of the box – internal RF module (ExpressLRS) enabled and all controls and switches mapped to the right channels in MIXES. You may not even have to tweak a thing. Just bind the receiver in your drone to the radio, and you’re good to go.

• For ExpressLRS receiver binding, follow this guider: https://oscarliang.com/bind-expresslrs-receivers/.
• If you’re using the multiprotocol CC2500 version, find setup details here: https://oscarliang.com/setup-tx16s-t16-radio/#model-settings

Creating a Profile for FPV Sims

Planning on immersing yourself in an FPV simulator? Consider creating a dedicated model profile for this purpose.

To do this, start with copying the existing Pocket profile and make a duplicate. Go to Model Setup and rename it to something else such as “FPV Sim”.

In Model Setup, scroll down and switch both “Internal RF” and “External RF” to OFF. This will save battery life when you are playing FPV sim and prevents the internal RF modules from getting hot.

Backup and Restore Radio

I recommend backing up your radio settings regularly (e.g. before firmware updates and whenever you make big changes). Fortunately, with EdgeTX, backing up and restoring your Radiomaster Pocket’s settings is simple and hassle-free.

Follow instructions here to backup and restore your radio SD Card Content: https://oscarliang.com/backup-restore-models-radio-settings-edgetx/

Easy Backlight Control

Your Radiomaster Pocket is equipped with a rotary control in the top right (S1), which is not used for most people. We can turn it into a backlight control. The trick is to create a function in the radio. You can either do this in “Special Functions” in the Model Profile, or “Global Functions” in the System menu. I prefer to do this in Global functions because it works across all model profiles, saving you the need to set them up individually for each profile.

1. Navigating to Global Function: Hold down the SYS button, then a few taps of the “PAGE” button will take you to the “Global function” page.
2. Creating Function: Find a empty slot and select “ON”.
3. Setting Up Backlight Control: In the 2nd parameter, select Backlight, in the 3rd parameter, select the rotary control by moving it with your finger, and enable it.

You can also use it to control audio volume by selecting “Volume” instead of “Backlight”,

Updating EdgeTX

Backup your SD card first before updating EdgeTX.

1. Checking Firmware Version: Navigate to the system menu by heading to Radio settings => Versions. This step helps identify the version currently running on your Pocket and whether you need to update.

2. Using EdgeTX Buddy: This online tool is the most user-friendly method for updating the EdgeTX firmware. For a detailed step-by-step guide on using it, refer to: https://oscarliang.com/flash-edgetx/.

3. Restore to Original State: Mistakes happen. But, fear not! If anything goes wrong, the stock EdgeTX firmware for the Pocket is available in the FIRMWARE folder. You can always revert to this original state by re-flashing the radio.

Updating Internal ExpressLRS Module

If you have the ExpressLRS (ELRS) version, updating the internal module is easy. The procedure is identical to the Zorro: https://oscarliang.com/update-zorro-elrs-firmware/. Here’s a summary:

1. Connect the Pocket to your computer using the top USB-C port. Opt for the “USB Serials (VCP)” mode.
2. Run ExpressLRS Configurator, in the progrom, choose Radiomaster as the device category and select Zorro as the device.
3. Build Options:
   1. Go with EdgeTXPassthrough as your flashing method.
   2. Set your regulatory domain. For instance, use ISM_2400 for FCC users.
   3. Input your unique binding phrase
4. If flashing via USB, click “Build & Flash”. If flashing via Wi-Fi, click “Build” and follow the Wi-Fi flashing steps.

If your Pocket uses a CC2500 multiprotocol module, then you need to follow these instructions to update it: https://oscarliang.com/flash-edgetx/#update-internal-multi-protocol-module

Tips and Tricks

Custom Sound Pack

Bored of the default voice prompts? Try custom sound packs. Amber Sound Pack, for instance, stands out with its superior sound quality.

Download: http://open-txu.org/home/version-2/v2-2-resources-2/

After downloading, extract the files and replace the originals in the SOUND/en folder on your SD card.

Playing Custom Sounds

Did you know you can play custom sound files, even your favorite tunes, on any EdgeTX radios? If you’re new to this, here’s a tutorial to create custom sound files for OpenTX radios, the same steps apply for EdgeTX: https://oscarliang.com/taranis-play-sound-track-mp3-files/

Filename limits: Ensure the filename is no more than 6 characters, with the file extension capped at 3 characters. Also, dodge any special symbols in the name. The ideal file format: 32000kHz Mono Wav.

Exploring the Tools Page

The Tools page on your Radiomaster Pocket is a collection of useful LUA scripts. One frequently used LUA script is ExpressLRS, which allows you to configure your ExpressLRS module.

Button Cell Battery Replacement

If your Pocket is constantly forgetting the date and time settings, it likely points to a dying button cell battery. Look for a Lithium 3V CR1220 battery. Conveniently, you can get them online, for instance on Amazon (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3yDyDBe

Conclusion

We hope this guide has been helpful in setting up your Radiomaster Pocket radio. I will be updating this guide if there are other useful mods and upgrades to the Pocket.