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Spektrum

NX-series transmitters over a cable, or any Spektrum radio — DX included — through a wireless dongle.

Partly tested. The WS3000T dongle has been tested first-hand with a DX9. The NX-series cable route and the WS2000 follow Spektrum’s documented behaviour but have not been tested here. If anything below doesn’t match your radio, please let us know.

Before you start

Set up a dedicated model for HeliSense with flat outputs — no expo, no dual rates, a straight throttle curve and a straight pitch curve, trims centred. See setting up a dedicated model.

Use an Acro (fixed-wing) model type. A Spektrum helicopter model enables swashplate mixing, which blends aileron, elevator and collective across the output channels before they reach HeliSense. A helicopter model will also work if you set the swashplate type to Normal / 1-servo, which disables the mixing.

NX-series transmitters

NX radios have a built-in game-controller mode, so they need nothing but a cable.

  1. Select your HeliSense model on the transmitter.
  2. Open System Settings → USB Settings. Change the mode from Inhibit to Game Controller.
  3. Connect the radio to the Mac. Use a cable that carries data, and switch the radio on. Earlier NX radios have a micro-USB port; the NX7e+, NX8+, NX10+ and NX20 use USB-C.
  4. Open HeliSense Settings. Turn on USB Controller and check your radio is named in the Input Device picker.
Game Controller mode turns the RF off. The transmitter shows Simulator Model — RF Off while it is in this mode, so it isn’t transmitting to any model. Set the USB mode back to Inhibit to restore normal RF operation before you fly for real.

An NX radio typically presents around ten channels, which is more than enough for four axes, a motor switch and a flight-mode switch.

DX-series transmitters

The DX series — DX6i, DX6e, DX7, DX7s, DX8, DX9, DX10t, DX18 and similar — does not have the Game Controller mode the NX series offers. There are two ways round it:

  • A wireless dongle that binds to the radio over DSM2/DSMX, as below. This is the tidier option and needs nothing from the radio beyond a bind.
  • The trainer / DSC jack, using a 3.5 mm-to-USB simulator interface cable. Any of the generic adapters described on the Futaba page will do the same job here.

Wireless dongles

A wireless dongle is a small USB stick with a receiver inside. You bind it to your transmitter exactly as you would bind a receiver, and the Mac sees it as a game controller. This works with any Spektrum radio that can bind to it, NX and DX alike.

  1. Plug the dongle into the Mac. No driver is needed; macOS treats it as a standard game controller.
  2. Bind it to your transmitter. Follow the instructions supplied with the dongle, and use your flat HeliSense model when you bind.
  3. Open HeliSense Settings. Turn on USB Controller and confirm the dongle appears in the Input Device picker.
Bind while your HeliSense model is selected — the dongle sends whichever model is active on the radio.

Which dongle

Spektrum’s own are the WS-series — the long-serving WS2000 and the newer WS3000T. There are third-party alternatives too, so it is worth shopping around:

  • The WS3000T is the one tested here. See WS3000T below.
  • The OrangeRx DSMX/DSM2 USB dongle binds like an ordinary receiver and presents itself as a standard USB HID device. Note that it outputs six channels — enough for four axes plus a motor switch and a flight-mode switch, but with nothing spare.
  • The brand-agnostic RX2SIM accepts a Spektrum DSM2/DSMX satellite, so it is an option if you already own one or want a single adapter that works across brands. Its manufacturer states Mac support explicitly.

WS3000T

Tested with a DX9. It needs no driver, and appears in the Input Device picker as SPEKTRUM WS3000T. HeliSense recognises it and ships a matching Spektrum WS3000T starter profile.

Put anything that needs to be proportional on channels 1–8. The WS3000T carries your radio’s first eight channels as proportional values. Channels 9 to 20 arrive as switch positions only, so a knob, lever or slider assigned above channel 8 cannot work as a proportional control. Move it down your radio’s channel list instead.

The channel numbers in HeliSense won’t match your transmitter. The WS3000T hands your radio’s channels to its own fixed slots, so channel 2 on the radio arrives as CH4 in HeliSense, and channel 4 arrives as CH1. Nothing is wrong. The Channel Monitor labels each channel with the transmitter channel it carries, and the setup wizard works the order out for you.

The dongle presents eight axes and thirty-two buttons. The buttons are how it carries switch positions — two per channel, one for each end of the travel — and the Channel Monitor lists them separately from the proportional channels.

Channel order

Spektrum radios traditionally use TAER order — throttle, aileron, elevator, rudder — rather than the AETR order most other brands use. Two starter profiles cover this:

  • Spektrum NX / WS2000 (TAER) — for a radio or dongle that passes your channel order straight through.
  • Spektrum WS3000T — which accounts for that adapter’s own reordering.

If you run the setup wizard, none of this matters: it learns whichever order your radio actually sends and maps accordingly.

Next

Once your radio or dongle is recognised, follow the setup wizard walkthrough. If it isn’t recognised, work through the troubleshooting list — and note that for a dongle the “check the cable” advice doesn’t apply, so start with the bind instead.

Prefer a different setup? See the full list of controllers.