FPV 13 - Crash!

Well, in an attempt to get the 3dbi video Tx antenna moved as far away from the servos and Rx as I could, I ran an SMA 24" extension cable out to the end of the wing and put the antenna on there. Figured it would be a little unbalanced, but not completely uncontrollable. Also was a little worried it was running the exact same direction as my Rx antenna (grin). Field check showed it ok for interferance and I powered it up and hucked it. Ouch. I'll get the SHORT video uploaded soon, but I'm gluing things...nothing too serious, I don't think, but it hit straight in and busted the camera clean off the mount and found it lying 25 feet away...and there might be a slight blemish on the lens. Oh, well, was looking for an excuse to get a 2.8mm lens with a little wider angle anyway.

Bright Shiny Day!!!

Well, I put the 3dbi longer antenna on the Video Tx (compared to the slightly shorter 2dbi one). I get all sorts of servo jitter and massive interference. Hum...it goes away when I unplug the video power, and is almost completely cleared up when I go back to the 2dbi Tx.

I may have to just move to a flying wing like everyone else here and separate everything out really far. I'm still not happy with how tough it is to get everything crammed into my new EZ* with the modified belly hatches. And I think I need more lift (grin). I got just short of a mile out on my last flight, and looking at my elogger, with my 5.5x4.5 prop on that Turnigy 2835 2700kv brushless inrunner, I'm putting out just over 250W on 3S and I can basically climb just a little over 1ft/mAh. Meaning I'm not going to be able to get much over 2700ft AGL with just this one 2600mAh battery on a 40oz AUW plane and this lift. I need to step it up, get a folding prop outrunner with more lift and more separation. Maybe this Zephyr?

Latest FPV!!!

Had my best two FPV experiences to date late yesterday. Fixed the issues with the video I was having and sounds like it is a problem with the hardware and ground loop with the pan servos. Weather was beautiful and there were big puffy low clouds all around. My elevator servo has been slowly striping out, and I was getting worried it was really bad, but it was giving me about 15% of movement (grin) and I wanted to fly. Got two separate flights in on two 2600mAh lipos. Was running full out most of the time, trying to get up over 3000 ft. Also tested out my new plan for fail safes and RTH testing on a single switch (it all worked GREAT). Need to get my head tracker from China when they get back in stock, but the pan/tilt worked great on my analog sliders on the raido. I took some time on the 5 minute glide down to just look around and stuff. That was cool.

This is FPV!!!

Amazing video compilation of some FPV footage from a guy (Trappy, on RCG) in a mountain town in Austria. Wow. Click the pic for youtube or expand below to watch in better resolution on Vimeo here in a window.

Eagle Eyes Telemetry and Antenna Tracking!!!

Eagle Tree Systems (the one that provides my GPS and on screen display overlay as well as data logging for my FPV setup) has been working hard to get a ground station setup that has built in antenna tracking control, remote telemetry and video diversity (picks best of two separate receivers for video). I spent over $150 for a basic video diversity already by itself, and this new unit from ET has that plus all the tracking and antenna tracking for only $89. Anyway, this is what I’ve been waiting for since this last summer to help with longer range flights. Note, it is mostly just the electronics. You still have to buy the 9dbi square patch antenna, the receivers and actual servo tracker (all expensive, but most FPV already has all of this).

DW Foamies BAF Yak 48"

I finally went ahead and got one of the DW Foamies 48" Yak 54. Going to run my Turnigy 35-42C 1100kv motor in it with a 40A Turnigy ESC and either an APC 11x5.5E or 12x6E prop. Probably try to pick up some 1800mAh 3S1P Lipo's for light flight, but 2200mAh will be normal. Want to also try 4S 2200mAh. Went with 4 hitec HS-65HB servos, which are a little spendy, but not as much as the metal gear ones. I'll keep this section updated with the build thread. Final AUW with landing gear and no battery is 26oz. Including the 2650mAh 3S1P Lipo, it is 34oz. The 4S1P lipo is slightly lighter by half an ounce.

ETOC Freestyle

This is just about the coolest indoor 3D flying I've seen. I still want to get a 48" BAF Yak 54 from DWFoamies.com. Not that it is anything like flying what is below, but it works better for me to fly at the park.

Easy Star Mark ][ (update)

Took it out for a windy/chilly maiden flight today (using the old wings, since the ailerons had been all repaired). CG is still a little too far back for basic flight, even with 3300mAh lipo in, but if flew just fine (actually did some pretty nice soaring). I may see how it does with the two 2650mAh 3S1P's in parallel (yes, that is a 3S2P). Flight times would be pretty long (flew over 25 minutes on the 3300mAh).

Easy Star Mark ][

Began work on the new FPV airframe (a new grey wing colored Multiplex Easy Star). One thing I really wanted to do, after learning a lot from the first one, was to put the elevator and rudder servos (Hitec HS-81's in this case) embedded in the tail section and to put most of the electronics in the fuselage beneath the wings. This should move the CoG back quite, which was needed for larger 3000+ maH LiPo in addition to the pan/tilt camera pod and to allow a lot more space for in the front hatch and (hopefully) clean up a lot of the massive amounts of wiring with the Eagle Tree Systems OSD Pro, eLogger, GPS, Altimeter, Mic and all the cabling daisy chained from the Rx to the OSD Pro for Return to Home (RtH) operation (sort of like autopilot when you lose radio contact).

New Transmitter!

I have been looking at upgrading my Futaba 7CAP for a while. I had been thinking about a 9ch at least, and I wanted to still be able to do 72MHz, since that seems to carry better than 2.4GHz for distance FPV. Settled on a Futaba 9CAP Super, which makes use of plug in modules for all the transmission frequency function. That means, you buy a module for whatever 72MHz channel you want, or they have a TP-FSM synthesized module that allows you to do any channel (this is what I got). The radio was brand new off EBay, and came with an R149DP 9ch Rx (PCM dual conversion 72MHz). I also bought a cheap $30 combo Tx/Rx module that works with it off Ebay for 2.4GHz too. May just buy a Spektrum 2.4GHz system that works with it too.