Helical and Yagi test (5 min 22 sec)

Flew the Zephyr with good video now, flew non line of sight over a hill to just under 8km then realised my battery was getting used up real quick, forgot to plug 2nd one in

Zeph good video (4 min 12 sec)

Video with fixed RC signal.

Zeph RC fixed.wmv (2 min 58 sec)

I fixed my recorded video issue as well, nice and clear now. I had not connected the grounds between the 12 volt and 5 volt systems.

I found the issue with the RC range, failsafes at 2.4km, turns out I used the wrong sma connector when I made the Dragonlink antenna.
The plug and socket were both female and while two females screwed together may be fun to watch it is hopeless when they are sma connectors :-)

Mark

I flew the Zephyr again trying to sort out a few issues
The RC signal sucks, failsafe at 2.4km
Video still not good quality

Zephyr stall (1 min 27 sec)

It should be able to do this, my glider with very similar gear.

...Continue Reading

Zephyr maiden (1 min 38 sec)

Pourerere after the Flood (9 min 59 sec)

Tested a CP Helical antenna yesterday, seemed to be promising.

Helical vs yagi (1 min 38 sec)

Was on a diversity controller and when it says Yagi on the video I had it manually switched to the Yagi for comparison.

I finally have the wing flying well now that it has the right prop.
It has a wingspan of 60" and carries 2 X 2200 mah batteries

Jazz 60 Wing with 11 X 8 folding prop (7 min 20 sec)

Received my new camera from securitycamera2000 yesterday so I went for a fly today, went well, need to calibrate the current sensor. After charging the 5000 mah battery it took 3207ma, DOSD said I used 4900mah

11km 2m ezg (6 min 29 sec)

I maidened the EZ Glider clone a couple of days ago, went sweet, out to 5km.

EZG Maiden 2 (20 min 23 sec)

A video I did end of last year 2010 testing video range. This is with a V on the plane and a 9dBi yagi tuned to 850 Mhz and video transmitter on 1010 Mhz, it fades out a bit at 6 Km.

Pourerere 6km (4 min 39 sec)

I have now cut the folded dipole down on the yagi to 1010 Mhz but have not altered the directors at all.
Keen to do another test past 6 Km to see if the video signal has improved any.



This flight was the other day when I was playing around with the OSD and the wind got up and I had trouble keeping the nose into wind to get home. To make it worse I was flying out to the west and I thought I was out to the east so had the yagi pointing in the wrong direction so I was losing video a fair bit and could not come down lower where the wind was not as strong. In the end after moving the yagi around so much it fell to the ground and landed pointing straight up which cleared up the video allowing me to go lower and fly home.
Was stressed a wee bit

...Continue Reading

I thought I would start filling in my blog.
First, a little bit about me just in case anyone is bored enough to read this.
I started the hobby of Radio Control flying a helicopter in Australia in 1992, the Hirobo Shuttle Z Lived in Aussie for 7 years, came back to New Zealand and more or less gave up RC until a couple of years ago when I discovered video downlinks and good electric power.
Once I found an OSD online I was amazed, the technology was so cool.
I bought a RVOSD from Range Video, hooked it up to my classic trainer plane and life was sweet. This thing could fly itself I was suitably impressed. Learnt how the RVOSD worked on Range Videos own forum.
After many months I discovered this website and learnt more about video links and other important stuff.
One day while surfing the FPV threads, I read about the anticipated release of a new OSD called DOSD+, now I didn't want or need another OSD because my one worked just fine and had saved my new skyfun plane on more than one occasion.
This new OSD was tiny and weighed 7 grams and had return to home and other things that sounded really cool so I subscribed to the thread and eagerly awaited its release.
I was one of the first to receive one and one of the guys who tested it out and uploaded video so the developer could improve the firmware and add new features.
I am now an official technical support person for the Dragon products, email address is on their website www.dragonlabs.net but I am not in business with them or anything like that, just know a bit about the product.
I am in the process of making my second ezglider clone for FPV, my goal for this plane is 20km which is a big step up from my record of 6km so far. Video range is my issue because to fly from home I really should stay below 500 feet because of the airport so I will have to go for a drive elsewhere for my long flights.

Thanks for reading

Mark