Link What to buy for video piloting. Updated Oct 25st 2008

[zaguruinzasky]

what is the normal range of a Futaba 9c or just of the radios in general ?

whats the videoTX/RX needed to safely cover the Futaba range?

how do I know when I'm going to fly over the max range to correct my flight direction in time?


Thanx guys

[PeteSchug]

Originally Posted by zaguruinzasky

what is the normal range of a Futaba 9c or just of the radios in general ?

whats the videoTX/RX needed to safely cover the Futaba range?

how do I know when I'm going to fly over the max range to correct my flight direction in time?


Thanx guys

I have flown to the limit of visibility with my Futaba and had no problems. One of the things that we used to do years ago was, if you lost the signal hold the transmitter as high as you can and hold it so that the antenna is sideways to the airplane. If it is a range problem rather than some kind of failure you will almost always regain control. Then you fly back toward yourself.

No experience with this personally, but Jettpilot and others say that if you lose video do a climb. That will usually get you a stronger signal. I lot of people have mentioned that the video signal is weaker near the ground than when you are high. This is supposed to be true even when you have a good line of sight to the airplane.

I have been pretty far away on only 50 mw video tx. I am currently flying 200 mw in my Easy Star (when I can get to fly it) I got an excellent signal at the limit of what my spotters would allow. My club has a strong policy of flying within certain bounds. We own our field and keep well within the boundaries to avoid complaints. The flying area is more than anyone normally needs for visual flying, but seems small when you have to keep turning with an Easy Star being pushed along by three times the power that it was designed for!

A lot of people seem to think that 500 mw is good, but that means more battery weight in the plane. I'd rather fly with the 200 and use my diversity rx and dual patch to make up the difference. When I need more range (unlikely) I can always upgrade to a more powerful video tx.

When I fly in Vermont there are few places I would care to fly far away since most of the area I fly in is heavily forested. I really don't want to come down far away in some unidentifiable seventy foot tree!

If you are in a place where you can fly far away without worrying about either losing your airplane or crashing into someone's house, car or whatever, then you might need more video tx power.

For myself. I will say that with my antenna well placed I have never gotten far enough away to have a problem even with only 50 mw. I have used an 8 dBi patch since my first good video camera and now I have an even better video rx with 11 dBi dual patch.

I would love to fly at this site again, but it is all overgrown now. It was a ski slope that closed down. This frame is from a video made about twelve years ago. You can see what I mean about trees! Where ever there are no trees you have houses. As you can see, there are not many houses, so you land on the ski slope or you shop for a new plane. With GPS in the plane you can write down the coordinates, but otherwise the risk is very high if something goes wrong.

Pete

[zaguruinzasky]

so it would be very usefull to have on video overlay two kind of bars indicating RX signal power and video signal power, just to know when it's time to roll back to base...
I hope some manufacturer will do this toy soon.

At the moment I draw a circle around my takeoff zone in google earth with a specific dimension (the radio range) just to learn where I can fly. Do you think 1 KM is realistic or too much for Futaba?

Does the video signal disappears progressively or now you see and one second later you don't see anything?

Thanx!!!

[DiveBombDave]

The radio and video will be solid out past 2km (the ones I mentioned, Futaba and 500mw). Keep in mind that if you're out that far and get confused on the video, you lost your plane. Practice flying by video just in circuits around the field until you have all the bugs worked out and are more comfortable with the process.

[zaguruinzasky]

rgr that!

[JMSTECH]

Originally Posted by AnthonyRC

The TrackR1s should be in stock shortly, and this time there should be plenty to go around (I greatly underestimated their popularity!)

www.aeropix.ch/store

Ha ha ha... I knew it would be hit!

[AndrésMtnez]

Originally Posted by AnthonyRC

The TrackR1s should be in stock shortly, and this time there should be plenty to go around (I greatly underestimated their popularity!)

www.aeropix.ch/store

Good news, I´ll order two of them soon

[zaguruinzasky]

guys, I added a lot of links in my first post... have a look if ya want..

[Endurance]

Heres some more:

www.endurance-rc.com/realvision.html - Pan and tilt controller software
www.emagin.com - 800x600 OLED headset with butild in 3 axis head tracking
www.avtoolbox.com - video to VGA converters

[typicalaimster]

Supercircuits.com has a few micro video cameras available. Twin did you ever have a chance to test one?

https://www.supercircuits.com/index....S&Category=445

[twinturbostang]

I use the KPC-S226 (aka KX-131). Haven't tried anything else except a cheapo camera/tx from WalMart. That was a piece of junk.

[Nimbus09]

Thanks for the realy good links ! Well done.

[scrtsqrl]

For video gear and some good deals on LiPo's, check out

www.microwireless.net

I've always had a good experience with them.

[JMSTECH]

I like to contribute to the list as well.

Switches, voltage regulators etc..
http://www.dimensionengineering.com/

Antennas:
http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/re09p.php
http://www.aircables.net/antenna-rubber-duck.html

Robotic parts, electronics etc:
http://www.robotmarketplace.com/store.html

Cheap servos, servo 180' extender:
http://www.servocity.com/

GPS controlled boat project, "The how to":
http://users.libero.it/riccardo.rocca/roboat.htm

On board electric generator for nitro planes:
http://www.sullivanproducts.com/GenesysMainFrame.htm

Audio/Video amplifier and distribution:
http://store.qkits.com/moreinfo.cfm/FK655

FOV calculator:
http://www.nto.org/whatusee_en.html

Free downloadable videos on "how to" - RC stuff.
http://www.downonthedeck.com/videos_instruction.htm

Awesome story of a GPS controlled plane crossing the Atlantic ocean:
http://www.modelaircraft.org/mag/mhill/hillindex.htm

Special Projects by the great Mr.RC-CAM!
http://www.rc-cam.com/projects.htm

Antenna Projects by YB2normal:
http://www.yb2normal.com/flightindex.html

[4mla1fn]

please add www.hittconsulting.com. he's got OSD stuff and i understand will have some new products of interest to us pretty soon.

also autopilot stuff at:
http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-16.html
http://www.uavs.net/rcap.html