What were the low tones that sounded in between all the other tones?
Why did we not hear the normal beacon tones also, are they transmitted on a different channel? Are the tones from the lost beacon also available to be heard at anytime?
The tones are sort of inconsistent which leads to ambiguity, which is the same issue when body blocking the 3 tones of the lost transmitter. The repeater would certainly help at close range, and on a SAR plane it would help with long range. The 3 tones would be best at middle range it seems, which was most of your bike ride.
I still would love to have gps morse code. I'm sure other people would too.
Why have you decided against this route?

Originally Posted by fmkit

any beacon w/ CY8C24123A chip (8pin) can be upgraded to digital orvoice version, you have to send in, $15 to cover added parts and return shipping.

I'll post repeater info in a day or two.

yesterday flew small wing without OSD, self-leveling,autopilot at night only by vision and sounds, the wing crashed many times cause I have no experiance flying at night and at 1st had bad illumination. Found the wing every time because of built-in beacon and buzzer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrXNK7E30P4

HEY! I fly like this even in the daytime

Originally Posted by iskess

What were the low tones that sounded in between all the other tones?
Why did we not hear the normal beacon tones also, are they transmitted on a different channel? Are the tones from the lost beacon also available to be heard at anytime?
The tones are sort of inconsistent which leads to ambiguity, which is the same issue when body blocking the 3 tones of the lost transmitter. The repeater would certainly help at close range, and on a SAR plane it would help with long range. The 3 tones would be best at middle range it seems, which was most of your bike ride.
I still would love to have gps morse code. I'm sure other people would too.
Why have you decided against this route?

while in digital mode no series 3 fading tones needed, very short (3.7ms) packets transmitted every second, receiver is comparing 32bits if right code received you hear audio tone prportional to RSSI, the tone available on repeater pin also you set analog transmission and receive tones with normal walki-talkie.
I too think last video is confusing, the thng is the receiver chip returns noisy RSSI, sometimes you hear long low tone representing 20-30db drop in signal strength. Today I tested new FW with digital filtering, it takes 3 consistent packets/RSSI readings to produce long (0.5s) tone, user can set treshold 0-20db, say one packed came 40db, then 2nd 45db,then 49db if treshold was 6 or more then all 3 will sound as long beeps, if 4th packet comes 30db it will be replaced with last (49db) tone but sound short to inform you that received pa.cket was inconsistent. Today I flew few packs and there was no confusion , every second you know what's RX status. That was great and I think no more improvements needed, tomorrow will list the repeater so anyone can have it

Yesterday I flew alot and TF card was almost full, at home I renamed folder and copied to HD but forgot to delete TF folder. Today I was recording non-stop but because of recycle-overwrite settinfg on my #18 cam single file was over-writing itself every 3minutes (shouldn't rename original folder yesterday)so I landed with single 150mb file! I can upload it if you want, tones are really consistent now and it is easy to locate downed plane with another SAR plane, digital mode last for few weeks (should be 30day with 6g Li-Po),
when both beacon and repeater on the ground link breaks completly at 300-400ft
when plane is 400m or higher working range is few miles

Yes, we would like to see a video of the improved repeater sounds.

Originally Posted by fmkit

while in digital mode no series 3 fading tones needed...

when both beacon and repeater on the ground link breaks completly at 300-400ft
when plane is 400m or higher working range is few miles

If I have no Search & Rescue plane available after a crash, I will need to listen to the fading tones to get me within the 300-400 ft range of the digital packets.
If my Repeater becomes damaged or lost, I can't get one from the store like I could a walkie talkie, so I will always want analog audio transmitting from the lost beacon.
Can the beacon transmit both the digital packets and the fading tones at the same time?

Originally Posted by iskess

If I have no Search & Rescue plane available after a crash, I will need to listen to the fading tones to get me within the 300-400 ft range of the digital packets.
If my Repeater becomes damaged or lost, I can't get one from the store like I could a walkie talkie, so I will always want analog audio transmitting from the lost beacon.
Can the beacon transmit both the digital packets and the fading tones at the same time?

you can set mixed mode, fading tones and packets transmitted simultaneously,
2-3 weeks ago I posted this video here:

RF beacon v4 digital/analog with VOX and vario input (2 min 19 sec)

Oh yes, I remember now. So many changes and options that I forgot.
I'm looking forward to your latest video with simpler RSSI signal tones.
Can you hook up a voltmeter to the repeater and see graphic RSSI? I'd like to see a video of this too.

Originally Posted by iskess

Oh yes, I remember now. So many changes and options that I forgot.
I'm looking forward to your latest video with simpler RSSI signal tones.
Can you hook up a voltmeter to the repeater and see graphic RSSI? I'd like to see a video of this too.

yes, RSSI voltage is there
here is today's flight, ignore tones at 0.42 -those indicate short FS I had
as you can hear tones consistent now, long tones indicate steady or slow changing RSSI and short tones for rapid change in signal strength

rf beacon repeater v2 (0 min 57 sec)

What are the high pitched chirps like the ones at :20? Does that mean rapidly changing RSSI?

How about doing another ground test video with subtitles to explain what the beeps are telling you. It would be nice to see the RSSI volts together with the beeps so we can graphically see how the beeps correspond to the RSSI changes.

high pitched chirps is feedback when I push keys on my nunchuck remote, multiple camera position presets stored in flight controller and I call them with Morse code. You hear high pitched chirps just before camera panned/tilted.
Today I'll make better video.

You have a very large vocabulary of beeps and chirps Peter. I know you love to fly, but now it seems you are speaking the language of the birds! You don't even use an OSD since all data comes to you as audio.
To get us to learn "Bird", you will need to do a very good tutorial.

FM Kit you have a great product but you need to work on your webpage and instructions for every version you have. You are still showing an old beacon picture in your webpage, Im pretty sure you will sell a lot more beacons with proper manuals per version and pictures.

Right now I have one of the beacons (1"x1/2" green led) that came with battery and mini white plug, no mic or on/off switch and the instructions on your website doesnt match my version at least some of the options.

Here is the picture of my beacon and I have some questions.
1) can I put custom frequencies on this version? if so How?
2) Why 8.1 LED is strobing while standby, 8.2 LED turned on only while button pushed 8.1 and 8.2 doesn't work on my version

Yes! I was thinking about buying it but nobody really know how it works..... Is the old version with microphone not available anymore?

all versions have somewhat similar codes and reset the same way (hold button till LED goes off), one can use the beacon without learning a single code (default mode)
Beacon with microphone completely automatic - tones transmitted while plane is still and while motor is running or wind is strong transmission is blocked (standby mode)

to enter specific frequency click 6 numbers like in this video
or use presets , two digit codes 3.2-3.8 for channels 2-8 FRS or PMR if beacon shipped to Europe. Code 3.1 sets previously stored custom frequency, you can switch between presets and custom frequency anytime.

in the last 3 months those asked for no mic version got same regular beacon just without mic.and some resistors and capacitors so there is power saving without constantly connected mic. susch beacons must use menu entry 1,x where x stands for multiplies of 20-25 minutes, enter 1.2 (default) for 40-50minutes startup delay.
Beacons w/mic. don't need startup delay because mic. blocks TX as soon as motor starts

I'll update instructions soon.

Originally Posted by fmkit

all versions have somewhat similar codes and reset the same way (hold button till LED goes off), one can use the beacon without learning a single code (default mode)
Beacon with microphone completely automatic - tones transmitted while plane is still and while motor is running or wind is strong transmission is blocked (standby mode)

to enter specific frequency click 6 numbers like in this video
or use presets , two digit codes 3.2-3.8 for channels 2-8 FRS or PMR if beacon shipped to Europe. Code 3.1 sets previously stored custom frequency, you can switch between presets and custom frequency anytime.

in the last 3 months those asked for no mic version got same regular beacon just without mic.and some resistors and capacitors so there is power saving without constantly connected mic. susch beacons must use menu entry 1,x where x stands for multiplies of 20-25 minutes, enter 1.2 (default) for 40-50minutes startup delay.
Beacons w/mic. don't need startup delay because mic. blocks TX as soon as motor starts

I'll update instructions soon.

Good info, can I change frequencies to a custom one? lets say example 920.210mhz?