Hi all!

New to FPV and after considerable research have come to decide on an equipment list that I would love to hear all your opinions on! I'll be using the system on two aircraft, a heavy long range TriCopter and a powered glider (glider to be determined, skywalker, skyhunter, etc). I'll be flying in 70% rural 30% urban areas, mostly in the US.

So the equipment:
-Fatshark Dominators
-ArduPilotMega 2.5 with uBlox LEA-6H GPS
-ArduPilotMega MinimOSD
-GoPro HD2 (as recorder only)
-Sony Super HAD CCD 520TVL
-Racewood 1280MHz 500mW video tx
-Lawmate 1280MHz RX-1260CK video rx
-BlueBeam 1280MHz tuned CP antennas (3lobe & 5lobe)
-Drangonlink 433MHz UHF control booster (for use with my DX8)
-Hobby Wireless High Pass filter for 433Mhz inference protection on the video rx


Am I forgetting anything?

Am I overkill on anything?

The Sony camera I found is at DIY Drones store and is quite expensive, is there a better option for under $100?

Originally Posted by Vision77

Hi all!

New to FPV and after considerable research have come to decide on an equipment list that I would love to hear all your opinions on! I'll be using the system on two aircraft, a heavy long range TriCopter and a powered glider (glider to be determined, skywalker, skyhunter, etc). I'll be flying in 70% rural 30% urban areas, mostly in the US.

So the equipment:
-Fatshark Dominators
-ArduPilotMega 2.5 with uBlox LEA-6H GPS
-ArduPilotMega MinimOSD
-GoPro HD2 (as recorder only)
-Sony Super HAD CCD 520TVL
-Racewood 1280MHz 500mW video tx
-Lawmate 1280MHz RX-1260CK video rx
-BlueBeam 1280MHz tuned CP antennas (3lobe & 5lobe)
-Drangonlink 433MHz UHF control booster (for use with my DX8)
-Hobby Wireless High Pass filter for 433Mhz inference protection on the video rx


Am I forgetting anything?

Am I overkill on anything?

The Sony camera I found is at DIY Drones store and is quite expensive, is there a better option for under $100?

lawmate have terrible quality issues.

Kamoflarj, thanks for the heads up. I was under the impression Lawmate was one of the higher quality providers. What would you recommend in its place?

Most people that dribble about Lawmate quality issues have never used them.
In my experience they are better than anything else out there... The saw upgrade racewoods are also good.
I have 6 LM Rx's and 5 Txs with zero problems, hundreds of fights and a pb of 22km.

List looks good, you have done your research.
Do a little reading on using Dragonlink with 1.3 video and you may consider ezuhf or the TSlrs.
Apm2.5 is an awesome bit of kit but just be prepared for a lot of reading and setup. There is so much to learn and solve with FPV so you want to just get a basic no osd setup working first.. Then add gear as you sort the problems out.

Chris.

Thanks Nut,

I will be using most all of the features of the ADM stuff. I used a simple KK setup to get the Tricopter flying and tuned. I feel it is best to spend the effort getting the mechanics right prior to trying to fix basic airframe/aerodynamics issues with software.

Now that it's flying I want more advanced features, like position hold, RTH, hands off route flights, etc.

Most of the reviews I've read have spoken quite highly about lawmate, the only exception is that their more powerful tx's (1W+) have a tenancy to burn up if not very well ventilated which can be a bit of a difficulty on a multi.

Thanks again!

Yes the 1w txs do get hot, better heatsink or fan solves that easily.
But.. Stay with the 500 you have listed, a 1w can cause you GPS lock grief unless you can get good separation. My 22km was done with a range video vtx running about 600mw.
As youll learn Range and Clarity gains are mostly made on the receiving end of the video :-)

Thanks Nut,

I already got some similar advice on the FPVlab forum about focusing on the Video Rx. For now I'm starting with my tricopter so range is not a huge issue. Once I go to my plane I may look into a 14db+ patch antenna and diversity system. For now I'll get lots of goggle time.