FPV Flying, Where gamers go to die, reality.

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Another part of the RC hobby is to assemble planes from kits and upgrading them with FPV systems. Most FPV people prefer planes designed for it, planes like this have an obstructed view forward, though building classic warbirds is popular. Most of these planes are powered by EDFs (Electrically Driven Fans), these are much cheaper, less hassle than turbojets engines and still give amazing performance with a foam airframe. EDF jets are short range short duration flyers and are strictly for thrills and show, many fly at fields and fly LOS no FPV.

This is the cheaper end of the jet hobby.FPV 90mm EDF Jet Freewing A-10 Thunderbolt II Super Scale $600. US for the basic plane.
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FPV 90mm EDF Jet Freewing A-10 Thunderbolt II Super Scale | RC Skunk Works ADP

You assemble this kit, not really build it, that's the basic place, the FPV system is extra but you could have a real good camera and a cheap pan and tilt mount for less than $100.
Freewing A-10 1700mm Thunderbolt II Assembly Guide

 

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Here is one of the better expert reviewers and teaching Youtube channels, this guy will show you how to do all kinds of complicated stuff in setting things up. Here he reviews a sub 250 gram model that you don't need to register or have a license to fly, but if you kit it out with GPS and a flight control computer it will weigh in a bit more. This is a popular recent product.

ZOHD Drift 877mm Wingspan FPV Glider AIO EPP RC Airplane KIT/PNP/FPV Version - FPV Version
This is the complete version ($130 US) with a simple flight computer, GPS RTH and FPV system, the PNP version without the computer and FPV system is just $79US and the kit is a mere $49. US. This hobby is very affordable and cheap to try, or get your kids or grandkids into, very educational and good clean safe fun. Even if you are locked down you can still learn and build, even fly by yourself out in the sticks in most cases. When all this shit ends you'll have something new to share. If ya wanna spend quality time with a grandson, have something fun to do together, besides, you can sit in the lawn chair and have him run after the plane!

Considering what you get, a $100 transmitter, a $79 pair of FPV goggles, batteries, a charger and a pretty good ready to fly plane for under $100, most people can afford to give it a try these days, if you fly sub 250 planes and drones there are is no registration or licenses required. For $300 or $400 you can get off the ground with a pretty good plane that you can learn with and see if you'd like to get into it. If you like it, you can get licensed and register your craft online pretty cheap.

ZOHD Drift: Build, maiden and review!

 

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How high can you go? This is from 7 years ago, it would be much easier today!
Space Glider - FPV to Space and Back!

This is my attempt to send a radio controlled airplane to the edge of space using a weather ballon, and then via a live video feed pilot it back down again.

That guy was a great resource for a lot of people getting into fpv.

New regulations mean that for aircraft that weigh less than 250 grams you don't need a drone pilot licence or have to register the drone. So needless to say there are an awful lot of sub 250 gram products starting to come out and folks experiment on their own. Here is Diego again, this time trying to fly a tiny sub 250 gram drone across the mouth of SF bay and recording it with an on board mini HD camera system and DVR that costs just $69 US now for an even better version.

Here he is using a separate 5.8 Ghz receiver on a tripod with two directional patch antennas to boost reception for very clear video, this is then plugged into his goggles for improved long range reception.
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How to fly a cellphone-sized drone across the San Francisco Bay and back

250g limit is in effect, so many places. Alarming for some is the rise of rules and regulation regarding data aquisition and cameras. Remember seeing Rcmodel reviews mentioning stuff regarding this subject for people in EU. Pretty much shuts down the casual hobbyist from following some persuits. Imagine if you end up having to register camera carrying microdrones?

Rise in innovation was fuelled by huge demand. I can remember when buying a wii controller was a prerequisite to building a quad. Still got loads of 2228's. No able to legally build and then fly anything with them without filling in forms and paying a fee, etc.

Soon they will be asking us to register our lungs and pay per breath.

 

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That guy was a great resource for a lot of people getting into fpv.



250g limit is in effect, so many places. Alarming for some is the rise of rules and regulation regarding data aquisition and cameras. Remember seeing Rcmodel reviews mentioning stuff regarding this subject for people in EU. Pretty much shuts down the casual hobbyist from following some persuits. Imagine if you end up having to register camera carrying microdrones?

Rise in innovation was fuelled by huge demand. I can remember when buying a wii controller was a prerequisite to building a quad. Still got loads of 2228's. No able to legally build and then fly anything with them without filling in forms and paying a fee, etc.

Soon they will be asking us to register our lungs and pay per breath.

It's mainly a problem of technology empowering the individual, to have fun, or cause shit and down right evil. It would be very easy to build a cruise missile today, it might not be as capable as a real one, but you could use a swarm of them on a one way GPS and other satnav systems) waypoint mission could do in a target in from miles away. Using 4G cell service or even the new starlink internet service you could even FPV to the target on the terminal run. Something like a Drak or a 1 meter wing could easily carry a pound of plastic at high speed while twisting and turning to avoid ground fire before diving on its target. It can be made EMP proof, have inertial navigation that's good enough for the target run and dive, you could even rig a proximity fuse cheap as beans these days.

The problem is the parts are easily available from China as are the planes and if you were planning on doing anything stupid like above with the tech, you wouldn't bother to register of course! I just gets easier and cheaper for people to do amazing things these days and more so in the future. If ya fly out in the sticks and take reasonable precautions, nobody will bother you and even if they did, technology offers other solutions like starlink and 4G cell service.

Here is a Mini Drak in action (the full sized edition carries much more payload), it could easily carry a pound of plastic and a clever fellow might even make it part of the aircraft structure so it could carry even more bang. Many GPS systems these days use other satnav systems too and you can have a dozen sats giving you 2 meter accuracy.
Flight test w/new Mini Drak Gopro Hero 7 mount w/2.5deg down tilt

 

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In the community there might be few idiots or bad actors.

But just like handgun regulations. It does not stop bad elements determined to do something. Could argue that it keeps it out of the hands of people going off the rails and comitting some atrocity. Just feel like the responsible are getting punished.

I like that ZOHD Drift. Need to see more sub250 options coming out. Have a HK(?)clone micro Radian/Calypso kit collecting dust (bought around 2011/12). Or at least most of the parts. Cannot remember the original model name. Frustrating. Tail boom appears shorter than a micro Calypso. Wingtips pointier than Radian. Has a glued-in hook for launch. Need to figure out a way to untwist the tail end of fuse. Seems to be related to the glue they joined the shells together with. Maybe steam? Sure is nice weather for it.

Edit. Its a miniswift. Also got axn floater in box. One day.

 

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In the community there might be few idiots or bad actors.

But just like handgun regulations. It does not stop bad elements determined to do something. Could argue that it keeps it out of the hands of people going off the rails and comitting some atrocity. Just feel like the responsible are getting punished.

I like that ZOHD Drift. Need to see more sub250 options coming out. Have a HK(?)clone micro Radian/Calypso kit collecting dust (bought around 2011/12). Or at least most of the parts. Cannot remember the original model name. Frustrating. Tail boom appears shorter than a micro Calypso. Wingtips pointier than Radian. Has a glued-in hook for launch. Need to figure out a way to untwist the tail end of fuse. Seems to be related to the glue they joined the shells together with. Maybe steam? Sure is nice weather for it.

I'm not too familiar with that model, there were a lot of shitty ones out there, most folks watch a few reviews of new models to know what to buy and what to avoid. 2012 is when things really started to change in the RC business with the introduction of new digital 2.4 Ghz transmitters, FPV, flight controllers and foam builds both molded and DIY from cheap foam board and packing tape as laminate. In the past 8 years things have changed dramatically and the hobby has exploded from guys standing at a model field watching the thing fly, many want to fly the fucking thing from the inside!

I'd probably write off the old plane as a poor product, and look for a ZOHD drift or even nano drak sub 250 grams, order them with everything included, FPV and the flight controller, it will give you flight stability and RTH if your plane flies away or you get lost. With a Li on battery instead of the Lipo you can get 20 minutes flight time out of the drift! A decked out drift costs just $130 US and sub 250 gram drak is about the same or cheaper all decked out and goes like snot.

The radio master T16 (see review above) is the new radio of choice and you'll use it for a long time and with many models and quads, it's just $130, a radio of this quality and power would have cost over $500 US a few years ago. The cheap Hawkeye FPV goggles I posted a review of above cost around $75! I ordered a pair myself even though I have two sets of goggles already, all the reviews raved about them. So for $200 bucks today you can have the ground end of things covered and not with worthless shit either, but stuff that can be used for years. If a fellow could afford to put a couple of hundred bucks towards his hobby a month you could have a lot of shit and fun after a year and $2400, bucks these days that can buy a lot of stuff.

Here are the planes you can get these days, have a look at the amazing prices, stick to the youtube reviews and avoid the toys unless ya just wanna play or have a kid. Many of the ZOHD brand models you just snap it together at the field, or just throw it in the trunk, they come pre assembled ready to fly, no glue no fucking around and tons of help online with problems, setups, repairs, mods and upgrades.
There are other online suppliers including ebay and amazon, as well as the specialty hobbyist places.

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Here is a place to learn all about FPV systems

THE GUIDE TO FPV FLYING | FIRST PERSON VIEW SYSTEM

How To Get Started With FPV Drone - The Ultimate Beginner's Guide - Oscar Liang

Learn how to get started with FPV drone in this comprehensive tutorial, covering the basics of building and flying FPV drone, tips on safety, equipment and software.

oscarliang.com

 

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If ya wanna record your aerial adventures in HD 1080p in a sub 250 gram model, you can use this for a mere $75 to record on a micro SD card in the plane. This also will serve as your FPV camera and can hook up to your flight controller and then your video transmitter or straight to the transmitter if you don't use a FC.
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RunCam Split 3 Nano 1080P 60fps HD Recording WDR Low Latency 16:9/4:3 NTSC/PAL Switchable FPV Camera For RC Drone

 

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Well I ordered up some lipos and assembled the AR mini wing, I ordered a 2.4 ghz XM+ Frsky receiver and another 900 Mhz R9M receiver. I've got a nano talon setup and flown last year, I pulled the FPV system out to use in the AR wing. I'm gonna use the runcam 2 with an FPV feed to a 1000 mw vtx for both HD recording and FPV on the nano talon. I've got an 1800mAh 3S that fits, though it might be a bit too heavy and I can pull the receiver out of the nano talon to use in the AR mini wing to maiden it and set things up on the plane and transmitter.

I wanna do some more test flying on the nano talon before installing the autopilot with GPS RTH I ordered for it. I also ordered a cheap OSD board for the NANO talon as well, to show my battery voltage on the screen etc.

I've got some batteries on charge now for the long range quad and I'm gonna try out the runcam 2 HD recording & transmitter on that, I might go for a little quad flight tomorrow morning. I should have done this shit months ago, but figured with covid we might be locked down for the summer etc, but I can fly by myself and the batteries will be here in a week.

 

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I got on the bench this morning and got the Runcam2 soldered up to the Leaf vtx I bought last year, they don't sell it anymore though. I tested it at 25mw, but I plan on running it @ 1000mw, so I have to be careful where I mount it so it doesn't interfere with the 2.4Ghz receiver and the GPS unit . This rig is going on a long range quad so space is tight, later I plan on using it on the nano talon.

The yellow camera is hooked up to a 600 mw transmitter, you can fly at night with this thing and it looks like daylight, its low light level performanceis that good! I'm decking the wing out with LED and might generate some UFO reports, it's legal to fly at night too as long as she's lit up and mine will be very bright. I've got a 30 watt LED I could put on it, but that would be overkill.



Now I have to figure out how I'm gonna dress up the dogs breakfast of wiring and where to mount the transmitter and antenna on the quad. If you want to fly quads or wings and planes, you'll need to learn how to solder, so go by a $10 cheap soldering iron too.

 

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1 watt video tx. Lot of power. Following along.

 

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1 watt video tx. Lot of power. Following along.

It's selectable power from pit mode and 25mw (that I have it set to for now), generally 5.8gHz vtx's run around $20, I got this one on sale. I left the wires long because I plan on using this HD recording system and FPV camera combo on the nano talon. I've got to figure out how to cram this shit on top of a quad, without blowing out my GPS . I might venture forth this evening for a look around for somewhere to play and test this out, I've got 3 batteries charged, just gotta spend some time sticking it aboard the quad.

This stuff is for testing a bunch of stuff and learning purposes, I'm thinking of getting another bigger plane this winter that I can stuff more shit into, is much more stable in the air and a better video platform. I'd like to get a dart XL or a mini drak like the guy in the video above, but they are sold out, perhaps something will come along this summer.

I'm finding myself drawn to planes lately and like the idea of sitting in a lawn chair, in the shade, next to a ground station, the plane miles out on a one hour flight.

 

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Long range has appeal. Original reason I bought the axn floater/bixler clone. Back then Flytrons openLRS was my budget choice.

 

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Long range has appeal. Original reason I bought the axn floater/bixler clone. Back then Flytrons openLRS was my budget choice.

You can go a long way on 5.8ghz and using a ground station with a pepperbox or a helical for a narrow high gain beam and receiver(s) (plugs into the goggles). Most diversity goggles use an omnidirectional circular polarized antenna and a circular polarized patch for quads and closer in. For long range 5.8 I'm thinking of a half or full wave vertical and horizontal masts on the receiver end and a vertical one one the plane, I don't plan on doing any violent maneuvers at range, just shoot video and this will give the most gain omnidirectionally if I bank the plane the horizontal antenna on the diversity receiver should cover me, though I think I'd be using something directional high gain on that end.

1.2 and 1.3 gHz systems are expensive and 2.4Ghz is unusable in most places, something I would only consider after I explored the limits of 5.8 gHz. I'm planning on flying GPS way point missions using a good flight controller board and GPS module, maybe even an airspeed tube, but that's for later. Right now I'm dipping my toe into the water and ordered this simple as shit flight controller from ZOHD, no computer required for setup etc, but it gives you GPS RTH and flight stabilization and is cheap, its going in the nano talon. I don't like the idea of losing sight of the plane and having it fly away or failsafe and crash, this will bring it home if it loses signal or you hit a switch and it will come back and orbit your location.

 

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I got the new FPV system on the long range drone and I've got fresh batteries for it coming that should give me near 30 minutes flight time in this cruiser, she ain't fast but it goes a long way and stays in the air for a long time too. I made some transmitter mods and antenna mods on the drone for extra range. This thing swings long 7" props and they have to be well balanced or there's jello in the video, that's what the pieces of black tape on the props are for, balancing.

I mounted the Vtx on the side of the drone with thermal transfer tape and a wire tie, I used 2 Mcdonald's straws, one inside the other for an antenna boom and extended it past the rear of the craft. I used hot glue to hold it on and everything can be removed and transferred to another build. I tested it on 800 mw, but I didn't go far, I don't trust the setup yet, I think I'll set the drone up high somewhere and see how far the signal carries. This drone is kinda a cross between a racing quad and a photography drone, it has a pretty good built in 720p camera and DVR, but I don't use it, the Runcam 2 shoots 1080p 60fps and has shitty image stabilization that I don't use.

 

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Here is a test video I shot last year using the above drone and the Runcam2 after balancing the props carefully on my new prop balancer. I assumed new props were balanced, nope! Once the prop vibration, issues were resolve, she makes a nice steady video platform, better than most planes. I was a bit disappointed in the quality of the FPV video from the runcam2 in my goggles, I'm gonna need to filter the input power to the camera or take power from the 5V camera supply on the transmitter and see if that helps. The image wasn't bad, but it could be better.

Here is a test of prop balancing, a few times around the war monument to check for jello, problem solved. This is my local channel and I had to take a lot of videos down from here, lest someone bust my ass! There's just some camera test footage here and a few awful flights where the fucking thing near shook to pieces. I don't post much here, just some testing and a few park flights. The new laws kicked in last summer and I had to get a drone pilots license and register some of my craft. The fines are crazy stupid as are the laws and regulations, your own video will bust your ass
A Matter of Balance

 

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Here is one of the hazards of flying a drone with unbalanced long props, besides shitty video and control issues. Here I had the Runcam2 using it's internal battery so it kept recording, I suddenly lost video and didn't know what happened since the FPV system was powered by the drone battery, and the connection vibrated loose! I had to replace the bottom shell since she broke an arm, the part cost $10.

Here I slowed the 60fps down to 1/4 speed to get a good look at WTF happened.
Allen Point Incident Slow Motion Analysis

 

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I'm looking for something fast, stable and big enough for long range, I was thinking of a Dart XL, but I'm not sure if they are still making them. I just ran across this and it seems to fit the bill, but there don't seem to be too many reviews yet, same guy designed this and he's with another company. I might buy one this fall after I see some more reviews, those I've seen so far seem positive, but almost the only guy who has reviews seems to be flying two different models and seems to be involved with the company.

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I've finally got around to starting a ground station build and I've assembled some stuff and I'm gonna setup for a bench test. Then I'll figure out how to mount it on something bigger and strain relief the cable, eventually it will be tripod mounted with proper antennas. I might also remotely mount my 930 Mhz Frsky transmitter module on it too, instead of putting it in the back of the radio, I can get it and it's antenna 2 or even 3 meters off the ground. I bought a couple of old portable DVD players with video inputs that I can take apart and use the screens later, but will use as is for the test.

Step one is to get the receiver up and running then test it's range and antenna combos on the bench. This one also works with a cell phone as well and I'll give it a shot through the USB port. Here are the details $24 US, the cable is from a good will store and cost a buck.

Eachine ROTG02 UVC OTG 5.8G 150CH Diversity Audio FPV Receiver

 

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Price and range of diversity in products has come so far. Pretty amazing. Wonder what affordable and recommended dvr devices are available nowdays. Always thought that would be a handy backup for reviewing flight data in case of mishaps, losing craft.