FPV Flying, Where gamers go to die, reality.

end_of_the_tunnel said:

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.

Click to expand...

Something to think about, there are orders of magnitude more RC and drone pilots than regular civil and commercial ones combined and we have rights to the sky too. People are organizing, in some cases outside the regular RC organisations, but increasingly taking them over from the old gassers who generally hated FPV. There are those who like to fly and those who like to control and admire their creations from the ground LOS, but FPV is seductive to them as well. Also the people involved in this hobby generally aren't dummies, the technical requirements are too high, such people know how to get the attention of political power once organised with a voice, such a voice is now starting to be raised.

They have 250 gram class and after that it goes up to 24 KG in most places, how about a 1 and 2 Kg class? I don't mind getting a license, but it should come with increased rights to the sky and we are entitled to have restricted airspace and airparks too. Most of these organisations who came up with these rules are populated by pilots who view drones and RC planes as a nuisance and their contemp shone through in the regulations. Stomping on hobbyists will come to an end with empowerment, it's just a case of bullying the powerless, that comes to an end when we organise and fight back, it's killing an industry as well as a hobby. As far as I know and RC plane or drone hasn't killed anybody and in many places gun owners have more rights. Most of these foam planes would be like hitting a seagull or a crow for a regular plane, certainly no worse than hitting a Canada goose!

Like I said before, the regulations seemed to be more about bring awareness, there is no real enforcement, other than for those posting Youtube videos. The 5.8 Ghz video link is pretty short range and blocked by terrain unless you are at altitude and have a powerful transmitter, if the plane is on an autonomous waypoint mission with the transmitter turned off, it and you would be undetectable. 4G cell phone service is another way to do undetected FPV especially low level and the starlink satellite network promises 25ms latency (lower than many recording split cameras) and cellphone sized service in the near future.

With batteries that might soon offer 3 to 5 times the capacity in the not too distant future and all these cheap empowering technologies at our fingertips I can see why some would be paranoid about camera carrying drones. Too bad, they sell them online from china or if they could ban that, you can take apart a cellphone or just use the circuit board. They are in a losing battle with technology and human nature, people are curious, want challenges and above all else fun.

Guys like Nurk don't just race and do freestyle videos, they are also video producers and instructors too. Reelsteady allows you to use an older and cheaper GoPro camera and do the gyro based image stabilization on a computer later in post. Image stabilization makes for a much more enjoyable video experience and a smoother almost dream like ride for the viewer.
All about ReelSteadyGo - Things you Should Know

ReelSteady Go was just released today and it's incredible, but there are several things that you should know about it, what and why it is before you spend $100 and get angry about it online.

I figure on spending at least a couple hundred bucks a month on this hobby and operating off water fascinates me, aside from being a convenience for myself in particular. There is a nearby park that I like to fly drones from, but it's not suited to fly planes from, unless you do it from and over the water, hence the interest in an RC recovery boat and operating the transmitter on 930 MHZ. The park I fly from is historic in terms of seaplanes, there is a large model of a PBY catalina (RCAF Canso) on a high pedestal there that I've flown around and over many times with drones. It used to be a joint Canadian & American seaplane NAS in WWI and was reactivated by the RCAF in WWII as a anti submarine seaplane base protecting Atlantic convoys. Anyway, I've got my eye out for a Catalina that I can paint up in RCAF livery like the one on the memorial and operate from its original base! A cat would be good to FPV, it has an unobstructed cockpit view and a small pan and tilt inside the cockpit would be nice. I've been casting about for a cat to build and ran across this, they have a good reputation for good flight characteristics with their other aircraft. If you paint them dark colors in hot climates they can melt in the sun however! No worries about that where I live though and the RCAF colors were light anyway.

It's not too expensive and the rest of the parts required to get it in the air are cheap, a couple of motors and escs, some servos etc for a basic flyer. If I like it, an FC with GPS, though I wouldn't go far with this bird. There might be room for a camera in the back looking out the side where the blister windows are though and that might be nice with a pitch gimbal for taking shoreline shots at right angles. $120 US ain't a lot to throw for the airframe though and if it doesn't work out I can use the parts for something else. One concern is flooding with this thing, if the hull is broken or punctured, down she goes! I could partly fill it with low density styrofoam pellets and bits though,for not too much weight penalty. When you get one of these things they are so beautifully printed and interesting to look at, that you are loath to paint them.

This model has a wingspan of almost 6 feet, so if the wing unit doesn't break down easily for transport forget it, I have a small car and ya got to get it to where you are gonna fly it, or out the house door for that matter. Operating an aircraft this size from the location I want to use could be problematic too, but as long as I'm on the water I should be fine. Something this big would attract a lot of attention too and I don't really want any, cause what I'm doing might not be strictly legal, at times! Perhaps something in a smaller format made of foam, but I'm tempted...

PBY Catalina (67") Custom Color 3D Printed RC Plane 3dLab Gang Airplane Kit

Here is an assembly video that should hep, you can hear the 3D printer in the background, it should answer some of my questions
Catalina PBY videoguide 1

This is Part one of the 3D-printed Catalina PBY video guide. Glueing of the Fuselage.

The slow boat from China arrived today and I got my ZHOD flight controller and FPV AIO system along with a courier from California with a couple of cheap 1300mah 4S Lipos from ebay, interestingly they were cheap and there was no customs duty charged on it either... The ZOHD stuff came with flyers for sonic model planes too, they are the same company and both make excellent products.

Guess I'll have to watch a video or two on installation etc, it's raining today so why not.

I looked over the printed catalina build video and figured it's not what I want, I don't like the interior arrangements or the complexity of the build. I was poking around about free plans and ran across this great site, for those who would like to try traditional building techniques. It looks interesting, but not for me at this point, a great resource that I haven't looked through completely. I'm thinking a foam board seaplane design, I don't have waterproof foam board, but with spray on plastic or laminating I can make it that way, inside and out.

The plan is to get some free plans online, print them out tiled onto legal or regular sized paper, glue the pieces together, then cut out the parts and stick them on the foam board for tracing and cutting. Foam board is cheap, easy to work with and makes great planes if you do it right.

Over 23,000 plans!

DIY-HP-LED said:

Something to think about, there are orders of magnitude more RC and drone pilots than regular civil and commercial ones combined and we have rights to the sky too. People are organizing, in some cases outside the regular RC organisations, but increasingly taking them over from the old gassers who generally hated FPV. There are those who like to fly and those who like to control and admire their creations from the ground LOS, but FPV is seductive to them as well. Also the people involved in this hobby generally aren't dummies, the technical requirements are too high, such people know how to get the attention of political power once organised with a voice, such a voice is now starting to be raised.

They have 250 gram class and after that it goes up to 24 KG in most places, how about a 1 and 2 Kg class? I don't mind getting a license, but it should come with increased rights to the sky and we are entitled to have restricted airspace and airparks too. Most of these organisations who came up with these rules are populated by pilots who view drones and RC planes as a nuisance and their contemp shone through in the regulations. Stomping on hobbyists will come to an end with empowerment, it's just a case of bullying the powerless, that comes to an end when we organise and fight back, it's killing an industry as well as a hobby. As far as I know and RC plane or drone hasn't killed anybody and in many places gun owners have more rights. Most of these foam planes would be like hitting a seagull or a crow for a regular plane, certainly no worse than hitting a Canada goose!

Like I said before, the regulations seemed to be more about bring awareness, there is no real enforcement, other than for those posting Youtube videos. The 5.8 Ghz video link is pretty short range and blocked by terrain unless you are at altitude and have a powerful transmitter, if the plane is on an autonomous waypoint mission with the transmitter turned off, it and you would be undetectable. 4G cell phone service is another way to do undetected FPV especially low level and the starlink satellite network promises 25ms latency (lower than many recording split cameras) and cellphone sized service in the near future.

With batteries that might soon offer 3 to 5 times the capacity in the not too distant future and all these cheap empowering technologies at our fingertips I can see why some would be paranoid about camera carrying drones. Too bad, they sell them online from china or if they could ban that, you can take apart a cellphone or just use the circuit board. They are in a losing battle with technology and human nature, people are curious, want challenges and above all else fun.

Click to expand...

I might be mistaken, but feel earnings and livelihood and protection of those, are playing a large part in influencing the direction of official groups in UK. Some stand to gain a lot from regulation, and probably play off the sentiments of the old guard towards the fpv upstarts. Getting into local clubs can be a nightmare. Its the commercial activities that need regulation and control. Instead they seem intent on destroying the hobby and past time.

end_of_the_tunnel said:

I might be mistaken, but feel earnings and livelihood and protection of those, are playing a large part in influencing the direction of official groups in UK. Some stand to gain a lot from regulation, and probably play off the sentiments of the old guard towards the fpv upstarts. Getting into local clubs can be a nightmare. Its the commercial activities that need regulation and control. Instead they seem intent on destroying the hobby and past time.

Click to expand...

Technology drives social change, we cannot be controlled by the imagined fears and prejudices of others, policy must be driven by data and facts. The facts are, there are either no, or are very few fatalities from RC planes or drones and few injuries too. Put things into context and consider the risk profiles of other activities, golf probably kills and injures more people every year than RC aircraft and drones have in 10 years There are millions of RC and drone pilots and increasingly RC plane pilots are going FPV, at least some of the time. Many of the existing organisations were dominated by LOS pilots who flew from club fields, not so much any more, the internet has empowered others, these national and international organisations have elections online now and a greatly increased membership. Flying is cheap nowadays, that means much wider access and technology like FPV drone and wing racing appeal to a generation that grew up on Starwars and video games, then there are the DJI drone video people...

Image stabilization offers many benefits to plane flyers especially, drones are generally more stable platforms. One you deal with jello caused by vibration issues, by say an unbalanced motor or prop the results are generally good. The more stable the aircraft the better the results will be and the less image cropping the stabilization software will have to do. Still, even for something like a racing wing in wind, it does an amazing job on video footage, gives your videos a dream like quality and they are much easier to watch. This guy demonstrates using a DJI OSMO action camera with rock steady image stabilization, an older, cheaper gopro will do the same thing with post production software (reelsteady go) that uses gyro info or the new Gopro hero 7 & 8 hypersooth will do it in the camera.

Here is a short 2:30 video that demonstrates this.
AR 900 FPV Wing - How RockSteady Stabilisation makes HD Footage Watchable!

DJI Osmo Action (RockSteady Stabilisation on) ► http://tiny.cc/DJIosmoAction
Runcam 2 (No Stabilisation) ► http://tiny.cc/k4cv0y

I've been educating myself about ardupilot flight controllers and Ardurover firmware used to control autonomous vehicles like rovers and boats with GPS waypoints and RTH. The kits are pretty cheap for the ArduPilot Mega 2.8 APM kits. I think I'll pick one without the radio links and buy a separate 450 MHZ 500 mw pair (more research required) for data uplink. I'll want a FPV OSD too, so the version I choose should have it, but I can get by on the data link, it should out distance the FPV. I will want to manually control the rescue boat with a 930 Mhz control signal so I don't want any interference issues. All transmitters and receivers will be over a meter off the water on removable masts for max range under control and FPV. I need to plan and order stuff in advance because it takes over a month to get shit from China.

Here is the boat I'm planning on building with some additions and modifications for radio masts etc. I plan on using it in salt water and it might be a bit choppy so I need to take extra water proofing precautions. He just has the basic radio controlled boat here and he also has a couple of build and radio setup videos for it, I want to add an Ardupilot running ardurover for waypoint missions and of course RTH. This will allow me to learn all about GPS waypoint missions and RTH using this cheap autopilot system on a boat, it kinda looks like fun all on it's own. First build the boat and get it working as a simple RC vehicle with FPV. I bought a couple of motor, esc, prop kits on Bango and they and other shit are on the way.
RC Seaplane Rescue boat mods

What a beautiful collection of scenes and flights. Well put together.

I wanted to test how much wire length an FPV camera signal can travel before there are issues, I cut the USB cord off an old mouse and used the shielded 4 conductors plus ground wire. It's almost 2 meters long and there were no issues with the video quality at all. Good quality USB cable is shielded and has enough conductors for many RC applications. The maximum length of a USB cables is 4 meters and I wouldn't want to push 5 V much further through it, if it was carrying any current load at all.

I went out for a bit of test flying last evening at a local high school, I wanted to use the soccer field, but some fucking moron locked the gate (just big enough for a person to get through) to the chain link fence surrounding it. All such fields are surrounded by chain link fences and some are divided up with them! Kids on quads and dirt bikes ripping the shit out of the turf are the main rational. I had to use the fucking parking lot, the grass and other vegetation in untended fields here gets 3 or 4 feet high and makes finding a downed quad impossible, a plane is not much different, dense forest surrounds much of my area here in Nova Scotia. I need to find a pasture or farm where I can ask permission to fly regularly and recover downed aircraft, somewhere close, because I'm always testing new and different stuff out too.

Even in relatively short turf, finding a quad can be difficult if you are flying FPV even closeby, I'm not that great a quad pilot and I'm still learning, but need somewhere to fly safely. I had to practice in the high school parking lot and gave a couple of batteries a hard time with hard landings. I need to make some mods to the racing quad to protect the batteries more and find a better place to practice. I'm gonna order a couple of loud model finders for now and put brightly colored tape on the racing quad where I can to help with finding it after a crash. I think the nano talon should get the same treatment if I wanna fly in winter, fluorescent orange shows up well against the snow.

The test flights revealed a few issues that I have to try and resolve, the FPV transmitter on the quad appears to have packed it in, I was setting up for a flight when I couldn't get a signal, lights are on it etc. The 3000ma battery I tried for the long range quad didn't work out that well and the issue lies with the proprietary FC it uses that senses current and voltage and initiates a low battery warning and finally an automatic RTH when the battery (1800 Ma) gets to a certain level of either low volts or after a certain amount of metered current is used. I'm either gonna leave it as is, or use the parts on a carbon cruising frame with a new FC that I can adjust the parameters of using BetaFlight. I could use the motors, props (got tons of spares), escs, compass and GPS unit and even LEDs from this drone, but I might just buy motors and matching escs with the same specs and build a new long range cruiser that will also use a 930 MHZ long range uhf radio. I'd kinda like to keep this drone as it is, it could be useful for finding and even recovering downed or treed drones. Getting treed is also a concern and I keep a very long shock cord sectioned tent pole in the trunk of the car for such occasions.

More on the possible future of FPV using 4G cellular networks for hard to detect long range low level flying, I would expect latency and connection issues to resolved in the near future, this technology is just being rolled out.
4G LTE Raspberry Pi Internet Drone. Unlimited Range.

XBStation is a software solution for live streaming video and control UAV via 4G LTE.
It includes: open hardware on UAV (PX4 and ArduPilot) and software on ground. we try to make it as easy as possible with 4 steps.

+ Live Streaming video
+ Record video
+ Control drone via 4G
+ Rasp Pi 3, 3 B+ / Odroid-XU4
+ Low Latency
+ XBStation Mission Planner/QGroundControl ground control station

How to setup and free account: https://docs.xbstation.com/

If you are interested in this, do not hesitate to contact us for testing

In trying to find a place to practice flying a quad I've been casting about for solutions and I might have one for myself and others too, particularly those who want to stay below the 250 gram legal limit. Something small can operate in a smaller space and can operate in places like your back yard or a local park. In learning to fly a quad finding your quad when you crash and you will, is the most important consideration, they are though and survive most crashes quite well, if you are upright, in many cases you can just fly away. Also smaller lighter quads are less prone to damage or cause harm, because there is so little mass and energy involved. I looked at lighter smaller quads before, but went for a smaller full sized version that could carry and action camera.

I have a couple of cheap brushed tiny whoops that are really small, but I don't have a big house to fly inside and I find the little fuckers near impossible to control. A regular quad that is in the right size range might be best for learning and practicing quad moves in smaller locations, the skills scale up well enough. So I'm thinking a small frame, something like this that can fly in more confined locations yet deliver the performance of a larger quad. I might post some stuff on smaller scale quads as I do my research. Here is what flying a drone is like in a typical backyard, it's a DVR recording and they are often not as good as the image in the goggles. Today these small drones can be cheaply fitted with a mini spit FPV camera to record HD video on board and that also makes them worth looking into. Also the batteries for these drones are cheap as dirt.

This is just for the carbon frame, the rest is extra, though I might post some complete drones if I find some good reviews. You should always watch or read reviews on these things, so you know what to avoid and what is a good deal.

He needs to adjust his FC, cause he says he's using a 3s battery, but is only showing a 1s in the OSD, also if he was using a 1s and the voltage was being reported correctly by the FC, he should think about landing the drone at 3.66 volts on a LIpo battery. You can adjust all these things in the FC using betaflight or some other configurator, I guess he never got around to it yet. He could also just be monitoring a single cell in a 3s and using it as a guide.
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Dragon Frog 3 Inch 139mm Wheelbase Carbon Fiber FPV Racing Frame Kit compaitble for DJI CADDX VISTA

Dragon Frog 3, Caddx Ant test, backyard track

Testing a few things: Iflight Xing 1404 4500kv: https://bit.ly/38dmQgf
Dragon Frog 3" frame: https://bit.ly/2YFTlR9 Caddx Ant (16:9, 1.8 here): https://bit.ly/3eHNlwL
iflight micro VTX (on 25mw, with poorly positioned linear antenna): https://bit.ly/2YDtut3
3s GNB 450mah: https://bit.ly/2YFCJJd
ldarc 2840 props: https://bit.ly/3i4MB7b

I was wondering why this plane was unavailable for awhile, now I know, they were upgrading it and making it better, listening to the reviewers and customers and incorporating changes in the design. This one might be a contender! I'll watch the reviews when they come out.

This guy from the UK is a popular reviewer and RC model teacher, he will show you how to do all kinds of complicated stuff by walking you through the steps. This video was released today
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ZOHD Dart XL 'Enhanced' - New Version!

In Canada where I live this thing costs more in CDN currency plus $65 US shipping, Americans get free shipping because I assume they warehouse it there. I'm looking at about $340 Canadian for this little wonder, plus all the other shit like an FPV system 930 mhz receiver, a good FC and GPS and possibly a 450 mhz data transmitter. Losing something like that would hurt and that doesn't count the HD camera that might cost me $400 CDN! I could have to eat a grand if I couldn't recover this thing, so yeah GPS info from the OSD recorded on multiple DVRs and a GPS data downlink transmitter sending out the GPS location on 450 mhz as insurance would be good too, as would GPS RTH. A working RC rescue boat would be useful too, this thing floats and the electronics can be mostly water proofed, even Gopros are waterproof to a pont, much can be salvaged from a timely rescue and rinsed in fresh and then distilled or RO water. If the plane lost power before hitting the water, most of the electronics can be saved, if not, some or even none.

ZOHD DART XL Enhanced Version 1000mm Wingspan BEPP FPV Aircraft RC Airplane PNP

Matt is a guy from the UK who does review and other RC videos with his mates at a local farm field, another guy who recognises the need for providing a sense of community to many isolated hobbyist. I'd like to get a few folks involved locally and might even try and start a local club, when all the covid shit is over, it would follow all the rules of course and teach young people and send out invites to them etc, But it's also a good way to meet others who might also have a private ambitions, maybe I could corrupt dad... Matt shows you that it's even more fun to fly with others, set up a table and a tent shelter with a few lawn chairs etc.

Here they fly the sonic model Binary and it has serious issues and would not be a good purchase, Matt does straight up entertaining reviews. Youtube entertainment for the FPV and RC plane crowd.

"Making Friends with the Locals" - Bin-ary Maiden & Austin's new chat up line

Josh can't get his up, Austin can't get his down. Andy eats bush and I can't throw for toffee. Over to the farm for the Bin-ary maiden and the usual McFookeria. Covid hugs all-round. Enjoy! Matt

An interesting video for the experimenters out there, those who want to try and learn about new things in doing so.
Samm died in a motorcycle accident a while back, his dad made his last post on Youtube.
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Engineered Mini Flying Wing

This video is about the time when I ventured into the dangerous waters of engineering. It was pretty neat I guess. Endurance Record Flight: https:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhEL0...

The stupid legal constraints and lack of options for responsible people in this hobby really pisses me off. This is art for many on multiple fronts from aircraft design and construction to the beautiful cinematography they enable, we should have artistic freedom too. If you were to visit Canada as a drone or FPV tourist you can't fly legally, you couldn't even hire me, a licensed RC pilot to be your guide, your are not allowed to fly and that cuts off a whole tourism industry. I could never post this video under my own account and I don't know how this guy can either, we must take security precautions and being part of an online community is important to the hobby for many. You can't even legally advertise an outdoor RC flying event, a blatant attempt to just kill a hobby and an industry for no good purpose other than some official covering their arse at our expense.

FUCK them, I'll FPV and I'll post under a secret account and take what precautions I need to and use whatever technology is at hand and available. I'll also join organisations that will lobby and empower me and those like me and there are many and I'm trying to add more to the pile. One of the reasons for this thread cannabis users and growers are used to bending and breaking a few truly stupid laws. I'm not out to kill anybody, just have some fun, as a long term mindfulness meditation practitioner and teacher I know a bit about morals and ethics, others first and you can pitch the rule book with in reason, just be clear about your intentions. That means the safety of others above all else, harassing wildlife is illegal and I agree with that one.

Most FPV pilots don't fly from formal clubs, like Matt in the UK and this guy, they usually fly with a few friends, though for FPV videos I believe you need a spotter, like in Canada and the aircraft must be in sight etc. It's like the old days of automobiles when you had to have someone walk in front of you with a fucking flag, lest you scare the Goddamn horses!

Football and rugby teams in the UK have more deaths and injuries a year than decades of RC flying, and that does not even count the deaths and injuries of the fans who are fucking savages!
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Skyhunter FPV - Frosty Mountain Sunrise