tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-537563668468712612010-03-20T18:56:44.039-06:00Updates on my flight sim cockpit and RC PlanesJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-64728013784467459752010-03-20T18:56:00.001-06:002010-03-20T18:56:44.046-06:00

Well, I got up and left the house with my DW Foamies BAF 48" Yak 54 and my Tiger 2 electric conversion plane in my back seat with plenty of batteries to fly. Temp, a chilly 33'F. Got over to a sod farm that people are flying regularly at over by Eagle Road, and no one was there, but the wind wasn't up yet. Perfect. Flew the Yak for about 4 packs, and had a great time. Wind coming up a bit

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-48367635955906379252010-03-14T10:09:00.004-06:002010-03-14T10:18:40.392-06:00

I took a sample screen of my Eagle Tree Systems On Screen Display (OSD) and highlighted what each element of the display is telling you. Just hover over the large image below.

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-44545208183117104982010-03-07T09:22:00.001-07:002010-03-08T19:33:27.108-07:00

Got some video of my Yak 54 from DW Foamies today. Thanks to my wonderful wife for video taping! Here is an iPhone version. Also, here is an iPhone version of me flying the pluma.

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-24010603573600249942010-03-07T09:00:00.005-07:002010-03-14T11:04:11.397-06:00

Well, in an attempt to get the 3dbi video Tx antenna moved as far away from the servos and Rx as I could, I ran an SMA 24" extension cable out to the end of the wing and put the antenna on there. Figured it would be a little unbalanced, but not completely uncontrollable. Also was a little worried it was running the exact same direction as my Rx antenna (grin). Field check showed it ok for

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-39722932059819457832010-03-06T10:15:00.011-07:002010-03-14T10:48:32.802-06:00

Well, I put the 3dbi longer antenna on the Video Tx (compared to the slightly shorter 2dbi one). I get all sorts of servo jitter and massive interference. Hum...it goes away when I unplug the video power, and is almost completely cleared up when I go back to the 2dbi Tx. I may have to just move to a flying wing like everyone else here and separate everything out really far. I'm still not

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-63009594973484695222010-03-03T22:23:00.001-07:002010-03-06T11:35:52.197-07:00

Had my best two FPV experiences to date late yesterday. Fixed the issues with the video I was having and sounds like it is a problem with the hardware and ground loop with the pan servos. Weather was beautiful and there were big puffy low clouds all around. My elevator servo has been slowly striping out, and I was getting worried it was really bad, but it was giving me about 15% of movement (

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-22695441398124315932010-02-21T19:54:00.006-07:002010-03-14T11:28:13.768-06:00

Amazing video compilation of some FPV footage from a guy (Trappy, on RCG) in a mountain town in Austria. Wow. Click the pic for youtube or expand below to watch in better resolution on Vimeo here in a window. What is FPV? from Raphael Pirker on Vimeo.

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-43835474598684801442010-02-13T11:35:00.003-07:002010-02-28T08:48:23.906-07:00

Eagle Tree Systems (the one that provides my GPS and on screen display overlay as well as data logging for my FPV setup) has been working hard to get a ground station setup that has built in antenna tracking control, remote telemetry and video diversity (picks best of two separate receivers for video). I spent over $150 for a basic video diversity already by itself, and this new unit from ET

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-45081403664890224392010-02-02T06:30:00.014-07:002010-02-13T08:47:21.166-07:00

I finally went ahead and got one of the DW Foamies 48" Yak 54. Going to run my Turnigy 35-42C 1100kv motor in it with a 40A Turnigy ESC and either an APC 11x5.5E or 12x6E prop. Probably try to pick up some 1800mAh 3S1P Lipo's for light flight, but 2200mAh will be normal. Want to also try 4S 2200mAh. Went with 4 hitec HS-65HB servos, which are a little spendy, but not as much as the metal

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-15722658723113514592010-01-12T22:26:00.004-07:002010-02-28T09:51:24.876-07:00

This is just about the coolest indoor 3D flying I've seen. I still want to get a 48" BAF Yak 54 from DWFoamies.com. Not that it is anything like flying what is below, but it works better for me to fly at the park.

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-37159767636093050942010-01-10T21:18:00.004-07:002010-02-28T09:53:20.470-07:00

Took it out for a windy/chilly maiden flight today (using the old wings, since the ailerons had been all repaired). CG is still a little too far back for basic flight, even with 3300mAh lipo in, but if flew just fine (actually did some pretty nice soaring). I may see how it does with the two 2650mAh 3S1P's in parallel (yes, that is a 3S2P). Flight times would be pretty long (flew over 25

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-82170154973446821192010-01-09T18:11:00.019-07:002010-02-28T10:10:18.745-07:00

Began work on the new FPV airframe (a new grey wing colored Multiplex Easy Star). One thing I really wanted to do, after learning a lot from the first one, was to put the elevator and rudder servos (Hitec HS-81's in this case) embedded in the tail section and to put most of the electronics in the fuselage beneath the wings. This should move the CoG back quite, which was needed for larger 3000+

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-69252478684667364922010-01-08T21:05:00.001-07:002010-02-28T09:03:25.496-07:00

I have been looking at upgrading my Futaba 7CAP for a while. I had been thinking about a 9ch at least, and I wanted to still be able to do 72MHz, since that seems to carry better than 2.4GHz for distance FPV. Settled on a Futaba 9CAP Super, which makes use of plug in modules for all the transmission frequency function. That means, you buy a module for whatever 72MHz channel you want, or they

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-4245705345210457452009-12-29T21:52:00.002-07:002009-12-30T15:13:33.093-07:00

So, figured I would compile a list of the current best things for a complete FPV setup (including twin video reciever with diversity switching, head tracking, On Screen Display, and with the new low cost of telemetry tracking). This doesn't include S&H or a bunch of the small cables and costs there, or backup/replacement servos, props, multiple batteries, a camcorder to record your flights, etc.

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-89277813133203920092009-12-28T15:03:00.000-07:002009-12-28T15:03:40.063-07:00

Wow...been trying like hell to find a replacement Multiplex EasyStar Kit. They've been back ordered for around 6 months now. Finally found a place in Utah that had them in stock for $60 each, plus S&H, so ordered 2. Merry Christmas to me. ;) Can't wait to get them here to begin some of the mods I had planned (like carving out the inside and putting the servos in the tail to balance out all

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-80964989106938241402009-10-29T21:21:00.006-06:002009-10-31T18:34:26.990-06:00

I just got my Parkzone BF-109 plane. The latest addition to my livery. Hopefully, it will be nice enough this weekend to fly it while I wait for a replacement fuse for my Easy Star. I have been very happy with my T-28, and really would love to get a F4U corsair as well. These foam warbirds from Parkzone are really pretty good planes. Update: (10/30/2009) I finished getting it all ready

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-60891330679310872042009-10-17T13:20:00.008-06:002009-10-25T19:01:44.381-06:00

Winds were blowing a strong 30mph, with gusts higher. Was periodically blowing over my camera tripod. I wanted to test out my new Oracle Diversity switch and 8dbi patch antenna, and drove 20 miles out into the desert to get away from signal interferance and traffic. I was also trying to fit a new 2600mAh lipo in. It didn't fit well. Got it hand launched, despite the wind trying to rip it out of

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-54487186127663157032009-10-15T23:27:00.002-06:002009-10-17T08:28:25.764-06:00

Got my Oracle Diversity switch in as well as a second 900MHz Rx (which I promptly removed the guts of and put inside the diversity switch hard wired to the power and the Video #2 inputs). Powered it up and hooked everything up (including my previous 2-ch Rx wired into video #1 input). It switches very nice, but I need to probably give it a real test run out in the wild. Just 5 to 20 feet away

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-44031745830498532682009-10-11T17:13:00.002-06:002009-10-11T21:53:22.649-06:00

Flew yesterday again. Had same servo jitter. So, seems like I fly here by my house and live with servo interferance on 72MHz or fly over at the soccer fields by work and get video interferance on 900MHz. Grin. Managed to get up over 1500ft today, easily. I got new LIPO's in that are 2600mAh that should easily allow over 4000ft AGL. Need to probably go out of town to try that. I would love

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-87412604469445704732009-10-07T18:30:00.002-06:002009-10-07T18:32:00.964-06:00

I have some video showing the problem with the Sony DPC 480A AWB and the red hue it has. Turns out, it isn't triggering the DSP to resample on power up without proper amounts of white in the screen. You can force it to trigger/sample by transitioning through the menu settings from fixed->manual->ATW->AWB and it clears everything up. Problem is, it is again hosed the next time you power up.

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-55796054538168693602009-10-05T21:02:00.004-06:002009-10-07T11:21:03.590-06:00

Well, I keep unraveling more and more mysteries as I learn more. First, I have determined that my AUW Multiplex Easy Star with full video equipment and batteries has gained an impressive 11oz, to top out at 37.5oz (that is just over 2 lbs!!!), which leap-frogs it into second place, just behind my Tiger 2 for highest wing loading at 14.5oz/sq-ft. Second, thanks AGAIN to Thomas Black at DPCAV, my

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-49235192565614667432009-10-03T12:03:00.009-06:002009-10-03T23:36:38.215-06:00

Went out to fly with the fully integrated OSD Pro and eLogger v3 this morning. Had 3 major problems. First, the weight was too far forward in the plane and caused an immediate nose-in on first launch. This caused a second problem, which was I stripped the tilt servo on the camera, so it was locked in place. Third problem was again with the video goggles (no video out and it refused to function

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-22753893186298500342009-10-02T19:50:00.009-06:002009-10-03T12:40:40.460-06:00

Flew my first FPV flight today. Well, it probably wasn't really FPV, since the goggles battery supply died about 3 minutes after turning them on. I had to just fly it visually, but I did do some by watching the video camera display. This was without the elogger and OSD, just to make sure everything was working ok. I am getting some interferance, and it really panics me when I'm flying remote

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-35456638337951361222009-09-30T20:46:00.004-06:002009-10-02T20:20:19.704-06:00

I have read a lot about people putting gyro stabilizers on airplanes to correct erratic behavior and wind buffeting. Seems like a natural inclusion for FPV to stabilize the video. Anyway, ideally, you want one that ONLY engages when you flip a switch (meaning you need a secondary channel) or disengages when you get past say 1/3 joystick movement (again, still needs a secondary channel and

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53756366846871261.post-5814270198949584222009-09-27T19:00:00.005-06:002009-09-29T19:18:43.002-06:00

Well, I've been trying to fly my Carl Goldberg Tiger 2 electric conversion for a while now, but keep finding reasons not to. For one thing, it is a 5lb model with a 61" wingspan and capable of speeds over 80mph. That isn't something you just take to your local playground park. I went out to the local flying club last weekend, despite a strong 10-15mph wind. There were a ton of folks out there

Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16937131691811060956noreply@blogger.com0