Skycam41

OK, after all the work getting this together I finally have a video. I checked so many things before the flight and forgot one thing, and it was the cause of the forced landing in the very mature potato field.....I forgot to set the idle on the engine so pulling back on the throttle killed the engine and I was a long ways out....dang it!
There are a few bugs in the systme to work out but for the most part I was very happy, no doubt there is quality loss in the movie rendering.
Do a right click and save as [link]http://www.windywest.com/fk.wmv[/link] its 16 megs. I never realised what featureless countryside our flying field is like...next flight will be further west closer to the mountains!

Cheers

Mike

Skullder

pretty good vid - shame about the landing though

yes you are right about the landscape being drab, but thats about the same everywhere...farmland for miles

just two days ago i did a similar thing - outside looped my super stick over a hill and dived into shoulder high crops..and forgot where it landed! the following day i found it - tail section broken, prop gone, and landing gear torn out. repairs done already. ah well i need to learn to fly better before i mount a av system.

downeym

My Feedback: (2)

what tx and rx were you using? the range looked pretty good!

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Very nicely done video. Wanting to improve your works is understandable, but this is already pretty good.

Skycam41

Hi...thanks for the good words. I am happy to report that the FK is repaired and ready to fly again. I am using a 600mw 12v (also available in 5v) 2.4 gHz system from Micro Camera's [link]http://www.microcameras.com/aerial_systems.htm[/link] Mark has been superb to work with and has even phoned me with answers to my emails! This system is a true plug 'n play which makes it very appealing to folks like me that do not have the best soldering skills. I am using the 8dbi patch antenna. I did not have anyone turning the antenna to follow the plane and when the aircraft was a long way out to the side of the antenna the picture was a little fuzzy but still not bad at all.

I have a few more tests to run and then I will be heading to the local golf course who wants some aerial footage and video put together with music etc....

Mike

Fubar-One

My Feedback: (1)

Hey, excellent video, Mike!
Looks like you really got it together with this system. I am having less than great results with my 600mw (5v) system for some reason. Getting better results with the 200mw, actually.
Shot some video of SOMEPLACE ELSE for a change (Sepulveda Basin), but nothing great.
How the hell do you guys find your way around there? There are no landmarks!!!! What do the birds sit on? Other than Houston, the only other places where I have seen so much flat were the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf.

Anyway, keep up the good work, dude!

Skycam41

Hi Fubar....well yes it is pretty flat. We kid ourselves that we can see a dog run away for three days or on a clear day if you stand on a tuna can you can see the back of your head...

Actually, I live 45 miles West of the club site and if I keep going West for another 50 miles I am in the Canadian Rockies where there is spectacular scenary....I will be going west for more video recording as more from the same site would put you all to sleep.

For the first try I am really pleased, I think there is room for improvement for a sharper picture yet. I hard mounted the camera other than the rubber grommets on the servo's. I need to get more travel for pan & tilt. I had the camera rubber banded to the tilt servo which was just as well as the camera moved a little on impact with the spud hills, with no damage at all. The FK is repaired (easily, due to such a nice clean break of the ply gear mounting breaking out). All is ready to go again and the lads at the club want to do some air to air video, I told them no "mid-air's."

What type of trouble are you getting with your 600mw set up?

Mike

Fubar-One

My Feedback: (1)

Well, quite a few dropouts and noise. When its clean, its very clean but I am getting more dropouts and less than great signals more than I feel I should. I got one of those disk antennas on the Kadet to try and it was a little better with the stock whip on the rx. I also tried it with the disk and the patch the last time I flew and the signal seemed worse. Going to try it again with the stock antenna on the plane and the patch on the ground.
I wish we had those wide open spaces like all you other guys seem to have. I am always stuck with putting the ground station next to a tree line. I would put the system out in the middle of the dirt field but there are too many shady types wandering thru the field from time to time. I would be so nervous watching the system that I couldnt watch the plane.
Might try the patch helm again, at least at the dirt field. Would probably freak everyone out at the Basin if I tried it there.
Getting great results with the replacement 200mw tx tho. Go figure.

yb2normal

Hey Dan, that is very odd with the 600mw unit.

Just for kicks, can you try a different channel? It shouldn't matter, but who knows.

Bill

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Skycam - I was expecting a cheezy, crappy quality vid... but I have to admit it was quite high quality. I watched all the way to the end and was wanting more!! I am considering putting one in my Monocoupe and now I think I want to... What are using for a setup - the 600mW remote in plane (powered by 12V small batt, I imagine) and then I take it you connect the RX to a Camcorder on the ground while you fly ??

What was your total cost (ballpark) ?

I'm interested.. that was pretty cool. Is there any way to slow down the frame rate so the prop is more transparent at lower speeds?? I would think a 100 hz frame rate would blur it out at most RPM... looks to me like the frame rate was about 1.2 khz or better...

DP

IA-Flyer

Looks great Mike, congratulations!

Wow, you have a nice open place to fly.
Get that gear fixed and keep them coming!

Jim

Fubar-One

My Feedback: (1)

One of the things I was going to try but I dont think that is the problem. At the Dam I got some pretty good range when I specked the plane and that was sighting along our usual tree line.
At the Basin, the patch antenna and the disk were NOT a good combo. I think I was picking up some other transmission from time to time. Some ghost image and a bit of audio showed up from time to time. I was flying sans mic till I can get one that is not too sensitive. There is a definite and posted flight ceiling so the plane was never even remotely over the antenna. I do believe I was under a thicker tree cover tho.
The day was a day of firsts: first time with the patch/disk combo, first time shooting video there, more than a little nervous with the AUDIENCE that the antenna attracted.
Just have to play with it some more.

Mike! Apologies for hijacking your thread![X(]

Skycam41

DP,
I realised very quickly in the R/C aerial video set up that if you want good picture quality you are going to pay the dollars to get it. I started out with your typical Hong Kong set up and found that you get what you pay for. To some that might be great but I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between cheezy, fuzzy picture quailty and your multi thousand dollar professional set up that was way out of my league.

What I am using is 600mw 2.4 gHz TX/RX combo from [link=http://www.microcameras.com]here[/link] There are 2 versions, a 5V and a 12V. I am using the 12V as the camera I am using is 12V. Check out Bill at Black Widow also, he is a sponser here. The camera I use is a KPC650, featuring a 480 line resolution picture and a Sony HAD, 1/3 Sony CCD chip. Testing the camera at my home and feeding the signal right into the TV I get an incredibley sharp picture. I am losing some quality when installed into the model plane which I think is from vibration and the fact that the video signal is not hooked dirrectly to a monitor but is wireless. I am using the 8dbi patch antenna (did not try the stock whip antenna). The ground R/X is hooked to my Canon ZR60 mini DV camcorder to record and view the picture.

Check out the link I gave you for the RX/TX equipment, the camera I purchased from the company that sells them on ebay, just type in KPC650, this was the best price I found. I am using a 10 cell AA 1500 mAh battery pack and yes it does weigh a bit! So far I have found no RF between all the onboard electrical gear. Including the battery pack I have about $500 in it.

I know what you mean about the prop in the video and as far as I know there is no way of changing the shutter speed/frame rate. The other option is to mount the camera out of the prop arch.

Fubar,
that sounds pretty strange that one system is working better than another. My thought would have been to get your antenna away from the tree line but I see that you have tried that already. I like your description of dodgy looking individuals that wander across your open field! Do those power lines effect your video's at all? I am not sure about the 5V set up but on the 12V Mark adviced me to remove the case for the T/X and put in some electrical tape in case the module touches the case and causes a temporary loss of signal. I have not done this yet. Hope you get it figured out!

Mike

famousdave

My Feedback: (61)

Hey Mike - thanks for taking the time to explain. That gives me a lot of info. I will do some research. In the mean time - let's see some more!!

DP

aaron2874

Great vid! I really enjoyed it. [8D]