wingspan99

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Hi guys,
I built a Force One delta and put a video camera in the nose, with an OS46FX w/Mac's muffler for power. It's turning 14.5K with an APC 10x6, so it's not a sound-breaker at 80mph but it has unlimited vertical for it's 5lbs weight. I'm working on a better video downlink but you'll still get a kick out of these. Here's the link to the web site where I posted eight aerial videos.
http://www.hoverbatics.com/VideoPlane.htm
-Tom

FlooredCOBRA

Those videos are to cool! I always wanted to do somthing like that.

wingspan99

My Feedback: (2)

I'm working on a polarized patch antenna for the video receiver. I have been getting some help from Mr RC-CAM at http://www.rc-cam.com . I'm confident I'll get my video quality better and those videos will be replaced with much better stuff. I'm going to focus on getting some good chase scenes, maybe with a warbird.
-Tom

FlooredCOBRA

I was looking into the cam that is shown on bottom of the forum.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/reviews.ph...ew&reviewid=47

It seems like a real nice setup being that you can film live. I like that idea. I always wanted to try video cam in planes but live would make it even more fun. Maybe just look at screen and not plane and fly that way if possible. That small cam could fit pretty much any rc application.

wingspan99

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The Draganfly cam has produced better results than I got with my setup. The receiver antenna is EVERYTHING on a 2.4 ghz unit. Here's a site that shows how to make a cheap high-gain antenna. http://www.cyber-flyer.com go to the video and telemetry downlink. I would like to capture some chase scenes, and the ONLY way to do it right is to at least use the live video image to fly the plane behind another model. There's some pretty cool telemetry devices out there that will plug in between the camera and the transmitter and overlay 5 or 6 "gauges" like airspeed, altitude, battery voltage, heading, engine RPM, etc. These numbers are visible in the corners of the video display. There's one that interfaces to an inexpensive GPS too, although I don't yet see a need for it. It is very possible to fly even a 3D plane just with the video camera's perspective, there's a guy in France that has done it with a Pizazz. The guy with the Pizazz uses a visor and flies only by the video. He must have been having a lot of fun because only recently did he even tap into the visor and start recording the flights.
Take a look at these systems too, I found these when looking for systems, but I think I can get my cheap 100mw system to work for video at the model field. http://www.blackwidowav.com/productssystems.html
-Tom

FlooredCOBRA

that link from the site http://www.cyber-flyer.com is awesome!
I had no idea that those things could be done with the cam set up. And the range is remarkable! Over a mile!

The relay story really got me wanting to give this a shot. I could have all sorts of fun with that set up.

wingspan99

My Feedback: (2)

I have also learned a lot from the hardcore R/C ATV (Amateur TV) guys at http://www.RC-CAM.com . It's worth it to read the archives at the forum, there's a lot of valuable info there. They are taking the 100ft range X-10 Cam and upgrading it dramatically with homebrewed antenna's and better cams. I think I would start with something a little better than that, no less than 100mw on the tx power, in the 2.4ghz range. But there's 1, 2 and 3 watt systems out there. That's just incredible, to fly a model out of sight and fly it only on the radio links. Just a few years ago it was only done by a handful but with the 2.4ghz stuff it's becoming much more popular. I started my project two years ago and have researched it all again recently and in just two years the number of websites devoted to the activity has skyrocketed. I think I've come across 15 sites that sell systems, and another 20 sites by the flyers themselves. So far I have $179 in my system. If I can get 15 db of gain on the receiver, I'll probably outperform the $300 systems. I bought my stuff at Supercircuits.com, the CMOS camera was $69 and the tx/rx set was $110. Now you can get a CCD camera for only $79 and all kinds of wireless link options. You want a CCD camera, don't bother with a CMOS camera the sharpness and color rendition just isn't there. It's possible to have stunning picture resolution with a CCD camera. -Tom

thriller

My Feedback: (28)

I would love to see some detailed projects with the x10 or other cam systems. I want to put one on my heli. links would be great as well

wingspan99

My Feedback: (2)

He has some more links from his site, which is the most extensive one I've found.
Also check out cyber-flyer.com.
-Tom