What's the best video downlink?  
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All Forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> Aerial Photography and Video >> What's the best video downlink?
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What's the best video downlink? - 5/27/2003 6:24:02 AM   
foobar


 

Posts: 37
Joined: 5/27/2003
From: Toronto
Status: offline 		Hi all, i'm brand new here.

Brief history: Built 2 R/C planes in my late teens - first a too-slow high-wing, high-cambered trainer (3 chan, no 'rons, yuck) and then cannibalized that one's remains for the "Sweet Stick" - TOO FAST - symmetrical airfoil, 4 chan Airtronics SR, Webra 40 RC 6.5 ccm) When last i flew it in 1988 i had a major prang last flight (funny how it always happens on the last flight) Combination of engine failure immediately after takeoff and forgetting i had just increased the aileron throw to speed up my snap rolls. Turned too hard for final into a knifedge and immediately hammerheaded groundward. I let it fall to gain speed and managed to nose up at the last second and mush the gear straight down into the potato field -- all i lost were the tricycle gear (nose bent, mains sheared off) and some dirt in the carb. Didn't break the engine mount so it's a prang!

After years in the closet, I took her out this weekend and cleaned, ironed the wrinkles out of the monokote and patched a hole or two. Had already taken apart and cleaned the engine, haven't fired it up yet though. Plan to buy new batteries for the radio (even though the 15 year old ones seem to hold a useful charge for at least 2 hours, i want to make sure at least the radio is reliable!) Sillicone tubing looks good as new. Just gotta find some fuel, some gear and batteries and she's ready.

One problem, these days i'm a computer programmer and multimedia specialist, and i promised myself years ago that if i ever tried to fly R/C again, i'm going to do it with pilot's POV as a video downlink. I've been a flight sim addict for years (Warbirds 2 and 3, probably the best flight models of any "game" sim) and have come to take the pilot's perspective for granted.

Anyway, i've been looking at this for all of 2 days now, and found these guys:
http://www.wirelessvideocameras.com/public/RCTV20.htm
They would seem to have just what i need, but i gotta say their website looks cheap (great rocket videos though!). Found another one that was PAL only (i'm in Toronto Canada) so that's out. Any other's? I kinow those X10 guys are spamming the Web with their ads but as far as i can see it's all short range in-home applications. Not having anyone i want to spy on, that's out ...

Basically my question is this...what's the most cost effective video DOWNLINK solution out there. (yes i'm taking a survey) I don't care so much about the image quality ~400 vertical lines @ 480 horiz (i.e. VHS quality) will do fine, color isn't strictly required either...it's for flying not for collection (if i want to collect quality video i'll build a bigger plane and put a DV or film camera in it as well as the pilot-cam.)

Gimballing the POV is not a concern (yet!!!) Nor is stereoscopic nor visor/goggles...i have to save something for Phase II!

So everybody, you probably get this question all the time but, this week, what's the hottest video cam/tx/rx/display solution, and why do you like it?

Tanks!!!
       Post #: 1

What's the best video downlink? - 5/27/2003 3:18:11 PM   
mauiglide


 

Posts: 48
Joined: 5/17/2003
From: Kahului, HI, USA
Status: offline 		I bought a camera system from [url]www.wirelessvideocameras.com[/url] just a couple months ago. The system was kind of pricey, but you get what you pay for. This is the system I wanted because of the quality and great specs that is in the system. The camera is the CCD type not the cheap and low res CMOS stuff you see flooding the Internet market. It actually puts out 1 watt of power which is more than the others out there. But you have to be an licensed ham operator to own this system because of the transmitting power. You could get a system from them that does not have a license requirement but of course less powered which equals shorter transmitting distance.

I will be incorporating this system in an Airtronics Aquila I am building. I always wanted to get in to videotaping my flights over the areas I fly at and now my dream will be reality after I get the darn plane built!

BTW, those video glasses they have on the website is pretty cool.

Aloha to all in the group.

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 2

What's the best video downlink? - 5/27/2003 6:42:16 PM   
foobar


 

Posts: 37
Joined: 5/27/2003
From: Toronto
Status: offline 		Thanks for the tip. Anybody know about the Canadian licensing requirements for their 1 watt transmitter? And will they sell it to you without the licence?

The video glasses would be cooler if they were stereo 3D so you could use them with two cameras. And of course then you'd want a pan/tilt mount that would follow your head movement! Next plane maybe...

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 3

What's the best video downlink? - 5/27/2003 9:20:07 PM   
forus



Posts: 207
Joined: 1/17/2003
From: Stockholm, AR,
Status: offline 		soarwind:

What model do you have? My system from wirelessvideocameras has 1.45miles range. I guess yours has a bit more power than mine. I have had a lot success with my gear. Nice filmquality and the system has a practical plug and play layout. I would love to have a pair of their videoglasses...Expensive though.

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 4

What system - 5/28/2003 12:41:04 AM   
Pontiac_40


 

Posts: 117
Joined: 4/25/2002
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Status: offline 		Forus,
What system are you using?

_____________________________

Fly and let fly

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 5

What's the best video downlink? - 5/28/2003 12:51:14 AM   
forus



Posts: 207
Joined: 1/17/2003
From: Stockholm, AR,
Status: offline 		Pontiac_40: I use the wirelessvideocameras set up with 380 line cam,separate tx(video+stereo sound and whip antenna) all run on 12v and a receiver with flip up antenna also run by 12v. Range 1.45miles.(Can't remember tx power) The gear can be seen at wirelessvideocameras.com. (Black tx and rx) I also have a short range (300m) cam that weighs 11g (tx integrated) but the videoquality isn't as great as the wvc system.

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 6

What's the best video downlink? - 5/28/2003 2:59:00 AM   
Fubar-One



Posts: 1774
Joined: 3/1/2003
From: Canyon Country, CA, USA
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Thanks for the tip. Anybody know about the Canadian licensing requirements for their 1 watt transmitter? And will they sell it to you without the licence? [/QUOTE]

Well, when I bought one of the SuperCircuits systems nobody asked me anything about my license. Im pretty sure they figure its up to you to obey the FCC (or Canadian equivalent) rules and regs so they dont give a damn.
For the record, yes, I AM a licensed Ham.
If I had it to do over again, I would have purchased my CCD system from Black Widow AV. Same system, cheaper price.
http://www.blackwidowav.com

_____________________________

"B Positive to ground, over..."

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 7

What's the best video downlink? - 5/28/2003 7:43:36 AM   
foobar


 

Posts: 37
Joined: 5/27/2003
From: Toronto
Status: offline 		I'd get a Ham license if all it takes is a reasonable fee, however if i have to actually KNOW something, pass a test, etc, i'd rather not...don't have any HAM equipment and never will so no sense in training how to use it. Only decision i'd be making with a wireless A/V is whether to turn it on or not. It's on the 2.4 GHz band which i understand is essentially unregulated (as that's what microwave ovens and some older radars use). Though i believe the Bluetooth and 80211.b short range wireless network protocols use it too...wonder if someone driving by with a laptop would jam me?

anyway it's ok, worst case is i'd loose video feed to ground, i'd never rely only on that to fly, have to maintain visual at all times as well. control uplink to the plane is far more important.

thanks for the Blackwidow link, i'll check em out. [checked them out, great price savings, THANK YOU!]

i have a 12 year old Kyocera Hi-8 video camera with a broken tape transport but great image quality...starting to wonder how hard it would be to cannibalize the lens, zoom motor, CCD, and enough circutry to get a composite signal out of it. This is for another thread i think. i'll go take it apart now though!

excited, haven't flown anything made of *matter* in 15 years.

< Message edited by foobar -- May 28 2003 5:45AM >

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 8

What's the best video downlink? - 5/28/2003 8:15:07 AM   
aston70



Posts: 88
Joined: 1/30/2003
From: Knoxville, TN, USA
Status: offline 		I think if you do not have a have a ham license, no one will really say anything. You'll pretty much be in the same bracket as a CB'er. There are channels on alot of systems which use frequencies in and out of the ham band. If your system is like that and you don't have a ham license, you might want to use the frequencies not in the ham band. However, if you do have a ham license then you are expected to know better and you should stick with frequencies only in the ham band.

Also, if you don't plan on modifying the system, (ie, higher gain antennas) you typically shouldn't have much to worry about anyway, license or not. You don't have to have a license to buy ham equipment anyway. I've never heard of an instance where you did anyway.


_____________________________

Dan Smith
KF4GDN

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 9

What's the best video downlink? - 5/28/2003 11:32:22 AM   
mauiglide


 

Posts: 48
Joined: 5/17/2003
From: Kahului, HI, USA
Status: offline 		Aloha Forus. I opted to get the 1 watt transmitter which puts out 10 times the power of the original setup I was looking at (model LWV14). The reason I needed the extra power is that I am in Hawaii and the salt air does degrade the signal a bit. But from recent tests, I've been getting outstanding range. The CCD camera (380 lines of resolution) does give a better quality image for recording on my DV camcorder than the standard CMOS camera.

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 10

camcorder - 5/28/2003 6:39:38 PM   
Pontiac_40


 

Posts: 117
Joined: 4/25/2002
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Status: offline 		foobar,
Let me know how it goes with your camcorder, Iwas thinking of doing the same thing.

_____________________________

Fly and let fly

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 11

What's the best video downlink? - 5/28/2003 9:39:58 PM   
forus



Posts: 207
Joined: 1/17/2003
From: Stockholm, AR,
Status: offline 		soarwind

What range do you get on your equipment?

Anyone of you been experimenting with onbard sensors/GPS?

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 12

What's the best video downlink? - 5/29/2003 2:38:14 AM   
W4UAV



Posts: 423
Joined: 1/23/2003
From: Gainesville, FL, USA
Status: offline 		forus,
If your talking about GPS Overlay of the video, yes I have done that. I use the OSD-GPS board from Intuitive Circuits:
http://www.icircuits.com/
It displays altitude, speed, and heading as well as time and date from the GPS and position.
I WAS using the laptop GPS from Rand Mcnally ($99.00) but it only
updated every three seconds (sucked) so I now have a Garmin GPS engine OEM sensor and it updates every second so you can see when you gain altitude, it shows immediately, much better.
This is the link to the GPS Im using: http://www.garmin.com/products/gps15h/index.html
In my next plane, I plan to have the ability to turn the overlay on and off.

_____________________________

Mike Robinett
W4UAV

(in reply to foobar)
       Post #: 13

What's the best video downlink? - 5/29/2003 10:41:29 PM   
forus



Posts: 207
Joined: 1/17/2003
From: Stockholm, AR,
Status: offline 		Mike

I plan to buy a GPS module and use it with Tiny Track III. I will buy a GPS videooverlay board and a regular data overlay board. I would like to use regular sensors in adition to GPS.Do you do any PIC programming when modifying your GPS setup with an on off function?

(in reply to foobar)