FPV PILOT TRAINING CENTER - YOUR ROAD TO FPV SUCCESS

[SENTRY]

Ok - in my opinion FPV should be designed backwards. By this, I mean determine what your end goals are first. There are lots of people who never really want to fly far - they just wanna fly normal radio ranges through a camera. For these guys, there is an accelerated process to get you going fast - it's definitely cheaper. You can mod the Dx7 for range, you can also add a LRS to it - but the quickest way to get you involved in FPV is to use what you have to build a quick-deployment rig. In that sense - you can use 5.8, 900, or 1.2g for video gear. The kicker is that w/ Spektrum for RC control you will HAVE to range check your gear and make sure you understand it's limitations...

You plane selections are great. They fly slow(er) and provide for good fun - I like the Radian and the Cularis as well. Check out ReadyMadeRC or any of the other site sponsors to get you going. Tim (RMRC) has some great starter packages available.

[Mark Hitchman]

What he said ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I started FPV with a DX7 and 900mhz 500mw vtx, range test with and without FPV gear on so you know you are not reducing your range, that is the key to success and satellite receivers (AR7000 or AR9000)

Mark

[adamchicago]

My 2 cents...what I've learned since beginning FPV 1 year ago.

The Skywalker is an awesome beginners FPV plane. It's very forgiving and has a cavernous interior allowing for all sorts of equipment and positioning options. It's a pusher with more than enough room up front for FPV and HD cameras. Best of all the Skywalker can handle a sh_t load of weight. Most are flying under 2.3kgs however I've managed to load mine up to 3.4kgs and it flys awesome! The Skywalker is very stable and launches, lands and cruises/glides with ease.

It seems like the RiteWing Zephyr is great too but I'm in the middle of my build so have no experience flying it yet....however I can tell you it's tricky fitting all of the EagleTree FPV gear in it...my FPV gear compartment is like a wire sandwich as of now

Stay away from 900mhz!!!! I've had it, I know others who've had it, and it suckks! ...huge interference/ drop-out problems especially in urban USA areas. I switched to 1280mhz and it works great, however if you want to use any of IBCrazy's circular antennas (skew planar, cloverleaf) you'll want to go with a higher frequency VTx (ie 2.4 or 5.8) in order to get the smaller antenna (they're big and round) that will more easily fit on your plane...keep in mind 2.4 may interfere with anyone near you using standard RC 2.4 Tx's.

As far as OSD's, if want simple go with Immersion's EZUHF, but if you want all of the bells and whistles go with EagleTree. Be prepared for build complexity out the wazoo! ...but it will all be worth it in the end

[Woreoutpilot]

Hi All,

I just found your forum and am so excited to find folks who share the same interest as I have.

If anyone can help me I am seeking to procure a 2 FPV systems. One to be used with my 72mhz futaba Transmitter. My territory is basically Illinois farmland with little housing. It would be for local flying just a get up and go system.

Can you recommend a FPV system that you folks have yielded good results with? What frequency's work best 900mhz, 1.3, 2.4 or 5.8mhz?

The second system I am seeking is way long range. What transmitter or system do you recommend? As far as I can get. Which is better Dragon link or the Scherrer ( not sure of the spelling) or perhaps another you could recommend. I wish to go as far as I can on a Sunday flight for videography purposes.

Thanking you in advance.

Steve

[SENTRY]

Well - I say 1st that you start small - there is lots of choices to make. Have you decided on a plane yet?

[whakahere]

Hi All,

I just found your forum and am so excited to find folks who share the same interest as I have.

If anyone can help me I am seeking to procure a 2 FPV systems. One to be used with my 72mhz futaba Transmitter. My territory is basically Illinois farmland with little housing. It would be for local flying just a get up and go system.

Can you recommend a FPV system that you folks have yielded good results with? What frequency's work best 900mhz, 1.3, 2.4 or 5.8mhz?

The second system I am seeking is way long range. What transmitter or system do you recommend? As far as I can get. Which is better Dragon link or the Scherrer ( not sure of the spelling) or perhaps another you could recommend. I wish to go as far as I can on a Sunday flight for videography purposes.

Thanking you in advance.

Steve

Not everyone will agree with me but this is what I would do.

Farmland - low wifi noise, using 72mhz as control, lots of open area.
I would go with 2.4Ghz because
- easy to find antenna
- small antenna which can help when transporting
- can be used for short and long range.
- building your own antennas for this size are the easiest (quote from IBCrazy).
- you are looking to have two systems so you might fly with others or both in the air at one time. 1280mhz (aka the 1.2ghz band) you will only get one up in the air at a time. 2.4ghz gives you other channel to choose from.
- cheap systems and easy to find replacements. Personally get a lawmate receiver.

[Larry V]

First three of many questions....
1.What are the ranges in miles of each of the antennae?
2.Would it be best to use one dual diversity receiver or two receivers plugged into an Eagle Eyes ground station?
3.I am using an 8db Patch antennae on the receiver end, and a 2db whip antennae pointed forward and horizontal out the nose of my RQ 11 Is this a good position for the Tx antennae?

[IBCrazy]

First three of many questions....
1.What are the ranges in miles of each of the antennae?
2.Would it be best to use one dual diversity receiver or two receivers plugged into an Eagle Eyes ground station?
3.I am using an 8db Patch antennae on the receiver end, and a 2db whip antennae pointed forward and horizontal out the nose of my RQ 11 Is this a good position for the Tx antennae?

Answers:

1. 10 feet to 1000 miles for any antenna. This is dependent on noise floor, TX power, polarization, frequency, and obstacles in the Fresnel zone. Nobody can tell you your range. We can only guess with what information you give. You gave absolutely no pertinent information and thus we can't tell you anything useful.
2. Usually a single unit is best simply because there is less chance for error or something going wrong.
3. BAD IDEA! You cannot point your antenna forward. Not only is the out of polarization (resulting in 1/500th signal strength) but you also are point the antenna null right at yourself when trying to return home. You need to point that antenna upward.

-Alex

[FinalFrag]

Hi all,

I've been thinking about going into FPV for quite some time now. I started flying RC about 9 months ago. I started out with a HK450 heli that kept on breaking on me. I decided to upgrade to a Trex 450 and have been flying it for about 110 flights now (with my first crash last weekend). I also sometimes fly my Parkzone Stinson plane. I fly on the sim almost daily. I really feel like now it the time to get into FPV. I have some questions though and I hope you guys can help me out.

I'm thinking about building a tricopter for my first fpv platform. I think this is the best route for me to take because where I live there is a lot of wind lately (too much to fly the stinson in a decent way). I've read that the common fpv-starter-planes don't like too much wind (e.g. ez*, twinstar, axn floater jet, etc). Do you think going with a tricopter will be a good choice?

Then my 2nd problem/question. I recently bought a spektrum dx8 which is, as you know, a 2.4ghz system. From reading various threads, I think most people are on 2.4ghz for their video link. I don't want to spend money again for a new transmitter, so I was thinking about doing my first fpv-tricopter on a 5.8ghz video link. I won't be flying very far with it anyways, it will just be used for FPV training.

If I really like fpv and want to take it to the next level, I would buy a ezUHF system and switch to 2.4ghz for video, but that is still a long way from now.

I was thinking about buying the fatshark dominator goggles since these allow me to start cheap (integrated 5.8ghz video receiver) and switch to 2.4ghz later on (either integrated or connected to my future groundstation). Is this somethink you would recommend? I mean is it possible to fly fpv with just the integrated receiver, or is it too weak?

Also, why is everyone on 2.4ghz, is 5.8 really that bad or is the only reason the limited range 5.8 gives?

Thank you for reading my wall of text I hope you can answer my question and tell me whether my plan makes sense or not at all.

[Trappy]

5.8 is just generally not very good. there are new transmitters and receiver modules coming out, but most of what has been around here has been getting very negative "press". The few systems we've tried did not really impress. If you're getting started, then hell why not

Tricopter should be a good platform, build the frame yourself so you can repair it. Dadde posted a cool build log over at rcexplorer.se, check it out. and welcome to FPV