Let's See Your Ground Station!!

[Andy08]

Hi, Mine is also built to be portable and quick to setup. I can carry the plane, tripod, case and a camping chair up a hill in one trip.


The tripod has an Immersion RC duo2400 with a rubber ducky (3db I think) and a 8db linear patch. Power is a 3 cell 1300mah LiPo. If you want a similar setup and dont have a tripod yet I cant say how handy the little hook is to keep your goggles out of the mud.


The case has the Fat Sharks, Tx, EZUHF, batteries, tools, zip ties and headtraker.


The plane is a Hawksky (Dyman easystar clone) with pan and tilt, EZUHF, RCV 922, HK super simple OSD all running off a single 3 cell 2200mah.

Future improvements are some thinner coax for the vid rx-goggle cable and a recorder/display which I will probably just stick to the back of the vid rx.

Bragging rights go to the first person that spots whats wrong with my setup (on the tripod). Its a simple thing I found out a week ago that means ive been flying with half the range I could have had for several years without even knowing.

Andy

[Johnny]

Your patch is set for the wrong polarization?

[Andy08]

Yep, you got it. The patch is horizontal (cable coming out the side) when it should be vertical (cable coming out the bottom). I had been flying like that for ages until I watched the video in the first post of the beginners section.
Ops.
Oh well, that’s one of my favorite things about FPV. Just when you think you are getting the hang of it you get a reminder that there is still so much to learn .

[prelator]

Sweet setup Andy08. If you'll look on the first page of this thread, you'll notice I have a Hawk Sky too. Your setup looks a bit cleaner than mine, with less stuff mounted externally. What kind of video antenna do you have on the plane, as I can't see it in your picture? Also, I'm curious what motor & prop combo you're using and how much your plane weighs. Mine comes in at just under 3 lbs, and it's powered by a Suppo 2217K/6 1500kv motor with a 7x5 prop, powered by 2x 2200mah 3S lipos in parallel. It feels a bit underpowered still even after dropping down from a 7x6 prop, and its climb rate isn't very good and hand launching is kind of tricky. I'm wondering if there might be a better combination to use with this thing that will give me more thrust.

[Scotttu]

Does that bit of coax to your UHF Tx cause any loss? I'd rather mount mine on the Tripod as well!!!

[Andy08]

Sweet setup Andy08. If you'll look on the first page of this thread, you'll notice I have a Hawk Sky too. Your setup looks a bit cleaner than mine, with less stuff mounted externally. What kind of video antenna do you have on the plane, as I can't see it in your picture? Also, I'm curious what motor & prop combo you're using and how much your plane weighs. Mine comes in at just under 3 lbs, and it's powered by a Suppo 2217K/6 1500kv motor with a 7x5 prop, powered by 2x 2200mah 3S lipos in parallel. It feels a bit underpowered still even after dropping down from a 7x6 prop, and its climb rate isn't very good and hand launching is kind of tricky. I'm wondering if there might be a better combination to use with this thing that will give me more thrust.

Thanks. The video antenna is stock. Ive posted a few pix and power train info here so I dont take this thread off topic. It weighs 734g w/o battery and launches and climbs great, but then Im only lifting 1 battery. Are you using the diversity EZUHF rx? Im using the 8Ch light so theres one less wire to hide right away. It looks like your's is built for longer range than mine. If I get a solid connection to 3km Ill probably be happy.
Andy

[prelator]

Ah I see, you have a retractable video antenna on the bottom. Clever. I have the ChainLinkDare UHF system, which has a diversity receiver so that's why I have two antennas. Sounds like your motor has plenty of power, but sacrifices flight time. I can get up to 20 minutes on mine if I manage power well. 4 minutes of motor time would never work for me, but glad you've had success with that motor.

[Andy08]

Does that bit of coax to your UHF Tx cause any loss? I'd rather mount mine on the Tripod as well!!!

Hi, The coax on the tripod isnt connected to the UHF. Its the video connection from the video reciver to the video goggles. Its 3m long and the video quality is great. I just want to downsize because its heavier then it has to be (it was all they had at the shop).

My EZUFH Tx is mounted on the back of the futaba with the reccomended diamond aerial screwed straight on to the top of it. I think I remember ssander posting somwehere that it wasnt a good idea to use an extension between the UHF Tx and its aerial. I think he suggested using an sav extension to go from the transmitter to the EzUHF unit insted. I think he was saying you could program the hi/low switch to work off your tx somehow. Dont quote me on that though.

Andy

[Andy08]

Ah I see, you have a retractable video antenna on the bottom. Clever. I have the ChainLinkDare UHF system, which has a diversity receiver so that's why I have two antennas. Sounds like your motor has plenty of power, but sacrifices flight time. I can get up to 20 minutes on mine if I manage power well. 4 minutes of motor time would never work for me, but glad you've had success with that motor.

Thats 4 min at WOT. You would cover a lot of ground in 20 min. Ill let you know how I get on when I try it with two batteries.

[durangoflyer]

Here is my GS after some modifications last fall. I hike to some of my flying spots and wanted to keep dangling wires to a minimum. I used a RS project box to house it all in one compact unit. I store the FatSharks in a camera bag on one of the legs all ready connected and ready to go. The CP antennas go in a tool box with my Tx and Dragon Link. I can power it from a 3s lipo if I am hiking or a Black & Decker jump starter (12v cigarette lighter) if I am near my car or at RC field.
Inside is:
- 12v Power Distribution Block
- Lighted Switch on outside (Toggles whole rig on and off)
- Castle Creations BEC outputting 7.4v to RC305 Rx and Fat Shark Base Goggles
- 12v CPU Fan
- FatShark Base Goggles
- 1 RC305 5.8ghz Rx
- 1 Range Video 900-1.3 Rx
- 1 RMRC 1280 Rx

Whole thing sits on standard tripod. I just open it up and swap cables to fly 1280mhz or 5.8ghz gear. When I want to record I just use a splitter cable to my old Sony DVR Camcorder.