First Person View

Kashkai

I was thinking about treating myself to a FPV set up for use on my Radian Glider for xmas (my smaller faster planes would induce motion sickness :eek::D).

Has anyone bought a decent set of fpv goggles and if so where? I've looked on Hobbykings website and they have this pair but they're expensive:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=12175

Any other options that would work with my 2.4ghz transmitter?

I think it would give me a whole new perspective on my Radian's flight.

Poly

I just recieved a pan and tilt gimble and a sony CCD camera from hobby city, I have a 2.4g transmitter that I used before, just have to do a bit of soldering and testing.

I'm going to use a small TV as a monitor.
For a ship, I'm going to build ( when I get the time) a 60" brushless pusher twin boom spad, inspired by this:

http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/scratchbuilt-twin-boom

Bruthal

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

I was thinking about treating myself to a FPV set up for use on my Radian Glider for xmas (my smaller faster planes would induce motion sickness :eek::D).

Has anyone bought a decent set of fpv goggles and if so where? I've looked on Hobbykings website and they have this pair but they're expensive:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=12175

Any other options that would work with my 2.4ghz transmitter?

I think it would give me a whole new perspective on my Radian's flight.

The best setup of all would be a long range radio like the dragon link, this transmits on 430-450mhz, and will work with your existing radio, this then gives you the option of using 2.4ghz video tx`s. And an eagle tree OSD pro system.
I flew FPV at first just using the view. Its tricky enough though. You really need a spotter to keep an eye on the plane if you dont have an OSD, and also at first when starting at it. The OSD will give you navigation which makes it a lot easier. Still takes practice though, it needs very calm weather to be easy enough with a slower glider. We used the radian as well, with a 2200mah battery. The extra weight makes the glider better in a bit of breeze. I find the tv screen better than the glasses, but we have both, and the ground tracking station is a big addition, (you may have seen it on my youtube page), it tracks the aircraft with a patch antenna pointing at the plane throughout the flight so you would get good range with a 100mw 2.4ghz video tx and ground patch antenna. The eagle tree one has 4 video outputs also. Very handy.

If you want to continue using your radio as is in 2.4ghz then another option might be 5.8ghz video tx, but the range will be less for the same output power as 2.4ghz. Using 2.4 video with the spektrum radio reduces the spektrum range.

Poly

Sounds like a good set-up you have Robbie,I just have a cheap Ebay system, itstill works pretty well at close range, yeah flying FPV is more difficult than you would imagine, everything seems to happen very fast, even on a relatively slow glider.
I would like a spotter with a buddy box that can take over if I get lost. OSD’s are the way to go.

I done a bit of FPV with a little foamie glider on a beach, up in north west Donegal last year, it was class, unfortunately I don't have anything to record with yet. The Model was on 35mhz and the camera was 2.4g.
I am building the twin boom pusher with the aim of carrying a HD camera and some extra battery power. I want something slow with big lift and a big platform for the gear ( and really light:D)

Where are you based Robbie? I'd love to see your set-up

Bruthal

Poly wrote: »

Sounds like a good set-up you have Robbie,I just have a cheap Ebay system, itstill works pretty well at close range, yeah flying FPV is more difficult than you would imagine, everything seems to happen very fast, even on a relatively slow glider.
I would like a spotter with a buddy box that can take over if I get lost. OSD’s are the way to go.

I done a bit of FPV with a little foamie glider on a beach, up in north west Donegal last year, it was class, unfortunately I don't have anything to record with yet. The Model was on 35mhz and the camera was 2.4g.
I am building the twin boom pusher with the aim of carrying a HD camera and some extra battery power. I want something slow with big lift and a big platform for the gear ( and really light:D)

Where are you based Robbie? I'd love to see your set-up

Im down in navan.
The eagle tree system is best one i have seen, one great thing it has is a radar function, it displays the aircraft as an icon on the screen relative to your position. The icon moves around in the picture compared to a cross in the centre of screen so you know exactly where the aircraft is compared to you. Its not rally done with radar of course, its done by its gps position relative to gps of take off point. You tell the system which way you are facing pre flight so if you are physically facing west you put 270 degrees into the menu at start of flight. So now the icon will move upwards on the display as the aircraft flies straight away from you. If you then turn left the icon will turn left in the display. Look up eagle tree pro osd in youtube. This "radar" position indicator is a fantastic thing to have. Other systems have the home direction arrow, but that wont tell you exactly where the aircraft is relative to you.

Bruthal

Poly wrote: »

I done a bit of FPV with a little foamie glider on a beach, up in north west Donegal last year, it was class, unfortunately I don't have anything to record with yet. The Model was on 35mhz and the camera was 2.4g.
I am building the twin boom pusher with the aim of carrying a HD camera and some extra battery power. I want something slow with big lift and a big platform for the gear ( and really light:D)

The twin boom pusher is a great idea, i might look at it myself. I have a cularis as well now, it would be even better than the radian for FPV as it is a bit faster, and goes into a headwind a lot better. The radian tends to stop in a headwind so its groundspeed can become zero, or can even get blown slowly backward which can confuse the pilot as the camera will show you flying away from you for example, but the direction arrow might show you the glider is coming slowly back toward you. Just turn on the motor will give a positive direction on the navigation though. But it can get confusing if its windy when just gliding. A bit of extra weight on the radian helps though.
If flying on a windy day FPV, its a good idea to fly straight upwind, as coming back is a lot easier then.
The buddy box way you mentioned works very well. We did it on living room tv doing that, a longer buddy lead and the buddy radio in living room, the transmitting one outside, sit on couch flying it.