monster_catfish
- Joined Mar 17, 2011
- 116
I am very slowly assembling an FPV ground station built around a 72MHz RC control signal and a 1.2GHz video downlink. Both of the antennae - a DIY 9 foot 9 inch copper J-Pole for the 72MHz control signal, and a short whip for the 1.2Ghz video signal reception, will be affixed close to the top of a 100-foot tall metal tower next to my home that sits on a gentle hill out here in the sticks. I look forward to some decent range with this monstrosity after the bugs get worked out.A tree is enough to stop a 5.8GHz transmission.
A barn will block 2.4GHz.
A hill will block 1.2GHz.
You can't really find equipment lower than that.
Antennae are also an important component in this mix, since we are talking analog transmissions.
Rather than go with the traditional outdoor ground station or with video goggles, I plan to emulate the working example of an indoor ground station as built by a gentleman who goes by the handle "Benderfly" over at the RC Groups online forum. l am very grateful to Benderfly for his reference to the Compu-Fly module that enables him to control his multi-rotor FPV bird from his living room, using a regular joystick interfaced with Compu-Fly to a standard Futaba RC Mode 2 controller, and visuals on a wide-screen TV.
By the time all the stumbling about and trial and error is done with here, my plan is to fly my FPV plane using standard desk-top flight simulator controls, flight yoke, rudder pedals, and a throttle quadrant with flap selector lever, while seated in front of a wide screen LCD television to watch the scenery unfold hundreds of feet below my flying Bixler2.
I acquired Arkbird RC auto-pilot for installation in my Bixler2. Arkbird's all-important return-to-home feature SHOULD save my bird if I get signal fade and lose video link. For the price of $160USD, Arkbird, with its 4-waypoint auto-flight capability, as well as that reliable GPS auto Return-to Home, is priced way below comparable gear such as Eagle Tree.
With the relatively flat terrain in these parts, and with my RC control and video downlink signals being sent and received atop the tower well above the tree-line, I expect to be able to fly the plane at low altitudes even when the Bixler2 is a good distance from home base.
If I make headway with my tower-boosted FPV station, I will probably report the results in this forum as well as RCG, but if my dastardly plan fails, I will make sure nobody hears about it ha ha.
My FPV antenna, painted orange and white, is visible in this shot, poking through the tree-tops just to the left of the picture's center. This shot was taken from about a 300-foot altitude by my trusty UDI 13A coax helicopter with its stock 3 megapixel video camera.
The building in the foreground that needs a new roof is my catfish hatchery, and I didn't realize the state that roof is in until I started flying this little $60 coax.
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