aaronredbaron
06-07-2009, 12:00 PM
I began my FPV learning a few years ago with fixed wing. A GWS Slow Stick becomes plenty of airplane for anyone to handle when learning how to fly by video. After lots of changes and experiments, I upgraded part of my system and moved on up to a Multiplex Twinstar. The Twinstar served me well, but unfortunately, it did not last long. A crash of the Twinstar freed up my electronics, and I decided to make the leap I have been planning for a long time. Flying an airplane by video is challenging mostly because you are constantly turning and trying to figure out where you are. I was hoping with a heli I would be able to move slower, and maintain smoother flight than the airplane.
My FPV heli airframe is an MSH Protos, in part because they are very lightweight, smooth, vibration free, quiet, and can be made very stable, and in part because I had one in working condition! I began by changing a few things in the rotor head. I moved the Bell input out on the Bell/Hiller mixer to reduce the amount of direct swash influence, and installed the paddle weights to increase the stability. I mounted a Helicommand 3D 3 axis gyro to the heli to further help stabilize the machine. The Protos is already pretty full and does not have much room for extras. My solution was to build a plywood box and tray to lower the landing gear, and provide a mounting tray for all of my video equipment. I'm using a stock motor and 18 tooth pinion with a 4 cell 3,850mAh LiPopack to keep the headspeed down around 2200.
I placed the video camera itself, a Sony Webbie, on the battery tray. With a servo controlling the tilt, the camera can achieve the full range of motion to see from straight forward to straight down. The battery was slung under the over-sized Logo 600 landing gear to further improve the stability by hanging the bulk of the weight as low and centered as possible. The final result is a helicopter which is very tame. With a video transmitter downlinking the video signal from the Sony Webbie, I watch the action live in a pair of video goggles which have been modified to my tastes. An On Screen Display from RangeVideo (click here to see the RVOSD) (http://www.rangevideo.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49&products_id=135&zenid=103a04c099f932edbf13d29ed66976f3)provides my view on the ground with a "virtual cockpit" including GPS based instruments and battery data.
Yesterday, I finally got everything on the Protos working, including an extension cable to get the GPS receiver clear of the rotor disk. With some clear weather, I sat in the driveway and went back to the basics. Its amazing how difficult it is to hover from on the model. Even with the gyro to help me, I was limited to short forward hops for my first battery, trying to feel the model out. I suspect it is not going to be practical to hover a model helicopter from the video, although if I can get the Helicommand position hold mode working, I will be able to rely on that for low hovers. I will, however, have far too much fun flying the helicopter around under the hood at a moderate altitude. Today, I am going out with some friends to do some flying, and we will see how the Protos FPV setup fares.
When Flying FPV, there are several things to remember.
-To qualify for AMA, you must use a buddy box when you are flying by video
-A spotter is critical. It can be your back up pilot on the buddy box, but you must have someone telling you where you are.
-You need way more room that you need for normal RC. Flying by video its hard to judge distance, and you cover a lot of ground.
My FPV heli airframe is an MSH Protos, in part because they are very lightweight, smooth, vibration free, quiet, and can be made very stable, and in part because I had one in working condition! I began by changing a few things in the rotor head. I moved the Bell input out on the Bell/Hiller mixer to reduce the amount of direct swash influence, and installed the paddle weights to increase the stability. I mounted a Helicommand 3D 3 axis gyro to the heli to further help stabilize the machine. The Protos is already pretty full and does not have much room for extras. My solution was to build a plywood box and tray to lower the landing gear, and provide a mounting tray for all of my video equipment. I'm using a stock motor and 18 tooth pinion with a 4 cell 3,850mAh LiPopack to keep the headspeed down around 2200.
I placed the video camera itself, a Sony Webbie, on the battery tray. With a servo controlling the tilt, the camera can achieve the full range of motion to see from straight forward to straight down. The battery was slung under the over-sized Logo 600 landing gear to further improve the stability by hanging the bulk of the weight as low and centered as possible. The final result is a helicopter which is very tame. With a video transmitter downlinking the video signal from the Sony Webbie, I watch the action live in a pair of video goggles which have been modified to my tastes. An On Screen Display from RangeVideo (click here to see the RVOSD) (http://www.rangevideo.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49&products_id=135&zenid=103a04c099f932edbf13d29ed66976f3)provides my view on the ground with a "virtual cockpit" including GPS based instruments and battery data.
Yesterday, I finally got everything on the Protos working, including an extension cable to get the GPS receiver clear of the rotor disk. With some clear weather, I sat in the driveway and went back to the basics. Its amazing how difficult it is to hover from on the model. Even with the gyro to help me, I was limited to short forward hops for my first battery, trying to feel the model out. I suspect it is not going to be practical to hover a model helicopter from the video, although if I can get the Helicommand position hold mode working, I will be able to rely on that for low hovers. I will, however, have far too much fun flying the helicopter around under the hood at a moderate altitude. Today, I am going out with some friends to do some flying, and we will see how the Protos FPV setup fares.
When Flying FPV, there are several things to remember.
-To qualify for AMA, you must use a buddy box when you are flying by video
-A spotter is critical. It can be your back up pilot on the buddy box, but you must have someone telling you where you are.
-You need way more room that you need for normal RC. Flying by video its hard to judge distance, and you cover a lot of ground.