Ethix FPV Bible

Mr Steele

Moderator
Moderator
Success with FPV can be tricky, but it doesn't have to be impossible if you follow these simple guidelines.


Facebook groups and Youtube videos are where most people get their information regarding new tech and common practice. There is something to be said about someone who constantly has a working FPV rig and whose only flight hindering factor is the lack of charged batteries. With that being said I would like to share with you a combination of proven concepts and real world experiences that have lead pilots such as myself "Mr Steele," to have such consistency when in comes to an FPV aircraft. Referencing a document written by the FPV king Himself Raphael "Trappy" Pirker, I will now put all of the things that have been tried & tested in countless environments and situations into a nice little list.

Follow these simple rules regardless of what everyone else is saying, you will have success in FPV. This does not mean that disregarding these suggestions will result in a terrible FPV experience, but in following these guidelines piloting skill and understanding you will grow rapidly and ultimately FUN will happen sooner and a lot more often.

Before we get to the list, let me just point out that while these points reduce the possibility of technical failures, loss or destruction of aircraft, and or worse physical injury. They do not account for stupidity on behalf of the pilot. If you want to fly over the White House lawn on your first battery, consequently resulting in, well let's just be honest life in Prison. You should probably not chose this hobby.
BUT For those that want to have a positive experience, please check out what I have listed below.

Getting Started

Here are definitions to Acronyms you will commonly see.

FPV - First Person View (as if you are behind the wheel)
LOS - Line of Site (within visual site) i.e. your flying with you actual EYE BALLS on the aircraft
DVR - Digital Video Recording (a recording of you the video you are seeing from you goggles)
FC - Flight controller
FW - Firmware
ACC - Accelerometer
PID - Proportional Integral Derivative ( the means of numbers one changes to Tune a Quadcopter)
CG/CoG - Center of Gravity
OSD - On Screen Display
FAA - Federal administration of Aviation
FCC - Federal Communications Commission

LiPos
LiPo - Lithium Polymer Battery
mAh - MilliAmp Hour (i.e. can be related to fuel in a gas tank)
- LiPos have a charge window, unlike most batteries where you just run them until they read Zero Volts, LiPos are actually "drained" when they ready 3.5V per cell

A single lithium polymer battery cell
fully charged is 4.2V per cell
Storage Voltage is - 3.8V per cell
DO NOT discharge your LiPo cells below 3.5V per cell otherwise damage can occur shortening the life of the battery.

1S= 1 Cell(4.2V) 2S= 2 Cells(8.4V) 3S=3 cell(12.6V) 4S= 4 cell(16.8V) 5S= 5 Cell(21V) 6S= 6 Cell(25.2)
- C rating is typically arbitrary numbering system that equates how much power a battery can deliver.

**It should be noted for example if I am going out to fly I should charge my 4S LiPo to 16.8V
4.2Vx4S = 16.8V and I should fly them so what when I land the battery is at 14.8V-15V total. ( this is the number the battery shows after is has cooled down i.e. (30-60 seconds after it was flown) most batteries on a Voltage measuring OSD will drop aka SAG down below 15V but that is normal. Just make sure you land early the first few times with a new battery to make sure you are consuming the right amount of mAh out of that Battery.
Storage voltage for a 4S battery is 15.2V, if you plan on not flying for more that 5 days it is advised that you put your LiPo batteries at storage voltage until you are ready to fly again.


Radios/Video/Antennas
RC - Radio Control
RSSI - Radio signal Strength Indicator
vTx - Video Transmitter
vRx - Video Receiver
Rx - Receiver
RTH - Return to Home
GHz - Gigahertz
MHz - Megahertz
Sbus - a fast protocol for Digital Radio control links
CRSF - Cross Fire Protocol (fastest out their at the moment)
dbi - Gain of an antenna (Higher more range but more focused Lower less range but better signal in more areas closer)
Omnidirectional - An antenna that sends or receives a signal from all directions
High gain antenna - Only receives signal from one direction, but has a lot of range in that one direction
(for most quadcopter FPV systems a 3bi or less omni directional vRx antenna paired with a quality vTx and transmitting antenna (3dbi omni directional) is sufficient.)


Typical Modern Digital Radio Control Frequencies 433MHz/900MHz/2.4GHz(Most common)/5.8GHz
Typical Modern Analog Video Frequencies 900MHz/1.3GHz/2.4GHz/5.8GHz(Most Common)
The lower the frequency typically the better object penetration and range, however this is not always the case but is a general guideline to keep in mind.


Understanding that the less experience you have the more time you will need to react is fundamental. Also this is assuming all of your gear is working correctly.
Let's get your gear working correctly.
The following guidelines are not specific to quadcopter or fixed wing aircraft.
but rather to a generic RC aircraft equipped with FPV gear.

- Always start with the bare essentials and add equipment one step at a time. After each new equipment piece or system is added do proper tests whether that be testing video on a bench, arming your new motors (with no props of course) or even just plugging up power to a system to make sure you soldered it all together correctly.
- When building your first FPV aircraft make sure you start simple only buy what you understand, OR
follow a tried and true formula that has proven successful for many others.

General guidelines FPV Equipment
- Always build smart and with wiggle room. These aircraft crash and the harder things are mounted
the easier they are to break.
- Solder WELL (Practice practice PRACTICE) soldering is the second most important skill to have when building an aircraft. Only second to the Will to Succeed!
- Use gear with a good reputation, or a solid popular up vote. If you buy a no-name product more then likely you will have an issue and fewer people will be willing to help you.
- Avoid powering the vTx or camera directly from Lipo Power UNLESS the components accept Lipo Power
*(2-6S) and have built it filtering.
- Shield wires by twisting cables this is a great way to help avoid picking up unwanted RF noise in your video.
- Do Not fly with a video system that is capable of outperforming your R/C system in terms of range.
- Do Not fly with a R/C frequency higher than the video frequency (e.g. 2.4GHz R/C, 900MHz video).
- Monitor the vitals of your Aircraft e.g. with (Battery voltage/mAh Consumption/RC link quality/video quality, etc) One would typically monitor battery vitals with one of the following (Battery Beeper/OSD/Timer on radio)
- Try to always fly in unpopulated noise-free environments and always within LOS.
- It is recommended to use 2.4GHz RC and 5.8GHz video systems unless you are flying long range, in which case lower frequency and more powerful systems are recommended.
- NEVER FLY WITHOUT DVR
- Before taking off ALWAYS check that your PROP directions are correct.
- Always start off on the safe side, don't immediately fly to the moon on your first flight at a new location.TRAPPY
- Do not fly at the limits of your system. If you don't know the limits of your system always remember, If you can't see you can't fly. If you see noise in your video, turn around and either buy a higher-gain antenna before going out further, or don't fly behind that object/near that noise maker.
- Always keep a reference of where you as a pilot are in relation to your aircraft. Having good spacial awareness can be the difference of you having a really amazing flight or potentially destroying/losing your aircraft, or worse injuring yourself or someone else.
- 25-200mW is plenty of power to do 99% of all FPV flights. If you are having issues with video reception check all antenna connections and also take into consideration the area you are flying. maybe it is a high noise environment e.g. a populated neighborhood with large amounts of in home WiFi.
- DO NOT buy the cheapest equipment unless it is proven to work reliably. Saving a few bucks is simply not worth the headache or worse losing you aircraft.
- Always check your gear before flying, more often than not during the process of packing and unpacking gear, antennas will move, battery leads shift, and props will get bent.
ALWAYS Check your gear LOS before flying FPV.

Common FPV Etiquette when flying with other FPV pilots
- Always be friendly and start off by asking if it is OK for you to join an already existing group of pilots.
- If there is a special spot that you have seen people fly in a video, always confirm with a local pilot before flying that spot.
- Always start out by asking what video channels and frequencies the other pilots are flying on before you even unpack.
- Before powering on, repeatedly and clearly state (so that everyone flying can hear you)
"I am about to plug in on Channel "X" are you guys OK?"
If you don't hear anyone say "no" or "wait," then and only then should you turn on your aircraft.
Even after you have plugged the battery in to power on your drone be ready to unplug quickly if you even think you hear someone having an issue. e.g. "I LOST VIDEO !!!"
- Always power your aircraft as far away from anyone flying. (Even though you may be on a different channel/frequency to the person or persons flying there can still be bleed over because your vTx is Closer to their Rx than their vTx. (which is on their aircraft flying far away)
- When landing you aircraft after a flight, if there are people flying still Do Not land anywhere near them even if it might be inconvenient to walk and get your aircraft it's better then knocking someone out of the sky, by landing right in the middle of the group of vRxs.
- DO NOT TEST GEAR NEAR PEOPLE FLYING UNDER GOGGLES or near people in general.
- Always be aware of your flying environment, constantly be on the look out for pedestrians, weather change, lighting change, etc.

Additional Long Range Tips
- Flying Long Range e.g.(0.5 miles or greater) with a digital link without RSSI is dangerous.
- For maximum video range, high quality and reliable vTx, vRx(with diversity and high gain antennas) are advised. RC Tx on high power output and RC Rx antenna placement in the most optimum position for reception available, are also advised.
- Do not use diversity as a replacement for pointing your antennas. Diversity should be used to mitigate polarization issues or to broaden your video reception stroke.
- Improving the antenna gain on the receiver end is better than increasing the output power on the transmitting end (except in RF-noisy areas). (keep in mind some places are just un-flyable)
- 500-800mW is plenty of power, more vTx power causes more issues with RF on your aircraft.
- The more power you use the more distance between vTx and RC Rx you will need. (same goes for vRx and RC Tx on the ground)
- A single battery system is most common but 2 batteries in parallel can help to mitigate further sources of failure
- Adding RTH to an unreliable system does not increase the chances of getting your aircraft back. Work on making your system reliable without RTH first, then add RTH as an additional safety measure if you must. At this point you will most likely realize RTH is not required.
- When in Doubt Throttle out (Konasty)
- With long range flying it is always good to do Point of Interest flying e.g. (pick a place and go to it and then come back) with larger distances between you and your aircraft and poor quality analog video it is really easy to get disoriented and lose your sense of direction.
- Always take note of wind direction when you take off, and if you are going to fly far out always be sure to fly into the wind on the way out. OR compensate by saving enough battery to fight the wind on the way back to yourself.
- Option Equipment like onboard audio e.g. (an onboard mic and ear bud out of your Rx) to hear the motor and wind noise at range is very useful. Audio is also great for hearing if you have a bend or broken prop that you might not see in your video feed. Audio adds a layer of immersion in FPV flight as well.

- Steele
 
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PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Welcome to FT Mr. Steele.

Good advice for people getting into FPV. Good to have a more known more experienced person in among us and all but I gotta ask. I am sure there are a ton of other people scratching their heads as well.. Why are you here... like here now seemingly out of the blue. This is not your usual cup of Tea you are more of the hipster social media type dude more on the edge then most of us here in our quiet lil forum.

No I am not trying to push buttons but several of us have already asked this very question to each other so I figured why not go straight to the horses mouth and ask. Yes I am a fan of most of what you have done and yes I have learned a LOT watching what you do so thank you for all that from most of us here that have aspired to do what you do.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Mr. Steele,
Awesome list for people starting out. You might want to add additional radio protocols like Spektrum and Futaba for example.

Looking forward to seeing where this all leads!

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
There's two rules I'd add to your "power on/plug in" routine:

1) Power your goggles on first. If you know what channel you usually fly on, check to see if there's someone else on your channel. If there is, DON'T POWER ON YOUR VTX/QUAD!

2) If you're not sure what channel you're broadcasting on, wait until nobody else is flying, THEN power on to check. Verify your broadcast channel is not in use BEFORE flying, because otherwise, you're going to be in a world of static or blacked out screen when someone else plugs in.

It's happened to me too many times to count, while flying with my dad...I keep trying to tell the people at my dad's field that they're flying on the same frequencies and they're stepping all over everyone else, but they don't seem to get it, despite the fact that so many of them came from the days of crystal transmitters and 72 HZ radios.

One last question (and this goes to anyone who can answer, doesn't have to be Steele) - why should you never fly without a DVR? Is it just so you can see anything that might have gone wrong with your flight?
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
One last question (and this goes to anyone who can answer, doesn't have to be Steele) - why should you never fly without a DVR? Is it just so you can see anything that might have gone wrong with your flight?

So you can use the video to find the copter if you lose it in tall grass or someone steals it and tries to walk off with it under their shirt. DVR video has helped me find a GoPro that was ejected during a crash.

Documentation if someone accuses you of doing something illegal.

Help scout out your field. I fly in a garden with tomato cages and steel reinforced concrete walls. There are parts where my video feed gets attenuated. Watching the video feed helps me map out places to avoid or to move to a better location as a pilot. You can't see this in GoPro video. It has to be the RF feed.

These are my guesses. I do not speak for Steele and am interested in his reply too. :)

LOVE the suggestion on turning on the goggles first!
 
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sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
So you can use the video to find the copter if you lose it in tall grass or someone steals it and tries to walk off with it under their shirt. DVR video has helped me find a GoPro that was ejected during a crash.

Documentation if someone accuses you of doing something illegal.

Help scout out your field. I fly in a garden with tomato cages and steel reinforced concrete walls. There are parts where my video feed gets attenuated. Watching the video feed helps me map out places to avoid or to move to a better location as a pilot. You can't see this in GoPro video. It has to be the RF feed.

That makes sense...Only times I've ever had issues are when I'm flying at the ballfield across the street and I get a little attentuation flying near the light poles. Doesn't surprise me; they're big, giant, metal poles filled with electricity. :) I noticed that almost immediately when flying, though, but I can see where a record of what you're seeing and what you're doing when people accuse you of doing something illegal can come in handy...
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
I have recorded nearly every flight in some form or other in the last two and a half years of flying. Just to have documentation against stupid people putting their nose where it don't belong. I even caught one of the not so good kids in my complex sneak up behind me and try to go thru my back pack while I was under the goggles. He about jumped outta his skin when I did my "Compression yell" HEY what are you doing!!!

They came in handy when one of the woman here said I was peakin in her windows spying on her when I first started flying around the field out back. Kinda hard to do from 100 yards away from her window with only a FPV camera and no Action cam.

It also shuts people up when you fly your quad up to the office window with the manger under the goggles sitting right in the window and she can hardly see herself in the goggles. DVR footage is also great for showing cops exactly what you can and can not see. After about 5 seconds they are secure in the thought you aint spyin on anyone with that crappy footage. Once they see that they know you are not scoping on Bertha with her six remaining chewin teeth or ratty night gown and slippers she usually walks out in to retrieve her mail in no matter what she says happened for attention.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
So you can use the video to find the copter if you lose it in tall grass or someone steals it and tries to walk off with it under their shirt. DVR video has helped me find a GoPro that was ejected during a crash.

Documentation if someone accuses you of doing something illegal.

Help scout out your field. I fly in a garden with tomato cages and steel reinforced concrete walls. There are parts where my video feed gets attenuated. Watching the video feed helps me map out places to avoid or to move to a better location as a pilot. You can't see this in GoPro video. It has to be the RF feed.

These are my guesses. I do not speak for Steele and am interested in his reply too. :)

LOVE the suggestion on turning on the goggles first!

The goggles first suggestion is something I've tried to go by, as 1) it tells me if my goggles have power, and 2) tells me if someone's on the channel I was last on when I shut off the goggles, which is (theoretically), the same channel as what I was last broadcasting on. People always ask me what channel I've got my transmitter on, and truth is, "I don't remember." I know that sometimes it's in Raceband, but other than that? It could be 1-7. LOL