FPV Noob Set Up

[Lilbanks96]

Hey everyone!
FPV has always been interesting but also intimidating to me so I never took my first steps into it. That will change with your help!

I really don’t understand much about FPV but I watched this Flite Test video, and said I have a Cub, I can do that!

But frankly I don’t know where to start in buying components. I would love to keep it as simple and cheap as possible. so what are the parts and accessories I need to make my FT Cub a FPV machine?

 

[FDS]

All you need is a simple All in One (AOI) camera/VTX ideally one you can put the power up to 200mw on, plus a set of basic box goggles, I have had good service out a second hand set of Eachine EV800’s I got for $50.
That set up will work out to about 300m in most terrain and provide a cheap reliable feed.
The camera can just be powered off 5v and Ground on a spare RX channel or via a separate 5v BEC or the accessory plug on the ESC, if you have one.

 

[Lilbanks96]

Very helpful! Thank you so much. It is much simpler than I would have thought.

 

[sprzout]

I would HIGHLY recommend that, regardless of whatever equipment you use when you get it set up, that you have an experienced pilot fly your plane for the first couple of times via line of sight, while you wear the goggles.

Couple reasons for this:

- You know what it looks like if the signal starts dropping out (and it will)
- you can see what it looks like from takeoff
- you can see what it's like landing the plane, and what you need for visual cues.

The last one is especially important if you have the camera mounted on top of the wing or in the cockpit of a Cub; if you have it set straight out, it'll give you a view of the sky when you touch down, being a tail dragger. That right there can be disorienting enough to make you think you're on the ground, but you find you're still about a foot above it - or you're trying to taxi back to the pits and don't realize you've veered off the runway into the pit area/parking lot/spectator area until it's too late.

 

[Merv]

Here is the first in s series of eighth videos which helped me.

 

[sprzout]

Oh, and I forgot to mention - if the camera can see the prop, you'll get it showing up in the video at some point. Video flickers at a certain rate, and the prop is variable in speed as you're off and on the throttle; it doesn't blur out or "vanish" except at specific speeds. That's why some people prefer to run FPV on pusher planes like a Versa Wing or Goblin as opposed to another type of plane - the props don't show up in the image.