Help Committing to FPV...

tigert10

Member
Hey guys, need your help and suggestions.

I am flying a 450 sized spider frame quad and have it tuned and can fly it pretty well line of sight. I also have a new FPV setup that I got for Christmas all mounted up and working good. The setup is a 7 inch LCD screen mounted on a tripod with a Boscam 5.8 system and a Mobius actioncam on the end.

My problem is that I have a hard time committing to the FPV and find myself constantly looking away from the screen to the quad because I am afraid it is going somewhere. I have a hard time sensing whether my altitude is going up or down or if I am just pitching forward or backward.

Do you have any suggestions of steps I can take to get a good "feel" for FPV?
 

RoyBro

Senior Member
Mentor
Well, you could ease into it and continue with what you're doing. Or you can force the issue and block your view once airborne. Or you can get yourself a spotter to keep you out of trouble and keep your eyes on the screen.

I recommend the third choice as the safest and most effective method.
 

tigert10

Member
Thanks for the response. I definitely need to convince someone to come spot for me ( it is just that no one really likes to stand at the park and watch me fly in zero degree weather...a little narrow minded I think...) Is there a diffence between flying fpv from a screen or from goggles in terms of sensing altitude changes and movement forward and back?
 

rcspaceflight

creator of virtual planes
I think that a monitor is a much better way to start. There's nothing wrong with flying line of sight and only looking at the FPV monitor once in a while. You'll eventually start looking at the monitor more and more and the craft less and less. You need to ease into the transition of the two. Part of the reason is that FPV equipment does fail from time to time and you'll want the skills to be able to stop flying FPV and bring the craft back home from line of sight. You'll be a much better pilot as a result of being able to switch between the two quickly.
 

tigert10

Member
Makes good sense...and makes me feel better knowing that this is supposedly making me a better pilot. BTW, I am going to start insisting that my wife refer to me as a PILOT instead of GEEK!
 

Craftydan

Hostage Taker of Quads
Staff member
Moderator
Mentor
Tiger,

Good luck with that! I'd wait a couple of days before starting that . . . to let this freezing weather pass before you sawp houses with the dog!

BTW, if you've got a RC car/truck/buggy, you can mount the FPV gear on that and drive with lower risk. It'll give you a chance to get used to being in the cockpit.
 
I just got in to FPV myself. Or lets say i wanted to start with it for a very long time but it was not until recently i got the goggles. And to be honest i see no reason to start with a screen. Damn what a hassle it must be compared with goggles. Now i just need to take the RC, the plane and the goggles. With a screen you need to take the RC, the plane, the tripod, the battery packs, the screen and a chair to sit on or something. Anyhow much more equipment and im sure in the end it will cost more than the goggles and work not so well. So i suggest anyone wanting to go FPV to buy goggles instead. Also you dont get the problem of "watching the model" since when you put on the goggles... well you dont see the model anymore.

A thing i also learned the hard way was to print some screenshots from google earth and use a ruler to mark distances from your starting point to different visable reference points that you might fly to. Will make it easier to navigate and find your way back in case you dont have a gps. Another thing i got and installed today was a gps with ods and a home pointer. It also shows battery status and distance home. I dont expect to go very far i would say id try to stay within 500 yards altough i have been 1000 yards away by misstake.

Carolus Rex
 
nice xuzme that would be cool to have. Edit: would be nice to have together with a groundstation that records the position of the plane etc.
 
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FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
Tiger, I've been where you are now. I started with a monitor, and then tried goggles, and was always scared that I was going to lose my aircraft.

Finally I just dove in. I bought a pair of FatSharks, and mounted the gear on my quad, and took my chances.

I found that the monitor gave me too many opportunities to look up. So maybe you need something to help you commit to the view on the monitor. Set it up on a tripod, with a sheet you can throw over yourself and the monitor.

Keep your flying area small, but open. Find a baseball diamond, and practice going around the bases. Then as you get more confident, go around the outside of the field. And as you improve, climb higher, and fly around the other fields.

(I ran into this problem again after taking a "break" from flying. I bought a little micro quad, the Hubsan H107D, and couldn't trust myself to fly it from the goggles or from the screen without looking up. I had to just commit, and all of a sudden it came back to me.)
 

FlyingMonkey

Bought Another Trailer
Staff member
Admin
One more thing… buy a DVR!!!

My first time out with mine, it saved me.

I was flying my Penguin at a giant retired sod farm. I lost contact with the aircraft, and it crashed. I went to where I thought the plane went down, but it was nowhere to be found. Fortunately I had been recording the flight. I played it back on my laptop, and noticed an old irrigation well. I was able to walk out through the field, and sure enough, there it was.


I was flying at this wooded field in the middle of a state forest. My quad started having troubles, and it fell out of the air. I was able to review the recorded footage on the screen of the DVR. I walked out to where I thought it crashed, but couldn't find it. I played the video, saw some trees that I was able to identify, then noticed a type of shrub just before crashing, I lined up the video with real life, and walked right to my quad.

This is the style I bought…

dx600-set.jpg

http://www.getfpv.com/lumenier-dx600-dvr.html


http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_14&products_id=1204

But HobbyKing has an all in one 7" monitor and recorder…

51470s3.jpg

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...Receiver_7inch_Monitor_With_DVR_Recorder.html