Lost Plane Finder; Need Ideas

[LitterBug]

I watched the video. Hard to tell if he was using EdgeTX or OpenTX on his radio. I have all my radios on EdgeTX now. The screens may look different, but the info is very close to the same. EdgeTX has clickable fields on the screens which makes each line take up more space. I'll play with it myself with a couple different Recievers and grab some screenshots to post up here.

LB

 

[L Edge]

Having corn fields and woods at our field, 2 additional points I would add. When going down each row, you look up/down before you move and one other thing- that is, do you turn around and look back and all around. Pays off, more than once, I've recovered someone's plane because it gives you a different perspective. Planes always seem to land at strange angles and off course..

3 points give you a good straight line. First thing, eye that spot where it disappears. then take your heel and scuff a spot in front of you. Walking, keeping your eye on that spot, walk a fixed distance and drop say your wallet, go to the last point before corn and say drop your hanky. Now replace items so it can be seen from where you were flying and hope it is a straight line. Now you have your bearing.

Whether you find it that day or look later days, you have your bearing if you mark it somehow. Myself, I always carry 45 ft of aluminum poles( each 5 ft to retrieve tree bound planes) and a compass.

 

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

I also came across this video from Painless 360. It is an older video from 2017 and his is using a Taranis transmitter.

 

[LitterBug]

If you are running EdgeTX instead of OpenTX, there is yet another option.

 

[MrRaginglizard]

Hi Everyone,

Sad day at the field yesterday. I lost my Scout XL. The plane was flying east and I lost control of the plane. So you can so, it flew away. 😱 This is the second plane that I have lost. The Scout went down in the corn field. The corn is about 8 to 9 feet tall. I want to add a plane finder in the fuselage. I came across this one. Vifly Finder 2. Has anyone used this ?

One of the guys at the field said maybe an Air Tag. I do not have an I Phone. So that idea won't work. My phone is an Android.

Any ideas ?

VIFLY Finder 2 Drone Buzzer

The VIFLY Finder V2. The most intelligent drone buzzer. Self-powering to work even after the quad battery ejection.

www.getfpv.com

I

I use the VIFLY Finder 2 and I fly over huge corn fields. I just lost and recovered my plane today from corn around 7-8 feet tall. It did work, and I could hear it just fine from outside the corn. But once inside the corn, I was greatly disappointed with how quiet it was. The sound was muffled by the corn. Not to mention the rustling of millions of leaves covering the sound. I did finally find it by using the GPS on my phone to set a pin at the approximate spot I thought it should be. Then I started a systematic search of the rows until I got close enough to hear it. I was probably withing 50 yards before I heard it. After that, it was easy.

I am tempted by the Ruko 111, but I balk at remote ID and welcoming "big brother" into tracking me anymore than he already does. I love the idea of the Marco Polo system. But I'm on a budget and it costs more than the plane that I'm flying.

 

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

A little update on using RSSI on your transmitter to locate a down plane. I talked to a couple of guys at the field last night about using RSSI. They both have a Radiomaster TX16S radio. They could not bring up the screens like Painless 360 shows in his videos. Painless could have done some programming of his radio to get those screens to come up. I still like the idea about using your radio to help locate a downed plane. Has anyone used RSSI ? Just curious.

 

[LitterBug]

Hi Everyone,

A little update on using RSSI on your transmitter to locate a down plane. I talked to a couple of guys at the field last night about using RSSI. They both have a Radiomaster TX16S radio. They could not bring up the screens like Painless 360 shows in his videos. Painless could have done some programming of his radio to get those screens to come up. I still like the idea about using your radio to help locate a downed plane. Has anyone used RSSI ? Just curious.

I have and do use RSSI telemetry regularly. Not all the receivers I use are capable. The old AR400 four channel spectrum radio in my FT Tiny Trainer does not. The FrSky RXSR serial RX I have connected to the FT aura in my Nano Goblin does, as does the ELRS RP1 serial receiver hooked to the INAV flight controller in my ZOHD Drift does including passing GPS data back from the Flight Controller. These are the three I took out to the field last night.

You need to look at each receiver brand/model to determine if it is possible for you to configure and test it.

What receivers are you trying to use RSSI with?

 

[alan0043]

Hi LitterBug,

Thank you for posting your results of testing RSSI. The plane that I lost had an Aura board with a Lemon satellite receiver. I never gave it a thought about what receiver is best for RSSI. I don't believe Painless talks about the receiver. I have several different receivers in my planes. That is why I like using Radiomater TX 16S. I can use different receivers and use only one radio.

 

[LitterBug]

Hi LitterBug,

Thank you for posting your results of testing RSSI. The plane that I lost had an Aura board with a Lemon satellite receiver. I never gave it a thought about what receiver is best for RSSI. I don't believe Painless talks about the receiver. I have several different receivers in my planes. That is why I like using Radiomater TX 16S. I can use different receivers and use only one radio.

I have a TON of older lemon RXes. They did not have telemetry much like the older DSMX/Spectrum stuff I have. That was a big part of why I switched from Spektrum to FrSky/OpenTX back in the day. Over time things have changed. Spektrum was slow to adopt the telemetry that was prolific with more open protocols in the day. They do have some now, but I only use it for Bind-N-Fly stuff. I still use my old DSMX RXes with stuff I don't fly out far. My new "good" builds are all getting ELRS.

LB

Telemetry scripts can add a TON of functionality.

 

[Bricks]

I have a TON of older lemon RXes. They did not have telemetry much like the older DSMX/Spectrum stuff I have. That was a big part of why I switched from Spektrum to FrSky/OpenTX back in the day. Over time things have changed. Spektrum was slow to adopt the telemetry that was prolific with more open protocols in the day. They do have some now, but I only use it for Bind-N-Fly stuff. I still use my old DSMX RXes with stuff I don't fly out far. My new "good" builds are all getting ELRS.

LB

Telemetry scripts can add a TON of functionality.
View attachment 245015
View attachment 245016

The old DSM2 Spektrum was capable of adding RSSI at extra cost RMS1000 would give RSSI the newer DSMX receivers can be bought in either configuration. Huge difference in DSM2 and DSMX

 

[alan0043]

Hi Everyone,

A little update. I checked a couple of my planes with different receivers and found to change to my radios screen when pully up the telemetry screen. The following are the receivers that I checked on.
. Aura board with Lemon satellite receiver
. Graupner GR-12L
. Radiomaster R84-V2
. Radiomaster R88

It would have been nice knowing that receiver Painless 360 was using in his videos.