RCspotlight

Futaba T6EX antenna modification :)

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:38:55 +0000

After all those test flights i made a list of things which needs to be improved/changed, one of the things was to improve the range of my Futaba T6EX 2.4GHz transmitter (i will write about the other few things a little bit later )
There are few way’s how to do it.:
- do some modifications on the RX,
- replace the stock 3dBi Omni antenna with a 9dBi 2.4GHz directional antenna
- add a 500-1000 mW 2.4GHz Amplifier
I decided to do the antenna mod, i will replace my stock antenna with the 9dBi directional antenna this antenna will give you up to three times the range that you have had with the stock antenna. Since this is a directional antenna it must always be directed toward the plane.
Now, let’s do the mod

In order to do the modification you will have to disassemble your TX and the antenna, so warranties will be void!!

Unboxing of the 9dBi antenna

I really love my Futaba T6EX so i made a picture before i disassembled it

First remove the battery cover and disconnect the battery.

Just pull out the little red connector

Now let’s open up the TX

Remove all 4 screws…

Gently remove the back cover of the TX

Now disconnect the little gold antenna connector (lift it up gently)

This should look like this

Now we have to remove the stock antenna. In order to do that use a “-” screw driver and push against the little plastic notch (see picture above) and then pull the antenna out.

Stock antenna removed

Now let’s disassemble the new antenna. Remove the 4 screws. Now the little more difficult part, This antenna was not meant to be opened for any reason what so ever, i really had a hard time to open it up without damage the plastic. So be careful, the two sides are attached to each other with 2 plastic notches on each side. I used a “-” screwdriver to loose them.

Now remove the 4 screws from the antenna.

The stock cable of this antenna is to big and heavy so i will replace it with a similar one like on the stock antenna.

First you have to peal of the protective silicon from the soldered parts with your fingers and then just unsolder the cable.

I took this cable from an broken laptop WiFi card that i had laying around.

New cable soldered in place

I secured the solder place with a Hot Melt Glue gun.

Now you have to drill a hole for the new cable. drill it like 5mm higher then i did, it will fit better.

Now we have to mount the antenna on the transmitter. I used Hot Melt Glue gun to do this since it can be removed a lot easier than regular glue.

Done

DODF200HD Add-on for RCspotlight’s EasyPod v.1.0 !

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 22:09:00 +0000

Like “Ernest” commented in a post “this camera records some beautiful video, getting that camera hooked up to a pan and tilt system using a head tracker would be a dream come true.” I build the first one without PAN/TILT since i just wanted to be able to try the camera and at that point off time didn’t think about PAN/TILT. Now i have the camera mount with PAN/TILT done which fits perfectly on my EasyPod v1.0, only thing which is missing is one more servo and the headtracker. The plan can be downloaded here…
Here you can see few computer rendered pic’s

Test 3 DODF200HD camera 1920×1080 @30fps

admin — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:24:35 +0000

This is the third test of my modified DODF200HD camera, this time i used the Full-HD mode (1920×1080), as you can see the resolution is much bigger but i liked the two modes before (848×480@60fps and 1270×720@30fps) better, the camera sensor in this mode seems to be much more sensitive to vibration’s unlike the other two modes. I’m wondering how it will look like with a wide-view lens

Here the video in HD 1920×1080 @30fps

Is my blog helpfull??

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:32:43 +0000

Do you like RCspotlight??
Did you find any help on rcspotlight.com regarding your FPV Project??
I would love to know specific what was a big help for you or things you like…

Here you can leave also suggestions regarding my project’s and/or the website, wishes for new project’s, comments of any kind related to rcspotlight, of course, remain within good taste

Thank you for your support

Test 2 DODF200HD camera 1270 x 720 @ 30fps

admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 04:45:30 +0000

OK, here is the second flight of my RC Multiplex Easystar with the resolution 1270 x 720 HD, I could not see any difference between the 60 fps from the first video and the 30 fps in this video, of course this is only my opinion, cant tell 100% since i have no tools to determine this. But i love the bigger resolution Here, enjoy few beutifull pictures (screenshots of the video) and the video on the end…

Maiden flight with the DOD F200HD

admin — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:47:07 +0000

The weather today was changing intervals of minutes and again i had to fly by high wind. I know i could have wait for better weather but they say it will be like this the next few days so i could not wait a minute longer i wanted to see how the video will look like.Amazingly the video is awesome, except that the flight was turbulent due to high wind. I did not now how beautiful the area is where i live until today. So this is the first flight with my modified DOD F200HD Camera, and i love it, the difference to my old one is huge as you can see this pictures are screenshots of the original video . Any comments are welcome. Here few more pics and on the end the raw video recorded today, its a bit shaky due to the wind this is why i present it raw. For this first flight i decided to use the 848×480 px mode while this mode according to the users manual can record with 60fps(I will try all modes available to see which is the best one). The first part will be the video which was recorded to the memory card, and the second part is how i saw it trough the video glasses

Here the GPS picture from the Eagle Tree E-Logger

DOD F200HD camera modification for FPV Easystar

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:46:49 +0000

This is my new toy it’s a 95g High Definiton Video Camcorder from DOD, the F200HD. Here are the product specifications.:

Storage card(G)	H.264 1080P	848*480P(WVGA)	2592*1944(5M)	3264*2448(8M)
8G	80min	200min	4720 photos	3193 photos
4G	40min	100min	2360 photos	1565 photos
2G	20min	50min	1180 photos	753 photos
1G	10min	25min	590 photos	386 photos

NO.	F200HD
Sensor	5M CMOS sensor
Lens	4 Elements fix focus lens, 7.45mm
Focusing Range	12cm-infinity
Display	2.0″LTPS TFT LCD
Video Output	HDMI: CTS1.2 Compliant,Support 720P/1080I WVGA output mode Composite: AV OUT
Still Image	Still image(jpeg) Resolution: 2592X1944、JPEG 3200X2400 interpolation: 5M、8M
Recording format	MOV
Recording resolution	19201080(30fps) 14401080(30fps) 1280720(30fps) 848480(60fps)
Video Codec	MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
ZOOM	4X Digital Zoom
Recording media	Internal: 32M External: SDHC/MMC card(Up to 32G SDHC Card)
Audio	Mic and Speaker(Mono)Equipped
Shutter Button	Electronic shutter
Shutter Speed	1/2-1/1000 second
White Balance	Auto/Sunny/Cloudy/Tungsten/Fluorescent
LED Light	Auto/LED On/LED Off
Port	USB2.0/HDMI/TV
Battery	3.7V 900mAh Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery
USB	High Speed USB2.0
Size/Weight	98.7(L)53.3(W)23(H)mm / 88.4g
Working Humility/Temperature	10%~80%/0°C~40°C

To ensure that this camera meets your expectations you can watch few sample videos here. Now lets do the necessary modifications
The camera with battery, SD-card, hanging strip is 95 gram heavy, this is way to much for my almost 1kg heavy Multiplex EasyStar so i have to disassemble the camera and remove some “not necessary” parts.

Unboxing

First let’s remove the battery and the hand strap…
Now remove all visible screws…

Remove the plastic housing from the lens…
Also remove the three screws on the bottom by the SD-Card slot
Use a small screw driver to push the little plastic notches out (2 on each side) and remove the plastic housing
Carefully remove the little speaker out of the housing, the speaker is glued but can be simply removed.
Now remove all screws which are holding the PCB in place…
Now, remove the housing from the PCB…
Now let’s remove the little PCB with the battery conectors, the red and black wires represent + and -…
Originally the camera was powered with a (BL-5C 1000mAh) 3.7V battery, but in order to save weight i will power the camera from my 3S lipo over KA7805 Positive Voltage Regulator . Here is a guide how to connect the regulator. Now, since this camera needs 3.7V and i have 5V i added two in parallel connected 1N4003 diodes in series with the + pole which goes to the camera. I got a voltage drop of 0.7V which means that the camera is powered with 4.3 which is OK, i tested it for about 1.5h, the camera didn’t got warm and it’s working great …
I soldered my new powering wires (length=15cm)…
It’s Working!! …
I removed the speaker on the end because it was useful while looking for the video-out/audio-out pins…
Here the diagram of the video/audio-out pins. In order to have the video output activated all the time (which is necessary) with a small screw driver you have to bend up the middle metal strip (red circled) for about a millimeter so that it doesn’t touch the contact bellow…
In order to be able to mount this camera on my EasyStar i had to design a new EasyPad (the plans will be available for download soon)…
Done!!! Maiden flight soon

About Rcspotlight.com

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:24:08 +0000

RCspotlight.com is focused on exploring RC – FO and FPV setups. We deliver useful information, latest trends and techniques, useful ideas, guides . Rcspotlight.com is founded out of my pocket. You can support this site just by visiting/commenting and/or by purchasing parts/equipment from our sponsor’s which are listed on our site. Every comment is welcome. Thank you!! Rcspotlight.com

FPV EasyStar test flights :)

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:43:33 +0000

Few days ago, I made the first test flight of my EasyStar just to look is the CG right and is the FPV Gear working properly, all in all this first test went well but due to bad weather conditions I was unable to do any further test until today

I also found an old Pinnacle video capturing device in an Second hand electronics shop for 2$, it’s nothing special, but will do it for now until I save some money for a better device

Here the spec. of the Dazzle USB Digital Video Creator.
- *MPEG-1 Real-Time One-Pass Encoding
  * Video resolution: up to 352 x 240
  * Still image resolution: up to 352 x 240
  * S-Video and Composite Inputs)

Anyway, I was thinking (thinking ≠ knowing) that the weather conditions are OK, so I went out to the field to do the testing. Unpacked all my stuff, the laptop, did all the pre-flight checks all OK except the altimeter, for some strange reason it didn’t show the real height, but I realised it almost on the end of the flight.

After my friend (spotter) launched the EasyStar the wind started blowing like crazy, I almost crashed the plane right away but I managed it to get to some height, the whole flight was a battle against the wind ( I won ) after few minutes I tried to land the plane which seemed almost impossible, I made few turns more desperately trying to land. Than I realised that I have to land the plane immediately because the wind started to blow even stronger. So I forced the plane to land, it stopped in a corn field, my luck was that the plane survived with absolute no damage. This is the last time that I go out to the field if the weather is not absolutely stable. So, here you have the both test flight videos, the first test video is from ground, the second one is from the plane’s camera cheers!

- The first test-flight (video from ground)

- The second test-flight (on-board camera, turbulence due to strong winds)

Futaba T6EX heli mode setup for FPV EasyStar

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:55:25 +0000

I have found a head-tracker which will work with this Futaba T6EX 6CH radio (DT-3K from Flytron), for those which dont have this tracker here is how i managed to move the camera left/right, up/down. All that will be illustrated in the following text, you will need the Futaba 6EX users manual and and/or look at my schematics.

Here is a list of my channel disposition and usage.
- Channel 1 – Rudder Servo,
- Channel 2 – Elevator Servo,
- Channel 3 – Throttle,
- Channel 4 – Pan Servo/AUX2 (see OSD Pro users manual page 3),
- Channel 5 – AUX1
- Channel 6 – Tilt Servo

Step by step guide (PLEASE, REMOVE THE PROPELLER FROM MOTOR TO AVOID INJURY’S UNTIL YOU HAVE SET UP EVERYTHING).
- Set the radio in to the HELI mode
  - Turn on the radio,
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - You will se the “MODL A 1″ , moving up the DATA INPUT lever select “MODL H 3″,
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep, (you have selected Model 3 which is by default for Helis.
- Set Dual Rate and EXPO settings.
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - Press twice the mode button, and now set the values via DATA INPUT lever as shown,
    - D/R CH1 100% (press “select” key),
    - D/R CH2 100% (press “select” key),
    - D/R CH4 100% (press “select” key),
    - EXPO CH1 ± 0% (press “select” key),
    - EXPO CH2 ± 0% (press “select” key),
    - EXPO CH4 ± 0% (press “select” key).
    - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep.(you have set the D/R and EXPO settings)
- Set EPA (End Point Adjustments)
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - Press the mode button three times, and now set the values via DATA INPUT lever as shown,
    - EPA CH1 100% (press “select” key),
    - EPA CH2 100% (press “select” key),
    - EPA CH3 100% (press “select” key),
    - EPA CH4 100% (press “select” key),
    - EPA CH5 100% (press “select” key),
    - EPA CH6 100% (press “select” key),
    - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep.(you have set the EPA settings).
- Set TRIM settings
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - Press the mode button four times, and now set the values via DATA INPUT lever as shown,
    - TRIM CH1 ± 0% (press “select” key),
    - TRIM CH2 ± 0% (press “select” key),
    - TRIM CH3 ± 0% (press “select” key),
    - TRIM CH4 ± 0% (press “select” key),
    - TRIM CH5 ± 0% (press “select” key),
    - TRIM CH6 ± 0% (press “select” key),
    - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep.(you have set the TRIM settings).
- Set N-TH (Normal throttle curve function)
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - Press the mode button five times, and now set the values via DATA INPUT lever as shown,
    - N-TH 1 0% (press “select” key),
    - N-TH 2 25% (press “select” key),
    - N-TH 3 50% (press “select” key),
    - N-TH 4 75% (press “select” key),
    - N-TH 5 100% (press “select” key),
    - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep.(you have set the Normal throttle curve settings).
- Set N-PI (Normal pitch curve function)
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - Press the mode button six times, and now set the values via DATA INPUT lever as shown,
    - N-PI 1 0% (press “select” key),
    - N-PI 2 25% (press “select” key),
    - N-PI 3 50% (press “select” key),
    - N-PI 4 75% (press “select” key),
    - N-PI 5 100% (press “select” key),
    - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep.(you have set the Normal pitch curve settings).
- Set I-TH (Idle-up throttle curve)
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - Press the mode button seven times, and now set the values via DATA INPUT lever as shown,
    - I-TH 1 0% (press “select” key),
    - I-TH 2 25% (press “select” key),
    - I-TH 3 50% (press “select” key),
    - I-TH 4 75% (press “select” key),
    - I-TH 5 100% (press “select” key),
    - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep.(you have set the Idle-up throttle curve settings).
- Set I-PI (Idle-up pitch curve)
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - Press the mode button eight times, and now set the values via DATA INPUT lever as shown,
    - I-PI 1 50% (press “select” key),
    - I-PI 2 50% (press “select” key),
    - I-PI 3 50% (press “select” key),
    - I-PI 4 50% (press “select” key),
    - I-PI 5 50% (press “select” key),
    - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep.(you have set the Idle-up pitch curve settings).
- Set HOLD (Throttle hold)
  - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep,
  - Press the mode button nine times, and now set the values via DATA INPUT lever as shown,
    - HOLD + 15% (press “select” key),
    - Press “mode” and “select” simultaneously and hold until you hear a beep.(you have set the Throttle hold settings).
- Leave the other functions like File Safe off for now, we will set them together with the OSD.
In the following video you can se how it works (In the video my “HOLD” settings where set to 0%)