FPV Ground Station Part 1

Since I live in Illinois it is hard to get out to fly in the winter due to the dreadful weather. So I decided to use my time indoors building a ground station so that when the weather becomes more bearable I will be ready for some fun flights.

Setup will look something like this

I have about a five foot tall tripod that I will use as the base for all of my equipment. To start I drew out a general schematic of how I wanted to set it up. Dragonlink V2 for control on the top of the extendable head, 1.3 GHz biquad antenna for video on the top of the legs, and an electronics box somewhere in the middle. This will have a 2.4 GHz FrSky D4RII receiver to use as the link from my transmitter to the Dragonlink. Also, I will run the video out from the receiver through a DVR and then into the 5.8 GHz transmitter to repeat the signal to either my goggles or monitor.

To reduce the wiring I decided to build an electronics box. This will hold all of the components mentioned and using a proto-board will distribute power and signals. I will also put a voltage indicator somewhere I can easily see it.

The biquad antenna is done except for the connector and some support structure for the biquad elements. A big thanks to Alex Greve (IBCrazy on RCGroups) for the tutorial.

Comments

Depron Mini Skywalker

The 1680mm size Skywalker is a great plane and I have read lots of good things about its little brother. So I decided to try my hand at building a Mini Skywalker. Scaled to about 95% First, I found some good pictures for getting the dimensions and general design. Then, I used the pictures with a few known dimensions to find the rest of them and I drew out the most important parts. I used 6mm Depron with for most of it and some 1" EPS to thicken the nose for space to put my battery and other components. For the wing, I did a fold over style Armin-type airfoil with packing tape on one side. This was my first wing built this way so it didn't turn out great but I think it will do the job. I put a small carbon spar at about 1/3 of the chord. HXT500 5 gram servo installation Fuselage wall Both walls with 1" EPS block to thicken the front Approximate layout I am using an old mini quad motor, 2204 2300kv, with a 5045 prop, FrSky D4RII...

Automatic Cat Feeder

After waking up many mornings to my cat walking on my face to get me to feed him, I decided to build an automatic feeder. I wanted it to have several features: Weight measurement for portion control Easily adjustable feeding schedule System for identifying the status of the machine Food and water dispensing contained in one unit There are many similar projects on Instructables, Thingiverse, etc. Most use a motor and a paddlewheel cereal dispenser or a servo/motor and auger to dispense the food. Some use other novel means but one feature that was missing in all of the feeders I looked at was a system for measuring the weight of the food that was dispensed. This was of the highest priority in my design because it allows me to accurately adjust portion size to help my cat maintain a healthy weight. Mechanics I started by designing the box and dispensing mechanism. The box is a simple design with a hinged back panel so I can easily access the electronics and mechanisms i...

Toombstone Labs

Search This Blog