http://www.ausgamers.com/forums/general/thread.php/3170436

My understanding was that CASA isn't ok with FPV stuff (without a full-on license), how the hell do they not s*** on things like that from a great height? Or does he have whatever insane license they require?

My understanding was that CASA isn't ok with FPV stuff

Negative.

CASA owns above 400FT.
Above 12000FT is commercial controlled airspace, that is a no fly zone even on an RA AUS licence.
Around airports have certain restrictions re: controlled airspace as well.

CASA has no issues with model planes flying OR FPV.

To use FPV any great distance you need a HAMS radio/broadcasting licence which is the issue (You can fly model planes halfway to the goldcoast and back with broadcasting)

You can FPV within normal 2.4Ghz operating distances without worry.

From CASA:
http://www.casa.gov.au/scripts/nc.dll?WCMS:STANDARD::pc=PC_93443

Model aircraft
Buying or building a model aircraft and taking it flying can be a fun way to spend the day. The Model Aeronautical Association of Australia has established model aircraft fields and experienced advisors who can help you with questions about model aircraft.

Model aircraft may be up to 150 kilograms so there are rules about where and how you fly. These include:

Keep your model aircraft away from populated areas and the immediate vicinity of others (i.e. more than 30 metres)
Do not operate within 3nm of an aerodrome without approval
Do not operate in controlled airspace above 400ft without approval
Do not operate in military prohibited or restricted areas without approval
Do not fly in poor visibility, clouds or at night
Consider the benefits of approved flying areas

I just finished building a tricopter based on this design: http://rcexplorer.se/projects/2011/09/the-tricopter-v2-5/ Pretty easy to build and not too $$. Have just added a $50 flight control board for fully autonomous flying.

^^ www.hobbyking.com is your friend. Whoop

my father has one n he like to fly it indoors because it sucks with even a slight breeze. it's a very cool toy & the in-built fpv & downwards camera are bonuses.. range is crap though & they don't have proper failsafe so if it flies out of range it can just keep on going till it's batts run out or it hits something.

Oh wow, glad I don't have an iphone then (because I'd probably have been more likely to get an AR drone).

Has anyone made a homing pigeon kind of quad copter yet? Take the thing out somewhere and have it automatically fly home using GPS. I reckon that would make for a pretty interesting video recording device. It'd be cool to have it lock on to a transponder in a car too, would make for some good birds eye views at a track day.

f*** me remote control stuff has finally become cool

demon that thing looks awesome. I have always wanted something like that, but I guess like most hobbies it would get very costly very quickly..

that was some amazing s***

ooo foolix you got the Turnigy 9x.

I have in my hands the turnigy 9XR which arrived last week.
http://turnigy9xr.com/

The successor to the 9X.
I am going to be using Frsky telemetry module and tel. receivers.

What module do you use for the 9X?

I'm running the stock module but I intend to u/g to the frysky telm soon! Mod's I've done on the 9x are Open9X firmware, backlight mod plus I made up a small lithium battery pack, lasts longer and much lighter than 8x AA's!

Being held together by zip ties and rubber bands, nice :)

hobby style! :) the rubber bands on the gopro are really good for dampening vibrations & also makes it easy to take off & put back on. some guys get real pedantic about their builds & won't use zip ties coz they look cheap but once you've crashed & rebuilt a few times... cheap zip ties all the way!

foolix : cool! i've not used (or seen used) a cruis fc but that's an awesome price! did you build your own tricopter tail pivot or buy a premade one? that's the only thing that kinda puts me off a tri ... it looks like it might be hard to build that tail pivot assembly.

mephz : also cool! i was considering buying a 9xr just coz they were so cheap but they went outta stock real quick! :) i've had 2 x turnigy 9x transmitters.. first one had a problem where the elevator signal would wobble all over the place & the craft would pitch badly. it was too expensive to send it back so i got another one with no modules & swapped em over. the 2nd one was good till last xmas when i left it in the car in the sun. all the clear plastic bits including the lcd cover peeled up n fell off. hehe. it also had bad range (standard 9x module). i also did the lipo mod to replace the 8xaa pack.

after xmas i figured i was gonna be into this for a while & shouted myself a futaba 8fg super. 10x more expensive that the 9x but the quality is awesome. my 2nd 9x still works & i use it on my "test quads" & use the futaba just on my fpv beast. the other reason for that is 9x recievers are $9... futaba s.bus diversity receivers are $120 !!!! :p love my futaba now tho!

taipan : sounds totally do-able... lots of copters would probably do the job. but a pre-built "ready to fly" job would be pretty expensive ($2.5k-$3.5k guessing) & a kit job would require that you know how all the systems work. i could make a recommendation but honestly i have only had experience with 2 flight controllers.. dji naza & hobbyking kk2.0. dji naza (with gps) could definitely do the job ... kk2.0 could not. (no gps). there are tons of flight controllers out there! i know ara uses the openpilot cc3d which gets awesome reviews (i have one on order lol).

@ foolix: Stay with the 9X for now, I haven't set up my 9XR or tested it yet [waiting for Frsky module to arrive] but there are some problems some people are having it seems (drifting of signal with the orange DSM modules etc.)
I was going to look at potentially flashing my 9XR with ER9X firmware if I have any issues (reportedly the 9XR uses a modified earlier version of ER9X anyway)

@ demon: I've heard some people having that problem with the 9XR as well, hadn't heard that from the 9X.
I will be doing a lot of ground testing! Hearing you had issues with the 9X and some people with the 9XR has me a little scared :)

Where do you gentlemen fly? I'm on the northside.
I don't have a quadcopter only fixed wing but I see no reason we couldn't fly in the same airspace with a few ground rules if anyone is interested sometime :)

To which you reply: well, unlike you I intend to fly my copter, not leave it sitting on a shelf to look at.

heh. mostly. but occasionally it's a dude that is old school &/or conservative pilot & doesn't crash anymore :p

mephz : for every report of problems there are hundreds of folk who aren't having problems i rekn. 2 guys at work have turnigy-9x's & have had no problems. always good to test it all out first though.

i am northside too. 90% of the time though i fly during work hours in the morning before the wind picks up... find a park with no one in it... setup & fly 4-5 batteries.. pack up & go back to work. other times i fly with the work guys.. usually a work organised event at the pine rivers park... normally i wouldn't fly there coz there are too many people but when the whole work crew is there it's fine coz they can spot for me. always looking for good spots to fly but it's hard atm coz of the sunny weather gets lots of people out.

new pic of my growing quadcopter armada :p

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7696/quadz.jpg

bah edit problem again.
@demon: I also fly early morning as its the calmest part of the day. Though when im working a day shift i'm at work before flying is possible.

i use this site to track wind conditions near my flying site.
It will do any of the weather stations in Brisbane. I've found its reporting @ Brisbane Airport to be fairly accurate compared to the reports the airport itself gets (friend is an air traffic controller).

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/lake_samsonvale

Sorry for double posting. Just curious if any of you know of any jobs that actually utilize these things outside the obvious military uses? I was thinking about this earlier and it seems the potential uses for investigating or checking structures in hard to reach places would be pretty limitless.

If you consider possible costs ofthe usual equipment and man power need to say inspect something like a bridge of even powerlines. There may be a good buck to be made out of these little suckers itd just be a matter of pitching the idea to the right businesses and then backing it up with some decent results.

Of course i havent looked into this but itd be a pretty sweet way of making a crust. :-)

I understand there maybe certain obstacles to intorducing something like this into a given industry not least of which would be overcoming a level of sceptisim from businesses themsleves. However if you can perform certain tasks that would otherwise incure considerable cost not to mention an element of risk to personel and very expensive equipment i cant see how anyone could knock the idea without first giving it a chance to prove it self.

As for insurance i dont get what could be so expensive about using a piece of equipment that is probably worth a tenth or less of the normal equipment used to do the same job? I am of course not knocking what you said perhaps not fully understanding the implications in reguards to insurance.

I'm sold. I've been looking for a new project to work on and this looks great!

Any n00b guides you could share with us? I've spent some time on the hobby king website but can be a little difficult to understand what connectors are required etc. Any pro tips would be rad!

I was looking around years ago to get into and RC hobby i had already been racing competitively with electric off road cars. I thought id like to try out aircraft and checked out a few places around brisbane and while very keen i found the cost a little bit much at the time (mid 90's) so i got into gas cars. As it turned out i ended up spending a ton more on the damn cars than i would of to get into aircraft.

I used to race every second.sunday at england park in brendale and it was great fun.

What sort of head tracking do they use? I actually have trakIR 5 pro for games like ArmaII and IL2 and i love it.

Ah!
And the most epic 3D Pilot for FPV, finally found the youtube :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqjepaX_j_4

Lol see there you go a practical application ;-)

Thanks for the reply Mephz. I'll take you're advice and go down the simulator road first. I'm stuck at work for the next 5 days so I'm kinda keen to start ordering bits and pieces for when I get home.

From what I've gathered, for the guts of $300ish you can get a fairly reasonable setup including a transmitter, battery charger module etc. which is great buying and not a huge concern if I crash it. Hobbyking seems to be the best site to buy from as they give detailed information on the product and what its compatible with, I'll grab some gear from them.

Probably a stupid question, but will I need to get a solerding iron initially?

If you are going the hobbyking route I suggest getting a bunch of connectors and get yourself a soldering iron etc.
This way you can make all your hardware universal.

I use EC3/DC3 (same thing) plugs for my battery <-> ESC/Motor connectors.

Hobbyking batteries and pieces always come in a variety of different connectors so lop em off and put your own on.

With Hobbyking gear just read reviews and research the model you're going to fly as well. Especially if it's fixed wing as the cheapy chinese complete models tend to come out of balance in the fixed wing department and their specs are usually wrong for the COG.

As demon said, don't expect the cheaper chinese stuff to last as long but its 1/10th the price of the expensive gear so you always end up ahead as well.

Demon would be better off running eyes over for quadcopter stuff. That'll be his territory :)

In general though I can help with ESC/Batteries/Rx/Tx/Amperages etc. as these are identical across the board.

I had the same issue as you when I first started. That's why I entered with a good sturdy brand out-of-the-box (HorizonHobby owned) RTF. From there you just learn and develop it's pretty easy.

I would probably learn to fly and whatnot before getting excited and ordering parts for building your own.
Chances are you'll be building your own from crashing.

Crashing and breaking stuff is a matter of when, not if.

Yeah absolutely. You wouldn't buy a BMW M3 as a first car now would you.

I only bought a soldering iron, a frame and a couple of batteries so no big deal. It's gonna be sweet!

Just ordered a Blade mQX RTF from modelflight.com.au. Only $15 postage and threw in an extra battery cause I'm a mad dog (or had problems ordering online). Should arrive on Thursday and I'll be home Friday. I'll post some pics and an update then!

Thanks for your help

cool bromby :) interested to hear how the blade mqx goes. it is the model that wltoys ripped off to make the v929 iirc. it'll be a good trainer i rekn,

i like that you can change between + & x modes.. always wanted to give + a go but all my quads are x config. i hope you like mode 1 control.. i started with mode 2 & now i can't change :p

i like that you can change between + & x modes....

Yeah I do as well. It'll give me a better idea and understanding when I build my own. And yeah mode 1 just seems like a natural progression from video games.

(edit doesn't work)

Forgot to mention, that vid was filmed 80% with the quad demon has (TBS Discovery).

cool video foolix :) those kite surfers get some mad speed & it really stands out when seen from above.

be a while yet before i start flying my quads over salt water... any mistake or technical problem means total loss. looks friggn sweet though :]

i ditched my hoverthings fpv flip quad (top left in my last image) on teusday morning in a paddock with long grass (lost video signal & crashed blind). no damage to the quad but my gopro camera ejected & i never found it :( i know exactly where the quad ended up after the crash but i searched for about 3 hours, combing the long grass... no sign of it !@# grass was so thick though it could be right underfoot & you'd never see it. o wells... it was an original hd hero that had copped a beating so i've ordered a hero 3 black... orrrrjeh :D

So I got home yesterday and tried to install my new Xbox 360 receiver so I can try some simulators.... be f***ed if I can get it to work properly. I can manage to get it to connect, then it drops out after a few minutes and disappears from Device Manager. I've run through all the tutorials and trouble shooters on the net to no avail. Anyone have an experience in the matter? I'm desperate to try something, my RTF quad arrived on Wednesday when I wasn't home and the depot doesn't open till Tuesday now. Help!

If the device is dropping out of device manager, there's probably something wrong with the device, teh device driver, or the USB hub.

Try using a usb3.0 port instead of usb2.0 or vice versa. Just get it onto a different usb controller on the motherboard.

detailed build picsof the tricopter I just finished building including the tail assembly.

So with the simulator programs, Realflight or Phoenix, do you only need an xbox 360 controller or do you need a proper radio to use them?

Using gaming controller for simulator instead of real Tx is the throttle gimbal is not on a neutral return spring on a Tx. (The other gimbal is) . So on sim. You have to hold down for less than 50% throttle... Also.bromby at least it prepares your dexterity if COG or trim wildly out for.your maiden flight :) as demon said maiden footage is necessary!!
Post from mobile sorry

Ha you're dead right. Hopefully I can pick it up tomorrow. Damn floods!

What kind of fixed wing did you have?

Not sure when my next fly will be. Probably not for ~5-6 weeks. But if anybody is keen to do a get together and fly on the northside let me know.

it's one of these

http://www.parkzone.com/ProdInfo/PKZ/450/PKZ5080-450.jpg

except now the engine cowling isn't there

I should have listened to the old guy who warned me that it wouldn't end well if I flew it in the slight wind on the day. there was another guy there with something like a 1/8 scale wood / carbon composite aerobatic airframe who was showing off this cool stall move into the wind.

not sure what scale mine is but it doesn't like gusts in slight coastal onshore winds.

or maybe it's just me :)

Fly in 5-6kts max for now (you shouldn't be able to feel the wind) - Palm leaves shouldn't be moving at all or just barely moving the leaves but not the frongs themselves.

Once you get experienced that bird will fly in winds 16-20kts (inclusive of gusts) with ease.
Once you can land very comfortably in no wind, start learning to spot land in zero wind (putting it down exactly where you want).
Then start learning in slightly breezier conditions.

I say landing because that's when your airspeed will be lowest and wind + gusts has the most dangerous impact.
Any turn from upwind to downwind increase throttle a little.

I don't think it's as complicated as some of the long range or custom built fpv gear.

have a look at the fatshark goggles. the ones I saw were only 640x480 but they seemed more than good enough for fun flying. you'd probably want to get a 5.8ghz set.

if this post doesn't make any sense, it's because I guessed you meant real time flight with RTF

@demon: I picked up a Blade mQX quadcopter for my old man.
I did the test flight and setup.
Can I ask a question? What are these things supposed to be like to fly?
I found if you moved forward then released the stick it sort of just continued to track that way.
I expected if you moved the stick forward then neutral stick it would return to a hover.

I got it to hover relatively stable at about head height. Lower (only a few inches off the ground) I couldn't get it to not drift with trimming at all, it was futile, but I put that down to ground-effect as higher up it was a bit more stable.

But yeah, that drift after you make a move. It's a killer, if my planes continued to roll or yaw for awhile after I made an input I'd be tearing my hair out from repair bills!

Is this normal behaviour? Didn't seem to be a trimming issue from what I can tell.

thanks demon, the controller that came with it has "mode" sort of button that does, well nothing :P

Appreciate the explanation there. I will try the manual for working out the modes.
I just assumed the different modes was different dual rates but not different behaviour.
My old man will definitely need the less aerobatic mode.

doh! that sucks! i would have no chance trying to learn on a fully manual non-levelling mode... i can handle it now after months of training muscle memory for quick response but when i was totally noob i couldn't fly a quad for more than a few seconds in non-levelling mode!

with the mode button on the tx... does it change anything on the tx lcd when you press it? a mate of mine had the wltoys v929 (another clone) & he could change the mode during flight with a mode button on the tx. on the lcd it would cycle thru modes 10%, 30%, 60% & 100%. 10% is noob mode. 100% is acrobatic. but yer... the blade mqx could be totally different.

Broken edit: The only thing the 'mode' shows is flashing led = low rates, solid LED = full rates.

Slow and steady will win the race :)

you don't need to bank.. that's for craft that are aerodynamic ;) but banking does help when going fast & yup, it's a pitch/roll/yaw combo move. when you are cruising fairly slow... just yaw to make a turn & blip the pitch to keep forward motion. no roll required.

when i was learning to fly em line-of-sight i wouldn't even yaw.. i'd just pitch forward to go forward, roll to go left/right & pitch back to come back again.. so the front of the craft never faces me. it took me quite a while to wrap my head around flying back towards myself line-of-sight. i'd always get the roll direction backwards. with fpv that all changes & you always fly from the front.

one of my quads (with gps) has ioc (intelligent orientation control) so it no longer matters which way the craft is facing... pitch forward & it moves away from it's launch site, pitch backwards & it moves towards the launch site... etc... pretty cool as a novelty but it's really not very useful.

did the low rates make it easier to hover on the spot?

Oh also thank you demon for the tips, I'll pass them onto my dad for when he learns.
I would have suggested trying hovering, then square movements (forward, then yaw and forward again etc.) but keeping it one direction is probably simpler again for learning, good idea!
The real killer I found for me was the manual levelling.

I'll leave the quad flying to you but I'd be keen to be shown how its done sometime! I won't be out for another fly for awhile.

yup that turn in the video at 1:00-1:05 is the slight pitch forward, slight roll left, slight yaw left combo ( i think :p)
i guess i found the square movements easier coz i have no other r/c background.. started with quadcopters on mode2.
with fpv i had to learn to fly like with the nose (like a real pilot ;)

i just got my new gopro in the mail today so i am thinking of going out for a quick fpv flight before work tomorrow morning with my discovery. depending on the timing i might give that mungarra park reserve you linked a go :) ie: if i am running late i will just go to my local park.

(edit) if it makes ya feel any better... i can't fly r/c helicopters at all :p coaxial or otherwise.

TBS Discovery Awesome stunts:


TBS Discovery: Funny vid - Crash compilation

OK so it's pretty lame but here is one of my first flights, with crash. The arms are carbon fibre and they fold so they are fairly crash tolerant.