MK FPV Quad first outing

[RTRyder]

Yesterday my newly built Mk FPV quad got it's first outing at the flying field where I could actually fly it with the goggles rather than just hover it in my backyard in altitude hold and GPS position hold. Unfortunately by the time I got to the field and got everything setup the wind had come up and made for a bouncy ride. Still I was able to get at least one good test flight in, the Bluebeam antennas are a vast improvement over the plain stick setups that came with the video TX/RX. The only time I had any signal loss was when the quad was downrange with the TX antenna pointed directly away from the RX on the ground and partially blocked by the frame of the quad and even at that it was just a short period of interference. Before the next flights I'll reposition the antennas a little and that should fix the problem. This is the first time I've had this quality of signal for trhe duration of the flight and it makes a huge difference especially consiering I'm using a sub $100 200mW 5.8 combo for the video downlink, it will be interesting to see the improvement once I install the Immersion 600mW with OSD.

A few pics of the MKs at the field...

Video of the first flight recorded off the downlink at the ground station, prtty much the same exact view I had from the goggles...

Overall a very successful first outing even with the windy conditions pushing the quad all over the place...

Ken

 

[Tahoe Ed]

Ken, what FPV camera are you using? i am using my GoPro right now but I want to move it over to my MK and my DJI F550. The issue is that for the F450 the camera is inverted and it is a pain to go through the GoPro menu. I would rather have a dedicated FPV camera that is 12v.

 

[RTRyder]

Ken, what FPV camera are you using? i am using my GoPro right now but I want to move it over to my MK and my DJI F550. The issue is that for the F450 the camera is inverted and it is a pain to go through the GoPro menu. I would rather have a dedicated FPV camera that is 12v.

One of these, it's a pretty good little camera, I prefer it to the view through either of my GoPro. http://hobbywireless.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=12

I have two more video TX currently not being used, I'm going to pick up another set of Bluebeam antennas and another one of these cameras to mount on the camera platform of the CineStar.

Ken

 

[Malcr001]

They both look great but I'm somewhat concerned about the way you have mounted the satelite reciever and CP antenna. Both should be mounted straight up or down. With the way the satelite reciever is mounted I would expected you to hit huge null areas just by pivoting so mount it on the side of the arm rather than the top, the further away you are the more likelyhood that this will happen. Also I know the antenna is a CP antenna but its still recommended that it faces straight up or down. A right angle SMA adapter would be handy as bending the coax wont keep it at the 90 degree angle you need. Also as spektrum can be a handful at times I would also recommend you get a spektrum diversity controller and hook up another satelite reciever just to prevent failsafes. Doing the above should give you a little more range.

 

[RTRyder]

They both look great but I'm somewhat concerned about the way you have mounted the satelite reciever and CP antenna. Both should be mounted straight up or down. With the way the satelite reciever is mounted I would expected you to hit huge null areas just by pivoting so mount it on the side of the arm rather than the top, the further away you are the more likelyhood that this will happen. Also I know the antenna is a CP antenna but its still recommended that it faces straight up or down. A right angle SMA adapter would be handy as bending the coax wont keep it at the 90 degree angle you need. Also as spektrum can be a handful at times I would also recommend you get a spektrum diversity controller and hook up another satelite reciever just to prevent failsafes. Doing the above should give you a little more range.

Look closer at the picture and you'll see there is more than one satellite RX, both MK already have diversity boards installed and the video TX antenna mounting and positioning is an ongoing experiment for the best overall reception on the ground.

Ken

 

[Malcr001]

Look closer at the picture and you'll see there is more than one satellite RX, both MK already have diversity boards installed and the video TX antenna mounting and positioning is an ongoing experiment for the best overall reception on the ground.

Ken

Ah I see you have one on the landing gear too. That one isnt mounted right either, dont take it as criticism I just thought I'd mention it because it might save you from a crash one day.

 

[kloner]

i agree, you want them on different planes like horizontal and vertical. i'd leave the one on the skid if you felt you needed it and flip the one on the arm to vertical, or put the one on the skid back up on the arm with the other one and have a front and rear vertical alignment. i get most my glitches and failsafes turning around and i get another 500-800 feet with my sat vert than all horizontal cause the rx itself you don't have a whole lotta choice

i get a lotta no reason failsafe bumps close in with them like you got them

the horizontal mounting of the cloverleaf isn't right either. out the top/bottom is no pattern, it all radiates off the sides

 

[RTRyder]

i agree, you want them on different planes like horizontal and vertical. i'd leave the one on the skid if you felt you needed it and flip the one on the arm to vertical, or put the one on the skid back up on the arm with the other one and have a front and rear vertical alignment. i get most my glitches and failsafes turning around and i get another 500-800 feet with my sat vert than all horizontal cause the rx itself you don't have a whole lotta choice

i get a lotta no reason failsafe bumps close in with them like you got them

the horizontal mounting of the cloverleaf isn't right either. out the top/bottom is no pattern, it all radiates off the sides

Haven't really seen any failsafe events, lights on RX are always solid when landing. The RX on the arm was mounted vertically before I took it off for some reason I can't recall at the moment and when I put it back on for some reason I mounted it as in the picture. I'm looking over at the Cinestar 6 and that one is setup correctly, one vertical, one horizontal, as is the MK hexa, so must have been brain fade and working too late into the evening on the thing!

AT the time I did the first test flights I didn't yet have a right angle adaptor so there was no choice other than straight off the back of the TX, since then the adpator has been added and so far the best performance has been with the antenna pointing straight down. Straight up has some signal blockage when nose-in at a distance as the antenna is partially blocked by the dome, I have a taller mast setup made from coax and the short Bluebeam I use for the ground station, I can swap to the TX Bluebeam and try it on the quad with the greater height to see how that works.

The quad is about to be rebuilt into a different style frame that will give me more options for mounting components, still a work in progress...

Ken