fpv.blue, How far can it fly?

[@Warrior6504]

That was the best long range fpv video I've seen on KZbin.

[@austntexan]

Very nice. Thanks for posting. I'm so happy someone has done this on 1.3. Hopefully all of the old timers will buy this system and help push the technology forward. Very cool.

[@steinne]

Thank you for your great over view. Looking to get into long range, sure do enjoy what you share. Cheers Neil

[@sethalump]

Always impressed with your work sir. Also impressed with this new fpv.blue rig. Thanks for the straight forward demo.

[@allant9432]

This is brilliant, I can't believe how good the picture is

[@novivi4390]

Love the way you make a little review of your stuff at the beginning ! great video !

[@tomrosch8690]

I'm very impressed by this systems, it is still expensive and quit large, but achieving this kind of range with this tiny dipole on the vtx is really impressive. It's definitely a great solution compared to normal 1,3 GHz setup's. And the quality of the video was really stunning.

[@call911forcookies2]

That was so well edited and explained! loved it!

[@foamaxmore]

Yes outstanding video quality and crystal clear thanx for the demo!!! Keep up the great flights I really enjoy watching.

[@Redemptioner1]

Great video mate, really shows the setup well and the expected performance. GOLD standard as always :)

[@Rcschim]

Redemptioner1 hey, I recall your nick from the RCg thread ;)

[@sross148]

really amazing actually. had no idea this system could overly such detailed telemetry. quite s step up from the Prosight I now use

[@nightsaber2272]

Great video! Never seen such a clean picture with course camera only :)

[@tijssens]

What a setup....and what a nice patch to fly off!

[@bonafidepirate]

Thanks!

[@abc-ku3rx]

super clear video,great spot to fly too.nice one..

[@northernfpv9562]

I'm loving this series Pirate. Great work!

[@lesjack137]

This is looking really promising, excellent image quality. Be good to see the familiar Vector OSD features such as the radar and home position, hopefully that won't be too long.

[@Rcschim]

Awesome flight. FPV.blue chose the perfect tester in you Keith! Love your setup! Range is impressive. If you’d have more control range, you could test lowering the bandwidth, sacrifice some image quality and get more video range. But anyhow, that range is more than enough I’d say :)

[@bonafidepirate]

Yeah I was thinking the same. This is with the default modulation settings. I also haven't set up the PWM things yet for changing bandwidth. It would be interesting to see how much farther we can push this, but like you said, this was really far enough... lol I doubt I will try to fly it any farther, though I'm sure others will once it goes on sale. I'm already impressed with the range.

[@assimeon]

i would try an antenna tracker and this antenna www.getfpv.com/fpv/antennas/vas-hd-linear-receiver-array.html. Very good video btw

[@bonafidepirate]

That antenna is built for 5GHz, and definitely will not work with the fpv.blue system! There has been some talk about future support for antenna trackers in the thread at RCGroups.

[@7demo7review]

Awesome flights guys... now I need one!!!

[@bonafidepirate]

Actually no, I received this as a test unit, for testing and providing feedback. I saw the project over a year ago and emailed them asking to get in early. So technically I didn't pay cash money for it, but I did ask first, they accepted me. lol We had these for a short time testing before we got the green light to publish videos showing it working. I'm in no way obligated to provide any "positive" review of coverage or whatever. I WANT to show this system off working, because I truly do like it and am truly impressed with it. It's not perfect, but nothing ever is, is it? My goal is to be as complete and honest as I can in showing what this is and what it can and can't do. I try to answer as many questions as I can, people often ask about things I never even considered. This is the only HD FPV system I'm even interested in, for the kind of flying I do.

[@weavostigercat2000]

Super video , weather was perfect , you have a great setup there .

[@bonafidepirate]

A little windy, but not terrible, and it was blowing from the south east, which meant a slight crosswind, but most importantly a bit of headwind on the way out, and tailwind on the way home. ;)

[@aerofpv2109]

I am truly impressed by this FPV Blue .. just about 8.5 miles out before running into any issues. I truly believe with higher altitudes she might do better in regards to staying inside the fresnel zone. Thanks for this flight Keith as I will purchase this system for the holidays Mondo - Aero FPV

[@jimsvideos7201]

This is the kind of FPV I've been waiting for.

[@Starbuckin]

Got my mouth watering for sure, great vid!

[@alasdair4161]

Yes, there are limits to benefits around front end gain, the biggest being noise, 2db of lnb noise will actually reduce range, and overwhelming gain can do same close in, but 9db gave best results for my rmrc 1.2 system, so woth testing. Oh, and it does go on the receiver, best as close to the antenna as possible.

[@chrisnocker3437]

It’s amazing that you can go that far. Good work

[@nabbsone]

the quality of that video is impressive very nice

[@GeorgeCee]

Damn. Great flight. I received great inspiration from that. Incredible range. Great FPV. Nice area to fly too. :)

[@BrutusTheUgly]

Great video, great product, thanks

[@h0tr0d31337]

Nice flight man! The technology has come a long way since I last flew!

[@bonafidepirate]

Hey man, been a while! Yeah remember we used to dream about flying with live HD... lol

[@alasdair4161]

I will be interested to try the LNB front end preamplifier I built for my 1.2ghz system with this. It gives around -9dbm gain with a noise figure of under 0.4db, which easily doubles the range with my analogue system. Great to see your reviews of this system, keep up the excellent work.

[@bonafidepirate]

You're using the preamp on the receiver, correct? I saw some of the guys in the Dragonlink thread are testing one right now too, reporting good results. I honestly have no idea if this system will also benefit from the same, and if so how much.

[@Jeppelelle]

I don't know anything about antennas but would an extra set of 2 antennas mounted in a V shape help with the polarity issue when banking?

[@christopherstarzyk9209]

Great video, and looking forward to seeing the improvements this company will make on this system! Random question here but what type of paint do you use on your Skyhunter?

[@bonafidepirate]

There's no pain on it, it's one of the original kits that came in gray foam. They switched to the usual white because some glues didn't work well with this one. The black on the bottom of the fuselage is a plastic piece that was molded to fit the plane and make it a bit more durable when landing. It's held up great over the years! I believe that belly pan came from fpvmodel, same place that sold the gray foam kits back then. I got mine from a US reseller, can't remember the name though now.

[@christopherstarzyk9209]

Oh ok cool. I recently painted my Mini SkyHunter and the paint flakes off easily. I don't think I'll ever bother to paint foam again lol.

[@bonafidepirate]

I've never had much luck painting foam models either... lol About the only ones I've seen that last are the ones that are painted then laminated over. It doesn't look good as painted foam, sometimes the laminate will get a little "foggy" over the paint, but I guess you do end up with a better looking model, and more durable too being laminated.

[@TJackSurvival]

This was a very cool video. I want to get something that has a long distance and long flight time. Maybe that can be used in search and rescue and can handle brisk winds. What suggestions do you have? I'd love to bend your ear about the whole thing as I don't know anyone else that's into this that can answer my questions. Thanks!

[@mike_oe]

Great test, thanks for the effort!

[@bonafidepirate]

You're more than welcome! I'm happy to have the opportunity to try this system out early on, and have been really enjoying flying with it! :)

[@rotormasher]

Amazing rig/ setup!

[@rdesgagn]

Awesome video footage. Are you using the Vector OSD or a different one ?

[@bonafidepirate]

That OSD is part of the fpv.blue system, it uses data from the Vector to build it's OSD. You connect the Vector's UART port to the fpv.blue's telemetry port, and set the Vector to output Open Telemetry on the UART port.

[@lachezarkrastev7123]

Great video man, as well I Iove how relaxing is your voice :) ... one recomendation - you run pretty long cables to your antennas - you have more than 1 dB loss for 1 m cable at this frequency, and as well the VSWR of the antenna will be horrible - may be greater then 2 or even 3 VSWR. Try using no more tnan 30 cm cable. As well if you just make some double biquad or even a biquad instead the patch you will see the difference.

[@FpvBlue]

That kind of loss shouldn't make much of a difference at the transmitter and would be absolutely nil at the receiver. Separating the antennas well is a much better idea than not having a < 1 dB loss.

[@lachezarkrastev7123]

I agree, but if you try to get VSWR less than 1.5 with 1 m cable you will see what I mean. As well you know that everything counts 1 db here anothere ther ...

[@tiwar87]

This kind of aeroplane is on sale? Where can I buy it? I appreciate your help and your videos, thank you for share

[@LuBiBochum]

Hey man, this is awesome, really awesome. Tha cam view amazes me. Congrats to this flight ! Greetings LuBi

[@marionavarro8229]

Keith! My english listening is medium. I though that it was automatic, but I cannot see option to enable subtitles!

[@FpvBlue]

Hey Mario, I believe KZbin only translates videos that are getting a lot of views, I believe less popular ones don't usually get an automatic transcript as it's expensive.

[@MadMarcWinnipeg]

That's great ! Glad to see that.

[@1afmxswarrior]

Awesome video! Do you have a list of materials available?

[@john7402]

Hi, been watching your videos for years since when you used to land your fpv plane on your own strip in your backyard or flew your small quad around in the trees in your yard. Great job and great videos. I have the same skyhunter by the way. Sorry if this has been asked already, didn't read too many pages into the comments. Does fpv blue come with its own telemetry system, or does it have a dedicated input for telemetry? If so, what standard does it use for input, serial, etc....? How do you get the telemetry onto the video if the osd is not included with the digital vTx/Rx system, which I assume it's not? I think I heard you mention "Vector" somewhere in the video, I assume you mean the EagleTree Vector AP / osd system. How did you interface that to the video system, is then my question? Sorry if the question seems pointless, I haven't messed with commercially available digital fpv downlink systems too much, so that's why I'm asking. I'm not a newbie, just wondering about the details. Does the vTx / Rx system have its own rssi for the video link, since it's showing the two antenna inputs and snr on each input? That's not from the osd, I assume? I didn't look too much, did you also have RC rssi on your telemetry from your osd system? Thanks for clarifying these things if you don't mind, I've thought about getting the fpv blue when it becomes available again, but they don't say much about these details on their website. Also posted on your other video.

[@bonafidepirate]

Those are very valid questions, some of the same ones I'd have if I were watching... lol The fpv.blue system does draw the OSD onto the video. The transmitter on the plane has a serial input port, which accepts telemetry in either Mavlink protocol, or Vector's "Open Telemetry" protocol. I'm using the Eagle Tree Vector in the plane, and have a simple two-wire cable from the Vector's UART port to the video transmitter's telemetry port. (serial port) The video signal levels and other info is part of the fpv.blue system and can be shown even when there's no other telemetry present for the rest of the OSD. (It will also display the voltage level of whatever is powering the transmitter if no telemetry is present. Actually it displays the highest voltage, either telemetry, or the power to the transmitter.) As of right now with the beta firmware, there is no R/C RSSI shown on the OSD, though it IS present in the telemetry (at least for the Vector, I'm assuming it's in Mavlink too, I'm not familiar with Mavlink honestly), and it's in the plans for a future firmware along with some other things. I also requested the OSD show what flight mode you're in, and they do have AHI started too, but said it needs a lot of improvement before being added in the firmware. Imperial units (feet/miles) is another option I asked for.

[@roran-san]

WOW this is amazing!

[@markgiles8527]

Second Batch Delivery Dates. All of the units from fpvblue’s second production batch are estimated for delivery by January 31, 2018 What do you think happened? Where is the second release?

[@bonafidepirate]

I haven't really kept up with the progress lately, your best bet is to check in the RCGroups thread, that's the best place to find any new info. The developer does post in there too. www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2703512-fpv-blue-720p-HD-FPV-50-ms-latency-7km-range

[@airplanenut6242]

This is really great! It would be really helpful if the fpv blue folks could add msp telemetry as well to support multirotors using cleanflight/betaflight/inav flight controllers.

[@henriksegercrantz362]

You attached the antenna cables on the top side of the wings where the lift is highest. Would be interesting to see how this affects the aerodynamics. Can reduce stalling speed but also lift?

[@bonafidepirate]

I'm sure there's some measurable difference, but the plane flew fine and I didn't notice any impact on range or anything. So it got the job done. ;)

[@mikieg5985]

Great video,your very knowledgeable.

[@bonafidepirate]

Thanks!

[@glene9986]

With all the news about the DJI HD system and Fatsharks Frost Byte 2 in the making I still can't help but think this would have been a better system and came back to check it out but it never made it to market. I would love to get my hands on a 2.4ghz HD system. Guess I'm stuck on analog for awhile yet! Do you know who FPV.blue sold/licenced their tech to?

[@bonafidepirate]

I totally agree... lol This system had so much potential for what I wanted to do with it. (Any many others I'm sure) As far as I know he didn't sell anything, just stopped working on the project. I could be wrong of course.

[@Iconoclast55]

Great video..What osd? Thanks

[@districtfpv6394]

Awesome..best system camera in that plane

[@daemn42]

How does the image hold up to low level high motion/high detail fying? How fast can it recover from a really quick loss of signal (like flying behind trees or multipathing)?

[@bonafidepirate]

I haven't done much low level flying with it, other than taking off and landing... lol I'm waiting on good weather to get some more air time with it. It seems to recover very quickly from signal loss, at least the testing I've done on the ground. As for multipath, there's a guard interval in the modulation, which my understanding is for dealing with multipath. Apparently, the way it works is there is a period of time between each data symbol, during that time the receiver is ignoring everything until the next symbol is transmitted. You can adjust the length of that interval to suit your needs. The longer the interval, the more "quiet" time between transmissions, to allow for reflected signals to bounce off objects farther away. The idea is that the transmitter sends a signal and it takes the shortest path to the receiver, then the receiver "sleeps" while any reflections are bouncing around and reaching the receiver, and once that's all done, the next transmission starts. In theory, it's a more effective way to deal with multipath since the receiver is completely ignoring it, instead of the -3db loss you get with circular, but with an analog receiver that's always listening, it's a different story all together. You do still need to consider the polarization loss with two vertically polarized antennas, and a banking airplane. You can see that in the turn when RTH kicked in. ;) So in short, I don't think multipath will be an issue, and I haven't had a chance to flow low and behind trees enough to really tell how it will perform there, but from what I've seen, I expect it to do well.

[@steveracecars]

Awesome video!!

[@bonafidepirate]

Thanks!

[@DivisionRc]

Could you please list all of the parts you used to getthis plane up and running with a basic fpv setup? I have a basic fpv system already. Im looking to gettheskyhunter or mini talon. Which do you recommend?

[@bonafidepirate]

It depends, honestly. If you're going to be breaking the plane down to transport to transport it regularly, seriously consider the Mini Talon. It's fast and easy to take it apart into a small package, and quick to put it back together again. Either one is a fine plane in the air though.

[@madsloper]

You have three wires into the config port in the FPV blue but only two wires going to the Vector UART port? Is the Vector UART TX connected to the Blue Tx config along with a ground ?

[@bonafidepirate]

Yeah with the Vector telemetry you only need a ground and TX from the Vector to the RX pin on the fpv.blue transmitter. I *think* you may need to connect to fpv.blue's TX pin to the RX pin on an APM if you're using that, if I recall, the fpv.blue transmitter needs to tell the APM how it want's the Mavlink stream. Don't quote me on that though, I'm just going off what I remember reading in the thread at RCGroups... lol I've only used it with the Vector and never used Mavlink telemetry.

[@madsloper]

Thanks, I got it hooked up and working. Now to figure out some kind of GS.

[@rrenegadoo]

Amazing video...... how much the fpv blue cost in USD.?

[@aliank77]

Hi sir, what servo do you use for head tracker? Thank you

[@bonafidepirate]

It is a GWS S125-1T controlled by the rudder stick on my radio, I don't use a head tracker.

[@davidtrevathan4066]

Keith what is the dBic of the patch you have? I have a 1.3ghz 13dBic Pepperbox RHCP with 1.3GHz Bluebeam Antenna to match it, from Ibcrazy for you if you want to try that? I have a board with the older receiver all setup with diversity and all. LMK if you wan to try the antennas. Love the video by the way!

[@bonafidepirate]

It's a 8db L-com patch antenna, tuned for 1280MHz. I appreciate the offer to try out your antennas, but honestly I'm pretty happy with this range and likely won't push it any farther.

[@davidtrevathan4066]

Cool, just thought I would offer. love the vids, I sure would love a detailed walk around of your setup sometime. I have a Skyhunter as well and want a great setup like yours. I acutally made the first build video of the Skyhunter on youtube but the FPV setup is another story, not as good as you at that yet.

[@bonafidepirate]

I haven't done a setup video on this one, partly because it changes pretty often. lol The Skyhunter has proven to be such a good workhorse, it became my test platform for new FPV gear. The fpv.blue system will likely stay on here though unless I find a better suited platform for it.

[@phatchancefpv9740]

Where did you get the 3d print file for the patch antenna on the leg of tripod? Love the video btw

[@spredana]

I'm thingking to have one of this system, is it still prototype?

[@pascaldetournay7540]

Hi, brilliant ! Why do you use a splitter ? does ezcap give latency ? if yes how much? Thanks.

[@bonafidepirate]

No latency from the ezcap, I only used it because my monitor didn't like the output from the ezcap. If I connected the receiver directly to the monitor it was fine, but putting the ezcap inline gave me a blurry picture that didn't quite fill the screen. (the recording was fine though) I tried with a different TV in the house that was fine, only my display in my shop acted this way. Adding the splitter let me record and have a full quality image at the same time while I flew.

[@pascaldetournay7540]

bonafidepirate thanks for the answer ! I put the system on my mini drak ! What’s the antenna on the plane ? Did you make It by yourself ?

[@andrsam3682]

Hi! Incredible results. Can you, please, tell what sensor is used on the camera? Is it CMOS or CCD?

[@bonafidepirate]

It's a 1/3" CMOS sensor, I forget the model number but you can find it on the fpv.blue main page, there's a bit of info about the camera there. I found the camera just as impressive as the range... lol It rivals even my best analog FPV flight cameras in terms of light handling, and of course the high def resolution is nice. :)

[@b6s4shelter]

Impressive video quality at 14km. Looks like a winner

[@EnglishTurbines]

Great clip m8, I was hoping to see you try this. Surprised to see the DL lose it at just 14kms though at 900 feet altitude, it may be that HD VTX compromising it?...I have found my tuned 1280 Patch outperforms the little Yagi as well. It was interesting to see the Video RSSI on your live? OSD though..?...Im wondering how they have done that? Great footage ...excellent demonstration really, fpv blue should be happy with that for sure... well done....One thing, Im very surprised about, is that fpv blue did not provide a linear (Dipole) VTX antenna for you to use..?

[@bonafidepirate]

They did ship with two VAS V antennas, I just chose to use the dipole since I needed to make one long enough to get out on the wing, and the dipole was easier to mount. ;) The OSD is actually drawn in the receiver, the transmitter sends the telemetry data down to it. The part showing the receiver signals is based on the hardware in the receiver, so that part always works even if there's no good video or data coming down from the plane.

[@EnglishTurbines]

VAS Vs eh, ok...now it makes sense. I have a 1280mhz Vee antenna, it works good, but it's not quite as good as the plain Dipole IMO. Ah, ok that's a novel way of doing things and the RSSI for the Diversity VRX is very useful.

[@tressner]

great work ...someone who actully pushes the system to limit not just talks about it...any timeline on when it will be ready and vector compatable?

[@bonafidepirate]

I'm not really sure when Davide will accept orders yet, but I know he's waiting for more feedback from others that are testing the system, and to get some of the final bugs worked out before he's ready to sell.

[@ALLRCAIRCRAFT]

Do you file flight plans before attempting this?

[@lonniedupont]

Hey Keith This is Lonnie Dupont from Plaucheville. If you ever have the time and wouldn't mind, I'd love to come by and check out your setup. Would also like to maybe learn how to keep an airplane in the air for more than 7 seconds. All that I've tried crashed and burned. Got a few ideas about what I'm doing wrong, just need expert pointers.

[@ladraode9dedos409]

Good job! In order to get the best of your plane aerodynamics, I would recommend you to hide your antenna cables in your wing, just cut a groove and put your cables there, little tape and you will have a better plane.

[@bonafidepirate]

Absolutely! This is a semi-temporary install right now for testing. Once I'm 100% happy with everything I'll make it more permanent. I was somewhat concerned about disturbing the airflow over the wing like this, especially on the top surface, but it seems to fly fine. I don't notice it in the way the plane handles or anything.

[@HiusLighting]

Super cool! i definitely need one!

[@bonafidepirate]

They're accepting orders now, and running a sale too, the price drops every hour until all the pre-order slots are filled. Everyone is refunded the difference so everyone ends up paying whatever the lowest price is when the orders are filled up. I think now is the time to buy if you're considering it... lol fpv.blue/order/ has the details

[@joshuaveley9758]

How much is the blue setup gonna run? I can’t find any prices online. Any rough idea what they will go for once released?

[@bonafidepirate]

Check the fpv.blue website, the most up to date info will always be there, but right now I think the price on the first batch will be around € 549 with one receiver, € 598 with diversity.

[@dontknowler]

What tilt-and-pan gimbal do you use? Thanks.

[@bonafidepirate]

I don't recally which one I was using for this video, I used two while I was flying this setup. Either a wood GoPro tilt from RMRC mounted to a GWS 360º servo, or a small fiberglass tilt for just the flight cam from Hobbyking mounted on the same servo.

[@SurRealFPV]

This is amazing good job.

[@bobbily84]

Well done

[@unixoid33]

it was on patch 8dbi, so if fly with patch 14dbi, range will be at least 15-17km i think. can you do on next review tests with very low altitude on max range, and behind trees, houses etc

[@Redemptioner1]

Would be very interesting to see what a decent pre-amp on the RX antenna combined with a 20+dbi antenna would do....

[@FpvBlue]

Every time you add 6 dB to an antenna you can double the range, so a 16 dBi yagi should let you do just that.

[@sukhrajsingh466]

Have you considered using the 18650 cells? Is the current too low?

[@bonafidepirate]

I have flown this plane using 18650 cells in the past, I had 3 4S packs in parallel, and it worked OK, but I didn't like the reduced power as the voltage dropped toward the end of the flight. I prefer running even the low C rated LiPos instead. If you take a plane that will fly equally well on 3S or 4S, and run 4S 18650s, then you really have something... ;)

[@dronepunkfpv1424]

I sure would like to test this system with the TBS Crossfire system. Has it been tested on a 915 system?

[@bonafidepirate]

I'm not sure if anyone else has tested with Crossfire or anything else on 915, but I haven't. I don't have anything on that band...

[@garrettrevels]

bonafidepirate is there any reason why you went with linear vs circular polarized antenna on all you rigs besides maybe cost , aerodynamics

[@bonafidepirate]

Linear tends to give you a bit more range especially when flying long range flights and not a lot of baking or aerobatics, if you don't need the specific properties of circular. Mostly, dealing with multipath. This digital system has a "guard interval" coded in it's modulation which deals with multipath. Here's some good reading if you want to understand it better than I can explain... lol fpv.blue/2017/10/linear-antennas-and-fpv-blue/ and also here www.dronetrest.com/t/the-complete-guide-to-fpv-antennas-for-your-drone/1473

[@iRoNiiC_H3R0]

so you connected the tx part of the vector to the rx of the fpv blue transmitter?

[@bonafidepirate]

Yes that's correct, that and ground are the only two wires between the Vector and fpv.blue. There's a pinout on the FAQ page here: fpv.blue/faq

[@iRoNiiC_H3R0]

what about the rssi. it says it takes analog. can i solder my rssi from my rx to the analog and ground to get radio rssi to show on the fpv blue too

[@bonafidepirate]

That's the idea, but I'm not sure if that's implemented in the firmware yet. You'd be best to ask in the thread at RCGroups since the developer posts there regularly. I believe they intend to add radio RSSI with the Vector telemetry also. If that's added, then you'll already have RSSI on screen if you have it working in the Vector.

[@alexkelly6475]

Great video! Can I ask what 360 pan servo you are using?

[@bonafidepirate]

GWS S125-1T (The 1T on the end is important, there are other versions with more or less than one turn. The 1T is the 350º version)

[@bonafidepirate]

360º actually, that was a typo ;)

[@alexkelly6475]

Thank you, is it plastic gear?

[@marionavarro8229]

Keith, is out of stock: www.pololu.com/product/522 But I found others 1T (great indication) like these: www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1256 www.goodluckbuy.com/gws-digital-servo-sail-winch-s125-1t-2bb-360-degree-7-6kg-106oz-in-1-28sec.html

[@bonafidepirate]

Yes, plastic gear and output shaft.

[@robertasjuscius1092]

Would be nice if the provide with full eagle tree vector telemetry...

[@unixoid33]

Fpv.blue works in what range of a voltage?

[@veganautfpv1237]

That looks amazing! What the heck happened!?

[@madobox]

Do you still flying with FPV Blue? I did find a second hand one but need advice that is still worth purchasing it. Thx

[@bonafidepirate]

I haven't flown it since the last video I posted with it. It's been in a box waiting for firmware updates that never happened... lol As far as I know, the developer (one man show) still intends to move forward with it, but not this particular hardware. He's working on a 2.4GHz system and recently posted an update on it. There was some things missing from the OSD in this one that I have that were supposed to be fixed, but still haven't been. I can't say what will happen in the future, but I personally wouldn't buy it right now unless you're happy with what you saw in it's current state and assume it will never be updated... ;) Two things I personally wanted on the OSD were RSSI levels for your R/C system, and imerial units. There were other ideas thrown around for different options too, in the forums. It would be a really nice option for someone that might not want or need the info on screen, already have a different telemetry link, etc. If I ever built a large-ish medium range multirotor for search/rescue, this system would go on it, for example... lol

[@madobox]

@@bonafidepirate Thanks for your answer. Guessing the issue with Fatshark is also unsolved?

[@nellodude]

Great video footage Keith. As you know I cannot read the OSD with my eyes which is a shame. I am VERY disappointed with dragonlink V3 as I have been 45km with the dragonlink V2

[@Koestel-FPV]

Hi Neil ;-), I fully agree with you

[@bonafidepirate]

I don't think this range is typical with the DL V3. I've been out farther than this with the Mini Talon with no issues, and had this same plane out in the same spot with 46-47% RSSI in the past. I think either the video system is reducing it's range, or maybe having the GPS too close to the UHF antenna. I never even checked to see if it's emitting any kind of noise. When I get time I plan on doing some range testing on the ground to see if I can pinpoint what's limiting the UHF range.

[@nellodude]

Yes I wondered about the GPS module being so close but I am not aware of it producing noise on 433mhz. I must admit mine is as far from the TX as I can get it and usually the same distance from the Dragonlink dipole. I love the HD real time footage Keith and would love to buy this FPV.Blue system but I cannot even read the OSD on my computer screen. Thanks for showing the system. Great flights.

[@bonafidepirate]

Why are you having trouble reading the OSD? I've found it to be rather crisp and clean, although it's smaller than some other OSD text, the resolution is so much higher. Looking through goggles might be a completely different matter though, I know most of them have less than perfect optics. I did some range testing on the ground earlier today, and found the GPS doesn't seem to affect the Dragonlink at all. The fpv.blue gear being powered on does seem to reduce range, but the first tests were not really consistent there. I ended up taking the plane completely apart and checked the DL receiver, tried a different UHF antenna, etc. and everything checked out fine individually. When I put it all back together I started getting normal range test results with the video system powered down, and reduced range with it powered up. At that point I ran out of time for testing, so there's still some questions to answer. Like, is it the power supply emitting noise, or noise in the RF signal. I'm powering the video system off a 12V regulator, although it does have it's own power supply built in so that's not necessary. I just did it that way to keep the wiring relatively clean. I'll go back to using the power tap straight off the battery and test again. If that doesn't change, I'll stick a high pass filter on the antenna and see what that does. All things considered though, I think this flight was still a success, even with reduced UHF performance. You know the perfectionist side of me can't let that be good enough though... lol Even if I never push any farther I want to know why the UHF range was reduced and how to fix it.

[@nellodude]

It is a crisp font Keith but its too thin. If they could double thickness at least. Most of us fly FPV with goggles. Don't get me wrong, I love this HD system. It is the best I have seen except for the Mavic Pro system. I just think a simple change or OPTION on the OSD to change fonts would be a simple solution as we all do not have perfect eyesight. At least on the Mavic you can read the screen easily. I am only pushing this because I believe this is a fantastic system and better to do it properly than half baked.

[@twinturbostang]

Any idea why DragonLink failsafe'd? Should be good for much farther than that I would think.

[@bonafidepirate]

That's the biggest question I have to answer right now... lol I am flying from inside my workshop, but even still, I think I should not have hit f/s normally. I know I've had this same plane out on pretty much the same flight path, to either 8.1 or 8.2 miles, and had no issues with the Dragonlink. Naturally the first thing that came to mind was that little spike of RF noise near the DL's band, or possibly a raised noise floor across the UHF band, but I personally don't have equipment good enough to test that, at least not reliably. That said, some other things have changed too, notably the GPS sitting a couple inches from the UHF antenna now, while it was mounted at the center of the fuselage in the past. It never occurred to me before, but I guess there is some chance the electronics in the GPS module could be emitting a small amount of noise that's affecting the DL receiver being so close to the antenna. (Eagle tree has a couple of extra components in there to use the GPS module on their I2C bus with their other add-ons) So the nest steps are to try to duplicate the issue on the ground in range test mode, then start cutting power to one thing at a time and see what's really causing it.

[@twinturbostang]

You can also use the receiver in spectrum analyze mode when connected to the configuration software to see what happens to the noise floor as you turn systems on one by one. Did you not have your external antenna connected? I've seen you swap antennas mid-flight. Also, you were pretty low, relative to distance.

[@bonafidepirate]

I actually did use the build in SA before flying, there's only one little spike at about 432MHz, which is just below the channels that I can see the DL hopping on. I really need to do more testing to figure out exactly why the UHF didn't perform as well as I think it should have.

[@bonafidepirate]

BTW, I have another video up flying the same path a few years ago, I flew at the same altitude (1000ft, 305m) and turned around at 8.1 miles, RSSI was 46-47%.

just occured to me: in an antenna tracking system, feeding the atitude from the accelerometers from the plane to tge tracker to tikt LP antennas accordingly... :D

[@bonafidepirate]

Interesting idea! It could work! lol

[@rustyrcshow6987]

Can you do a full setup vid on your sky hunter like what you’re using in it etc

[@ClarkDroneFilms]

Woww, shame it's been discontinued. Is there anything like this available for quads? Except for sharkbyte and DJI

[@bonafidepirate]

Not that I know of. It really is a shame these never went into production on a large scale.

[@Chris_Paul1]

Nice work. I was only saying the other week if anyone could get some good range out of HD transmission it was u lol My best is 9km with EZUHF and 5.8ghz 500mw + 7 turn helical.

[@bonafidepirate]

Well you're doing better than me on 5.8... lol I've tried a few times using different 500 and 600mW vTX's, with a number of different antennas. I think the biggest helical I have on 5.8 is 7 turn, maybe more. I'd have to look and see. I wasn't able to make it more than a few miles though if I recall. 5.8 for video just doesn't seem to work well here, at least for me. My theory is the relatively high humidity, though I've seen others in places just a humid as it is here doing a lot better so who knows... lol

[@tingzhang4464]

How about use a 3g/4g modular and resparry pi 3 as data transmission and controllor system. maybe it will enable plane to anywhere has phone signal.

[@alewin1894]

What camera did you use?

[@Koestel-FPV]

13 km is limit with the Dragon Link, it's no nornal but with my D.L, I fly easily 20 km... it's the problem FPV BLUE + D.L ?

[@bonafidepirate]

I'm not sure yet, I plan on doing some ground range tests when I get a chance, but I agree this doesn't seem normal for the DL. I think something on the plane is limiting the range, either the video system or maybe the GPS is too close to the UHF antenna now.

[@FpvBlue]

As Keith said, we don't know, but my personal guess is that it's likely to be the problem.

[@EdwardChew]

Wow no static at all! what OSD are you using? they are so tiny

[@bonafidepirate]

There will never be any traditional static with this digital system like you see in analog video systems. You start to get artifacts in the video instead, like you see at the point where the plane turned back. The OSD is part of the fpv.blue system, telemetry data is sent from the Vector's UART port to the fpv.blue's transmitter on a cable, then the HD system uses that info to draw the OSD in the video.

[@EdwardChew]

Oh oh i see. Got it Wow so cool! so it may support APM telemetry via mavlink too?

[@bonafidepirate]

Yes it does support Mavlink, though I haven't used it.

[@EdwardChew]

bonafidepirate waw thats so cool!

[@rustyrcshow6987]

What brand skyhunter rmrc bangood?

[@bonafidepirate]

This is one of the first few Skyhunter kits sold. It came from FPVMODEL, it's the old gray foam kit. I think RMRC is pretty much the same but I'm not positive. The one at banggood looks like a Sonicmodel kit. I was under the impression that they were the same plane, but I have seen some comments that suggest there could be some small changes. I honestly haven't kept up with it all.

[@touflevrai]

can you explain how work fpv blue with vector autopilot ? thx

[@wsc112782]

The FPV Blue knows the format of the serial data coming from the Vector's serial port. So you just connect a cable from the serial port on the Vector to the FPV Blue transmitter, and the OSD overlay is done internally in the FPV Blue transmitter.

[@bonafidepirate]

That's correct! You just set the Vector for Open Telemetry on the serial port, connect the serial cable, and everything else is automatic.

[@touflevrai]

bonafidepirate great 👍

[@blackmennewstyle]

It must be hard to go back to analogue video after enjoying these HD adventures lol So the overlay was the Vector OSD? It's compatible with digital FPV camera? Man, things are getting interesting just when regulations are coming out almost everywhere all around the world :'( Happy midweek and happy HD flying!

[@bonafidepirate]

The OSD is written into the HD video at the receiver on the ground. The Vector output telemetry similar to Mavlink (but a different protocol, Vector Open Telemetry) over it's serial port. The UART port on the side. The fpv.blue transmitter has a telemetry port that you connect the Vector's serial port to, and it sends the telemetry down with the video signal. The receiver then builds the OSD using that data. It's totally independent from the "normal" OSD in the Vector that's overlayed on the analog video. It just uses the data from the Vector like altitude,, heading, distance/direction to home, voltage, amps, mAh used, etc.

[@blackmennewstyle]

Oh i see, that's very smart actually! The only downside is that you must feed it with telemetry datas but a great way to get rid of non compatible analague OSDs! Man, i'm starting to save right now in order to grab one lol F**k regulations! Do you have a HAM licence by the way?

[@bonafidepirate]

Yep, the only downside is what you see here is all there is to the OSD, there's no menus for configuring the Vector, changing things in flight, etc. Their plan is to add more to it in the future, like RSSI, maybe flight modes, etc. but I doub't we'll ever see the Vector menus in it... lol It's still better than no OSD at all though! I think pretty much any form of FPV in the United States requires a HAM license. Even low power 5.8 stuff is still no certified, and I'm pretty sure the Dragonlink requires it also. I don't own much FPV gear that doesn't... lol

[@GeirTrones]

well thats it, I'll just start saving up for this, its a must have :)

[@Bill-NM]

I wonder how much lift is being killed by the antenna wires strung along on tops the wings? Those wires are right in the area where smooth airflow is needed to create lift...any obstacles in that area will kill a decent percentage of the total lift. Ever do an experiment to see how much more speed/throttle you need with those wires running across the tops of the wings like that? I mean, it's a fact that lift is being compromised, I'm just wondering how much.

[@bonafidepirate]

Yep, that airplane doesn't fly with those wires on the wing right there... lol J/K The point is it flew fine, I saw no change in efficiency or flight characteristics. I'm sure it's a measurable difference with the tools to measure it, but I wasn't that concerned with it, it got the job done, so job well done I guess... :)

[@Bill-NM]

@@bonafidepirate sounds good... Thanks...

[@RelaxinFPV]

Really impressive, i wish i could have a HD Pitlab OSD & AP with FPV blue video transmission system :p

[@bonafidepirate]

The OSD here is part of the fpv.blue system, it just takes in the serial data from the Vector's UART port (or Mavlink data from other FCs) and uses that info to draw the OSD. I think the OSD will always be limited, relative to the "normal" one with the Vector. For example, the menu system, I seriously doubt we will ever see a working menu to change settings and things like that in the OSD. As of now, there's also no AHI. The developer mentioned there is one coded but it still needs a lot of improvement before being implemented.

[@yumen2955]

Woooow, Amazing

[@bonafidepirate]

Thanks!

[@wolkenloser01]

have you a new video with fpv.blue ?

[@bonafidepirate]

No I haven't flown it much since making these videos. I was waiting for firmware updates when the developer gets back to work on the system, and put some other gear in the plane in the mean time to test. Hopefully some day it will progress, the last I heard was that there is still plans to keep working on it in the future.

[@joematarc5245]

does this thing really exist? I´ve been for months on end looking for it, and it is always sold out!

[@bonafidepirate]

There was a limited run of them that sold out, and there hasn't been any more since. The guy making them has talked about doing more, the best place for up to date info is the thread at RCGroups. The developer posts there occasionally. www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2703512-fpv-blue-720p-HD-FPV-50-ms-latency-7km-range

[@joematarc5245]

ok, thanks. maybe I´ll go for the Connex ProSight. a bit pricy, but it seems ok. have you try it?

[@bonafidepirate]

No, fpv.blue is the only HD system I've used.

[@joematarc5245]

@@bonafidepirate which autopilot are you using?