First FPV tips

     Hello people of Flite Test. FPV is a great addition to our hobby and is very appealing to many who cannot fly real airplanes for any number of reasons, be it age, fear of heights, or other issues. I have been flying fixed wing model aircraft for 8 years now and have never gotten bored with the hobby. It is great fun and always is entertaining, through flying, building, and even WHEN you crash, rebuilding the airplane, having a few dents and tears in every airplane that each tell a story. But I think what has been one of the best things I've done in the hobby is FPV. It shows you a whole new perspective of your town and any field big enough to be crashed in. I have learned alot of lessons through this, and I would like to help people who want to pursue this branch of the hobby by putting together everything I have found from different sources to make it easier to start basic FPV flights for others.

      First, you should start by finding your aircraft of choice. This aircraft should be one that is very familiar to you and has the capability to carry some weight (i.e. FPV gear, large batteries). It is also nice for it to be cheap to fix or replace, in the event of a bad crash. I personally use a FT Versa wing that I modified quite a bit after wrestling with the normal version too much for my liking. (the battery wouldn't fit without an enlarged bay, the camera mount I made was in the open and created alot of drag, and the small vertical stabilizers made it squirrely) On mine I made an extended blunt nose (not the blunt nose conversion, my own design to keep the aircraft fairly small) and a strong battery hatch to keep that battery snug. It flys great, but the increased side profile does cut into the awesome wind handling of the original design. Also I did the bottom of the wing with black foamboard to help spot it in case of video failure. The firewall is just a 3d printed version of the FT simple firewall.

The standard rc gear I used:

-2208/14 bl motor

-18 amp esc

-TowerPro carbon gear servos (grayson hobbies) 2x

- lemonrx dsm2 compatible reciever

- Spektrum dx6i transmitter

    I love the lemonrx recievers, they run at about 1/12 of the cost of a spektrum 6ch reciever and work just as well. One thing is that they do take about 2 weeks to arrive, so consider that if you get them. 

    Now I will go into the Fpv gear. I use the cheapest kit I could find that is RTF and still high quality. It is the Teleporter V3 fpv kit, sold by GetFPV.com. I have used it several times and I have to say it is awesome. It works well but one thing to keep in mind is the fish eye wide angle lens the Pilot HD uses. It will make everything look smaller and further away. This means that you will want to stay pretty low on your first flights so you can tell where you are and where home is. Also, wait for a nice sunny bluesky day and no snow on the ground, my first flight involved an overcast day and snow covered ground and roofs. Everything was white except for roads, which I used for navigation. Believe me, I won't try to fly in those conditions again, that's for sure! Anyway, back on topic, don't even try to waste your time and brain cells with the stock antenaes. The interference and rebounded signal with those is painful if you fly in an urban area. I use the immersionrc Spironet circular polarized RHCP antenaes. They are so much better than the stock antenaes. Also, when setting up your system, make sure to keep the video tx and the radio rx on, or in, opposite sides of the wing. This is a standard FPV practice, but it always helps to try to reduce interference any way possible. Here is some photos of the gear.

Alright, thats all for now. I am planning on posting some flight videos soon now that I have a micro SD card, so look out for those.

Thanks for reading,

                           Evan