Have finally got sucked in :)

[XH558]

I have been hovering about (excuse the pun ) looking at doing FPV as cheap as possible and as you';ve seen in another thread I';m having a go at making a helmet from a welding face mask as there';s no way I';m spending megabucks on some overpriced glasses designed for sharks (or is it BY sharks  )

Well today I caught sight of Gav';s Skew Planar Antennas for sale and I thought - what the heck - good price and bought some today .... and I don';t even know what a Skew Planar is  :embarrassed

Then I realised that with a video screen on it';s way - a helmet under construction and some antennas I probably ought to get some TX/RX gear 
I';ve been watching the cheap set at HK but they are constantly on backorder and I';ve bid on and missed a couple of sets on ebay  so I';ve finally pulled the trigger on this....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250793305669?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

and this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150849031562?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I hope I haven';t disgraced myself with that - I think it';ll be ok 

I still need to get the small stuff Teslahed recommends like the OSD thing and the Low Pass Filter ....

The fun part will be working it all out and connecting it all up ...

I am also thinking that I want to make a TBS discovery clone of my own and move the Naza I have on my Hex over to that and put the FPV on that too.

I have been very pleased with the Naza and I think I have my head around that now. The Hex has been good but it';s a bit unwieldy and I think a quad would be better - but I';m not buying an expensive kit - I';ll make one - maybe from parts scavenged from the Hex if I break it for bits.

It all needs careful thought........  so a fettling I must go ....

[Gaza07]

Would you like to buy a cheap bomb detector to   

[firey1]

Just my 2 cents worth

Well I use the same gear on my quad with circular polar and am very happy with the results ( so far been up to 1.5 km away) the setup may not be the ducks nuts but it does its job and suits my purpose and is a great starter kit for getting into FPV

I did buy an inline filter but as of yet have not fitted as get good clean transmitted picture and only use 1 battery for everything
I power the video TX off the jst plug on the battery
OSD is really just a convenience I have a minim osd on my board that is good for info but then also can be distracting so i have a switch to turn it off

Mike

[Biffa]

Would you like to buy a cheap bomb detector to   

Off topic I know but is that not the most ridiculous thing ever

[XH558]

Well as I understand it they weren';t cheap 

Anyway .... I think I may have got onto the right track with this welding helmet idea ... a rough mock up in balsa so I can see the dimensions and shapes needed shows me that it';ll work ok.

The 4 sides of the tunnel will be in ply - painted black inside and out and will be light sealed. The screen will, obviously, be at the far end and lines up beautifully with the aperture in the helmet.

I have ordered a fresnel lens too but I';m not sure it';ll be needed.

the 2 big advantages of this system that I see are ....

1) The helmet head strap is very strong and a snug (adjustable) fit so will easily take whatever weight there is at the front.  Plus it tilts up - so if I need line of site I can get that very quickly (unlike skiing goggles)
2) I can wear by glasses easily inside the helmet without any trouble (unlike skiing goggles)

More serious fettling now after some careful measuring (not my strong point ....mantra ... measure twice - cut once)

The idea

[teslahed]

That looks like it should work well - and if you';ve made the tunnel long enough (and depending on your eyes) you may find you don';t need a lens. I didn';t with my fpv helmet.

[dp106]

You';re going to scare the crap out of people with that on :)

[XH558]

That looks like it should work well - and if you';ve made the tunnel long enough (and depending on your eyes) you may find you don';t need a lens. I didn';t with my fpv helmet.

How far away is your screen??
Bearing in mind I didn';t get a 7" - I only went for this .....http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271180557119?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

The dimensions of this are the dimensions of the balsa at the end of the dummy I';ve made in the photos.

[teslahed]

How far away is your screen??

23 cms from eyeball to screen - that';s close book reading distance, but it works ok for me.

That screen you';ve gone for looks fine. I';ve bought the same model for the next FPV helmet i';m making. The resolution is nice and high (640x480 apparently) and the small size should help keep the weight down when hanging off your head.

There is one problem you may need to be aware of though. I am pretty sure that model of screen ';blue screens'; on signal loss. It wont display static but defaults to a blue screen instead. This means that if you lose half your signal strength your screen may decide to shut down completely and just show you blue rather than showing you the fuzzy picture that you';d still be able to use to turn around and fly home otherwise.

As a work around i am going to put an OSD device on my FPV helmet. I can use one to measure the voltage of the main lipo and feed that into the video signal between the receiver and the screen. Even when all the signal has been lost the OSD will keep displaying the voltage so the screen will still have a signal and wont blue screen. At least that';s my plan...

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__16662__HobbyKing_E_OSD.html

That';s the cheapest one i can find that will (hopefully) do the job.

Alternatively if you have a digital video recorder you can put that in between the video receiver and the display and it will (probably) stop the display blue screening. Also you';ll be able to record your flight from the ground.

[laters]

Ive just ordered the camera and video tx/rx linked to above.

Ordered one of these screens to build into my goggles kit ive got sat here.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271037766713?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_4136wt_1399

I realise its going to blue screen on static so got a cheap as chips osd on its way too, hope fully that will stop the screen blue screening.

Not too worried if it does as will be able to knock goggles off and fly los.
Main reason for the screen is its cheap and can get a better one if it all works as I hope it will.