Simon Hall 2 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 What, if any tech tools can I use to help find my plane if for whatever reason I lose sight and control of it? I fly a Radian foam glider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 9 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 you could always try control line flying it depends on what you want to spend there are signal loss alarms that sound when you turn off your transmitter. A proximity locator that bleeps as you get closer and shows you the direction. or a gps tracker that will give you the location of your model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 9 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 **LINK** **LINK** **LINK** some ideas but there are more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wright Stuff Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 There is also the high tech option of writing your name and phone number on/in it somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J D 8 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 An aeroplane that goes down in the distance is allways further away than you think.Take note of something fixed in the distance and keep going towards it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erfolg Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 The buzzer type of locator can work, although it essential that sound can be heard outside the model. That may sound daft, the issue is that the sounder is inside a model. The other issue is that the power supply may become detached in any arrival. At the end of the day, you still need to line up a prominent feature in the distance in front of you, then line up with one behind you. Then walk this line. I personally make use of my Tx when I think I am near, by actuating a servo, to make a noise. If that cannot be heard and I am really convinced I am very near, i blip the electric motor (as I only fly electric). I am weary as this can result in much more damage to the model. These are my technology solutions to lost models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 If you're using telemetry, you can use the RSSI indicator to give you an approximation of direction. With a single aerial Tx, if you point the aerial at the model the RSSI should reduce - Bruce explains it in his usual slightly long-winded but entertaining fashion here: Not sure what I'd do with a twin aerial Tx like my DX9 though... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 It's a good idea to take your transmitter with you when you go looking for a lost model (not that I have any experience of such things). The sound of a waggled servo travels a fair distance and is easy to home in on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Standard feature on a Taranis. Just use the antenna as a pointer. rssi drops when you are pointing at the model. A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Hall 2 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Posted by The Wright Stuff on 07/01/2015 17:17:54: There is also the high tech option of writing your name and phone number on/in it somewhere. I have always done this and it's the best low cost basic option agreed if the plane is found by a person! I was not really bothered before, but now I have the Spektrum Vario SPMA9589 and TM1000 telemetry gizmos installed which up the value of the plane to a point where I would be quite upset if I lost it all. I have also upgraded my Tx from the DX6i to the new DX6 to utilise the new telemetry add-ons. Edited By Simon Hall 2 on 07/01/2015 18:23:22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cooper Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I used to fly at a club which had a fabulous patch but it was surrounded by fields that could have crops growing in them up to 7ft or 8ft high. If a model went down in the crops, it was tricky to find. . Lost model alarms worked well but sometimes we had to resort to some help from above..... We were lucky with having a microlight flying field virtually across the road, and the pilots loved going on a mission to find lost models -- and we modellers loved going along for the ride .. . . The downed models could be seen in the crops almost after take-off, and the people on the ground were guided to it by radio from the air, plus the microlight would circle the spot. B.C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Jones 14 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 If your Radian flies out of sight, I have a feeling a buzzer is not going to be much use in finding it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Jones 14 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 It has been of concern to me, too, when it thermals to the point I am not really sure whether I have the eyesight or judgment to get it down. All I have thought of doing so far is putting in down elevator, to get it out of the thermal, and to a height where I can see what the controls are doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bennett Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I and a couple of club mates use the Loc8tor (2nd link in Phil 9's post), though none of use have needed to use it since we bought them. I have tested mine by trying to find where I'd put one of my Loc8tor "bugs", and the handset detected it in another model that was in the boot of my car about 150 yards away. You still have to watch where the model went down, and walk towards it, then the Loc8tor will start giving you directions when you get about 200m away. The Loc8tor is self-powered; The problem with any device powered by the model's battery is that the battery is often ejected in a crash, so nothing will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avtur Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Just looking at this from a slightly different point of view. It's good to have an appreciation of the area around where you are flying in terms of what access you may, or may not, have if a retrieval is required. If there are areas of restricted access nearby that might influence where you choose to fly. Understanding where the model is, using technology to locate it is one thing, but having legitimate access to retrieve it may not always be taken for granted. I fly a lot on a beach and therefore over the sea, if I lost a model I know that it will not cause anyone else problem if it ends up in the sea, but chances of retrieval would be very limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve T Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I fitted a location beeper into a little super cub, the wind got hold of it one flight and I was unable to make any headwind. I shut it down and it glided into a crop field about 500 yards away. So I thought. It was on the edge of the field, in a ditch almost a mile away! And the beeper? I couldn't hear it until I was maybe 20 yards away, not much use then. I only found the model as a tiny bit of the tail was sticking above the reeds and it was white. I couldn't recommend the beeper system, in fact I had it fitted in 2 other models and took it out, and binned them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erfolg Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I do not have any interest in Quads. Yet I am wondering if the two clubs that I am a member of, need one each. You know the type, that send images back to a ground screen. One club is often surrounded by crops, the other totally wild land adjacent to a river, which posses its own risks. As been suggested, beepers are only marginally better than waggled servos, and inferior to the burst of an electric motor. Walking the line is still required though, but could initially be done with a Quad to get better sighting lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chambers Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Posted by Erfolg on 09/01/2015 13:21:25: Yet I am wondering if the two clubs that I am a member of, need one each. You know the type, that send images back to a ground screen. Usually on FPV models, there is an OSD with the current GPS co-ordinates. So most FPV flyers have a Digital Video Recorder capturing the feed from their Video Receiver, so if they happen to loose it and dump it, they can replay the footage to find the last known GPS co-ordinates. Also popular is the cheap GPS GSM trackers around. Strap it to the craft and, as long as there is reception, send a text to the tracker and it'll return with the GPS co-ords. Si. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve T Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Just spent 1/2 hour checking them out and the latest mini gps gsm trackers really do look the biz. If you can attach one to your dogs collar, you car or your Grannie and tell where they are on mobile or laptop then that sound like £24 well spent to me. No range that would concern us, as long as your model is in satellite range! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve T Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 And they weight 50gms, not enough to affect anything other than an indoor model.....er, which should not really need tracking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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