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Taking the quad copter plunge.


Spice Cat
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No experience of the Nova, but you do realise that it's designed as an aerial video platform and not FPV out of the box and you'll have to add your own FPV camera and video Tx, looks like it designed to carry a Go Pro but you'll have to work out where you can install a FPV set up.

Have you considered a 250 sized quad, which is set up for FPV, I got one of these, no GPS waypoint flying, return to home but it does have a FPV camera mount. Lots of other 250 sized quads you can easily put together yourself and at this size the props are really cheap (and you will go through them flying FPV................)

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Cheers Frank. I must admit to liking the idea of point to point navigation. As for FPV I'm well endowed as the saying goes. Goggles, transmitter; all the gear and no idea. It's the plan over the winter to get the fpv stuff fully understood and running. Getting the head tracking on the taranis working is the first obstacle.
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Don't do it!

Plasticky, parts not the easiest to get hold of, has idiosyncrasies with arming that don't reflect a proper quad, and doesn't fly as nice as a properly set up flame wheel 450. Not a great choice for FPV flying although you may be able to squeeze a VTX in there feeding direct from a go pro on a gimbal underneath.

Seeing as you have a Taranis already if you want a camera ship I'd go with the flame wheel 450 with a naza lite flight controller. If you want an FPV racer any of the 250 ZMR kits available on eBay for around £60 is a good starting point. Pair it with eachine's 200mw VTX and camera setup from bang good for £20 and you're good to go.

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Posted by Chris Jones 7 on 14/11/2015 21:39:39:

Don't do it!

Plasticky, parts not the easiest to get hold of, has idiosyncrasies with arming that don't reflect a proper quad, and doesn't fly as nice as a properly set up flame wheel 450. Not a great choice for FPV flying although you may be able to squeeze a VTX in there feeding direct from a go pro on a gimbal underneath.

Seeing as you have a Taranis already if you want a camera ship I'd go with the flame wheel 450 with a naza lite flight controller. If you want an FPV racer any of the 250 ZMR kits available on eBay for around £60 is a good starting point. Pair it with eachine's 200mw VTX and camera setup from bang good for £20 and you're good to go.

Have you ordered from Bang Good before Chris? any good??

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Banggood have really great cust service. No quibble, just send you another if probs. Typical Chinese quality can be a bit hit & miss but thats reflected in the price. Don't expect next day delivery, can take four to six weeks but again, price. If you want it tomorrow there are better places.

A

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Posted by Spice Cat on 15/11/2015 00:00:13

Have you ordered from Bang Good before Chris? any good??

Lol, I have around 30 orders with them now! I've used them for all sorts and never had a problem. The China warehouse can be a little slow but the EU one usually sees goods delivered in 2-3 days although stock is a little more limited.

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I don't want to put a spoke in the wheel in this thread, but if I'd suggested making a pirate copy of some flight sim software, the the mods would have been all overe me like a rash.

Why is it then that when the use of illegal 200mW transmitters are suggested ( the legal limit is 25mW), everyone turns a blind eye?

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My Quad is fitted with a 25mW video Tx with circular polarised antennas.and performs OK, certainly up to where the spotter can see my 250 quad. 

But even the article in RCME Autumn special on FPV notes you are not likely to cause anybody any problems with slightly overpowered transmitters on 5.8 GHz wink

Edited By Frank Skilbeck on 15/11/2015 08:27:42

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The fact that worldwide 200mW is a starting point for Video Tx does not sadly make it legal in the UK.

Equally a LOT of Tx around have band "E" output, some ONLY Band "E", all eight frequencies of which are also illegal in the UK. It is NOT only power output Guys!!!

Personally I strongly suggest the purchase of a switchable Tx so that it is possible to run legally as required. An example is one sold on the EMax Nighthawk Pro, switchable UK legal up to 200mW.

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Ignore the legal aspect JUST for a moment.

The big upsurge in FPV is 250 race quads. These operate down low in dirty video reception zones, round signal masking trees, gates, structures, etc, etc.

They rarely ever stray above 50 feet or so or range more than 200 metres.

What they transmit is in reality never going to be an issue to anyone, and transmitting max 25mW is not going to be ideal, possibly even dangerous. Losing vision of a race quad at high speed down low is never going to be good. A Spotter is a complete waste of time IN THAT CONTEXT. All they will be able to tell you is roughly where it went in, and we have buzzers to locate downed quads. If you are racing its on a closed area, its not a park where someone might stray into the way. If not, you deserve what you will get!

However, other FPV is a different kettle of fish, it will be up much higher, transmissions will be more widespread.

I have friends that run commercially, CAA certified, etc. They use 25mW for general use but are rarely in any sort of shielding situation or even medium range for a spotter. They find it a big challenge though to get clean image. Try telling a producer that the flickers, etc will not be there on the recorded item! They expect to see what they are getting as a final product instantly.

A very, very large slice of the world has set at least 200mW for 5.8Ghz. It also has a wider band of frequencies. Why the UK differs is not adequately publicised nor explained anywhere I have been able to find (and boy have I searched!), so while there, it cannot be seen to be proven sensible policy. It's even appearing to be rather King Canute, as the flood of world legal gear is out there with lots in the UK in use and growing by the day. UK sellers, not just offshore, are selling this gear, often with NO warning as to checking legality before using. Its not just a tide, its a Tsunami........

I have had contact with UK sellers who assemble quads in the Uk to sell RTF for use in the UK, and yet sell 200mW gear with it, illegal though the result is.

I'm not advocating breaking the law here, just pointing out that the horse has not only bolted, all his mates are out there with him and the mares are breeding fast. Given that, trying to shut the stable door or wave a red flag to stop the stampede appears to me to be a fruitless task.

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Thanks for all this information. And just when you thought it was going OK my mobius has developed a bit of a gremlin. I purchased a new battery for it and at first ask was well. Now the camera is very hit and miss turning on. Is there an adaptor out there for single cell lipos? ?
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