DiscoDrew said:By all means a 2.4 video can cause issues with 2.4 Phantom control, thats why I recommend 433 control with 2.4 video. In the end 2.4 is the happy medium between penetration and quality. In a wifi rich environment quality can suffer though, I do see that when flying in my neighborhood a little but not my average flying sites.
If you do not want to switch your control freq, the easiest fool proof setup is sticking with 5.8. If you have a strong case for needing 1.3 then these are the limitations that you face to get there. As such, if you do need that penetration just make the DragonLink or EZUHF switch as well, and yeah, you'll need a radio that can support those of course. You can see the rabbit trail I am sure. Additionally, the other benefit of 433 control is never having to worry about your video out distancing your control.
In a nutshell I faced the same questions at one time and it's why I moved into other craft entirely. You end up pouring so much $ modding the Phantom to achieve the results you want when you are better off building what you want and have a more capable (wind, power, quality) craft in the end. Don't get me wrong I still LOVE the Phantom and all it is, they are hardcore capable quads out of the box RTF! Just have to watch the $ and add it all up before you overspend on it.
d4ddyo said:I can make my quad for about $500. entry level... but I really want some mid grade equipment.
OI Photography said:d4ddyo said:I can make my quad for about $500. entry level... but I really want some mid grade equipment.
You might want to check out the XuGong airframe: http://www.immersionrc.com/product-deta ... e=XuGong-8 Quadcopter
DiscoDrew said:433 is my hacked abbreviation for 433Mhz, which is UHF control. You need a ham license to legally operate (no I have not, yet ;-) )but just a simple technician license. The two products on the market that you can achieve that with are called DragonLink or Immersion RC EZUHF, it's a little black box that interfaces with your radio and then you have a UHF receiver on your craft. Pretty much as simple as setting up a standard system, just different frequencies. Frequencies that go FAR FAR away and also do not have much competition so they are clean frequencies.
For what you described, I would whole heartedly recommend a TBS Discovery. KILLER sport quad, no gimbal. There are also some clones out there of it. At the end of the day though you are only paying around $100 for a Discovery frame and the rest is all components. The angles on the arms on all TBS quads keep the props out of the video as well, very nice IMO. I use a TBS 69 FPV camera and love it, a 600TVL is a nice less expensive substitute as well. The TBS 59 camera is nice too and very reasonable. I know you don't want a 'crazy ground station' but a TBS Ground station is VERY portable and VERY capable and only $259 ready to go. Something to look into. Stick with your GoPro for 1080P video, it is king.
I wonder though as to why you did not like the GoPro Video for FPV? On my DiscoPro, I can flip a switch and look at the GoPro for framing and use the TBS69 for FPV flight, very little difference in quality to me. The main reason for using 2 cameras is I do not want my FPV cam on a gimbal, I want to see the attitude of the craft and the gimbal makes it look like I am flying level. Not good when hauling the mail and getting on it!
DiscoDrew said:Look at the TBS Groundstation, it's sick! Has RJ45 connectors to plug your goggles into both power and transmit video, it has a built in 2.4GHz Lawmate receiver. Honestly, I am not all that familiar with Diversity goggles. With my experience I would personally pick the Fat Shark Dominator or the new yet to be released DominatorHD.
Not sure why you had the 4:3 issue. I can confirm GoPro is 16:9 in FPV on goggles and on my 8" Screen mounted on my Secraft transmitter tray. It will go 4:3 in 1440 but thats because it's native 4:3. I intend to buy a TBS Groundstation in the next day or two myself. I love my Secraft portable setup but want to hook up some goggles to the ground station with an 11dbi Yagi antenna for distance. Will still use both setups often, just horses for courses at that point. As for remotely trigger, yeah thats a no go with the GoPro. When I want to operate like that I just set the GoPro to a 1-2 sec interval mode and let er' rip. Not the same but it does work for photos.
Here is a pic of my main Discovery Pro setup.
PM me if you need anything as you start to plan your build. Always happy to help!
DiscoDrew said:Look at the TBS Groundstation, it's sick! Has RJ45 connectors to plug your goggles into both power and transmit video, it has a built in 2.4GHz Lawmate receiver. Honestly, I am not all that familiar with Diversity goggles. With my experience I would personally pick the Fat Shark Dominator or the new yet to be released DominatorHD.
Not sure why you had the 4:3 issue. I can confirm GoPro is 16:9 in FPV on goggles and on my 8" Screen mounted on my Secraft transmitter tray. It will go 4:3 in 1440 but thats because it's native 4:3. I intend to buy a TBS Groundstation in the next day or two myself. I love my Secraft portable setup but want to hook up some goggles to the ground station with an 11dbi Yagi antenna for distance. Will still use both setups often, just horses for courses at that point. As for remotely trigger, yeah thats a no go with the GoPro. When I want to operate like that I just set the GoPro to a 1-2 sec interval mode and let er' rip. Not the same but it does work for photos.
Here is a pic of my main Discovery Pro setup.
PM me if you need anything as you start to plan your build. Always happy to help!
DiscoDrew said:Don't mind the PM at all, if you have a question just holler. We all love that P2 flight time! Hard to beat for sure!
Standard Discovery on a 5000Mah battery you can expect Ferrari performance and 15 min of flight.
If flight time is your game, look into TBS Discovery with the Aerial Mob arm kit. Of course, it's a bit more money but you will get flight times that can double the P2. Trappy (Owner of TBS) is pushing an hour with that setup from what I understand running 6S batteries on 15" props. The kits are hot off the press and often backordered right now. I actually have my arms sitting here but waiting a bit before I do the conversion. Still need to buy new motors, batteries, props, etc. Have many other goodies in line before I take that route fully yet.