DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

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kaos
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

Post by kaos »

skyscraper wrote:Did you manage to get your Falcon flying yet?
NO. The 4 Ys stopped me from doing that. icY,wendY,rainY and most of all lazY. :lol:

I love to see the comparison you two guys may have. ;) Winner gets a beer (or a Scotch if you like)! :mrgreen:

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kaos
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

Post by kaos »

I decided to go ahead to get that 10 dollar MIC helical. and we can have a 3 way Mexican stand off. 8-)
And it is going to be Scotch, not beer. :mrgreen:
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skyscraper
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

Post by skyscraper »

Hi Kaos. If the Helical doesnt work you can always use the wire and make my DIY one!

But otherwise we will have to figure out the rules of the challenge. As for prizes, I will have to have a cup of tea as I'm teetotal!

A guy on fpvhub.com (my local fpv forum) has just posted maiden flight pics of his Skywalker Falcon (think thats the same as yours) and says its great! So hope you get yours flying soon :)

regards
Andy
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kaos
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

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Saw that falcon. Nice. ;) yep, if my modded Super Falcon can survive the maiden, it will be fine. Have no clue how it is going to fly with added wing/ail surface running on 4S motor with tail heavy, may add some dumb weight to balance it at the 'guessed' CG.

As for the rules. Easy, clear sky,, 200mW tx only, record the distance on OSD. Prize: you get tea, I get scotch, Rob gets beer. :mrgreen:
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kaos
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

Post by kaos »

Rob and Skyscraper:
Get the Tea, Beer and Scotch ready. :lol:

Well, look at what I received today. the fastest shipping/receiving from eBay/China ever.
140320-1.jpg
It actually 'looks' pretty well made. Of course, how good the antenna performs is yet to be seen.
That clear acrylic tube is just glued on the brass plate. It came with a ceram wrap around the acrylic tubing, I just removed it. but part of the wrap is also glued under the tube that is what you see in close up with all that 'mess'. the helical is actually just sitting in the tube it moves inside the tube if you rattle it. but it is a very close fit to the diameter of the helical. The spacing of each helical turns seems matching the template Skyscraper made very well

The only thing I don't see is the impedance matching thing around the base of the helical:
140320-3.jpg
I will test it without any mod on it to see how it performs. If it is not good, then I will try to add the impedance matching thing. But the test will come when I get the planes ready.

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skyscraper
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

Post by skyscraper »

Hi Kaos,

It looks OK. Adding the impedance match is just a question of soldering on the little square of tin. It isnt critical but has to be about the right position off the base. around a 1/4 turn round.

The only problem may be kewping the wire in place, but you could use the former off my tin can helical maybe. Have you got anything to test it with?

Will have to try a shootout. Difficult thugh Might not tell us much, unless we were alll standing in the same place with same radios!

regards
Andy
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kaos
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

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Right. I will test it as is then decide if the impedance matching is needed (more than likely). once everything is set, I will put some hot glue to fixe the helical in the acrylic tube. It is only about 1-1.5mm space all around. I think a little hot glue at the tip of the helial to the tube will be fine.
I assume the 1/4 turn you are talking about is the tin started at the base of the helical and continue for 1/4 turn, not starting at 1/4 turn?
yes, the shoot out won't be exact. we all have different equipment and environment. But, it is fun to just a have comparison. Any way, the longest distance recorded on OSD/ GPS wins. only Single helical and a planar skew for diversity, 200 mW vTx allowed though. ;)
I will set up my long range plane ASAP for RTH to work. This would be my 1st time I may fly out of my radio/ video/ LoS range. I want to be sure the plane will come back on its own either by a switch when video signal is lost or when radio signal is lost and trigger the fail safe. :)
I was going to work on it today. but the allergy got me. It is the pollen season here. I can hardly see anything with tears in my eyes outside. :(
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skyscraper
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

Post by skyscraper »

A couple of bits of progress on the project.

First managed to get the FSK telemetry via the audio working...
[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85SXBYkTdV0[/BBvideo]

Second got to understand the HMC5883 magnetometer a bit better
[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n6azgfXCRA[/BBvideo]

Hope to incorporate the mag into the tracker and get the new airborne unit pcb done in the near future

regards
Andy
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skyscraper
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

Post by skyscraper »

Now managed to get the FSK demodulation done in software oboard the STM32F4 on the ground side to compliment to software conversion to FSK on the airborns side.

Airborne side conversion to FSK source
Ground side demodulation source

Tested to around 1km on my 25 mW 5.8 GHz Vtx and works pretty well.

regards
Andy
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skyscraper
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Re: DIY Antenna project with FrSky Telemetry

Post by skyscraper »

Hi, Its been a while, but work on the DIY tracker is ongoing. Since last autumn I have been working on an OSD, which sends data to the tracker using unused parts of the Video signal. The Hardware uses an STM32F4 rather than a dedicated video ic, so allowing it to do vector graphics:
[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYU1tqfJ1o0[/BBvideo]
I'm pleased to announce that all the source for both software and hardware for the OSD is up on Github. Its all in my quantracker repository. The firmware for the board is in https://github.com/kwikius/quantracker/ ... er/air/osd. To build the finished board firmware do 'make board_type4' in that directory.( You'll need the dependencies in the README). If you try the Makefile, I have no doubt there will be issues so please report and I'll try to fix. The schematic and pcb design which is done in KiCad is available in https://github.com/kwikius/quantracker/ ... d/hardware...

If you are feeling adventurous you can send the board to OSHpark. The zip for the alpha board is here

Please note there is very liitle of the higher level API yet, but the low level stuff is there. Also note that the board is a work in progress as everything else. The finished board will have some changes, though this one works as drawn without any issues..

Here is another video of the output...
[BBvideo 425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dxxMrSE19o[/BBvideo]

regards
Andy

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