"Drone" Flying Rules

It's a topic that is debated a lot.  Can I fly, can't I fly.  Where, when, how far away can I be.  In FPV i'm not actually LOS so do I need a spotter?  Does that spotter have to be beside me or can I have one over the other side of the field.  Do I need to be able to communicate with the spotters?

I've seen the sheet that Stew from UAVFutures has laminated in his backpack and found it on the RPAS Training site.  I've got that sheet for anyone that needs it or wanted it.

Finally some Modding time.

I managed to get some time with my drone and a soldering iron last night.  I'd ordered a buzzer from Bang Good quite a while ago and decided that I'd take the drone apart and solder up both the VBAT and Buzzer to the Flight Controller.  I also thought I'd run a second cable from the positive battery terminal to use when I mod my receiver so I can get the battery voltage there too.  I still have my Runcam Swift 2 to install so there are a few things I'm hoping to get done tonight.

VTX Frequencies

So I've been a spectator at a few events and people always seem to be calling out VTX frequencies.  "Anyone on 3?".  I've seen charts of numbers and bands and I've seen the numbers on Fatsharks and wasn't actually sure what all this crap was.  You have 40 channel transmitters, 48 channel transmitters, and 48 channel receivers etc. Only 8 can really be used at once otherwise people get washed out.

The FatSharks I've seen have shown the band and frequency, as well as a 4 digit number.

When I was racing my RC Car, I had a list of Pinion and Spur gear sizes taped to the lid of my case, so I could quickly work out gear ratios in between races without getting my calculator out.  I figured I'd print out this list so I don't have to remember this crap.  This is the one I created if anyone is interested.

So there are 5 bands, which are numbered 1 to 5, or A, b, E, F, r.  That's handy isn't it.  There are then 8 channels, numbered 1 to 8.

My goggles, the Eachine VR D2 (no not the new Pro version) uses numbers.  These are displayed on the front of the goggles in clear view of everyone except the wearer.  They use 2 x Seven Segment Displays (digital clock numbers) to show the Channel and Frequency (in that order).

With my new VTX I can select the band and channel (and output power) so if I'm told we're using band F and I'm channel 1 I know that it is 5740. or 14 on my goggles.  Channel 1 and Band 4 which is F depending on which numbering scheme is being used.  The numbering is the same on my VTX.

This grid will come in handy so I know what people are talking about.

Battery Arrival

My batteries have been replenished with the arrival of Monty's battery order.  The weather has been a bit crap so no flying today though.

Wizard Damage

Monty bought a Wizard a few weeks ago.  On it's maiden flight at a local oval in our lunch break it landed inverted and broke the VTX, identical to how mine broke.  I told him to give it to me and I'd solder a new plug on it as I have a few spare. (They come in pairs and I bought 2 pairs).  Today he brought his drone into work and went to power it up.  One of the motors wasn't spinning.  I gave the offending motor a spin manually and it seemed to be jammed.

Yet another Wizard Arrives! That's 3!

Well another workmate, Steve, waltzed in with his Wizard RTF and a big smile.

The arrival of the backpack

A quick check of the tracking information and my backpack arrived in the country a few days ago.  Another vain check after lunch and it had been marked as delivered just after 1pm.

When i got home I ripped open the packaging.  It looks smaller than I was expecting, but it should fit everything in it.