The Zen of quad-copter flying

[rdonnay]

I bought a DJI Phantom Vision 2 about 2 months ago and only got around to flying it while on vacation this week.

Tom Liehr has the same copter and so we are in the same club.

I was first introduced to drone helicopters in 1966 when I was asked to save a drone from going into the Pacific Ocean. It had a lot of similarities to this quad-copter in that it would hover whenever it lost connection to the transmitter on the ship. The difference, however is that this little copter will fly back home and land whereas the DASH (drone anti submarine helicopter) would hover until it ran out of gas. I was the leading electronics technician aboard our ship at the time so I was given the task of saving the helicopter when the transmitter failed.

I looked at the transmitter and noticed there was no plate current. I did what anyone would do when there is only 5 minutes of gas left. I put my fist into the front of the transmitter and it started working. After another hit about 4 minutes later they managed to land the helicopter aboard the ship. That was my first experience with drones. My latest experience, even though not as memorable, sure made me appreciate the state of the art.

[RDalzell]

DJI Phantom 3 Professional
Flies wonderfully, about 12 hours logged thus far.
The camera video 4K is outstanding.

Our fire district on their maiden flight with the Phantom 2 flew and have never have seen it since....

[rdonnay]

Our fire district on their maiden flight with the Phantom 2 flew and have never have seen it since....

Rick -

Welcome to the Quad Copter Club!. That's 3 of us so far.

I read all the reviews about this and also read the manual very carefully.

The first thing I did was set a max radius and max height.
It would not fly more than 100 feet from home.
That worked perfectly. I tested it in a baseball field. I also tested shutting off the transmitter.
As advertised, it flew to 66 feet altitude, then to home and slowly descended with a perfect landing and shut itself off.
So far, so good.
It won't start if the compass isn't calibrated or if the battery is low. Earlier firmware didn't have those safety features.

Also, the firmware on the Phantom 2 has been updated with more safety features.
I have the Vision 2. 14m pixel camera with very good stability.

GPS reception is critical. If you don't get 6 satellites, you shouldn't fly.

[Tom]

The most important thing is to calibrate the compass everytime you booted the copter. Don't fly if the lights don't show green. I did this once and ran around through the woods for half an hour in order to find the aircraft. (Check out "find my drone" in the app.)

I ordered the Phantom 3 professional two weeks ago (it's 4K, Rick, not 2) and currently wait for the delivery. Unfortunatetly, Berlin and the area around is a zero flight zone, so you're not allowed even to fly 10 feet high in your own garden. On the other hand, nobody cares, unless you crash or cross the course of an airplane.

I've been trying to fly RC-helicopters when I was (a little) younger. After starting, it took about 10 minutes to trim the helicopter, and after that, the damned toy never did what I wanted it to do (or the batteries were empty). Nowadays, you switch them on and just fly. And you get really amazing pictures and videos while doing that. Or you get something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07XkiOGFRxk

[Tom]

This is the one I like most:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9rnTk6FBzs

What you find out: SD cards are water resistant!

[rdonnay]

My flying experiences have been going well.
Now I am trying to get acquainted with ground station, where I setup waypoints and have the quad fly between the points.

I would like to cache maps for areas that are 30 miles away and then set up the waypoints when I get to that area. I haven't found out how to do this. It wants an internet connection at the location where flying. That isn't always practical because there is no wifi.

Tom - what do you do in this case?

For example, you remember us driving to Chrissy's house for dinner?
There is a baseball field near her house where I want to test out the ground station capability.

I want to use home plate as the home position, and then set waypoints at 1st base, 2nd base and 3rd base. I want it to fly between the bases and touch each base before flying back home. This will give me some ideas about it's capabilities. I have ideas for how I want to use this at the next devcon and at my military reunion coming up this year.

If I walk down to the baseball field, I won't have internet to load the map.

[Tom]

Check this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH42uJjGMR4

[RDalzell]

Groundstation is not yet available for the Phantom 3, DJI says in a firmware update later this year.

I wish that I had the guts and talent to do this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GodD19X2xLA

[RDalzell]

Once I can determine which FPV system would be best (I need glasses for reading, uncertain if I could wear system without glasses), I desire the next step to what they say is a really growing number of racers.

From your own home town Roger...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr9NWxASLAE

Less expensive than my DJI, and more especially replacement parts as well.

Rick

[rdonnay]

Once I can determine which FPV system is best

I have been researching this for awhile.
There really is no good solution yet for our DJI Phantom Vision quads.

There are several solutions if you want to replace the camera.
I'm waiting for FPV goggles that connect to an existing mobile phone that runs the DJI app or the Litchi app.

They don't exist yet.
I'll bet there will be several available within the next 6 months.
I think I'll go to CES with Bobby Drakos again next year.
I'm sure I will see them.

The other option is media glasses that connect to the HDMI output of a mobile phone or tablet.
It's not a good option.

I heard a rumor that DJI is developing their own FVP goggle system.

That drone-racing video was interesting. These were tiny, less expensive drones.
Nothing you would want to do with a DJI Phantom.

My interest in all this is just getting good videos of landscapes and people.
I enjoy doing that and putting it to music.