FPV Helicopter

[blkexp98]

I know quads seem to be the thing for FPV now but I'm curious about a helicopter build. Is there a reason for the quads like vibration and stability or is it just easier to fly?

The main thing that got me thinking about this was the monster helicopter called the Ghost 4. I was thinking something about 1/3 the size might be a good compromise for personal use.

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[toners777]

Helicopters just vibrate to much, even with dampers

[dwoof]

I was thinking about that, but haven't got past that yet.

[toners777]

Originally Posted by toners777

Helicopters just vibrate to much, even with dampers

Also, alot of the hard work is already done by quadcopter designers. You don't have to set up a GPS, or pick the gimbal and camera, the video transmitting and receiving equipment, its all there. A decent quadcopter is the MJX Bugs 20. Approx cost $200. 12mg camera. And a true range of approx 1200 ft. An app on your phone makes it the video receiver.

[toners777]

Originally Posted by dwoof

I was thinking about that, but haven't got past that yet.

Oh Gawd, I put cameras on a few helicopters, back in the day. I had it only for pictures, every single one was unusable do to vibration
Built a flamewheel 450, put some really bad ass video transmitting equip
on it. ( I mean, the range was 6000 yards )
Tried again, lost it in high wind. Gave up, bought a store model, because it had one thing, I couldn't ever copy. The return to home button

[cudaboy_71]

Originally Posted by blkexp98

I know quads seem to be the thing for FPV now but I'm curious about a helicopter build. Is there a reason for the quads like vibration and stability or is it just easier to fly?

for me personally, flying FPV is much more about the view than the skill of flying. maybe others view it differently. but, I like the freedom of just being able to crusie and look around in realtime.

maybe if i didn't already have decades of experience flying helis, but flying FPV quads is zero skill...you just push the right stick forward for speed, drive with the rudder, and adjust altitude with the throttle stick. I don't even think about the controls--I'm just flying like a bird.

It's fun to take to the beach, or on hikes, or just to check out new places from a different angle. I love my FPV setup--but, it's not even remotely the same hobby as flying helis--not for me.

May 30, 2021 - Foresthill Bridge, Auburn California - 4K (8 min 22 sec)

[reALIGNed]

Just for fun, I mounted my DJI Mavic Mini underside of my 600 heli (had the propellers off the quad). Once I got flying the heli via line of sight, I tried to watch the video screen from the Mini......it was do-able, but I wasn't comfortable flying. The gimbal did a really good job of stabilization, but never again. Each aircraft has its purpose.

[dshriver]

I did this back in the late 90's and early 2000's. I was running a high-end video production company. I bought a Vario gasser and fitted it with a huge gimble and a Sony DVCam. My heli had a big 4 watt 2.4ghz downlink that sent the camera image to a ground station. I flew and I had a camera operator running the gimble while watching the image either on a monitor in a hood or a pair of Sony Glastron googles (think very early VR headset). It worked.... mostly. I could get about 20 min of flight time. The gimble gave us lots of stability and after lots of trial and error we eventually got stable video. I used the video mostly for industrial videos, but we did some weddings, surveys, and real-estate work too.

It was a fun project but overall not worth the time, money and effort. The video was impressive but the heli required so much setup, ground support and maintenance that it was a real pain. I charged a huge premium, at the time, because of the PITA of the entire thing.

I did try flying, for fun, with FPV a few times. It was doable, but I never enjoyed it. Partly that was due to the $15k+ cost of my rig, I'm sure.

[cudaboy_71]

I did similar at a smaller scale in 2007 or so—gimballed up a trex 450, rewired a stock point and shoot digital camera so I could activate the shutter remotely. Was running 2.4ghz to the avionics, 72mhz to the gimbal and camera, and 900mhz to a video downlink to a tripod mounted screen. It took two people to operate, and I was the pilot. Thing flew like a pig, but that was actually better for smooth flight, but I spent most of my time trying to improve flying style, because even though the gimbal had decent damping, there was no auto stability on the camera video.

I never tallied up all the receipts. But, I must have had close to $3000 in a cobbled together consumer grade rig. It’s amazing to me that you can now plop down $1300 on the DJI fpv and have a maintenance-free 4k rig with digital downlink and hi-def real-time video through goggles—and it’s no more difficult to fly than the plane in Grand Theft Auto.

Originally Posted by dshriver

I did this back in the late 90's and early 2000's. I was running a high-end video production company. I bought a Vario gasser and fitted it with a huge gimble and a Sony DVCam. My heli had a big 4 watt 2.4ghz downlink that sent the camera image to a ground station. I flew and I had a camera operator running the gimble while watching the image either on a monitor in a hood or a pair of Sony Glastron googles (think very early VR headset). It worked.... mostly. I could get about 20 min of flight time. The gimble gave us lots of stability and after lots of trial and error we eventually got stable video. I used the video mostly for industrial videos, but we did some weddings, surveys, and real-estate work too.

It was a fun project but overall not worth the time, money and effort. The video was impressive but the heli required so much setup, ground support and maintenance that it was a real pain. I charged a huge premium, at the time, because of the PITA of the entire thing.

I did try flying, for fun, with FPV a few times. It was doable, but I never enjoyed it. Partly that was due to the $15k+ cost of my rig, I'm sure.

[hamburger]

I have a franken-450 with FPV gear and it is so much more fun flying this heli than it was previously LOS.
For imagery or 'just observing from above', my tricopters are much easier to handle - even without gps or other modern features that come with todays flight controllers.