Unsuspecting security camera
) deviation from the spectrum analyzer posts, I’ve spent a little time working on repairing a security camera I’ve been hanging onto for a while. I’ve been toying with the idea of installing it near the radio control flying field as someone in the club knows the owner of a nearby business.
IF Amplifier cooling down
I’ve decided to hold off posting spectrum analyzer modules until they’re complete. I’ve been collecting tons of pictures along the way, so hopefully the post for each module will be interesting and visually appealing. With that in mind, I can’t post about any of the modules with the exception of this one. Read more…
IMPORTANT!! – I’ve made a special page for my construction and testing of the spectrum analyzer. It’s available on the navigation bar below the blog title banner, or here.
A while back I bought a spectrum analyzer kit. It can display waveforms in the frequency domain from 0 to 1000 Mhz. I haven’t worked on it for a while, but I’ve decided to start working on it again. If you’re interested in more information, there is a webpage for the analyzer by the guy who designed it, and there’s a Yahoo group, also. If you’re really-really interested there is a group buy open (until the 28th of march 2010) here. Anyway, I’m sure it’s of limited use to my usual readers (thanks, friends & family! [oh who am I kidding, most of my family doesn't read this ]), but it may be useful to others working on the kit. I’ll post the “annotated” CAD images for each board here, and add images of the completed boards when I finish them. Who knows, it may be interesting for someone. Also, I’ll include my thoughts and observations while building these boards. Finally, not all the boards that come with the kit include annotated layouts, so I’ll have to dig around and figure out what they do and what to put on them Read more…
Comparing antennas
I’ve finished building the first (and my first) Yagi antenna for the Kadet video downlink. I mentioned in the first video post that a new, and better, antenna would help greatly. Read more…
Flying video
The weather sucked, but I was able to get out the the field this morning. I recorded about 17 minutes of video in total. In the embedded clip, I edited out the majority of the static. I’m a little disappointed that the signal quality is so poor. I found a site that has some cheap Yagi antenna designs in 50 and 75 ohms. I’ll probably try to build one this week and see how it goes.
More information about the camera is available in these posts, if you haven’t already seen them.
Painted to match
Taking advantage of the crummy weather, I decided to paint the camera module to match my plane. I didn’t just do it for the aesthetics, no really, I swear. 
Actually, the real reason I painted it was to prevent stray light from making annoying reflections on the inside of the window.
Camera installed with Transmitter
I’ve just finished building a camera module for my Kadet. When I was building the plane I knew that I was going to try and put a camera and transmitter approximately where the pilot’s head would be in a real plane. Read more…
Ready to fly at the BCRCC Polar Bear
I’m back from the third (and fourth) flight, and it keeps getting better! On Friday (New Years Day) I went to the BCRCC (Benton County Radio Control Club) “Polar Bear” event. Basically, the idea is: On new years day, rain or shine, everyone comes and flies something. There is a raffle for all those that fly. I brought the Kadet, mostly because that’s the only plane I have, and the tiny Blade mSR that I got for X-mas. Read more…
This weekend I was blessed with some good (great) weather. Saturday morning was cold, but very calm and clear.
My friend Tom agreed to be my test pilot for the first (well, second ) flight. He got it all trimmed and ready to fly. I say it was the second flight because while I was taxiing it around, I decided “what the hell” and decided to fly it… Well it didn’t end that well.
Takeoff cartwheel
I’ve just finished building the first radio controlled airplane kit since, i don’t know, over a decade. I tried to build one 8 yeas ago, but never finished. Anyway, It’s pretty exciting. I’ll share some of the building process with you. My intent from the beginning of the project was to build a arial platform for autopilot development, photography, and, perhaps, an attempt at FPV (first-person video).
With those goals in mind I decided to select a “trainer,” which is a very stable plane intended for teaching new pilots. There are several advantages to a trainer in this context. In a way, I’m training an autopilot to fly, so it’s a fitting. In addition, a typical trainer has a simple, boxy fuselage. I think that the simplified geometry should be easier to build around. The individual plane I settled on is the SIG Kadet LT-25, and my mom was nice enough to get it for my for christmas a few years ago.
Official photo of the Kadet
I wanted the plane to be on the small side because I’m 100% electric for all my planes and helicopters. I don’t have any investment in nitromethane power, and I don’t want any. It’s stinky, loud, dirty and annoying. At the same time, electric power is getting better and better. The batteries are increasingly amazing in their capacity and power. Unfortunately, I don’t have any early building photos. But, I’ll talk about some of the photos I do have: Read more…