27 replies to this topic

[ThomasScherrer]

Any ideas about what is the height record ?

I am talking about:
private owned model planes,
with onboard video and GPS or other height measure equipment,
the flight must be video documented !

any of you tried to go hi ?


My own video documented record is only 869 meters (2851 ft)
with a 120cm foam wing and 250W electric motor.

Show us your max value, please,
and short plane discription will be nice.

Edited by ThomasScherrer, 01 April 2007 - 11:45 AM.

[cyber-flyer]

He, he, it's a bit of a sensitive issue. But since FAA has already said whatever they could say...
This picture is taken from my model at about 20000 ft:

My high mark: 24300 ft above ground level

That time I was simply looking at GPS screen to get altitude mark since telemetry board altimeter was maxed out. This one hasn't landed properly though .
I believe Giorgio Azzalin (http://www.noskylimit.com/) holds unofficial altitude record of around 31000 ft for a model plane. The record was documented but not published because of the problems with FAA at the time of the flight.
The official model altitude record holder is Maynard Hill, 8205m set in 1970!

[ThomasScherrer]

WOW, how did you find your way arround ?
your PDA or Computer with navigation program ?
what kind of video link with that range ?
what kind of RC link ?
Landed ? ups so the model is lost somewhere ? why ?

yesterday I changed my OSD firmware to display 9999meters as max,
but I dont limit it here, so if someone ever go to 12345 meters
it will simply show 2345meters, the video recording will document the roll over :-)
normally I only showed the 3 digits up to 999meters :-)
here our legal limit is 99meters, but no one have ever seen any consequences
from braking the rules, so who cares.

I have access to a military test site, where we can get access to the air unlimited on request, so I can go for the record legally.

Edited by ThomasScherrer, 29 March 2007 - 06:40 AM.

[cyber-flyer]

WOW, how did you find your way arround ?

Just memorizing the ground view from the plane and looking at major landmarks.
I also had an autopilot to bring the plane back to the starting point if I loose orientation or control.

what kind of video link with that range ?

500mW, build from whatever parts were available.

what kind of RC link ?

Regular Futaba PCM. 72 MHz

There is more info on my web site www.cyber-flyer.com, user: logs, pssw: logs to get into logs file, year 2002

it will simply show 2345meters, the video recording will document the roll over :-)

I need slightly different version, something to display 399.12345 ft to stay compliant with new FAA rules

Edited by cyber-flyer, 29 March 2007 - 10:22 AM.

[Crash9]

WOW!! is right. I didn't even know that was a possible . I thought a 1000' was high. cyber-flyer did I mis something, did the plane come back ok with RTL?

[cyber-flyer]

Unfortunately that flight ended in a crash. I overstressed the wing during fast descent and it broke off the fuselage and flew somewhere. I found the fuselage though, and all the electronics inside was amazingly intact.

[Mark Harris]

Wow, i was just looking at your site yesterday and trying to remember who it belonged to

I thought that picture was an OSD test screen

How on earth did you get 26000ft out of a futaba tx? Standard antennas?

[cyber-flyer]

How on earth did you get 26000ft out of a futaba tx? Standard antennas?

Standard antenna on TX, the receiver had ground leg added to create full dipole configuration. It's just a wire of the same length as aerial going in the opposite direction and connected to the ground. 5 miles vertical is where RC starts to loose the range.

[Wavess]

I´ve posted a while ago about that theory without getting a feed back excepting for Mr- RC-Cam, now I know it works I´ll replace my old 6 channels receiver for a multiplex rx-9 synth DS IPD, and will ground the dipole,jejeje

http://www.rc-cam.co...?showtopic=1627

Edited by Wavess, 30 March 2007 - 08:25 AM.

[ThomasScherrer]

I will warn you about that exactly multiplex RX !
it have some really outstanding performance results,
BUT is sensitive to hi frequency hi current signals flowing near it,
it is NOT sensitive to noise comming into it via the servo/powersupply,
but magnetic generated will freak it out.
I have only tested the 35Mhz version, a 72Mhz or 40Mhz could be different.

[Wavess]

Wow, too bad to hear that, many of my club´s members have them and they seem to be very happy with them even they report better results than using the futaba 139dp (by the way more expensive). I also have to say, that all of my club´s boddies have gas large planes, not electric, and without video gear. My instalation is a bit bad, I have just beside the rx, a high current line crossing it over, but has to be not a big deal for my old futaba ppm 6 channels receiver, I´ve go up to 2 km with it without loosing control at all. Thanks about the warning, I´ll try to do a safety test befor take off

[JMS]

WOW, how did you find your way arround ?

Just memorizing the ground view from the plane and looking at major landmarks.
I also had an autopilot to bring the plane back to the starting point if I loose orientation or control.

what kind of video link with that range ?

500mW, build from whatever parts were available.

what kind of RC link ?

Regular Futaba PCM. 72 MHz

There is more info on my web site www.cyber-flyer.com, user: logs, pssw: logs to get into logs file, year 2002

it will simply show 2345meters, the video recording will document the roll over :-)

I need slightly different version, something to display 399.12345 ft to stay compliant with new FAA rules

WOW Cyber-Flyer!

I heard great things about you but.... YOU DA MAN!

Seriously, very impressive and I knew you achieve this a while ago. As for Maynard Hill, he doesn't have a full time job anymore nor screeming kids around him all the time..... Yeah time... he's got lots of that. I'm sure if you had his time you could break his record. Hey maybe even fly past Ireland!

[Kilrah]

That pic is still in my dreams regularly, nice to hear you talking about that subject again

This one shows my record, May 5, 2005:



but this one a few meters lower looks much better



The IC engine was unhappy at this alt though.

Using a 40MHz Futaba 9C + 149DP too... but there it was about 50% dropout
From what I remember reading, the allowed TX power is higher in the 72MHz band

Hoping to get rid of that issue with my new custom R/C

Forgot to add a bit about the plane... standard .46 high wing trainer. 500mW TX and 8dBi antenna if I remember well.

[cyber-flyer]

Thanks! It's always be an exciting subject, at least for me. I wish I had more freedom and time to fly the skies but reality of the situation is quite different .

Military base sounds like a great place for this type of experiments!

What IC engine do you use Kilrah?
I was barely making 10000 ft with .40 OS in my early flights
Later I switched to .70 FS OS and it made a big difference.

The trick to get the range (for me) was to suppress all the interference from video equipment. The ground leg dipole was just an icing on the cake - it boosts the range by about 20%.

[Kilrah]

What a shame

8.5ccm cheapo MVVS if I remember well...

I don't think I was getting much interference from the video. At least, would have been some pain to do tests if that meant flying to 2km each time...

I did another flight at ~1300m that went perfectly well with another plane and a 100mW TX, the only pain was the absolutely crappy view I had from the plane which made it really boring to climb up to there, losing half the height each time I had to look down to see where I was

My record with an electric one is about 550m for now, I hadn't felt like going further even if that would have been possible, the view was already pretty nice. But it's only waiting for a better R/C to go very high and far

Edited by Kilrah, 01 April 2007 - 03:07 PM.

[Mark Harris]

I love that first picture of yours kilrah, it looks so green and perfect, even the lighting is perfect. I'd love to visit there one day

[JMS]

Yes stunning pictures! I assume it was taken from a digital camera?
It would be the day when I read somebody making great flight distance/height on an electric plane! I personally have no equipment to broadcast my flight distance like an osd, gps etc...

[ThomasScherrer]

>I personally have no equipment to broadcast my flight distance like an osd, gps etc...

but that can be fixed ! in a rain of money all problems can be solved :-)

[cyber-flyer]

Beautiful pictures Kilrah!
These views push me harder to implement the idea of HiDef downlink - imaging getting that resolution on VR glasses?

Edited by cyber-flyer, 02 April 2007 - 07:27 AM.

[Kilrah]

Yeah, I'd long for that

I bought a good HDV camcorder in December (Sony HDR-FX7), and it doesn't take long to notice the huge difference. I'd been filming quite a lot of things I've done in SD, but I've always been disappointed by not being able to actually feel the impressions I had when I actually was there. A bit hard to describe, but you surely get my point. I never really knew why, but it came out instantly once I got some HD footage. HD actually has a definition that gets in the same range as our vision, which means that when you watch a video on a nice big screen you'll actually feel like you were seeing it live, and get those sensations again.

I have made a few videos here. Of course you'll miss a part as you weren't there in the first place, but still, might show a bit of it.