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Hi RC-CAM, I can't speak for the future hobby unit, but you are correct about the BWAV unit being designed by myself and Ira over at Iftron Technologies. Bill

Hi Val, I appreciate any and all referrals. Regarding your questions: "Is there a specification you are willing to disclose that shows that your new receiver is better than the previous one? " The improvements over Matt's design were mainly for manufacturability and durability... Some of these design improvements actually turned out to be novel enough to patent, and these have been applied for. I can't talk about them unfortunately until AFTER the patents are approved. Our unit gives similar performance to Matt's design in terms of resistance to multipath resistance, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend replacing an old unit for that reason. There are a number of things about the new unit that make it more convenient to use however. First, the form factor is more compact and clean. Second, the unit offers an audio indicator when the unit switches between RF sections. Third, lights on the front of the unit indicate which RF section/antenna the unit is on. Fourth, channel switching is less finicky... it is managed from a single bank of switches on the back of the unit that insure both RF sections are on the same channel. Finally since it is in volume production it's availability is more secure... so if anyone wants to be in a place to quickly get additional diversity recievers and their installation requires a consistent form factor, then upgrading to the new unit might be a good idea. "Does your new receiver allow frequency diversity - switching between different downlink frequency bands?" Currently the two RF sections are locked to the same frequency, but the idea of frequency diversity is intriguing... do you see any particular benefit over allowing frequency diversity within the same band (ie, multiple channels in the 2.4ghz range) versus across bands (2.4ghz and 900mhz for example)? Regards, Bill

Hi Matt, Thanks for stepping in on my behalf, I have been out of touch for far too long. I am still quite busy, but trying to catch up on work! To that end I'm pleased to announce the general availability of the new Black Widow AV diversity receiver. A couple of comments worth making: 1) The new diversity receiver is not a copy of the old design. Fundimentally they perform the same work of course... switching between two video/audio streams, but the comparison really stops there. Proprietary hardware and software designs have allowed us to create a robust diversity receiver that will serve the aerial video community well. 2) The diversity receiver is now available. Follow the link below: http://www.blackwidowav.com/Diversity24.html 3) I owe a great deal of the credit to my partners over at Iftron Technologies, who took on the task of designing the hardware and engaging the contract manufacturer to build the unit. Their experience in the electronics field is unparalleled and I simply could not have brought this unit to market without their help. Thanks! Bill

For some good reading on the principles behind the light sensor used on this product (and optical mice) do a search on the internet for "optical flow". Pretty cool stuff. Bill

Yeah, it was some guy... Mark, Marty, Mo,... something like that All kidding aside, that was great work Matt!!

That would be a good test too. A flat plate probably only offers modest gain, but if it manages to help reject backside signals then it could be a good idea.

The diagram shows 50 degrees down to 9dbi... not too bad, and certainly acceptable for the receiver side. One advantage of this antenna, besides the modest gain, is that it helps eliminate 'backside' interference... for those of us operating in dense urban environments. Bill

This is so cool that I cut out a version of the antenna immediately after I saw it. I used muffler tape instead of tinfoil for the backing. I'll do an antenna shootout on my diversity receiver to see if it actually offers an improvement. Great find! Bill

Hi Dave, The diversity receiver has been completely redesigned and is being re-released mid-February. Here is a link to the webpage: http://www.blackwidowav.com/Diversity24.html Regards, Bill

That sounds like it would work, assuming polarization is the issue. That's the cool thing with diversity reception... you have twice as many ideas to try out

One of the other ways that a diversity receiver can help your range is via polarization diversity.... assuming you have your two antennas oriented such that their polarization is 90 out of phase to each other. The idea is that as the plane banks over, one antenna is going to become cross polarized (and effectively loose 20dbi gain) while the other antenna's polarization matches that of the plane. This doesn't solve the issue of blocking the signal with the plane body though. Regards, Bill http://www.blackwidowav.com/Diversity24.html

Very interesting! Just so I understand: 1) You have switch on your tx to turn FPV mode on and off. When it is off, the camera fixes to the center straight forward, and increases the throw of your rudder. 2) When FPV mode is on the rudder throw is much reduced, and the camera servo swivels at the command of the rudder channel. Since the rudder throw is so low, do you accumulate the values so that, when the rudder stick is released, the camera servo stays where it was last? I guess I am describing a function similar to an old project of Mr. RC-CAM, I can't recall the name right now. Great work, I am tempted to program up something similar. My Stryker does not have a rudder so I don't even have to change the rates

Andre that was great! Did you land while under the hood? What are you using to pan the camera, it is so smooooth with no apparent steps. (**edit**) Nevermind I finally read the rest of the posts on the thread and saw the comment about your PIC solution. Can you share some details on your algorithm?... not the detailed pulse width stuff, rather, do you have the circuit plugged into a channel that is controlled with a stick or a dial, do you have any auto-centering, etc. One of your earlier videos with this setup show the plane banking while the camera stays pointed in exactly the same direction. It gives the distinct impression that you somehow managed to fly the plane straight while wiggling the nose to the left and right! Nicely done Bill P.S. Cyber-flyer, I was reading some old posts on this thread and found your comment about me not shooting video because I'm too busy packing. Sadly it is the truth! Slowly the hobby is becoming a business, but so far it is still fun. I shot some nice video from a Parkzone Stryker which I need to edit and post. I don't have nearly as much cool music as Andre though

At the risk of violating the rc-cam no-commercial post rule.... I sell a couple different 5v ccd cameras. The smallest tips the scale at 13 grams and offers 480 lines of resolution. Mind you, this is for a ccd camera too. Send me a PM and I'll give you the shpeel on what I have. Thanks, Bill

The camera has been discontinued and there has been a run on the remaining supply. I sold my last ten to an engineering company. Does it HAVE to be the CX161 or are you just looking for a very small color CCD camera that runs on 5v? Bill