Nice. The only problem is when your battery ejects and the hole thing is powered off. I had this happen to me and subsequently lost a quad. I since have attached a Bluetooth tag to my mini quad so I can find it. Another good tool for this type of search is a lost model alarm. This type of searching can also be don with just a video receiver, just take off the antenna completely when you get near the quad and use it for hotter or colder type searching. I have found a friends quad multiple times this way.
I had to do the same thing with my goggles and a clover leaf antenna, I just turned the clover leaf on it's side and walked a grid like you would do with an avalanche beacon. I walked around in wait high grass for over an hour looking for my plane, but when I did that I found my plane within 5 minutes. I just watched the picture from the camera on my goggles and when it got worse I would I would stop and turn until it got better, then walk until it started to get bad again and repeat the process. You just follow the flux line right to it, it worked great.
for miniquads I guess a Loc8tor + other types of searching mentioned before should work just fine. For larger planes/quads add a GPS/GSM locator and a RF beacon with their own batteries that last couple of weeks.
Thanks for this Alex Greve. I have this gear in my field kit. I noticed you are using the video signal to search, which is a nice alternative/enhancement to the RSSI method, which doesn't work if the signal is so weak you lose telemetry. One spot we fly has 8ft high grass and radio searches are critical to finding downed minis.
My approach is different... I record my OSD data at the ground station. It shows the Lat/Long position that is received by my GPS. Even if I get a flyaway, I can head out in that general direction and when I pick up the signal again, if the craft has crashed I can see it in my FP screen, or, I can forensically review the recorded video and will see exactly where its position is. There is also a device sold from an outfit in New Zealand that will transmit a beep on a radio signal you can home in on with a radio receiver. I just can't afford a spectrum analyzer. Besides, what do you do if the batteries have died on you plane?
squishy654 Ditto, I point the antenna and look for the lowest RSSI reading and as I get closer I switch to range test. As cool as the RC Explorer is, it works as good if not better than this method.
Pro tip here: if your using a Naze board or others, put a buzzer on it and set up an aux channel to make it beep. 2nd pro tip: set failsafe with buzzer on, in the event of loosing transmission connection your quad will beep. Good buzzer can be heard from great distances and a pack of 20 will cost you less than $5 delivered.
Have you ever had a battery eject from a crash ? No beeper helps there I've used my goggles to find my mini it was still transmitting video only thing that helped me find it...
This is something that is needed in the RC world a good locater. If the battery goes dead or unplugged then you can't find it right? Also what is the range on this? I think we need IB crazy locater :)
So, would it help to knock down the signal using a trap or similar with that crosshair maybe? To isolate specific freqs and narrow the band? I ask because rather than fox hunting a lost craft, how about finding a transmitter in a pit area that is blowing out from a poorly made unit? I am trying to get my head around how I can use this for freq control and monitoring in the pits, as well as using it for inspection and check in.
There is... sort of. You can buy attenuators which reduce signal strength. Using attenuators on your receiver coupled with a directional antenna, you can get really close to the aircraft by just looking for where the video gets strongest. While this takes more work, many of us have done it successfully.
today I did the same thing with my miniquad that was lost in the woods, used my radio with Frsky telemetry , have the small display to show rssi and pointing the normal whip antenna tip to the direction of aircraft and see low rssi numbers drop and search that way! ;)
Alex Greve there are several models on eBay ranging in price, what model do you use, and are the cheaper ones worth buying or should we just go for the more expensive one? I do agree that buying a $300 device to rescue a + $1K quad is worth the investment, but would it be worth the difference or does it have features we wouldn't use in RC ?
Rigo Arevalo - I really do not know. I take this unit to FPV fly-ins to find lost vehicles, so I get a lot of use out of it. You just need an analyzer that covers the frequency you use, that's all. You don't need anything expensive.
There are models with less frequency bandwidth for $130 maybe? The 6G combo is much more powerful than that, you can check for WiFi, DECT, and lot of stuff.
Which has better range? The S.A. or the Goggles? I would think to use the goggles to get you in the area then switch to the S.A. for refinement. Am I close?
You are overthinking this. The Spectrum analyzer is used to find the aircraft. I never used the goggles. Certainly the analyzer gets more accurate as you get closer, though.
***** - I assume it would work the same, but the signal would be severely attenuated. If under 10 feet of water (ie crashed in a lake), you might not be able to do this too well. However, it is worth a try. I will test in a friend's pool and see if it still works.
***** Mr. Crazy. I love it! You brought up a really good point that I didn't think of and I am glad you did. I have seen several get ditched in the water and often, the VTX will stay operational for a short time underwater.
I fitted a buzzer so if I crash I can locate it from the noise when my quad goes into failsafe. www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__14521__HobbyKing_174_Discovery_Buzzer.html
Nice. The only problem is when your battery ejects and the hole thing is powered off. I had this happen to me and subsequently lost a quad. I since have attached a Bluetooth tag to my mini quad so I can find it. Another good tool for this type of search is a lost model alarm. This type of searching can also be don with just a video receiver, just take off the antenna completely when you get near the quad and use it for hotter or colder type searching. I have found a friends quad multiple times this way.
I had to do the same thing with my goggles and a clover leaf antenna, I just turned the clover leaf on it's side and walked a grid like you would do with an avalanche beacon. I walked around in wait high grass for over an hour looking for my plane, but when I did that I found my plane within 5 minutes. I just watched the picture from the camera on my goggles and when it got worse I would I would stop and turn until it got better, then walk until it started to get bad again and repeat the process. You just follow the flux line right to it, it worked great.
for miniquads I guess a Loc8tor + other types of searching mentioned before should work just fine. For larger planes/quads add a GPS/GSM locator and a RF beacon with their own batteries that last couple of weeks.
Claudiu Farcas Loc8tor is AWESOME! Much better than this method, I agree.
Thanks for this Alex Greve. I have this gear in my field kit. I noticed you are using the video signal to search, which is a nice alternative/enhancement to the RSSI method, which doesn't work if the signal is so weak you lose telemetry. One spot we fly has 8ft high grass and radio searches are critical to finding downed minis.
Awesome job!
That's pretty brilliant!
Thanks for sharing and have a great week
I used my Taranis and RSSI signal strength indicator to find my quad lost week. Without it, I NEVER would have found it.
do you think that the RF Power Meter by ImmersionRC would allow you to do the same thing? it is like $100 less than the rfexplorer unit.
Nathan Knight - Possibly when you get really close. I have not tried.
+Alex Greve Or the 3 EUR turnigy buzzer?
My approach is different...
I record my OSD data at the ground station. It shows the Lat/Long position that is received by my GPS. Even if I get a flyaway, I can head out in that general direction and when I pick up the signal again, if the craft has crashed I can see it in my FP screen, or, I can forensically review the recorded video and will see exactly where its position is.
There is also a device sold from an outfit in New Zealand that will transmit a beep on a radio signal you can home in on with a radio receiver.
I just can't afford a spectrum analyzer. Besides, what do you do if the batteries have died on you plane?
Nice tip Alex. Great tool to have in the box.
I do this using the RSSI from the tx telemetry, works like a charm if you know all about antennas and orientation.
squishy654 yeah same here! works great! ;) do you have the small display or see rssi on osd?
squishy654 Ditto, I point the antenna and look for the lowest RSSI reading and as I get closer I switch to range test. As cool as the RC Explorer is, it works as good if not better than this method.
Pro tip here: if your using a Naze board or others, put a buzzer on it and set up an aux channel to make it beep.
2nd pro tip: set failsafe with buzzer on, in the event of loosing transmission connection your quad will beep.
Good buzzer can be heard from great distances and a pack of 20 will cost you less than $5 delivered.
Have you ever had a battery eject from a crash ? No beeper helps there I've used my goggles to find my mini it was still transmitting video only thing that helped me find it...
This is something that is needed in the RC world a good locater. If the battery goes dead or unplugged then you can't find it right? Also what is the range on this? I think we need IB crazy locater :)
Slow to Direction find using this thing as it has a slow sweep rate. Having said that clearly it works with some patience. Good work
... perfect solution, Alex :-)
So, would it help to knock down the signal using a trap or similar with that crosshair maybe? To isolate specific freqs and narrow the band? I ask because rather than fox hunting a lost craft, how about finding a transmitter in a pit area that is blowing out from a poorly made unit? I am trying to get my head around how I can use this for freq control and monitoring in the pits, as well as using it for inspection and check in.
Or, if you use OpenLRS, you can use a walki talki to find it via the "lost aircraft beacon" feature :)
Excellent! Thanks Alex!
This is a nice idea. But it's even better if you combine it with a discovery beeper.
Wish there was a less expensive alternative. Very cool video. 😎
There is... sort of. You can buy attenuators which reduce signal strength. Using attenuators on your receiver coupled with a directional antenna, you can get really close to the aircraft by just looking for where the video gets strongest. While this takes more work, many of us have done it successfully.
I just flick a switch that beeps a buzzer connected to naze32 fc. $2. ( My 6 GHz rf-explorer like yours was delivered yesterday, still learning it.)
Great video!!
today I did the same thing with my miniquad that was lost in the woods, used my radio with Frsky telemetry , have the small display to show rssi and pointing the normal whip antenna tip to the direction of aircraft and see low rssi numbers drop and search that way! ;)
Alex Greve there are several models on eBay ranging in price, what model do you use, and are the cheaper ones worth buying or should we just go for the more expensive one? I do agree that buying a $300 device to rescue a + $1K quad is worth the investment, but would it be worth the difference or does it have features we wouldn't use in RC ?
Rigo Arevalo - I really do not know. I take this unit to FPV fly-ins to find lost vehicles, so I get a lot of use out of it. You just need an analyzer that covers the frequency you use, that's all. You don't need anything expensive.
ok cool, and sorry I meant Amazon. if that helps, one last question please. Which model do you use?
There are models with less frequency bandwidth for $130 maybe? The 6G combo is much more powerful than that, you can check for WiFi, DECT, and lot of stuff.
It's a VAS Crosshair antenna.
Did you have to input the transmitter data into the rf analyzer? Or does it pick up anything transmitting nearby?
Where did you get that antenna from? Obviously that antenna can narrow down the direction of incident signal.
Which has better range? The S.A. or the Goggles? I would think to use the goggles to get you in the area then switch to the S.A. for refinement. Am I close?
You are overthinking this. The Spectrum analyzer is used to find the aircraft. I never used the goggles. Certainly the analyzer gets more accurate as you get closer, though.
which model are you using. I see RF 500 but can't map that to the rfexplorer website. They are using different identifiers.
frankmetube this is an RF Explorer 6G Combo
I see there are different models for RF Explorer. Which one is recommended for finding quadcopters?
J. Slagoski You need the 6GHz model.
👍
+Alex Greve A crap I got the 240- to 960mhz. I see they got expansion modules.
Would it work if you use a rubber ducky antenna and look for the donut hole?
FlyingMerf yes I use it with FRSKY telemetry display with rssi
Nice tip.
which model rf explorer would you recommend, 6Gcombo,? Which one do you have
+leapnlarry - Yes I have the 6G combo
Good
Thx for this one
Will using the null of a omni antenna be good enough for following the weakest signal?
***** - I doubt it, but you never know. I never tried tracking with an omni.
Probably will. Provided that you know the frequency, the signal should get stronger as you close in.
how does that work if the target is underwater? Curious- not being a smartass
***** - I assume it would work the same, but the signal would be severely attenuated. If under 10 feet of water (ie crashed in a lake), you might not be able to do this too well. However, it is worth a try. I will test in a friend's pool and see if it still works.
Alex Greve thanks Mr. Crazy- much obliged.
***** Mr. Crazy. I love it! You brought up a really good point that I didn't think of and I am glad you did. I have seen several get ditched in the water and often, the VTX will stay operational for a short time underwater.
Alex Greve
especially if it was treated with corrosionX
***** I'm a fan of Humiseal ;)
Once the battery of the dron dies, how much time the vehicle antenna is transmitting until it's totally dead?
Usually you have 4-5 minutes before the transmitter shuts down.
i hope i won’t have to use mine to do this lol
where’d you get the antenna??
I make those in house... or I used to. That is an old model of the VAS Crosshair. It has been updated several times since then.
I fitted a buzzer so if I crash I can locate it from the noise when my quad goes into failsafe.
www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__14521__HobbyKing_174_Discovery_Buzzer.html
can you recommend a GPS tracker ?
+Sebastian Becker - Sadly I cannot. This is the only thing I am familiar with...
Ok
+Video Aerial Systems you just need a lost model beeper
connect it to an open AUX channel that is a 2 position switch