Finding lost quadcopters -- ideas?
0I tend to do most of my flying in my yard, which is surrounded by a dense, mature forest with tall (60 ft+) trees in an unbroken canopy. I've lost, um..., a number of relatively inexpensive quads (ie Syma X5C/clones) when I inevitably and inadvertently fly them out of transmitter range and they go down in the trees (my name is Tony, and I have a problem... :-))
I have a pretty dismal recovery rate of say 5-10% when using just the transmitter and my ears to locate the quad in the forest. However, the one time it happened with a quad that was transmitting video over wifi, I was able to walk up to the right tree relatively easily by using my cell phone and the strength of the wifi signal as a guide. I didn't think too much about it until I happened to watch the following video today: Foxhunting a lost aircraft with RFExplorer
Since most all of my quads use 2.4GHz transmitters I'm wondering if it's worth spending roughly $200 for a cheap spectrum analyzer RF Explorer - ISM Combo and Handheld Spectrum Analyzer 240 - 960 MHz and 2.35 - 2.55 GHz or if it would be better to put the money towards quads and parts?
Does anyone have any experience with this sort of technology? Do any other techniques for recovering quads from challenging environments come to mind?
Thanks!
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Argh! You need a transmitter on the quad in order for a spectrum analyzer to be of any use...
@aacero Was gonna say, you can only do that if you're transmitting video, telemetry, or something else.
There are some threads on here about gps locators. You could also use something like a Bluetooth locator tag, but you do have to get close at that point. And to go fairly low tech you could just have a beeper on the unit and follow the sound. Lots of mini fpv quads do that.
The spectrum analyzer is very cool, but wow, pricey. You'll need the 6ghz if you start using 5.8ghz fpv, $355 on amazon.
@aacero Ya, +1. I was gonna say... without some kind of signal to track, signal tracking won't do much for you. Plus, as Chris mentioned, it's a pile of money wrapped up in tracking equipment.
GPS trackers, or audible tracking is probably the way to go. There are a handful of audible devices out there that activate after a period of motionlessness, or lack of ESC input. Operating under the assumption that once you've crashed into the scrub, or hang up in a tree you're going to be motionless, or you're going to stop trying to fly. After whatever number of seconds the beeper starts sounding. If I recall correctly, the devices are pretty cheap... maybe under $10??
This seems to work quite well - $24.
It's a GPS locator - you'll need a SIM (thus monthly service) for this.
It hiccups sometimes and sorta forgets to update it's location when I ask for it's location.