2015 Heli Extravaganza
Chris Mulcahy
cspaced@gmail.com
Let’s get this out of the way: it was wet! Little did we know that what we were experiencing was just the tip of the iceberg, as Hurricane Joaquin was barreling its way toward the East Coast.
The week after the Heli Extravaganza saw tremendous flooding at the Triple Tree Aerodrome, and South Carolina in general. However, we didn’t know about the hurricane at the time and made the most of it. Despite the weather, we still had 110 pilots signed in by the time the event was over!
I pulled in Wednesday evening, and luckily for me, it was dry and I soon had the camper situated. The following four days brought sporadic showers and gloomy overcast skies. This did not stop anyone! People squeezed in flights during the dry periods and wrenched on helicopters while telling stories during the wet parts.
The vendors that made it to the event didn’t let the rain slow them down either, and were set up along vendor row. Even the Experience RC big-rig mobile store made it in!
Not long ago, I discussed going to events regardless of weather forecasts, and this was a prime example of just that. Everyone had a great time, and
there were even some big-name pilots there who showed off their skills, including Nick Maxwell, Matt Botos, Bert Kammerer, and Kyle Stacy.
The pond claimed a few model aircraft victims, as pilots pushed their limits over the water. The first helicopter to go in belonged to Mark Griggs, who valiantly stripped off his clothing and waded in to retrieve his model. Andrew Merlino was next after something fell off of his heli and ended up in the water. James Haley waded in after an FPV quadcopter (it was not
his first time in the water at Triple Tree, either!).
When the rain started coming down, people resorted to flying foamies, both large and small. There were a few Carbon Cubs buzzing around, and I may or may not have been flying my Beaver off of the pond from time to time. No matter what the weather was doing, people still gathered, laughed, had a good time, and made fond memories.
A big attraction at this year’s Extravaganza was the FPV race course. Unfortunately, because of the weather, no “real” racing was done. In other words, there were not any timed runs. This didn’t stop the fun though, and people were racing the course during every bit of the dry spells that they could get. Some even raced when it was drizzling out, but I soon found out that ESCs don’t like to get wet!
Tim King Jr. organized the race course this year, and there were many sponsors. FPV vendors lined the pit area, but soon had to move up the hill because of the rain.
The course consisted of a number of gates and flags, with small bright orange “pucks” guiding the way. I thought that the course was laid out perfectly, with the emphasis on handling and a few straight runs for speed. This is sure to be a big hit next year, and I know the organizers have some pretty cool things in mind, so watch this space!
Thanks go to Steve Rogers and his family, as well as Clint Akins and Darrell Sprayberry, for putting on another awesome event.
FPV Equipment
I mentioned in last month’s column that I had vowed to build a racer and race it this year—and I did! I actually got onto the course and ran many successful laps. Amazingly, I didn’t break anything, and only a couple of times I found myself having to walk out onto the race course to retrieve my upside-down quad.
I left off last month with my homebuilt quadcopter racer having been flown and ready for FPV gear. At the suggestion of my FPV mentor, Tim King Jr., I bought the ELGAE FOV127 camera and transmitter set with LT200, V700, and FPV RTU cable. I don’t know what all that means exactly, but the video transmitter (VTX) has 32 channels, and the kit cost approximately $30. I also used the Quanum V2 DIY headset from HobbyKing, which comes with a monitor built into a headset for approximately $60.
While I was at the Heli Extravaganza, I quickly found out that the stock antennas were not up to the job. I could only get roughly 100 feet away before the picture would start to break up.
Luckily, Ready Made RC was on site, and soon sorted me out with some new antennas. They were SpiroNET circular polarized Omni antennas from Immersion RC, with a SpiroNET Patch directional antenna on the second antenna input of the dual-diversity FR632 5.8 GHz receiver. These new antennas really opened up the range on my setup, and I was able to cruise comfortably around the spacious race course without any signal problems.
The only problem that I saw was signal bleed from one channel to another, and in some instances, pilots lost their video if other pilots turned on their gear on or near the same channel. I think it’s time for 5.8 GHz frequency hopping!
Tim did a great job of organizing FPV racing at the 2015 Heli Extravaganza, and I know that it will be a huge event next year!
SOURCES:
Triple Tree Aerodrome
www.tripletreeaerodrome.com
DIY Quad Copters and EpicRC.com
(910) 616-3480
www.diyquadcopter.com
Ready Made RC
www.readymaderc.com
HobbyKing
www.hobbyking.com
Futaba
(800) 637-7660
www.futabaRC.com
ImmersionRC
info@immersionrc.com
www.immersionrc.com
International Radio Controlled Helicopter Association (IRCHA)
www.ircha.org
