Dienstag, 29. September 2015

Easy Antenna tracker - review and fieldtesting (ImmersionRC ezAntennatracker V2)

Immersion sent me their ezAntennatracker V2 some time ago. First I was sceptic if I want to use it, since tracker setup sounded way to complicated for me when I saw it in use by other FPVers.
But since they have "ez" (for easy) in many of their products I thought I'll give it a try. I opted to use only the PAN-Servo - TILT is only needed if you fly really high or if you have a very directional antenna. I use the 13dbi Spironet with 35° horiz and vertical beamwidth - so I dont need to TILT with the tracker.
This makes the mechanics way easier - just a big "plate" directly on the huge sailwinch servo where I placed the antenna. To get this on my tripod I just taped all together (doublesided tape) - the ezTracker with DiversityRX and servo. Of course the diversity here is overkill - if using a tracker you shouldnt need a diversityRX.

Summary:
If you have a copter or plane with ezOSD onboard - this tracker is really nice and easy to use. It gives you 360° of really good video signal quality! The fact that you have to have telemetry however is a showstopper for me on many FPV vehicles (I have many quads and planes and only few of them have telemetry).

For me: I packed the diversity and the tracker on one groundstation and I can switch between: tracker operation - or just diversity. Recently I made this quite modular with some gopro mounts (i can plug in antenna and monitor additionally if I want to).
In a next video I will try to compare the use of a tracker to my normal use of diversity RX with different antennas - most noteably the new Pepperbox high gain, high beamwidth antenna!


Info
Tracker: http://www.immersionrc.com/fpv-products/ezantennatracker-v2/
Pan-Servo: HS-785 HB Sailwinch Servo
Antenna: Spironet Patch 13dbi
you also need some SMA Antenna Extension cables!

►Startup (5mins!):
- set home (FPV vehicle with enough SAT acquired and with ezOSD telemetry running! standing next to the groundstation
- BEARING Calibration:
I found this to be the easiest way. You just move the copter away in one direction (20 or 30ft) and make sure the antenna is pointing in the right direction - if not - adjust.

►Requirements to get this tracker running:
Quite simple - you just need their ezOSD (or maybe some other compatible telemetry downlink?). the OSD sends GPS position and other telemetry info encoded in the audiochannel of your normal FPV downlink (one audio channel).