Michael S. Liberman

Galápagos Islands 2013 Video

As usual this took too long to finish!!  But a year and a half after our trip here is the video for the 2013 Galápagos Islands adventure.

Amateur Radio – Got My Ticket!

In this case a ticket refers to an FCC amateur radio license.  Something I’ve been wanting to do for a while.  Thanks to the members of the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club (SPARC), I participated in a weekend lecture session ending with a Sunday afternoon exam.  A couple weeks later my call sign appeared in the FCC database and now I am officially licensed as an Amateur Radio Operator with Technician privileges as KC4MSL.

Outer Banks Aerial

I put together some aerial shots from last summer’s trip to the Outer Banks.

Technical details …

Sunday Morning Flying

After completing the DJI Phantom upgrade over the winter, I’ve been out working on my flying and aerial photography skills.

Here is a sequence shot this morning with the DJI Phantom Quadcopter and edited with Final Cut Pro X.

DJI Phantom Upgrades

After buying a DJI Phantom 1 quadcopter and learning to fly last fall, I’ve spent the winter adding upgrades to the quad to improve the quality of video.

First I installed the DJI H3-2D gimbal for the GoPro Hero 3.  The gimbal mounts beneath the quadcopter, isolates the GoPro from vibrations generated by the motors and props, and helps to smooth out the resulting video footage.

To see the GoPro’s aerial view in real-time from the quadcopter, I installed the RC Logger 5.8 GHz video transmitter and receiver set.  The transmitter mounts beneath the quadcopter and receives video from the GoPro.  The live GoPro video feed is sent to a combination video receiver/LCD monitor mounted on the Phantom radio controller.  Very cool!!

I also installed the Skylark Trace IV OSD (on screen display data display) to show GPS satellites connected, speed, altitude, heading, and most important – battery voltage remaining.  This flight data is transmitted from the Phantom to the LCD monitor via the RC Logger video link separate from the video recorded onboard the GoPro.  Some soldering involved with this addition, but nothing too complicated.

Finally, I installed the Futaba 14SG radio control transmitter with the Futaba R7008SB receiver mounted in the Phantom for a more customizable flying experience.  Instructions from TheDiveO blog proved invaluable to completing the receiver installation and programming the Futaba 14SG for use with the Phantom.

Now it’s time to calibrate and test!