Version 2.1 Upgrades (December 2001)

CHANGES
1. Rotation uses external pot with pulley/belt combination to give ~ 450° rotation by "gearing down" the feedback that limits the servo to a normal range of about 90 degrees.
2. Unified the power supply into 4 - 1.5v AA batteries (6V total) fed into the Xcam2 battery pack which outputs 12V DC. 6V is tapped off the input side to run the RC components.
3. Mounted the wireless transmitter directly to the picavet so that it always shoots directly down the kite string to the operator.

PERFORMANCE
1. Video performance dramatically enhanced with picavet-mounted antenna. Now the problem is how to handle the control + video monitoring with one person. A two man crew has trouble coordinating the photo composition.
2. When the kite gets out of range, loses signal, the entire rig seems to go spastic.
3. Kite seems to also go semi-spastic when the pico trigger is firing. The yashica has a very slow shutter release button, so as the pico trigger holds it down it freaks out a bit. We notice on the video that the whole rig vibrates. Not clear how much an impact this has -- photos taken near each other were sometimes very sharp and sometimes not.
4. Still aren't using muffler hangers for any sort of line vibration damping.
5. 800ASA Kodak was noticeably more grainy than 400ASA Kodak. Photo developer guy told me ceterus paribus Fuji print film has finer grain than Kodak.
6. Rig got caught up in a nasty dragging/bouncing/smashing incident with our 4x4 at 25 mph. Before it got airborne again it ruined the tilt servo gear train, but was otherwise unscathed. We also replaced the pico trigger servo because it has always sounded very gravelly.
7. Would be nice to replace the rotation stick with a potentiometer on the RC transmitter.

CONSTRUCTION
1. Picavet
   25" oak spars with eye hooks for pulleys. Longer arms should better resist counter-rotation of the rig/picavet.
2. Chassis
   Folded aluminum tray.
3. Video
   X10 video cam [Xcam2] and wireless transmitter mounted directly to chassis.
4. Camera
   Yashica T5
5. RC
   
   • Tilt servo direct-drive mounted to tray.
   • Pico servo directly presses shutter release.
   • Rotation servo directly mounted to picavet.
   • Rotation servo modified to infinitely rotate and always think it is at neutral so it stops wherever you leave it.
   • Rotation control is one of the joystick dimensions.
6. Power
   Separate 6v and 12v systems feeding video and RC
7. Kite
   Delta Conyne using default bridle angle
   
   *no pareto chart available

PERFORMANCE
1. Video essentially unusable because as chassis rotates antenna fires wrong way.
2. Rotation control poor because it doesn't have any holding power and is finicky to control.
3. Two sets of batteries seems like too much weight.
4. General wireless attachment is crude.
5. Yashica subject to annoying vignetting with 100 ASA film

CHANGES
1. Rotation uses external pot with pulley/belt combination to give ~ 450° rotation by "gearing down" the feedback that limits the servo to a normal range of about 90 degrees.

PERFORMANCE
1. The steering works better

CONSTRUCTION
1. Picavet
   20"? pine spars with eye hooks for pulleys.
2. Chassis
   Plexiglass tray
3. Camera
   Cheap Olympus (MD10) point-and-shoot "The Blimp"
4. RC
   • Tilt slightly geared with linkage from servo to tray.
   • Normal servo has small Lego gear up to press shutter.
   • Rotation servo directly mounted to picavet.
   • Rotation servo geared ~ 4:1 with Lego gears.
   • Rotation control is one of the joystick dimensions.
5. Kite
   Delta Conyne using default bridle angle

PERFORMANCE
1. Rotation control poor because the 4:1 gearing is relatively huge.
2. Works well enough, considering the blind-aiming and difficult aiming.

CONSTRUCTION
1. 200ASA Disposable APS camera.
2. dethermalizing timer.

PERFORMANCE
1. Only used one day.
2. The firing pin probably had way too much rubber-band to it, as it really whacked the camera.
3. That and the low light and slowish-film contributed to blurry pictures.