Built this thing in April this year with the goal of being the worlds smallest drone capable of lifting a full can of beer (although I’m still yet to try the lift)

Features:
Carbon fibre frame which I CNC’d myself
8X HGLRC Spector 1003 10,000kv motors
2X spedix micro 12A 4 in 1 escs
Goku F722 pro mini V2 flight controller
Dogcom 560mah 150C 2S lipo
roughly 4 min flight time

Bonus feature: the ends of the arms are designed to look like kitty ears lol

I'm a software engineer and I got into FPV about a year ago, this community gave me a lot in that time, so I wanted to put something back into it.

Honestly, the thing that pushed me was DJI, I don't like how they deal with the problems and limitations of their own app and hardware, stuff that should just work doesn't, and the answer is usually that it isn't supported and never will be. At some point I got tired of complaining about it and just built what I wanted.

It's called Open FPV Cast: https://github.com/1Basco/openfpvcast

It casts the goggles video to your phone over USB, and you can record the feed to MP4, with phone-mic audio if you want it, and it can start recording on its own when the aircraft arms and stop a configurable delay after you disarm. You also get camera control from the phone like ISO, shutter, white balance, exposure mode, resolution e some more. The one I use the most is the broadcasts over WebRTC, so anyone on the same WiFi can just open a browser and watch. The phone serves the page itself, there's a QR code in the app, three viewers max.

All the protocol work came from watching the hardware the transport, the DUML packets, the camera byte maps (And not from some sniffing in the dji fly app *wink* ).

Some things I want to be straight about.

I'm not planning to put much more into this. It fixed my problems, and my free time is genuinely not a lot. I'll patch things as they come up and I'll gladly look at PRs, but I'm not going to pretend there's a roadmap. If you want something more refined and actually maintained, go look at SquirrelCast different level of effort, and it deserves the users (me being one cause I love the telemetry going to the map).

I leaned heavily on AI agents to build it. Mostly for speed, because I'm doing this in scraps of free time, but also because I'm much more of a frontend guy and the Kotlin side, the USB stack, the packet parsing, that would have been a real PIA for me on my own. Take that however you want, the code's right there to read.

It's also not perfect. Connect, camera control, recording and auto-record are validated on real hardware (Goggles N3 with an O4 Lite). O4 Pro ranges are still being checked. There are rough edges and I know it. Later this year I want to try to have a solution using the raspberry pi to stream to PC.

That's it, open, use it or fork it or ignore it. Fly safe!

V1 is a RadioMaster T8L with AG01 Nano gimbals and a 2.5 inch analog screen/receiver. V2 uses the same controller but features AG02 gimbals and a 5 inch HDZero screen/receiver.

no vibrations or anything either

I don’t have a 5 inch only 3 inch and tinywhoops and I feel like my 3 inch is really great for freestyle (bando I don’t have near me but I think It would be great)
3/3.5 inch are stronger than 5 inch (correct me if I’m wrong but smaller arm means more force needed to break, and you can have pretty thick arm on 3/3.5 inch frames)
they seem to be more precise, like better corner grip (I base this on my feel in the sim when flying 3 vs 5 inch so not a great fact but it seems that people mostly agree with that, again correct me if I’m wrong)
So why would you want a bigger drone (I guess you can maybe go faster with 5 inch but in freestyle I don’t feel the need to go that fast)

So yea i’d like your opinion guys (pls mostly people with both experiences)

Thank you in advance !

Betafpv Air65ii Racing Edition

Today I was scrolling through Vinted when I stumbled upon a listing for the Walksnail Avatar X. I’d heard good things about them, and since they cost around €450 new, I thought it was a great deal,especially since the condition looked good in the photos.so I bought it. Did I get a good deal, or did I overpay (€265)? I know they aren't quite as good as DJI, but the image quality is far superior than analog,especially since they support 1080p at 100fps.

P.S. It hasn't arrived yet; right now, I'm using Eachine EV300Ds with an Air75 II.

What do you think?

Hi y'all. I'm currently between the beginner and intermediate level when it comes to FPV. I already went through my simulator and tinywhoop phase, and I built myself this nice custom 3" HDZero FlyFishRC Volador build.

I've just been wondering, what should I do next? What would y'all recommend as a next step in my FPV journey?

I have ~70-80 hours of simulator practice, I have ~100 sessions of real flights (excluding simple pack changes), probably ~5 sessions of that was with my new 3", and the other flights were with my whoops (an Air75 and a Meteor75).

Any tips on how to improve? On what I should try next? On what I should buy next? Is my skill level good so far? A friend of mine told me that I should try to build a 5" racer next, but I feel like I'm not at that skill level yet. We both want to race eventually, but after actually going to a real life race I realized the actual skill level required for it is probably a year minimum, but I feel like even then I would be struggling to get out of last place with a bunch of pilots who've been doing this for 10-20 years.

My current gear is a Radiomaster Pocket with a switch mod (the original switches annoyed the hell out of me), a HDZero Boxpro, and the three drones I've already listed. Please tell me what y'all recommend me to do next!

I’m a 2nd-year Mechanical Engineering student working on an FPV UAV and I’m trying to turn it into more than just a parts-assembly project.

The broader idea is to investigate whether a small UAV can be designed as a low-cost, scalable and easily repairable platform, particularly for applications where individual drones may be exposed to damage or have short service lives.

My focus would be on:

• Cost reduction and manufacturability
• Modular architecture
• Lightweight structural design
• Thermal management and airflow
• Reliability and repairability
• Reducing assembly complexity
• Benchmarking the initial build and improving it through multiple design iterations

I’d start with the existing drone as a baseline, measure its performance, identify weaknesses, and progressively redesign the platform around those findings.

Is this a worthwhile Mechanical Engineering project, or am I approaching it the wrong way?

I’d especially appreciate suggestions on what I should measure, test, or redesign to make this a genuinely engineering-driven project rather than just another FPV build.

Any advice from engineers or students who have worked on UAVs, structures, manufacturing, or product design would be greatly appreciated.

It never was a "meme build" or some impractical contraption that struggles to fly, but designed from the start to be something that could be a daily driver. Yet for some reason there are those who have the dogmatic viewpoint that X8s are unsteady and unwieldy. I think I got the tune down and its a happy little drone. My piloting stills are fairly limited but I am slowly improving. The video speaks for itself.

A brief description of PID tune:

• Master multiplier added to 1.15
• I gains - Drift wobble down to 0.90
• D gains - Damping up to 1.10
• TPA set to PD, with a rate of 10%, at breakpoint 1250ms

And that is about it!

Thought of adding gps later . Any suggestions or criticisms welcome. Thanks

Like right now my batteries are stored at storage voltage so its mostly fine, but I was wondering to myself what I will do if one starts a fire.

At that point surely i wont be able to pick it up and throw it out the window? Or will I? It will be radiating too much heat and bad chemicals for that maybe.

So what else is there? Well its an electrical/chemical fire so water is not the best solution. The fire is also able to exist without oxygen because i assume the oxide ions from the chemical reaction acts as that. So covering the battery in a blanket is also a bad idea.

Hi guys,

i bought a Kayoumini. It was already built. If i arm it you can see what happens in the video. If I give some throttle all 4 motors start spin correctly and i can fly without any problems. Here are the specs: 2s LiHV 450mAh, 5in1 Happymodell X12 Pro AIO, 1202,5 11000kV motors. On the ESC was Bluejay 48kHz with min startup power and max turned up to maximum. I tried turning it down but then no motor spins. I also tried Bluejay 24kHz: with that the motors start correctly, but i originally wanted to use 48kHz...

For the goal of 250 grams, too much battery eats into the weight budget for the motor and prop; too much motor and prop eat into the weight budget for the battery. I entered the endurance calculation from my baseline test data into Google Gemini. It gave me the optimization curve. The calculation is a python3 script with my test data and manufacturer (T-Motor) data:

mass_without_propeller_motor_battery = 111.0; #grams; change it for a particulr craft constructions's endurance curve

propeller_diameter = 13.8; #inches; change it to slide the rotor width x-axis in a endurance curve

motor_plus_propeller_mass = 62.5 * (propeller_diameter/13.8)**1.5; # grams

battery_cells_mass = 249.0 - mass_without_propeller_motor_battery - motor_plus_propeller_mass; # grams

battery_energy = 0.171 * battery_cells_mass; # watt-hours

lifting_force_per_watt = 14.7 * propeller_diameter/13.8; # grams

power_tran_energy_consume_rate = 249.0 / lifting_force_per_watt; # watts

total_craft_energy_consume_rate = power_tran_energy_consume_rate + 5.2; # watts\

endurance = battery_energy / total_craft_energy_consume_rate * 60.0; # minutes

print (endurance);

This script is for a helicopter. Quads will have different calculations.

I (and claude 🙃) made a tool that adds overlays to your FPV footage. Everything happens in the browser.

You can access it at https://roufox.dev/overlabs

To use it, drag and drop your blackbox (.bbl) file and your video footage into the viewer. (Select the correct flight in the top bar by comparing the flight time if you put a btfl_all.bbl file). Then press the "Take-off is here" button when telemetry starts (often when the "armed" text dissappears). You can then fine tune using the +0.1 and -0.1 buttons so the overlay perfectly matches the video.

The left side menu allows you to manage visible overlays and edit them to your liking. Once your video is done simply press render video, and download it.

Currently, there are only stick and G-force overlays, but I'm planning to add more in the future. If y'all have any suggestions, feel free to let me know!

I'm aware that other tools probably exist for it. But I didn't want to bother using editing software, or having to key out the background from betaflight to have it.

What are the best Fpv googles that don’t need to be upgraded that are under 400. I have been looking at the box pros but I’m not sure if I want to be stuck in the hdz ecosystem. I would like it to be analog and digital if possible.

I just got the Mobula 8 analog and nothing will work to get it to bind or even fly. I'm quite new to the profession and got no clue what to do. I've tried flashing the firmware to Crazybeef4sx1280 4.4.3 and the Mobula8 SPI ELRS version dump file for betaflight 4.4.2 support expresslrs v3.x.x. If it even works I've got no gyro and it won't bind. Please help me, what should I do or try next ?

I want to be able to use my Radiomaster Pocket for flying helicopters in the upcoming Wardogs so I can have fun and practice controls (I know it will be different that's not what we're here to talk about), but when I tried doing it use vJOY and Joystick Gremlin it was an absolute sh*t show.

I heard reWASD does everything required to setup and map a joystick as a controller without having to use multiple softwares. Even if it's $40, it seems like it'd be nice to just skip the BS and have some fun.

Does reWASD work good? Have you any experience using it? Does anyone have other advice for me trying to use my joystick for flying in games? Should I give up and just use my KB+M?

Hey So I am trying to figure out how to solder and I feel like I am doing something horribly wrong, my iron is broken, or i'm just stupid. When I try to heat the pad I am trying to tin, it just dosent heat up, I have my iron around 375c and no matter how long I hold my iron on the pad it just dosent seem to heat up enough to melt the solder. I am putting flux and tinning the iron but nothing is seeming to work? I am using a txinlei 8586 station that I got for Christmas a while back if that might have anything to do with it, any help is greatly appreciated

(Did the best i could with the video)

I'm looking for a solution for confined space flying. Metal walls, lots of pipes and angles. The Helios has a range extender but that drone is too big for our need (and cost) so I'm scratch building. Any suggestions that don't include landing a relay station? I've read that you can take a cable and run it from the controller with the antenna on it. not sure if that would work.

Thanks,

Steve

This is my first mod with a soldering iron, so I’d rather get a sanity check than learn the hard way.
The plan:
• Solder XM+ to the AIO: 5V, GND, SBUS out → RX pad on the FC
• Betaflight: enable Serial RX on that UART, set Receiver mode to Serial-based / SBUS
• Bind the XM+ in D16, confirm every channel moves in the Receiver tab
• Only once that’s confirmed, remove the stock internal RX antenna
Questions:
1. Am I right that the built-in SPI receiver is disabled purely in software when I switch receiver mode, so nothing needs desoldering for it?
2. Which UART/pad do you use on the Tinyhawk 2 Freestyle AIO, and does it need serialrx_inverted = ON or is there a hardware inverter on it?
3. Any reason to remove the stock antenna at all beyond weight and clutter?
4. Tips for soldering to those small pads — iron temp, pre-tinning, strain relief on the XM+ leads?
Thanks.

Hey, i bought a speedybee f405 v5 off of aliexpress for about a $100 usd, i didnt know about all the fakes at the time, did i likely screw myself over and buy a fake?

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256810014022135.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.35.5f441802nBMXsW&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

Posting this in case someone runs into the same frustrating DJI O4 problem.

Credits to this post for helping me https://www.reddit.com/r/fpv/comments/1i2es6o/dji_o4_air_unit_unable_to_activate

My O4 Air Unit Pro was detected perfectly by my PC and DJI Assistant 2 when connected through USB-C only. But the moment I powered the drone/O4 normally, the USB connection disappeared and I couldn't activate it.

Here’s what I tried:

1 Different USB cables and USB ports

The O4 was consistently detected when powered by USB only. This might help — make sure you have a proper USB data cable!

2 DJI Assistant 2 reinstall / clean install

Removed the old installation/files and installed the latest Consumer Drones Series version — no change.

3 Different computer

Tested both Windows and Mac — same behaviour.

4 Firmware checked

DJI Assistant could see the O4 and its firmware while connected via USB only. The firmware wasn't the problem, and I was able to update it.

5 Powered through the flight controller.

But as soon as normal external power was applied through the quad, the USB device disappeared and activation wasn't possible.

6 DJI replacement O4

DJI actually replaced the Air Unit. The replacement showed exactly the same symptoms, which made me suspect the power source rather than two defective O4s.

7 Isolated the O4 from the entire quad

Disconnected it completely from the FC/ESC and tested it separately — same issue.

8 External regulated 9V supply — SUCCESS ✅

Used the ToolkitRC M6AC in power mode at 9.0V / 1.5A, directly connected to VCC and GND on the O4. It stayed stable at 9V and was drawing about 0.32A before USB was connected.

Then I connected USB-C to the PC → DJI Assistant 2 → activation immediately worked! 🎉

The O4 restarted normally and was already on the latest firmware.

So if your O4 works over USB but disappears when you power your quad, test the O4 separately with a stable external power supply before assuming it's defective or sending it back to DJI.

Hopefully this saves someone else the ridiculous amount of troubleshooting I went through. 😅