From 31die:
Here's an initial, overly ambitious, list of KAP revisions:
* Get a replacement spar for the heavy-lift kite
Spar is 77" long, 5/8" square hardwood. Might make sense on this
one to call "Into the Wind" and see if I can just buy a replacement.
Mike -- this kite is/was available from them, wasn't it?
* Move the camera TX unit back the pan-tilt assembly
Putting it on the picavet created a lot of grief, even if it did
help the range.
* Look at changing the pan servo to use a servo-city gearbox.
We'd have to check what the weight looks like (probably minimal) and
if it gives us the range of motion we want. I think the problem
with it is that it offers the same range of motions as before (120
degrees or whatever you nominally get from a servo) with more
torque, lower speed. The torque/speed change is useful, but we also
want to get to > 360 degree rotation. What I'm looking for here is
something that is an all-in-one solution, so we don't have to screw
with the external potentiometer again.
This change may be in the category of needless -- the current
solution does work, although it is mercurial. Camera TX improvements
are probably more important.
* Change camera TX patch antenna (mickey mouse ear?) to optimal
coaxial stub
I think this is a definite. The only thing I'm worried about is
that the web site made a lot of noise about this modification being
very sensitive to getting the dimensions spot-on. I don't know if
the people having trouble were off by some gross error, but I doubt
my ability to any better than they did. I can do experiments to
figure out of I've made things better/worse, but I wouldn't know how
to improve the result, short of just going back to the old antenna.
* Add amplifier to camera TX unit
I think makes a lot of sense. The risk here is that involves adding
something without damaging the TX circuit. Presumably if I'm
careful I can manage this task.
* Unify power supply with radio RX
This is already done on the current version. The camera TX battery
box is 6V, so I put a tap on that to run the servo RX
* add DC-to-DC power regulator
This would replace the probably very shitty DC-to-DC regulator
included in the camera TX box. Probably necessary if I add the
amplifier to the camera TX -- the existing regulator likely doesn't
have enough power. This is kind of an annoying job -- a handful of
little components. There are plans on the web for it though, and it
should be manageable.
* replace XCam2 CCD with high quality CCD
At least one guy recommends a $100 Panasonic CCD -- apparently the
CCD has much faster response time (so the camera won't get blinded
by changes in orientation to the sun) as well as a better lens. The
XCam2 lens has huge amounts of distortion. I'm not sure about this
mod -- I think it might be in the category of "getting more
expensive faster than it is getting better." I'll think about it
some more.
* camera RX power supply
The current camera RX power supply is an 8-pack of AA batteries.
I'm not sure that these necessarily provide enough current for it.
Something beefier would probably be good, although I don't really
know what to do here. Could just go with C batteries instead of AA
batteries. Could introduce a 12V nicad, which would need a charger.
* camera RX antenna
The RX antenna probably needs as much improvement as the TX antenna,
and since it doesn't have to fly we can do something more
aggressive. There were plans for some sort of antenna that's
supposed to work much better. One issue is I think the result is
more directional. This could be okay, or it could be a pain.
Presumably the kites macro-scale direction changes pretty slowly,
assuming the camera man is standing in the same area as the flyer.
* ground unit display
It would be nice to have a bigger ground-unit display than the
CamCorder's display/viewfinder. Issues here are that it would need
to still be visible in bright sunlight, which generally seems to be
the kiss of death for LCDs. Maybe a small CRT?
* more kites
We very rarely have trouble with too much wind. A kite that's
compatible with low winds and docile, etc. would be a useful
investment. I think the thing here is a parafoil soft kite, but I'm
not sure.
Looking over the list, I think all of these make sense to do, with the
possible exception of the servo-city gearhead fo the pan-axis, and the
replacement CCD. I'll start putting together a list of materials.