GETTING STARTED
Welcome to FPV you have much to learn!
Let’s not sugar coat it – You’ve probably searched many sites and watched hours of videos about FPV. Maybe you’re more confused now than when you began. The information provided on this site will give you a clear direction and solid advice on what you need to do to get started in FPV. Here we will give you the “big picture” and cover the important concepts that you need to know to get started in this hobby.
What will I Need in my Toolbox
Of course, you’ll need some actual tools but more importantly you’re going to need a digital toolbox – a little bit like the collection of apps you have arranged on your phone. Your FPV toolbox is a collection of tools and digital resources that will help you on this journey. The various pages of this website present the most useful digital tools that you will need. Please take the time to collect each one and add it to your digital toolbox as you read further into this site. A digital tool may be an application or service, website, YouTube channel or even an overall concept relative to FPV.
To Buy BNF (Bind and fly) or to Build
Until recently there has been a strong school of thought in the FPV community that the best way to get into FPV is to build your own quad. Of course, this still holds true, but it’s a bit more of a grey area these days with so many high-quality airframes now being produced. Even experienced builders may be tempted to buy a popular bind and fly. So to tell you the truth it really doesn’t matter. If you have time up front to learn the ropes and you enjoy that sort of approach, then go ahead and make a shopping list. But if you want to get up and flying fast then just get a bind and fly. But hear this – whichever path you choose, you’re eventually going to end up being very handy with a soldering iron. In this hobby it’s only a matter of time until something breaks and needs repair or an upgrade. And if you really want to progress in this hobby, you’ll eventually end up with all the mechanical and computer skills needed to build a quad from scratch and set it up anyway.
A Special note on RTF (ready to Fly)
BNF mentioned above assumes you already have a transmitter and some sort of FPV goggles. But there is another option – RTF (Ready to Fly) and I advise against it. RTF refers to a package where you buy the quad, transmitter and FPV goggles all as a set. You just plug in and fly giving you instant gratification – but at a cost. These kits are always low spec but they still cost you a pretty penny. Within six months or less you’ll be wanting to upgrade and that RTF kit you invested in will just sit on the shelf never to be used again.
Transmitters
Once upon a time in RC you would buy a JR, Spektrum or Futaba transmitter and that was the system you used. But it’s a different world today. These days we are living in a modular world. This means that more important than the transmitter, is the module you put in it. Let’s break this down. These days any decent transmitter for FPV should be running the open source “EdgeTX” software (or Open TX). Furthermore, it should also have a module bay in the back of the transmitter to allow you to plug in a 3rd party module and fly whatever protocol you desire. If the transmitter doesn’t have these two features, then keep looking. Let’s look a bit closer at both of these features.
EdgeTx is a generic transmitter software developed through an open-source project. Open source is something which comes up again and again in FPV and indeed the world of FPV and Open-source software are intrinsically linked. But a transmitter running EdgeTX is important for a few reasons. If you need help setting up your transmitter you will be able to find a wealth of tutorial videos on YouTube showing you how to do things with EdgeTX. In fact, the actual transmitter you have doesn’t matter because any transmitter running EdgeTX will basically work in the same way. If you however go with a priority system then your support choices will be more limited. More importantly, Edge Tx has built in support for the modules which you can add to the module bay. (Edge Tx Link)
A module bay on the back of the transmitter allows you to run a completely different control protocol. Some FRSky transmitters for example allow you to use the inbuilt FRSky protocol or the protocol of your choosing by plugging a module into the expansion bay on the back. Some recent transmitters don’t even have their own protocol – they just allow you to add your own module to the back. So how important is this? These days to get the best of both range and reliability you really need to go with one of the three systems outlined below which are modular systems – meaning that you can buy one of their modules to plug into the module bay of a transmitter.
Modules
The three systems you should look at for your control link are TBS, Immersion RC and Express LRS. I’ll tell you now that they are all exceptionally good and any one of these systems will give you more range and reliability than you will realistically ever need. You simply purchase either a nano or standard size module depending on your radio and some receivers. So, let’s take a brief look at each system.
TBS (Team Black Sheep) – TBS was first on the scene with a long-distance RC link. Being a long-established company they produce high-quality components which work in an integrated system. Their customer support is very well regarded. For the beginner, TBS offers a plug n play type experience which is hard to beat. Their original system was the long range Crossfire system (all be it with rather large antennas). More recently they have also released the 2.4Ghz high speed Tracer system (which uses smaller antennas). For the beginner I would recommend their Tracer system. Even the Tracer system will get you out to ranges of 4 to 5 km. You will probably out-fly your video link range before you out-fly your control link range. TBS offers nano and standard size modules which fit into module bays of other manufacturer’s transmitters which run Open Tx. They also sell their own priority transmitter. (TBS Link)
Immersion RC – Immersion RC offers their Ghost system. The Ghost system is a 2.4Ghz system which once again offers incredible range and reliability similar to or even slightly better than TBS Tracer. Ghost modules are available in nano and standard sizes. The system as a whole is highly polished and very user friendly. Easy to set up and use with great customer support being offered by this heavyweight of the RC industry. For a beginner, you really can’t go wrong with the Ghost system. It’s very much plug n play and will have you up and running fast. As in interesting sidenote Ghost receivers can also be flashed with Express LRS (ELRS) firmware allowing them to be used with that system if you later decided to change over, whereas TBS receivers (at the present time) can not. (Immersion RC Link)
Express LRS (ELRS) – ELRS has quickly become a well established control link on the FPV scene and already has a dedicated following with its reach expanding every day. First of all, unlike TBS and Immersion RC which are companies, ELRS is an open-source control link. It is developed by a band of dedicated developers and supported by its users. What makes this open-source system so unique is that any RC company is welcome to work with the ELRS devs to produce their own ELRS module or receiver and we are already seeing a number of these becoming available from various vendors. Because of this, the module and receivers tend to be cheaper than those from TBS or Immersion RC. What about Range? Well testing has shown ELRS to be the king of long range. It gives you all the range you need and all that extra range you probably don’t need as well. Currently ELRS is available in 890 / 900 Mhz as well as 2.4Ghz with 2.4 being most popular. But there is a downside to all of this. You will need a little bit more technical ability to run ELRS because it is not quite as highly polished as the TBS or Immersion RC systems. Also, whereas with TBS or Immersion RC you can contact the company for support, with ELRS you are left with getting support from the user base. In summary, ELRS is good for people with some tech experience but is very fast becoming mainstream with some flight controller manufacturers including the control link on the FC board itself. I personally feel that ELRS will surely be the control link technology for the future of FPV. (ELRS Link)
A Special note on control link range comparisons – You’ve probably seen many YouTube range test videos comparing the systems above. But it’s not all about range. These systems offer more range than any average pilot will ever need. In the end you need to look at your skill level with technology and which system seems to suit your needs best. Usability is in fact probably more important than range. Reliability is also important. The hardware offerings from TBS and Immersion RC are very reliable. Express LRS hardware reliability depends on the manufacturer of the module or receiver. I suggest you read reviews before purchasing.
Flight Simulators
A vital part of learning to fly is the time you spend on the flight simulator. Although you can learn to fly without first practicing on a simulator, a flight simulator will cut your learning time considerably and reduce the number of crashes and possibly costly repairs. And this is another reason to purchase a good transmitter up front when getting into this hobby. Most transmitters running Open Tx or Edge TX can easily be connected to a PC to be used as a sim controller. in most cases it’s a simple matter of connecting the Tx to the computer by USB cable. The most popular simulators are…
LiftOff
DRL (Drone Racing League)
FPV Freerider
FPV SkyDive
Tiny Whoop Go
TRYP FPV
Velocidrone
Most of these are available on Steam (a gaming platform) and for most there is a charge.
But the one I would recommend if you are just using it to learn the basics of flight, is RDS (Real Drone Simulator). This sim is absolutely free and you can just download it from their website and install it. It’s also one of the least resource intensive of all meaning that you won’t need a particularly high spec machine to run it. (RDS Link)