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The ALTA Is Here

Discussion in 'ALTA' started by Steve Maller, Jul 24, 2015.

  1. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    The motors and prop arc seem to be parallel to the ground.
     
  2. Derek Cooper

    Derek Cooper Active Member

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    What is your overall impression so far Steve?
     
  3. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    It works great when you're wearing a hat that says "ALTA" on it.
     
  4. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    Overall, it's the heavy lifter of my dreams.

    Specifically, I was hopeful that it would provide a robust, portable, and stable platform, and it's exceeding all those expectations.

    Quite frankly the only criticism might be that it can't lift a 20 pound camera package, but that's above my pay grade so it's irrelevant to me.

    It incorporates good ideas from a lot of different quarters into one fantastic integrated piece. Other UAVs have variously had...
    • An integrated copter/gimbal design center (DJI S1000/Zenmuse)
    • Beautifully designed user interface for control (3DRobotics Flight Planner)
    • Portability (mostly the small quads like the Phantom)
    • High-performance engineering (typically only custom builds to date)
    • Top-to-bottom electronics integration (oh wait, nobody's done that)
    ALTA is the only UAV that does all these with no compromises. And it adds things that have simply never been done before.
    Yes, I'm very, very satisfied. :)
     
  5. Derek Cooper

    Derek Cooper Active Member

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    Sounds excellent Steve - keep us posted on your progress. Might just have to order one of the ALTAs!
     
  6. Derek Cooper

    Derek Cooper Active Member

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    Reading the manual - is Futaba the only radio that supports telemetry with the ALTA? Does the radio *talk* to the pilot so he / she doesn't have to look down at the screen similar to the MK talking telemetry?

    Another question - sometimes our hats say "Bass Pro Shop" - are those supported?
     
  7. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    Not sure about other radios (one of the Freefly folks will have to answer that), but my Futaba has a nice feature where it actually starts vibrating in my hands at a predetermined voltage level. I think it supports voice, too, but I haven't got that far.
    Only if you have the right lures hanging from them. :cool:
     
  8. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    Had some fun in the neighborhood today.
    Walked from my house to the fields nearby with my ALTA and MōVI in tow and did this...

     
  9. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    No voice on the Futaba's. Just tones and vibration. Ones I used were Battery (manual says built in on the Alta) and the timers. Settings on the Futaba are done by setting the Alerts for various items.
     
  10. Jason Herring

    Jason Herring Member

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    Hi Steve, what batteries are you running? And what is the AUW? Thank so much for all the posts, very informative.
     
  11. Derek Cooper

    Derek Cooper Active Member

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  12. Gary Haynes

    Gary Haynes Administrator
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    Page 91 in the updated manual
     
  13. Derek Cooper

    Derek Cooper Active Member

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    Jinx - you owe me a beer Gary! Bwaahaahaaa...
     
  14. georgemcnabb

    georgemcnabb Member

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    Hey Steve, another question for you! After reading the manual. 1 - How do you arm the motors? 2 - Is the Synapse like the DJI controllers where the UAV works from center stick? I.e arm motors and center stick and it will wait till you but in power? As I have my Throttle/Pitch spring loaded to return to center for the DJI models I once had.
     
  15. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    When you boot the ALTA, it's in "safe mode", designated by all the booms flashing green ("safe to approach").
    When you move the throttle full down and left, the SYNAPSE is armed.
    When you then move the throttle full down and right, the motors start, and they're on until you move the throttle full down and left to disarm.
     
  16. georgemcnabb

    georgemcnabb Member

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    So once you start the motors you will need to move the stick past half throttle for lift off? Just trying to figure out if I need to remove the spring from my throttle stick
     
  17. Andrew Griffiths

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    Hi Steve, would be great to see the return to home function complete with full auto landing. Any chance you could throw that in? Also curious about the redundancy performance in the event of a single motor or prop failure but not sure you would want to test that one with a regular payload.
     
  18. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    No, it doesn't work like the DJIs. The throttle is more linear, although you can tune the curves and whatnot to your liking.
     
  19. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

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    Will probably do a RTH test soon. Still getting familiar with it.
    And not planning to do a motor out test. :)
     
  20. Michael Elsegood

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    Hi Steve, Are you using MR/M10 gimbal on the ALTA? Is the MR only a problem when top mounted, or are there issues when underslung traditionally? Do you think it will be possible to retro fit a locking pin etc to the Pan Tube on MR to stop it falling over when top mounted on ALTA?
     

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