Havoc!

[windhound]

http://blackbirdfly.no-ip.org/dump/havoc.html
Its so cute!

[Firetooth]

aww  ::)

[Sharptooh]

So you know a bit about electronics then?

[pippin the mighty]

I had one of them, but it was smaller, and didn't fly...

[Sharptooh]

I had one of them, but it was smaller, and didn't fly...

shame.....

I've never had one of these they look good though  ;)

[pippin the mighty]

O, and it didn't even look remotely like that...

[windhound]

The Havocs are fun to fly 'cause they're horribly random in their flight pattern

I bought a blue and white one when they first came out and it was a challenge to keep it off the walls
Amazingly durable though

This guy is a newer model than my first, its quieter and somehow much more stable and responsive to the controls...  ie, I can hover it around someone's head without fear of hitting them  ...  not recommended without practice though, the controls take some getting used to

and yup Sharptooh, I'm decent with electronics

[bjornredtail]

*tries to think of an ingenious use of these things*

[Firetooth]

My brother's taking electronics, he's quite good ;)

[Sharptooh]

how long did it take you to fix it, a few mins with a soldering iron?

[windhound]

Yeah, it took me longer to find my soldering iron and some solder than it did to actually fix it
I think my iron gets to ~900 degrees fahrenheit, so it takes about a second to coat both sides with solder and bond them together...  if you take too long you run the risk of burning the board
Not the cleanest, but its strong and works fine

I want to get a flock of a dozen or so of these things.  There's three channels available, so 3 groups of 4. 
Unfortunately they use IR, so they're about worthless at any distance or even outside

[Sharptooh]

Yeah, it took me longer to find my soldering iron and some solder than it did to actually fix it
I think my iron gets to ~900 degrees fahrenheit, so it takes about a second to coat both sides with solder and bond them together...  if you take too long you run the risk of burning the board
Not the cleanest, but its strong and works fine

I want to get a flock of a dozen or so of these things.  There's three channels available, so 3 groups of 4. 
Unfortunately they use IR, so they're about worthless at any distance or even outside

cou;dn't you make you're own ariel of some sort, I remember we made radio's at school the antenna was one of the easiest parts  ;)

[windhound]

IR is light, infrared
The sensor is on the bottom of the helicopter so that you have to be fairly close to it if you're taking off from the ground, but otherwise it can get about twelve feet from you without signal loss.  I actually havnt tested the full range of it yet, might take it to a common room tomorrow and fly around if there's noone studying in there

But yeah, using IR has some size, weight, and cost advantages...  but range is one of its biggest downfalls and there's not all that much that you can do to extend it

[Sharptooh]

Shame it has a short range, just for justification does it use the same comunication as a tv would? sorry I'm not that advanced yet.

[bjornredtail]

Yup... Infared light, just a bit lower frequency than we can see with our eyes.


A few of these would be useful in operation omnispam.