ESP32 and GPS with a help of TinyGPS++ library

One of the first projects I did with ESP32 development boards is a simple GPS tracker. OK, it's not really a tracker since it does not store the position anywhere, more like distance meter with a UBLOX Neo-8M Beitian BN-880 GPS unit and small SSD1306 OLED display.

This ESP32 GPS Thingy as I call it uses one button to store current position and then report straight line distance, speed and altitude compared to "Home Point". GPS communication is handled by TinyGPS++ library.

Oh, one the best things about ESP32 is that you can map ports to almost any pin you want. It's not like on ATmega328 where UART and I2C are always the same pins. Here you can choose them. How nice is that?

Code is available on GitHub.

Getting started with ESP32 development boards and Arduino

However fond of good old Arduinos based on ATmega328 and ATmega32u4 we might be, no one can now say they are state of the art. Sure, they might be the first choice to do something cheap and simple, but compared to most more modern designs, they are just too old and too weak. Slow, little flash memory, little RAM, no built-in connectivity: no Bluetooth or WiFi.

When a few years ago ESP8266 started to appear, everything changed. The tinkers finally got something small and cheap with WiFi. And then, the world has changed, since ESP32 it the market.

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Custom FrSky R9M 868MHz antennas giveaway

As you might have realized, from time to time I'm making an antenna and I have the equipment for it. I'm also strongly considering to produce a small batch of antennas for FrSky R9 long-range radio system since there is a high demand for such antennas.

I have made a first small series or FrSky R9M dipoles tuned for the 868MHz EU-LBT version of this radio link and I want to give away 3 of them to my Patrons. If you want one of the 3 antennas:

1. go to https://www.patreon.com/pawelspychalski and become my patron if you are not one yet
2. go to Custom FrSky R9M antenna giveaway post and comment with "I want one"
3. wait one week until 5th of September 2018

On that day I will randomly choose three commenters and send them brand new, custom made 868MHz FrSky R9M antenna.

FCC 915MHz version giveaway will follow, I'm waiting for parts to arrive in a few weeks.

Matek F411-Wing Hands On

Let's take a look at the new flight controller from Matek designed for airplanes: Matek F411-Wing. Comparing to its older brother (or sister or just a sibling) Matek F405-Wing it is much smaller, lighter and lacks many of the features:

• 2 UARTs instead of 6
• 5 servos instead of 7
• no SD card slot
• 3 BECs instead of 4

FrSky R9M and R9 Slim long range radio system review

When FrSky R9M long range transmitter and FrSky R9 receiver series started to pop up some time ago, there was a lot of speculations "it is any good?" "is it a Team Black Sheep Crossfire killer" "cheap Crossfire alternative?". In time, new firmware started to appear, new receivers and so on. And oh yes, EU LBT version finally also appeared. And what... FrSky even was giving R9M for free with X10S Horus.

Team BlackSheep tries to start a war against FrSky due to new FrSky antennas or what?

• FrSky makes radios. Good and very good. Dominates the market. Taranis, Horus and all of them
• TBS makes bloody good long range 868/915MHz long-range radio system called Crossfire that is commonly used by FrSky radio users
• FrSky tries to make its own 868/915MHz long-range system called R9
• FrSky releases new R9 firmware called Flex, new receiver, and new antenna. The new antennas look the same as TBS Immortal-T antennas for Crossfire receivers
• Hell breaks loose and Team Black Sheep steps in and makes a policy that any dealer that restocks and tries to sell both TBS products and FrSky R9/R9M system, is removed from official TBS dealer list

Just flying: INAV 2.0 on a 7 inch long range cruiser quadcopter

I like my 7-inch endurance FPV drone. Maybe it does not flies super smooth yet, but slowly I'm getting there. The best move was probably to replace HQProp 7x3.5x3 V1S propellers with Gemfan 7x4.2. Fantastic propellers those Gemfans...

The common cranes (Grus grus) in a middle of the video really could not decide if they are scared of my drone or nor. In the end, I've decided to leave them alone... Storks are usually more friendly. They tend to ignore drones at all. The locals call this place The Carpathia. Why? Perhaps because those are the only "hills" on a completely flat area around.

Full 7-inch endurance drone specification is available here

Get your Blackbox logs from SD Card with a USB cable - Betaflight MSC

SD cards are cool: cheap, reliable, a lot of space and you can remove them from the drone and read on a PC. But sometimes, it's really hard to take them out. Either SD slot is in a strange place, or FC is oriented in a strange way or an FC designer has put an SD slot in a most stupid place of them all...

You can use Betaflight 3.4 as an SD card reader (MSC standard compatible) and either use it do get your blackbox logs via USB cable or use it, if you really want to, as a pendrive. With drag and drop and all that stuff. All you have to do is to go to CLI and type "msc" and hit enter. That's all! It's not perfect, but works!

iRangeX iRX-IR8M external antenna mod

Oh boy, I had high hopes for iRangeX iRX-IR8M. Got disappointed badly. So, to make it a little better, let's get our hands dirty and install an external antenna using an SMA pigtail. Maybe it will make this not so cheap s**t a little better! So let's have a nice talk in a workshop and learn a thing or two. Maybe even three. Who knows.

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Matek SAM-M8Q and SAM-M8Q Compass GPS modules hands on

You might say that UBLOX NEO-M8N (Beitian BN-880 for example) is the workhorse on INAV and other drones with GPS functions. It is reliable, well know and proven. But it is also big and heavy. So why not try something new?

Matek did tried something new and just provided me with two brand new GPS modules of their: Matek SAM-M8Q and SAM-M8Q Compass with a QMC5883 magnetometer. One is only a small GPS module suitable for airplanes (flat surface) while the other one has also a QMC5883 compass that makes it a perfect choice for multirotor drones. Let's take a look at those two and figure out if they might be worth it.