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motion, and record the present position as the antenna position that corresponds with the lowest tilt angle.
WARNING: make sure you stop
the motion of the servo before it reaches its maximum rotation, or the servo could be damaged!
11)
Select the “Enter Tilt Low Angle” menu item, and enter the angle corresponding to the position to which you just set the tilt angle of your
tracker. For example, if you set the tracker’s tilt angle to 0 degrees, you would enter “0” in this field.
12)
Select the “Set Tilt to Highest” menu item to move the antenna to its highest position. Normally, you would position the tracker to be pointing
straight up (90 degrees) with this step. With this menu item, you will use the SELECT and UP/DOWN onscreen menu switches (on your radio)
to position the tilt angle of your tracker to its highest setting (normally 90 degrees). When you select this option by clicking the SELECT
switch, the tilt servo starts moving either up or down, depending on the position of the “UP/DOWN” switch. If the tilt servo is moving in the
incorrect direction for you to reach the highest angle, just flip the UP/DOWN switch to reverse the motion. When the highest angle is
approached, immediately flip the SELECT switch, which will stop the motion, and record the present position as the antenna position that
corresponds with the highest tilt angle.
WARNING: make sure you stop the motion of the servo before it reaches its maximum rotation,
or the servo could be damaged!
13)
Select the “Enter Tilt High Angle” menu item, and enter the angle corresponding to the position to which you just set the tilt angle of your
tracker. For example, if you set the tracker’s tilt angle to 90 degrees, you would enter “90” in this field.
Testing the Calibrated Pan and Tilt Angles (both calibration methods)
There are three features built into the EagleEyes to help you validate your pan and tilt calibration:
1)
Testing pan and tilt angles: For the PC calibration method, The “Pan Test - Select Angle” and “Tilt Test - Select Position”
menu items let you
select various pan and tilt angles. After selecting an angle or position, click the “Go!” button next to the selection window, and the tracker
should move to that angle/position. For on-screen calibration, the “Pan Test” and “Tilt Test” menu items on the Pan/Tilt calibration menu, as
described in Figure 7, let you select various pan and tilt angles. After selecting an angle, the tracker should move to that angle. If movement is
not correct, recalibrate either the pan or tilt, as appropriate.
2)
With PC calibration, the “Sweep Tracker!” button continuously pans and tilts the tracker, letting you verify it is moving correctly.
3)
The OSD Pro’s flight simulator will drive your tracker, based on the location of the model relative to home, on the simulator screen. See the
OSD Pro manual for more information on using the simulator.
4)
If “Servo Deflections” are displayed by selecting this option under the “Configure OSD Display” menu, the present pan angle (“P: XXX”) and
tilt angle (T:YYY) will be displayed on the screen, both in simulator mode and in actual flight.
Setting the Pan Zero Angle at the Field (both calibration methods)
Each time your tracker is physically moved, you need to set the “Pan Zero Angle” on-screen menu item so that the EagleEyes knows the actual
compass direction pointed to when the when the tracker is panned to its zero degree (center) pan position. There are two ways to do this:
a)
Use the “Set Zero Pan Compass Reading” option from the EagleEyes main onscreen menu (shown in Figure 5) to manually set the compass
direction at which the antenna is pointing, when at zero degrees pan (centered). For example, if the antenna is pointing exactly West when
centered, you would enter “270” in this field. A handheld compass is needed at the field to use this method.
b)
Use the “Model Location as 0 Pan” from the EagleEyes main onscreen menu (shown in Figure 5) to set the compass direction at which the
antenna is pointing, when at zero degrees pan (centered). To use this option, you must first ensure that the OSD Pro has established its
“home” GPS location, and has a good GPS fix. Then, move the model as far away from the antenna as practical. Ensuring that the model is
lined up with the front of the antenna (and ensuring that the antenna pan angle is at zero degrees), select this menu item, and the Zero Pan
compass angle reading is automatically computed.
Using the Tracker at the Field
After calibrating the tracker, there is one remaining step required at the field, before your tracker will correctly follow your model: you must teach
the EagleEyes the true direction (compass direction) corresponding to the direction your antenna is pointing when the pan servo is centered, and the
tracker is placed so that it faces your flying area.
To do this, first position your tracker facing so that the center pan position is pointing toward the center of your flying area (as shown in the figure
below). This direction corresponds to the 0 degrees pan direction that the EagleEyes learned when you calibrated your tracker. Then, you need to
determine the true compass direction that the antenna will be facing if it was pointing in that direction. In the example below, this compass
direction is 315 degrees.
There are 2 ways to do this. Note that these steps DO NOT require that your antenna is actually panned toward the center position at the time the step
is done:
a)
Manually setting the compass reading at which the antenna is pointing, when it is centered. This is done via the “
Set Zero Pan Compass
Reading
” menu item in the EagleEyes setup stick menu. In the example below, “315” would be entered. A small magnetic compass can be
mounted on a nonmoving portion of your tracker to make this easier. Or, most likely your mobile phone has a compass app available for
download.
b)
Positioning your model in front of your tracker, as far away as possible, at a point lined up with the center pan position of your tracker. To use
this option you must first ensure that the Vector has established its “home” GPS location. Then, move the model to a location as far away from
the antenna as practical, ensuring that the model placed on the imaginary line drawn from the center direction of the tracker. This location
corresponds with the location marked “X” in the figure below. Then, select the “
Use Model Location as 0 Pan
” menu item in the EagleEyes
setup stick menu, which will record the zero pan compass angle.
