=== Let's Drone Out — Episode 406 ===
Title: LDO 406 - Cones 101: With Special Guest Cerberus Velvet Of FPV Racing Solutions
Recorded: 2023-06-08
Hosts: Stephen "Belrik" Howell, Jack "Brightontillifly" Nash, Andrew "Frank" Hyams
Guest(s): Cerberus "Cerb" Velvet
Total audience: 1,234
Platforms: YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjOb9u62wuQ); SoundCloud (http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1535324107-letsdroneout-ldo-406-cones-101-with-special-guest-cerberus-velvet.mp3)
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#letsdroneout #LDO #podcast #drone #mulitrotor #quadcopter #killakwads #cerberusvelvet

[0.0] Jack: Hello, and you're listening to Let's Drone Out and special thank you to our lovely patrons that helped donate so that we could pay the editor to remove the swear words and silly things we say. Massive thank you to...
[14.0] Jack: Carlos Campos
[16.0] Jack: Art Faulkner
[18.0] Stephen: Sam Dahmer
[20.0] Cerb: On with the show
[22.0] Cerb: Let's Drone Out now
[53.25] Jack: Hello
[55.25] Jack: And welcome to another episode of Let's Drone Out
[60.25] Jack: Any views expressed by any guest in this show or personal may not direct the view of others
[65.25] Jack: And I'd just like to point out that the event sucks balls now
[72.25] Jack: Tonight we are joined by our lovely man with my staff Stephen
[77.25] Jack: Alright, good evening everyone
[79.25] Jack: I'm bright until I fly as usual always here
[82.25] Jack: And tonight's guest is Serb
[86.25] Jack: Or Cervary
[88.25] Jack: Cervaryuris
[90.25] Stephen: So FPV Racing Solutions
[92.25] Cerb: Yes, a new name to you guys I think
[94.25] Stephen: Yeah, so not with the Killer Quads brand as much
[98.25] Stephen: Now we're doing FPV Racing Solutions which is your race in a box
[102.25] Cerb: Yeah, well there needed to be a distinction
[106.25] Cerb: Because Killer Quads is a community
[110.25] Cerb: And I started going up and down the country doing race directing for other people
[115.25] Cerb: So I didn't want to kind of mix up the community with me doing that
[120.25] Cerb: So FPV Racing Solutions, that's me in my box
[123.25] Stephen: And you got in there first before anyone took all the easy names as well
[127.25] Cerb: I couldn't when I googled it, I was like wow, can't believe that's available
[132.25] Jack: Also, I must say, I really enjoyed your wiring of your new race trailer
[138.25] Jack: Did you like that?
[140.25] Jack: Yeah, with the shielding and everything
[142.25] Jack: I was like, Serb, you're a man with my own heart
[145.25] Stephen: I think last time you just discovered this trailer after buying it during lockdown
[150.25] Stephen: And you were in a state of, I think, panic largely
[154.25] Stephen: When you realised the work needs to be undertaken
[157.25] Stephen: So, you know, tell us what happened with this trailer
[161.25] Stephen: The T-junction as well, so good
[164.25] Cerb: And I designed it 3D printed those as well
[167.25] Stephen: Oh wow, you printed your own junctions
[169.25] Cerb: Yeah, I couldn't find any on the market that I liked
[172.25] Stephen: Proper conduit, soft bounding, everything
[176.25] Jack: Professional
[177.25] Stephen: So you had the trailer, you'd found it that was left in someone's, like, industrial unit or something
[183.25] Stephen: And you dragged it back to yours when we last spoke
[185.25] Stephen: And you were kind of at the let's get going
[188.25] Stephen: So what's happened since then?
[190.25] Cerb: So that's kind of how it arrived
[192.25] Cerb: And it looks lovely in that picture, right?
[194.25] Cerb: That looks like put some wheels on it and off you go
[197.25] Cerb: Very much not the case
[200.25] Cerb: What should have been start the internal fit out
[203.25] Cerb: Turned in to take all of the suspension off
[208.25] Cerb: All of the braking systems, everything underneath it came off
[213.25] Cerb: All of the electrics got stripped off
[216.25] Cerb: Everything had to be rebuilt, the braking system
[221.25] Cerb: There's a coupling
[224.25] Cerb: I've learned so much about trailers in the last 12 months
[227.25] Cerb: The thing at the front, the hitch, it's not called a hitch, it's called a coupling
[231.25] Jack: Yeah, it's only that if you're a yank
[234.25] Cerb: Yes
[235.25] Cerb: My coupling was ruined
[237.25] Stephen: Sounds quite like a Yoko Farmer description, so you call it a hitch, doesn't it?
[241.25] Cerb: Yeah, it does a bit
[242.25] Cerb: You might put an ox on the front of it or something
[245.25] Cerb: Son of a hitch
[247.25] Cerb: Sorry
[249.25] Cerb: So instead of just fit it out, it's been a complete restoration basically
[254.25] Cerb: Because it was knackered, it was much more knackered than expected
[259.25] Cerb: So the coupling had to be replaced, that was like 400 quid
[263.25] Cerb: The brakes are completely brand new, every moving part's been replaced
[268.25] Cerb: Somebody had put the wrong
[270.25] Stephen: You got a carcass and that was it, the structural elements are the only ones you kept
[273.25] Cerb: Somebody had put the wrong brake drums on it
[276.25] Cerb: Yeah, it was a complete nightmare
[278.25] Cerb: So it's all rewired, as Jack says, that new wiring loom
[283.25] Cerb: The brake system's done, the coupling's done
[286.25] Cerb: It's theoretically now to where it should have been 12 months ago
[290.25] Jack: Can I just interject? For the audio listeners, you displayed a picture
[297.25] Jack: I wondered, could you give us a name or a brand or a type of name of brand of a trailer?
[305.25] Jack: It's like a side opening with an old name
[307.25] Stephen: So Bruce was displaying his delicate underbelly and so was the encrustation
[312.25] Cerb: I always forget about the poor audio only people, yeah
[315.25] Cerb: It's a... let me remember the little dimensions
[320.25] Stephen: It's made somewhere in the black country in 1970, no further details available
[325.25] Stephen: Is that an RX-7 or an MX-5?
[328.25] Cerb: That's a supercharged Mazda MX-5
[331.25] Cerb: Is it? That's very nice
[334.25] Cerb: But the trailer is 3 meters by 2 meters
[339.25] Cerb: It's an in-dispension tower van, circa about 30 years old
[345.25] Cerb: It's been adapted to have the side opening because it was used to sell stickers out of
[354.25] Cerb: car events
[357.25] Cerb: It's got a big roller shutter at the back
[360.25] Cerb: Underneath it, I've had to run all this flexible conduit and upgrade all of the wiring
[367.25] Cerb: So the guys that can see the pictures are looking at corrugated conduit and brake cables
[373.25] Cerb: It's up very high in the air on axle stands, which is a little precarious
[381.25] Cerb: But now we've got to that stage, I can start looking at the bodywork
[386.25] Cerb: So I do have a little video clip here I can show you of the next thing I have to deal with
[393.25] Cerb: Because the fit out should be happening now because it's a rolling shell
[397.25] Cerb: But no, I've got to do other work
[399.25] Cerb: So here comes the back doors
[402.25] Cerb: Show you what you see
[404.25] Cerb: And so there's me looking at the roller shutter and the panel
[407.25] Cerb: You can just stick your hand straight through it
[410.25] Stephen: Absolutely safe, secure premises for sure
[413.25] Cerb: Completely rotted out
[414.25] Stephen: Totally insurable
[415.25] Cerb: And you can see the roller shutter there
[417.25] Cerb: If I drive that down the road, the whole back end of that is going to drop out
[421.25] Cerb: There's one piece of solid wood on the right hand side
[425.25] Cerb: And that's it
[426.25] Cerb: Other than that, that whole back panel
[429.25] Stephen: So 50% stronger than a lot of strollers we see on the motorway today then
[432.25] Cerb: Yeah, it's absolutely shot
[435.25] Cerb: So that's the next bit
[438.25] Cerb: So the dream was this year to be going up and down the country
[441.25] Cerb: Just arrive, open the doors and race direct
[445.25] Cerb: And that hasn't happened
[447.25] Cerb: So instead I've been driving up and down the country with everything loaded in the back of the wife's estate car
[452.25] Cerb: And the usual two hours of plugging things in
[456.25] Cerb: Which is, yeah
[458.25] Stephen: We've got some photos of you with some quite fantastic looking custom flight cases with speakers mounted and everything
[464.25] Cerb: Yes, that's not a surprise
[467.25] Stephen: Is that the current setup?
[468.25] Cerb: So yeah, so current race control looks a bit like that
[472.25] Cerb: Which is a 6x3 big gazebo
[475.25] Cerb: And I've built, yeah, like a briefcase there
[480.25] Cerb: That's got a laptop motherboard inside it
[483.25] Cerb: It's got the screen
[484.25] Cerb: It's got a little two channel mixer
[486.25] Cerb: It's got power over ethernet outputs to run the timer
[490.25] Cerb: So the idea is it's put the case down, open the lid and go
[495.25] Cerb: And also to help me out, we've also got in FPV Racing Solutions
[500.25] Cerb: I've got staff
[502.25] Cerb: Wow, Bunkies
[504.25] Cerb: That is RC Maniac 98
[506.25] Cerb: And he's my VAR judge
[508.25] Cerb: So that's been a big change this year
[510.25] Stephen: What is a VAR judge for the uninitiated?
[513.25] Cerb: That's the video assisted referee
[516.25] Cerb: So he sits on
[517.25] Stephen: So he's the one that gets shouted at and not you
[521.25] Cerb: Yeah, exactly
[523.25] Cerb: Good
[524.25] Cerb: So I don't have to deal with all the pilots coming up to me and go
[528.25] Cerb: It missed one of my laps
[529.25] Cerb: Well, it counted six laps and I did 12 and you know
[533.25] Stephen: He's got a whole different Pelican case with a load of power
[537.25] Stephen: Looks like a PC power supply and a graphics card
[540.25] Stephen: We can see with a couple of blowers on it
[542.25] Cerb: Yeah, so he's built his own VAR case as well
[545.25] Cerb: And he also looks after all the track cameras for me
[548.25] Cerb: So I don't have to think about that stuff anymore
[551.25] Cerb: So I can concentrate more on the streaming and on the actual race directing
[556.25] Stephen: Okay, so there's one side which is broadcasting and the other side which is adjudication
[560.25] Stephen: And you totally separate the functions
[562.25] Cerb: Yeah, that's been a big change for this year to try and spread those loads
[567.25] Jack: How are you dealing with power?
[570.25] Jack: Are you like AC inverting everything or have you switched like
[575.25] Jack: Do you nick batteries from the flight line when I was looking?
[578.25] Cerb: How do you deal with that?
[580.25] Cerb: At some venues we're very lucky and they'll let us plug into power
[584.25] Cerb: But everywhere else it's a dirty great petrol generator
[588.25] Cerb: And you know, you'll burn 20 quid's worth of fuel in a day with a 3000 kV petrol genne
[596.25] Cerb: You have to set off as far away from the race control as you can
[600.25] Stephen: You're telling me you don't have giant power banks and inverters
[604.25] Stephen: Like surely you've got a surplus of lipos
[607.25] Jack: I wish I did
[609.25] Jack: DC? Why isn't everybody running on direct charge?
[613.25] Stephen: All the PC components are DC and you have to fanny around putting them through AC
[617.25] Stephen: To get them back to DC again
[619.25] Cerb: Race case will run from 12 volts so it's all DC to DC converters inside
[624.25] Cerb: There's a switch on the top to switch it from AC to DC
[627.25] Cerb: And when it's on DC, everything is running
[630.25] Cerb: Because there's no point going 12 volts to 240 volts to 18 volts
[634.25] Cerb: So it goes from 12 to 18 DC to DC
[637.25] Cerb: When it's on the mains
[639.25] Cerb: There's a cheap Chinese power supply inside it that spits out 12 volts
[643.25] Cerb: But with everything else
[645.25] Cerb: If you've got a decently big event, you need a decently big set of speakers
[649.25] Cerb: So there's now a couple of 12-inch cabs sitting under that desk to my side
[655.25] Stephen: And the amps that go with those are never the most efficient things in the world
[658.25] Stephen: We're not talking class D amps
[660.25] Stephen: We're talking old noisy with fans in them
[662.25] Cerb: Yeah, yeah
[664.25] Cerb: We're talking cheap Chinese 3000 watt amp
[667.25] Cerb: To drive those bad boys
[669.25] Cerb: And then you've got the Event VRX's
[672.25] Cerb: Which are the HD0 video receivers
[675.25] Cerb: Where you can pick up four pilots on one box
[678.25] Cerb: So two boxes will cover you for eight pilots
[681.25] Cerb: They do digital and analog as well
[683.25] Stephen: They do, yeah
[684.25] Cerb: And they automatically switch
[686.25] Cerb: Which is just heaven
[688.25] Cerb: That's a huge leap forward
[690.25] Cerb: Yes, yeah
[692.25] Cerb: And that's enabled us to do other things
[696.25] Cerb: So in our race screens
[699.25] Cerb: I'm big into this
[701.25] Cerb: I think I spoke about it last time I was with you guys
[704.25] Cerb: The wife test
[706.25] Cerb: A stream has to pass the wife test
[708.25] Cerb: To me that's important
[710.25] Cerb: To other people not so much
[711.25] Cerb: But to me I've got a thing about that
[713.25] Cerb: You have to be able to put the stream on in the living room on YouTube on your TV
[720.25] Cerb: And for the wife to go, it's all right, I'll cope with it
[723.25] Cerb: It's interesting enough
[725.25] Cerb: You know like, Top Gear made car programs accessible for people that weren't just car nerds
[733.25] Cerb: So to pass the wife test
[735.25] Cerb: I'm about making it about personal stories
[738.25] Cerb: So some pilots love it
[741.25] Stephen: Sell me a personal story then
[743.25] Stephen: Pretend I'm completely uninvolved here
[745.25] Stephen: What would be a personal story of a race pilot you'd throw out to get people hooked?
[750.25] Cerb: Well, to tell those personal stories
[752.25] Cerb: I make sure that all of the pilots submit a headshot
[755.25] Cerb: So this is an example of what you'd see
[758.25] Cerb: This is Heat 4 or 5, qualifying round 4
[762.25] Cerb: It's about to start
[763.25] Cerb: And here's JJ against Clive against Cerberus
[766.25] Cerb: KPV who's, you know, tell a bit of a story
[769.25] Cerb: He won the veteran class last year
[772.25] Cerb: So people actually start to see faces
[775.25] Cerb: And then you start to see the people
[777.25] Cerb: You're not just seeing drones whizzing around the screen
[780.25] Cerb: And then when we're racing
[783.25] Cerb: One of the great things about the Event VRX is
[785.25] Cerb: If a pilot goes down, you lose their feed
[788.25] Cerb: So you can overlay instead
[792.25] Cerb: So in that example, Bearman's crashed
[795.25] Cerb: So you get a nice little picture of Bearman
[797.25] Cerb: Instead of looking at static
[799.25] Cerb: And when they are actually flying
[802.25] Cerb: You get their little avatar in the corner
[804.25] Cerb: Can we...
[805.25] Cerb: It's just...
[806.25] Cerb: Where's the solo button when you want it?
[808.25] Cerb: It's over there
[809.25] Cerb: There we are
[811.25] Cerb: So when you start doing that
[814.62] Cerb: When you start making it about people
[816.62] Cerb: Then your partners tend to get a bit more involved
[821.62] Cerb: They want to watch it
[822.62] Cerb: Non-drone people start going
[824.62] Cerb: Oh, this is quite interesting
[825.62] Cerb: And they get dragged in by it
[827.62] Cerb: Because it's fast and it's exciting
[831.62] Stephen: So long as they don't suffer from motion sickness
[833.62] Stephen: Which is my...
[834.62] Stephen: The repeated complaint I get in this house
[836.62] Stephen: Which is, oh, they keep turning upside down
[838.62] Stephen: Oh, no
[839.62] Cerb: Well, I struggle to spot
[842.62] Cerb: When you're not racing
[844.62] Cerb: You spot for the other pilots
[845.62] Cerb: And I struggle...
[846.62] Cerb: I get quite travel sick
[848.62] Cerb: Because I'm not the one at the controls, I think
[852.62] Cerb: I mean, the same in a car
[853.62] Cerb: If someone's driving on a track
[856.62] Cerb: I'm a very bad passenger
[859.62] Stephen: So it's trying to read in a car
[860.62] Stephen: And you're trying to tell your brain
[861.62] Stephen: That something else is happening
[863.62] Stephen: And ignore reality
[864.62] Stephen: And it just goes, nope
[865.62] Cerb: So I get quite queasy
[867.62] Cerb: Trying to watch a drone
[868.62] Cerb: Someone else is flying
[871.62] Stephen: So, yeah
[872.62] Stephen: There's a couple of things
[873.62] Stephen: Race trailer, I think
[874.62] Stephen: We want to talk about timing and streaming gear
[877.62] Stephen: I think we were just talking about
[878.62] Stephen: The streaming bits and bobs
[880.62] Stephen: Has anything changed
[881.62] Stephen: From the audience perspective?
[882.62] Stephen: Because you've got this laptop and everything
[884.62] Stephen: And you've got all the data at your fingertips
[888.62] Stephen: Are you going to...
[889.62] Stephen: Are you sending that out to the internet now?
[891.62] Stephen: Or do you have projectors on site?
[893.62] Stephen: What kind of display solutions are you doing?
[896.62] Cerb: Yeah, so we've got that little...
[900.62] Cerb: There's a little monitor
[901.62] Cerb: Which we put on the pilot line
[903.62] Cerb: And we're discovering that
[905.62] Cerb: Especially when we're at the Rugby Club
[907.62] Cerb: Or a venue where there's a bit of public footfall
[911.62] Cerb: People are coming up and they want to watch
[913.62] Cerb: And we point them to the spotter screen
[915.62] Cerb: On the race line
[917.62] Cerb: You know, the flight line
[918.62] Cerb: Which is intended for spotters who have digital goggles
[922.62] Cerb: Or analogue goggles
[923.62] Cerb: And they can't spot across the divide
[927.62] Cerb: So I've actually just gone out
[930.62] Cerb: I'm not quite sure how well this is going to work
[932.62] Cerb: But I've gone out
[933.62] Cerb: And I've got a 16 foot inflatable projector screen
[937.62] Stephen: You genius
[938.62] Stephen: That's what the world needs, yeah
[940.62] Cerb: Yeah
[941.62] Cerb: And I like to go with it
[944.62] Cerb: Well, I've got a big chunky projector
[947.62] Cerb: Whether it will work on a really sunny day
[949.62] Cerb: I'm not so sure
[950.62] Cerb: But, you know, I can't afford to go out
[952.62] Cerb: And buy a massive, like, you know, proper display screen
[956.62] Cerb: Well, you can't move the thing then, can you?
[958.62] Stephen: You need another trailer for the screen
[959.62] Stephen: Never mind the trailer you've got for your kit
[961.62] Cerb: Thousands and thousands of pounds
[964.62] Cerb: So we'll give this a try
[965.62] Cerb: It will work very well at the Jim Gibney Memorial Race
[970.62] Cerb: Which we are making a weekend long event
[972.62] Cerb: So on the Saturday night, I have a suspicion we'll be playing Mario Kart
[976.62] Cerb: And it gets dark enough for the...
[978.62] Cerb: But we'll see how it works
[980.62] Cerb: But yeah, trying to get something up
[982.62] Cerb: So that when you're at that, you know, a more public event
[986.62] Stephen: Are you going to put that in a gazebo to shield it from the sun?
[991.62] Cerb: That's the current thinking, yeah
[993.62] Cerb: So when we migrate into the trailer
[995.62] Cerb: I'll have a 6x3 gazebo spare
[998.62] Cerb: The question will be if the 16-foot screen fits under the gazebo
[1005.62] Cerb: We'll find out
[1006.62] Cerb: We'll find out
[1007.62] Cerb: If not, then I'm going to be buying a 65-inch Tele
[1010.62] Cerb: And bolting it to the wall of the trailer somewhere
[1013.62] Stephen: Good luck, man
[1014.62] Stephen: I think you're going the right way
[1016.62] Stephen: And I think you've done a couple of live broadcasts over the interwebs as well, haven't you?
[1019.62] Stephen: So if people are standing around, they've got phones in hand, they might be able to tune in
[1025.62] Cerb: Yeah, yeah, so we're streaming to YouTube while we're on site
[1029.62] Cerb: So you can tune into it on your phone just to YouTube
[1032.62] Cerb: We're also looking at a local NDI stream
[1037.62] Cerb: So we use a technology called NDI for our field cameras
[1041.62] Cerb: So we have up to four field cameras
[1043.62] Cerb: We've got an option for six, but we've never gotten quite that carried away
[1047.62] Cerb: We do have an option to NDI across the network
[1051.62] Cerb: So people could connect to our Wi-Fi and then get a live stream
[1056.62] Cerb: without the YouTube lag on their device
[1059.62] Stephen: Without trying to struggle to get a phone signal and all that, anything in some way
[1063.62] Cerb: Yeah
[1064.62] Cerb: And we also had a crazy idea about putting a HDMI input into a HD-VTX and sending it out on R8
[1072.62] Stephen: It's not the worst idea
[1075.62] Cerb: Tune your goggles to the live stream, but we haven't quite done that yet
[1079.62] Cerb: The VAR has been the big thing this year to get all that set up and working
[1083.62] Cerb: Oh, well done, mate
[1084.62] Cerb: And the feed's coming out to it
[1085.62] Cerb: And the nice thing about VAR is it gives me instant replays
[1089.62] Cerb: Well, it gives the VAR judge instant replays
[1091.62] Cerb: So people come over and he logs them as we go through
[1095.62] Cerb: And then we look at his log at the end of qualifying
[1097.62] Stephen: He's literally got freeze frames data right there
[1101.62] Cerb: Yeah, and you can go through it
[1102.62] Cerb: And so the thing that's coming next will be the instant replays to the stream
[1106.62] Cerb: So if somebody smacks a gate really hard
[1109.62] Stephen: Oh, there's a mid-air
[1110.62] Cerb: Because, yeah, yeah
[1112.62] Cerb: Because we've done all that work in the background to set up the VAR system
[1116.62] Cerb: That's the next step
[1118.62] Cerb: It is really reliable instant replays
[1122.62] Cerb: Awesome
[1123.62] Cerb: So that should be fun
[1124.62] Stephen: All right, it sounds like this is really picking up pace
[1127.62] Stephen: This is very exciting to see because we talked to you a while back
[1130.62] Stephen: And it was all like the genesis of an idea
[1132.62] Stephen: And I think you really get momentum behind it now
[1135.62] Stephen: That's great
[1136.62] Cerb: Yeah, I've been nerding out
[1138.62] Stephen: So Jim Gibney Memorial
[1140.62] Stephen: Where? When?
[1142.62] Cerb: Yeah, so we've been running at least one race a year in memory of our mate Jim
[1148.62] Cerb: The Jim Gibney Memorial race
[1150.62] Cerb: This year we're running five races
[1152.62] Cerb: So we had to do something a bit special for the Jim race
[1155.62] Cerb: So we've made the Jim race a weekend
[1157.62] Cerb: It's the third race in Killer Quad's five race series
[1162.62] Cerb: And it is on the 29th and 30th of July
[1168.62] Cerb: So the weekend at the end of July
[1171.62] Cerb: And it will be a British qualifier
[1173.62] Cerb: Now, I've tried with these five races to not make them British qualifiers
[1177.62] Cerb: Because everybody's charging up and down the country going to BQEs
[1180.62] Cerb: And we've lost the art of a local series
[1183.62] Cerb: So this five race series will have a winner
[1186.62] Cerb: There'll be a big prize pot
[1188.62] Cerb: We've got some big sponsors
[1190.62] Cerb: So you can win the five race series
[1193.62] Cerb: Does the winner get covered in cheap sparkling wine?
[1196.62] Cerb: Well, they might get covered in cheap sparkling mead
[1200.62] Cerb: Oh, even better
[1201.62] Cerb: Stickier
[1203.62] Cerb: Because one of our sponsors is actually a bespoke mead maker
[1208.62] Stephen: Oh, nice
[1209.62] Stephen: I used to drink a load of mead back at university
[1211.62] Stephen: At Loniak and Lime Bay and all that
[1214.62] Cerb: Big fan of mead
[1215.62] Cerb: So they're very superb quality meads
[1219.62] Cerb: Affordable prices
[1221.62] Cerb: The arcane alchemist is the guy's name
[1225.62] Cerb: And he sponsors us
[1227.62] Cerb: We're going to look and try
[1228.62] Cerb: And we're trying to do something that sparkles
[1231.62] Cerb: But we always have the good fun prizes, right?
[1236.62] Cerb: Because the guys that turn up and just have a good time
[1239.62] Cerb: Deserve to go away with something
[1241.62] Cerb: So we award Donk of the Day
[1245.62] Cerb: Which was, we were actually on a rugby pitch last time
[1248.62] Cerb: So someone did actually donk a rugby post
[1250.62] Cerb: And they make a brilliant noise
[1252.62] Cerb: So Donk of the Day
[1253.62] Cerb: But Arcane Alchemist sponsors Spirit of the Event
[1258.62] Cerb: So the person we decree the Spirit of the Event for that event
[1261.62] Cerb: Wins the bottle of mead
[1262.62] Stephen: Who won that last time then?
[1264.62] Cerb: That was Scotty Doo last time
[1268.62] Cerb: Because he absolutely destroyed all of his quads
[1272.62] Cerb: And in the end had competed in the final by borrowing someone else's quad
[1277.62] Cerb: And I think possibly their controller
[1279.62] Cerb: And he just soldiered on and just got on with it
[1282.62] Cerb: And still managed to finish the final
[1285.62] Cerb: And that was the spirit of the event
[1288.62] Stephen: So killer quads, doing pretty well then by the sound of it
[1291.62] Cerb: We're purring along, you know
[1294.62] Cerb: We do our thing
[1297.62] Cerb: It's nice that there's that little crossover between FPV Racing Solutions and killer quads
[1302.62] Cerb: But I've, for the five race series with my killer quads hat on
[1308.62] Cerb: I've gone out and I've talked to a lot of sponsors
[1312.62] Cerb: So we've got Gemfan Racing on board to replace all of our race gates
[1320.62] Cerb: Nice
[1321.62] Cerb: Because you guys will have seen
[1323.62] Cerb: Graham Grant in the chat
[1325.62] Cerb: Are probably aware of the inflatable gates
[1328.62] Cerb: Which are lovely
[1329.62] Cerb: One race gate
[1330.62] Cerb: Because they're big
[1332.62] Cerb: But they, you know
[1334.62] Cerb: Inflatable plus props is a bad proposition
[1337.62] Cerb: And they have a shelf life
[1339.62] Cerb: Inflatable does last forever
[1340.62] Stephen: There's only so much gaffer you can apply to a gate
[1342.62] Stephen: Before it ceases to be a gate
[1343.62] Cerb: Yeah, yeah, absolutely
[1345.62] Cerb: So there was this big quandary of, you know
[1348.62] Cerb: What on earth do we do
[1350.62] Cerb: And I was looking at going with multi GP gates
[1352.62] Cerb: Because, you know, multi GP are making a good showing of it, you know
[1358.62] Cerb: And whilst I was looking at multi GP gates
[1360.62] Cerb: I discovered championship gates
[1363.62] Cerb: So there are multi GP chapter gates
[1366.62] Cerb: And there are championship gates
[1368.62] Cerb: And the championship gates are 10 foot by 6 foot
[1371.62] Cerb: No, 10 foot by 8 foot
[1373.62] Cerb: So much, much bigger than a chapter gate
[1375.62] Stephen: Is that a race class or something?
[1377.62] Cerb: No, that is for their championship level events
[1381.62] Cerb: So you can't run a multi GP qualifier with a championship gate
[1384.62] Cerb: Because a qualifier is designed for a chapter gate
[1387.62] Cerb: Which is 5 by 5
[1389.62] Cerb: So I actually spoke to Gemfan
[1391.62] Cerb: And they were just in the process of adding a championship size version
[1396.62] Cerb: To their range
[1397.62] Cerb: And Gemfan hobby sponsored us
[1400.62] Cerb: To completely refit our entire track with Gemfan gates
[1405.62] Cerb: Kudos to Gemfan
[1407.62] Cerb: Great
[1408.62] Cerb: Yeah, so this is
[1410.62] Cerb: This is race 2
[1412.62] Cerb: So we're looking there at a rugby field with all of these championship size gates
[1421.62] Cerb: And you can see next to those Gemfan flags are 4.2 meters tall
[1426.62] Cerb: So looking at that double gate
[1429.62] Cerb: That's a big gate
[1430.62] Jack: I thought it was just far away
[1432.62] Jack: These things are big
[1434.62] Cerb: Sorry
[1435.62] Cerb: So that's our double gate
[1437.62] Stephen: I feel terrible for not being able to hit those in like Velocidrone and others now
[1442.62] Stephen: Now I see the size of them in real life
[1444.62] Stephen: I feel quite ashamed
[1445.62] Cerb: Well, that's the championship size
[1448.62] Cerb: So that is twice as wide almost as a standard chapter gate
[1456.62] Cerb: So that thing is 3 meters wide and 5
[1460.62] Stephen: You could get a next class through that, couldn't you?
[1463.62] Cerb: Yeah
[1464.62] Cerb: 3 meters wide and 5 meters tall, that is
[1468.62] Cerb: So, yeah, if you breathed in with a next class, you'd get through that
[1473.62] Jack: Speaking of next class
[1475.62] Jack: I'd love a little more on
[1477.62] Stephen: Not quite breathing in, but hey
[1480.62] Cerb: That would definitely fit
[1482.62] Stephen: He's off to compete with this monstrosity that Jack built now
[1487.62] Stephen: Did you do a test hover with your foot on it, mate?
[1490.62] Stephen: Nah, he didn't bring any props, per se
[1494.62] Jack: He only got 2 feet, there's not enough spares
[1497.62] Jack: Clean flight
[1500.62] Jack: SPF3 board
[1502.62] Stephen: SP Racing F3, I mean
[1505.62] Stephen: The forefront of technology, circa 2016
[1509.62] Stephen: That's what the ex-class racers love, apparently, the old F3s
[1514.62] Jack: Yeah, and there's like notes and stickers and all sorts
[1519.62] Jack: It's a monster
[1520.62] Cerb: I love race directing the ex-class
[1522.62] Cerb: Race directing the ex-class racers is so much fun
[1524.62] Cerb: Because they're so good for the spectators
[1528.62] Cerb: They make such a good noise and they always catch fire
[1531.62] Stephen: What were the ESCs that Tony is running there?
[1533.62] Jack: They won 20s or did he go for the 200s on that?
[1536.62] Jack: Yeah, so we have a picture of, Frank's just pointed out
[1540.62] Jack: Say what you see
[1541.62] Stephen: So we see a small man holding a very large quad
[1547.62] Stephen: Or a very large man holding a small aircraft
[1549.62] Stephen: We're not entirely sure
[1551.62] Stephen: We see a zipper, we see not much
[1556.62] Jack: So AP racing ESCs, AP racing
[1563.62] Stephen: But what are the APD ESCs, I was asking
[1566.62] Stephen: Are they the 120 FX3s, are they the 200s?
[1569.62] Stephen: I don't know, he should be here
[1571.62] Stephen: Having a bit of a natter with APD recently
[1573.62] Stephen: So I was just asking, because the 200s are opto-isolated
[1577.62] Stephen: And you don't get RPM telemetry
[1579.62] Stephen: Whereas the 120s, you can get RPM telemetry off them
[1583.62] Stephen: No idea what it's called
[1585.62] Stephen: Not that Tony is running a version of Betaflight recent enough
[1588.62] Stephen: To actually use RPM telemetry
[1590.62] Stephen: But hey, what ifs?
[1594.62] Stephen: A constant bug with Tony is that he insists on running stuff from five years ago
[1599.62] Stephen: Because that's what worked
[1601.62] Stephen: The nerd rage just rises in me like a tide
[1610.62] Jack: Well, the X-Class from Fossil Staff, it's the new frame called the Falcor
[1617.62] Jack: And Numskull is in forward
[1620.62] Jack: It says the 120s
[1622.62] Jack: Yeah, the 120 amp APDs
[1625.62] Stephen: The 200s are somewhat ludicrous
[1628.62] Stephen: We haven't yet found anyone
[1630.62] Stephen: I think there's one guy I know who runs the 200s
[1633.62] Stephen: And he builds ridiculous rigs
[1635.62] Stephen: Like full-on ludicrous rigs
[1638.62] Stephen: Andy, like a noisy boy
[1640.62] Stephen: If you're out there
[1641.62] Stephen: And you want to tell us about your ludicrous rigs sometime
[1644.62] Stephen: Please drop by
[1646.62] Stephen: But the guy builds some insane stuff
[1648.62] Stephen: And he's the only person I've seen who runs the 200 amp APCs so far
[1652.62] Stephen: Which is a 14 SK
[1654.62] Jack: They've all got individual tabs
[1656.62] Jack: And one big one
[1658.62] Cerb: I'm going to really miss not running the race that we're not discussing
[1662.62] Cerb: Because that was going to be X-Class and Numskull
[1665.62] Stephen: Well, it's nice to have the feel to yourself as well, isn't it?
[1667.62] Stephen: Because you were just being a shoot off by a bunch of angry pilots
[1672.62] Stephen: We shan't discuss
[1674.62] Stephen: Fair enough
[1675.62] Stephen: I mean, our hands up
[1677.62] Stephen: I thought it was interesting to go there last year
[1679.62] Stephen: But the fixed-wing stuff left me completely cold
[1682.62] Stephen: And I was quite bored and I left early
[1684.62] Stephen: So, you know, make a bit of what you want
[1687.62] Cerb: And unfortunately, there won't be any X-Class or wings this year
[1691.62] Cerb: The risk assessment was...
[1694.62] Cerb: Yeah, it wasn't viable, unfortunately
[1697.62] Stephen: Not viable at an airport
[1699.62] Stephen: That's used for full-size aircraft
[1702.62] Stephen: Yeah, I mean, make it that way you will
[1704.62] Cerb: But let us not
[1705.62] Cerb: We shall find a way to do some X-Class stuff
[1709.62] Stephen: This is a mere continuation of the rant that I embarked on last week, by the way
[1713.62] Stephen: So, let's just curtail this
[1715.62] Stephen: Gracefully we will
[1716.62] Cerb: And hopefully some wing stuff as well
[1718.62] Cerb: I haven't done any wing stuff yet this year
[1720.62] Cerb: That was going to be my first
[1722.62] Cerb: We'll see what else pops up later in the year
[1724.62] Stephen: I think there's a couple other things
[1725.62] Stephen: Like apparently your sign-ups are looking really strong this year
[1731.62] Cerb: Well, this is the whole thing with not doing BQEs
[1734.62] Cerb: So Race 2 wasn't a BQE
[1736.62] Cerb: So that was a little quieter
[1738.62] Cerb: But actually it was nowhere near as quiet as I was fearing it would be
[1742.62] Cerb: Race 3
[1744.62] Cerb: With a British qualifying event
[1746.62] Cerb: So you earn points towards the championships that year
[1748.62] Cerb: So there are, I think, a segment of our hobby that will only get out of bed for a BQE
[1755.62] Cerb: And we need to change that
[1757.62] Stephen: I just assumed BQE was the bacon
[1759.62] Stephen: I don't know
[1760.62] Cerb: Do something different
[1761.62] Cerb: You know, if we do something different then they will come
[1763.62] Cerb: And, you know, we've just got to make it
[1765.62] Cerb: Really good events that aren't BQEs
[1767.62] Cerb: And really amazing events that are BQEs
[1770.62] Cerb: So what you're going to do, you're going to throw a bit of twist on it
[1772.62] Stephen: Do something a bit unusual
[1774.62] Stephen: More fire
[1776.62] Stephen: Flaming hoops
[1777.62] Stephen: Like, you know, jump through the flaming hoop
[1779.62] Stephen: Fly through the flaming hoop
[1781.62] Cerb: Yeah, so we've done some bits and bobs
[1783.62] Cerb: So we've got the five race series for killer quads
[1786.62] Cerb: And only two of those will be a BQE
[1788.62] Cerb: There's also a five race series being run by Wear
[1792.62] Cerb: Which WARE
[1794.62] Cerb: And they've actually also brought me in to Race Direct those
[1796.62] Cerb: So FPV Racing Solutions are doing those five races for Wear FPV as well
[1802.62] Cerb: And sign-ups for those have been pretty good
[1806.62] Stephen: What do they bring to the table?
[1807.62] Cerb: Race 3
[1809.62] Cerb: Wear have their own dedicated field
[1812.62] Cerb: So they can just set their track up and leave it
[1814.62] Cerb: Which is brilliant
[1816.62] Cerb: So I roll up, open the doors of the trailer one day
[1821.62] Cerb: Or take all of that kit
[1824.62] Cerb: Oh, Starlink, I need to mention Starlink
[1826.62] Stephen: Yeah, yeah, that was actually next question
[1829.62] Cerb: Have a list
[1831.62] Cerb: I'm pleasantly surprised that we're doing my first
[1836.62] Cerb: Killer Quads first, FPV Racing Solutions first
[1840.62] Cerb: Weekend event
[1842.62] Cerb: And it was advertised at the start of the year
[1845.62] Cerb: I advertised all five of them at the start of the year
[1847.62] Cerb: I didn't want to mess around, just dead to the date
[1849.62] Cerb: Put them in your diary
[1850.62] Cerb: It's got like 23 pilots signed up already
[1854.62] Cerb: With a 42 pilot limit
[1856.62] Cerb: So it's halfway there
[1858.62] Cerb: And it's a month and a half away
[1860.62] Cerb: So I expect that will go up a bit as well
[1863.62] Cerb: For a weekend long event
[1865.62] Cerb: I think that's pretty good
[1866.62] Cerb: I'm pretty pleased with that actually
[1869.62] Stephen: What we need is someone to get like an ultra-permanent field
[1872.62] Stephen: And then they could dispense with gates entirely
[1874.62] Stephen: And just, you know, for each race
[1875.62] Stephen: Just put up some logs
[1877.62] Stephen: Just go for like a henged dial race event
[1881.62] Cerb: That would be the amazing thing
[1883.62] Cerb: If you could set up a dedicated
[1887.62] Cerb: Space
[1888.62] Cerb: Lay the track out, lay gates out
[1891.62] Cerb: Because you could have a set of permanent features
[1894.62] Cerb: And a set of movable features
[1897.62] Cerb: And you could, yeah, there's all sorts of stuff
[1899.62] Cerb: If I won the lottery tomorrow
[1901.62] Stephen: Land is so hard to come by in this country
[1904.62] Stephen: You hear of people in the US
[1905.62] Stephen: Oh, just buy a field
[1906.62] Stephen: You can't really do that so much in this country
[1909.62] Stephen: Yeah, doesn't work over here
[1911.62] Frank: This episode was recorded in front of a live online audience
[1914.62] Frank: Downloaded and edited to make sense when it's played audio only
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[1928.62] Frank: Consider joining them
[1929.62] Frank: And you'll also get other online benefits
[1931.62] Frank: Find out more at patreon.com
[1936.62] Frank: So Starlink, tell us about that
[1939.62] Cerb: Starlink, yes
[1941.62] Cerb: So one of the headaches, if you want to stream your race
[1946.62] Cerb: Is we have, and other race directors will tell you the same stories
[1951.62] Cerb: Of trying to put 3G modems on sticks
[1954.62] Cerb: And hold them up in the air
[1956.62] Cerb: Because trying to get broadband in the middle of a field
[1959.62] Cerb: In the middle of nowhere is a nightmare
[1961.62] Cerb: And I made a very good contact with Dr. FPV, David
[1967.62] Cerb: Who is a senior research techie bod for Virgin Media O2
[1974.62] Cerb: And then worked with him on the HD0 race
[1978.62] Cerb: Back in the day in the Milton Keynes Dons football stadium
[1982.62] Cerb: So I was lamenting to him, you know
[1986.62] Cerb: Because he works for Virgin Media O2
[1988.62] Cerb: Like, oh, 3G, 4G, when do we get 5G?
[1992.62] Cerb: When's it going to be affordable?
[1993.62] Cerb: When are we going to be able to have reliable internet
[1996.62] Cerb: In the middle of a field?
[1997.62] Cerb: And it turned out he'd been working on a project in his day job
[2002.62] Cerb: Combining powers with Starlink
[2006.62] Cerb: So the Virgin Media O2 research department
[2011.62] Cerb: Because this is something that's available in the US, isn't it?
[2014.62] Stephen: But to consumers elsewhere it's not been on the table so far
[2018.62] Cerb: We've got it in the UK now
[2020.62] Cerb: The thing that was killing it was that it was geo-lagged
[2023.62] Cerb: So you could have a Starlink dish
[2025.62] Cerb: But you couldn't move it anywhere
[2027.62] Cerb: So Dr. FPV brings along his Virgin Media O2 research equipment
[2033.62] Cerb: And he is part of the crew
[2036.62] Cerb: You'll see him in his FPV racing solutions shirt running around
[2039.62] Cerb: And he just, he brings Starlink
[2042.62] Cerb: And plugs it in the field and sets it up
[2045.62] Cerb: And he just gives me an ethernet cable and goes
[2047.62] Cerb: What's the uplink? I know the downlink was okay
[2050.62] Stephen: I thought the uplink kind of sucked on that
[2053.62] Cerb: So the down is about 200 and up is about 60
[2057.62] Stephen: Oh, that's pretty feisty
[2059.62] Stephen: Oh, so anticipating maybe a third of that
[2063.62] Cerb: So compared to the usual dance that we used to have to do with the 3G hotspot
[2069.62] Cerb: It's an absolute dream, an absolute dream
[2073.62] Cerb: So you can pump up the quality of your stream
[2076.62] Cerb: You can start, you can put all your OBS studio settings up a bit
[2079.62] Cerb: Because you've got decent upload
[2082.62] Cerb: You plug it in, as long as you've got clear line of sight to the sky
[2085.62] Cerb: You've got internet, it's amazing
[2088.62] Cerb: We are very grateful to David and VMO2 for hooking us up with that
[2094.62] Cerb: And again, like the VAR judge, it's a thing that takes the pressure off of my brain
[2099.62] Cerb: I don't have to deal with it as much
[2102.62] Cerb: And also speaking of taking pressure off of my brain is Matt FPV
[2107.62] Cerb: So Matt Neal has also joined the FPV racing solutions team
[2111.62] Cerb: And he comes and co-commentates with me
[2114.62] Cerb: And when I need to go and grab a burger or have a wee, not both at the same time
[2119.62] Cerb: He can run the deck, get the races going
[2123.62] Cerb: So it's kind of spiralled into this whole thing, it's been great fun
[2131.58] Stephen: Awesome, so I think next on the list here
[2135.58] Stephen: So we talked about the VAR stuff, that's fantastic
[2139.58] Stephen: I heard that you're also an examiner now for FPV racing certificates
[2144.58] Stephen: So if people want to get certification, like Muggin's here for example
[2149.58] Stephen: You are someone they can go to
[2152.58] Cerb: Yes, absolutely
[2154.58] Cerb: So the BMFA have been doing some work to bring their certification system up to speed
[2163.58] Cerb: With FPV and drone racing
[2166.58] Cerb: They're really trying to embrace us more
[2169.58] Cerb: And make an effort towards the FPV racing side
[2173.58] Cerb: So they came up with their FPV racing certificate
[2177.58] Cerb: And I was lucky enough
[2180.58] Cerb: Last year at the UK championships run by the BDRA at BMFA headquarters in Buckminster
[2188.58] Cerb: I did the examiners exam
[2193.58] Cerb: I think there were four of us that did it
[2197.58] Cerb: Hopefully there are more than four of us in the UK now
[2200.58] Cerb: But that does mean that if you do want to sit your FPV racing certificate as a BMFA member
[2209.58] Cerb: Pop along to a killer quads practice night on a Friday
[2213.58] Cerb: Or if you want to get hold of me and come and do it at one of our events
[2219.58] Stephen: So for people who haven't met killer quads before, you're flying out of what location?
[2224.58] Cerb: So killer quads races are at Bronzgrove, Bronzgrove RFC
[2229.58] Cerb: You can find us on all the socials
[2232.58] Cerb: Killer quads is on Facebook, FPV Racing Solutions on Facebook
[2237.58] Cerb: There's a page there as well
[2238.58] Cerb: Awesome
[2239.58] Cerb: And if anybody wants to come along to an event run by FPV Racing Solutions and sit that exam
[2245.58] Cerb: Don't ask me on the morning, get hold of me before
[2249.58] Cerb: We can sort something out for you, you can sit that certificate
[2253.58] Stephen: Do you say you're flying at this wear club down at SG11?
[2257.58] Cerb: Yeah, SG11 is wear
[2261.58] Cerb: So if you have a look on the IFPV site
[2265.58] Cerb: IFPV.co.uk
[2268.58] Cerb: You will find the calendar there for
[2272.58] Stephen: It's about five miles west of Stansted
[2277.58] Cerb: Yeah
[2279.58] Cerb: So all of the 2023 calendar is up there at IFPV.co.uk
[2285.58] Cerb: That's kind of like the ticket master of the FPV Racing World, right?
[2289.58] Cerb: So if you want to find an event, our events and everybody else's events are up there
[2296.58] Cerb: Awesome
[2298.58] Stephen: Very nice
[2299.58] Stephen: Well, wear isn't that fun?
[2301.58] Stephen: Lots of places aren't that fun?
[2302.58] Stephen: I need to pull my finger out of my butt
[2304.58] Stephen: I'm not very race-motif-
[2306.58] Stephen: I love the idea that people are racing
[2307.58] Stephen: I'm not very competitive, unfortunately
[2309.58] Stephen: I find it all fascinating, the technology around it
[2312.58] Stephen: How fast people can go, this is all amazing
[2315.58] Stephen: I just don't really
[2317.58] Cerb: Yeah, you've got to get out there and have fun
[2320.58] Cerb: Sounds like you've got to
[2321.58] Cerb: We need to get back to the days of having fun with quads
[2325.58] Cerb: Come to a race because it's good fun
[2327.58] Cerb: Not because you're chasing qualifying points for a championship
[2330.58] Jack: That's a great statement, thanks
[2332.58] Jack: Was the examiner test hard?
[2338.98] Cerb: The flying bit, no
[2341.98] Cerb: The understanding the reasons for failing someone was quite involved
[2350.98] Cerb: Because it's easy to know what the right answers are
[2353.98] Cerb: It took some understanding and learning for what the wrong answers are
[2358.98] Stephen: I've read the BMFA verbiage
[2360.98] Stephen: And surprisingly, the flying portion of the multi-rotor racing A certificate
[2366.98] Stephen: Is the smallest part of the test
[2369.98] Stephen: Yeah
[2370.98] Stephen: The safety checks before you take off
[2373.98] Stephen: The communication with your observer and all this stuff
[2377.98] Stephen: By far out numbers and outweighs any of your flying skills
[2382.98] Stephen: It's all about answering the questions correctly before you take off
[2385.98] Stephen: And talking to your observer while you're flying it looks like, right?
[2389.98] Cerb: Yeah
[2390.98] Cerb: A lot of it is stuff that you should be doing by second nature
[2396.98] Cerb: You know, checking your kit before you fly
[2401.98] Cerb: Organizing with your observer what their responsibilities are
[2406.98] Cerb: Safety considerations if there are changes to the environmental surroundings
[2412.98] Cerb: You know, the weather
[2414.98] Cerb: It's all kind of actually common sense
[2418.98] Cerb: But that thing about common sense is sometimes it's not so common
[2422.98] Cerb: The good thing is that if you sit down and have a read through it, like you have
[2426.98] Cerb: You'll look at it and go, oh yeah, actually that all makes sense
[2429.98] Cerb: And it will instill in people that thought, that knowledge
[2434.98] Cerb: To actually think about it
[2437.98] Cerb: And that takes away that part with, you know
[2440.98] Cerb: Get a drone for Christmas and lose it in the park the next day
[2444.98] Stephen: Yeah
[2445.98] Stephen: Hopefully
[2446.98] Stephen: I must say, I joined the BMFA today on a whim
[2449.98] Stephen: Because I wanted to do the FPV racing, sir
[2452.98] Cerb: Yeah
[2453.98] Stephen: This is one of the worst designed websites I have ever seen
[2456.98] Stephen: This is, it's incredibly difficult to find
[2459.98] Cerb: I'm not affiliated with them so I'm not going to say a word
[2461.98] Stephen: Any content here
[2463.98] Stephen: It appears that the people who have reviewed the website content
[2466.98] Stephen: Knew the content already before looking at the website
[2469.98] Stephen: And therefore didn't address any of the deficiencies of the website
[2472.98] Stephen: It's a website that serves to repeat things to people who know them already
[2477.98] Stephen: And if you don't know it, you can't find it on the website
[2479.98] Stephen: So I should have bought the BDF membership instead of the BMFA
[2483.98] Stephen: It didn't make it clear what the BDF was
[2486.98] Stephen: Other than to say it was for drones
[2488.98] Stephen: And apparently it's exactly the same as the BMFA
[2491.98] Stephen: Except the billing period starts when you pay
[2495.98] Stephen: But the website doesn't tell you that
[2497.98] Stephen: The website gives you a whole load of fluff
[2500.98] Cerb: God love them, the BMFA do a lot of good work
[2503.98] Cerb: I don't think I could put their website in the same column as a lot of their good work
[2507.98] Stephen: It's a website designed for people who already know the content on the website
[2512.98] Cerb: I think that's fair
[2513.98] Cerb: Yeah, sorry BMFA
[2515.98] Cerb: But yeah, your website does need a tweak
[2517.98] Cerb: But I mean that's hard, isn't it?
[2519.98] Cerb: Especially when things develop in a kind of organic way
[2522.98] Cerb: Which is what I think what that website kind of has done
[2525.98] Cerb: It's not quite there
[2527.98] Cerb: It's not quite where it needs to be
[2530.98] Stephen: It's good for members who already know this stuff as a reminder
[2533.98] Stephen: But from coming in as an outsider
[2535.98] Stephen: You just met with this barrage of information that is all inward facing and not outward facing
[2542.98] Stephen: Oh, if you know this, then you'll remember this
[2544.98] Stephen: No, I don't
[2545.98] Stephen: I have no idea what you're talking about
[2547.98] Cerb: As an organisation, they're well worth supporting
[2550.98] Cerb: They have got model flying at their very spine
[2555.98] Cerb: And they do a lot in the background for drones
[2558.98] Cerb: And they are trying to move
[2560.98] Cerb: That's why the drone kind of subsection
[2565.98] Cerb: It's not a subsection, it's a category
[2567.98] Cerb: That's why it's kind of sprung up
[2570.98] Cerb: And there are some guys there that are really trying to get involved and engage the drone hobby
[2575.98] Cerb: Because it's important, we're all pilots, we're all sharing
[2579.98] Cerb: We're just all having fun with models that fly
[2587.98] Cerb: I was historically in my past not that enamoured with the BMFA
[2593.98] Cerb: Having worked more closely with them and spoken to them
[2597.98] Cerb: And helped them with some stuff
[2599.98] Cerb: And they've helped me with some stuff
[2600.98] Cerb: I realised how much they really do in the background
[2603.98] Cerb: But part of their problem is that's not very visible
[2607.98] Stephen: Yeah, and the public presence really is what people think of the organisation
[2613.98] Stephen: It's a society that may be dominated by people who don't really use the internet that much
[2619.98] Stephen: And unfortunately, that needs to be updated
[2622.98] Stephen: The handbook, I think, is a great part of the site
[2624.98] Stephen: But I only found that handbook by searching for the Sweets algorithm
[2630.98] Stephen: The Sweets mnemonic, which was mentioned in the test
[2634.98] Stephen: And I wasn't aware that handbook.vmfa.uk was a website
[2639.98] Stephen: It's not mentioned anywhere else
[2641.98] Stephen: I've just joined as a member and I wasn't made aware of it
[2644.98] Cerb: Yeah, needs work
[2646.98] Jack: You know the examining stuff
[2651.98] Jack: You mentioned the reasons on failing people
[2657.98] Jack: Is there any key things that you'd recommend to someone to look into before they take their test?
[2666.98] Cerb: Well, the guidance is available online, as you've found
[2670.98] Cerb: So you definitely need to be reading through that and understanding what it's trying to get at
[2677.98] Cerb: In terms of the question and answers portion of it
[2682.98] Cerb: As an examiner, you're not there to catch people out
[2685.98] Cerb: There are no trick questions
[2688.98] Cerb: And if somebody is absolutely unsafe, then they're not going to pass it
[2694.98] Cerb: If somebody is doing their absolute best, then they're likely to pass
[2701.98] Cerb: Because they're going to have done the reading
[2705.98] Cerb: They're going to have a pretty good understanding of what they should be doing, what their responsibilities are
[2711.98] Cerb: And it's difficult to fail, to be honest
[2714.98] Cerb: I think you've really got to have turned up completely unprepared to fail it
[2721.98] Cerb: And if you have turned up completely unprepared, you'd probably deserve to fail
[2724.98] Jack: Yeah, good practices just off the top of your head
[2727.98] Jack: You know, like things that we should all start getting into our habit
[2732.98] Jack: Is it like declaring you're going to power on, declaring you're going to arm, take off?
[2738.98] Cerb: Yeah, I guess I kind of, I forget about stuff now because I do a lot of racing at the moment
[2743.98] Cerb: But yeah, if you're out with your mates and there's three or four of you, you need to be in those good habits of
[2748.98] Cerb: I'm going to power on, figure out who's on what channel
[2752.98] Cerb: Go back to the old days, so I use race ducks, I use the duck key rings with a channel on each duck
[2760.98] Cerb: And if you're holding a duck, you've got the channel
[2762.98] Cerb: That's just the same as pegboards back in the day, right?
[2766.98] Cerb: So you can't just all rock up to a bando and all power on on R2 at 600 megawatts and expect not to die horribly
[2773.98] Cerb: So you do have to get into those good practices of, you know, power on away from people, shout your power ons
[2780.98] Cerb: Know your kit, you know, know that your props are on the right way round, you've looked over it
[2787.98] Cerb: You know, you haven't got a power lead hanging off somewhere
[2790.98] Cerb: You're not putting a drone on the ground, a meter in front of somebody that's got their goggles down in armour
[2796.98] Stephen: Oh yeah, this is another thing, they really don't want you taking off from your feet
[2800.98] Stephen: They want you taking off from, yeah, from a line
[2803.98] Cerb: A meter away in it or something
[2807.98] Cerb: And that's how it should be
[2808.98] Cerb: If you're out with your mates, you shouldn't be powering on or stood there
[2812.98] Cerb: You should be carrying that drone to a take-off area and powering it there
[2816.98] Cerb: And when you're coming back, if you're all stood there on a line
[2820.98] Cerb: And someone's ripping balls at the backside of a bando somewhere
[2825.98] Cerb: And you're stood next to them and you come back and land at your feet
[2828.98] Cerb: It doesn't matter how far apart your channels are, he's dead
[2832.98] Cerb: Because you've got a powered quad a foot away from him
[2836.98] Cerb: And his quad's 300 foot over there behind a brick wall
[2839.98] Cerb: Not necessarily
[2843.98] Cerb: Pretty usually
[2845.98] Stephen: Only if you're flying analogue
[2849.98] Stephen: When's the last time you flew analogue, I mean
[2853.98] Cerb: I haven't flown analogue for months
[2856.98] Cerb: There you are
[2858.98] Cerb: Thank you for the honest answer
[2862.98] Jack: I, you know, knocked my power down before coming in
[2867.98] Jack: Little power down switch
[2870.98] Jack: You still shouldn't
[2871.98] Cerb: You shouldn't have a powered on quad right next to your mate
[2874.98] Jack: Oh yeah, I'm trying not to
[2876.98] Jack: Yeah
[2878.98] Jack: But
[2879.98] Jack: Yeah, I lower my milliwatt when coming in
[2884.98] Jack: So it just helps
[2886.98] Cerb: Yeah, yeah, absolutely
[2887.98] Stephen: Just like go ballistic, you know, give yourself a bit of a punch
[2891.98] Stephen: Disarm and just coast in gently like a cannonball
[2896.98] Cerb: If there's a bunch of you, you should have three areas
[2901.98] Cerb: You should have your flight line
[2902.98] Cerb: You should have your takeoff area
[2903.98] Cerb: You should have your landing area
[2905.98] Cerb: And they should be fairly well separated
[2907.98] Stephen: I noticed the FVV racing certificate
[2909.98] Stephen: I think is it
[2910.98] Stephen: You can land, but you shouldn't roll more than a metre
[2915.98] Jack: I've always, if I attend one of your events
[2919.98] Jack: I might make a hide the sausage game
[2922.98] Jack: Where there's a powered on VTX and the OSD that says find the sausage
[2927.98] Jack: And then it's a VTX tape to
[2930.98] Jack: VTX and OSD taped to a sausage
[2933.98] Jack: And it's hidden somewhere
[2935.98] Jack: And you win a prize for finding the sausage
[2939.98] Cerb: That sounds like a party game for Saturday night at race three
[2943.98] Jack: Yeah, definitely
[2944.98] Jack: Frank asks, has there been much uptake?
[2947.98] Jack: I'm guessing he's talking about the FVV examining
[2955.98] Cerb: Through me, not masses
[2958.98] Cerb: It has to be said
[2960.98] Cerb: That's probably more down to the fact that I haven't
[2963.98] Cerb: Publicised crazily that I'm an examiner
[2967.98] Cerb: Which I probably, I'm guilty there
[2969.98] Cerb: I should make more of that
[2972.98] Cerb: The local guys, the killer quads guys, if they want to do it
[2975.98] Cerb: They've done it, a couple of them have done it
[2978.98] Cerb: I haven't had anyone actually travel to me yet to do it
[2984.98] Cerb: But yeah, as I say, that's probably more my fault than everyone else
[2987.98] Cerb: As for other examiners, I'd be interested actually
[2989.98] Cerb: I don't know how many people in the UK have that certificate
[2993.98] Cerb: Question for the BMFA
[2996.98] Jack: Do you want to read that one out, Suri?
[2999.98] Cerb: Always within visual line of sight
[3004.35] Cerb: Oh yes, yes, we all fly, VLOS
[3006.35] Cerb: Yeah, I feel behind the gate, do you have to disarm?
[3015.52] Cerb: Yeah, the rules need to catch up with the reality
[3020.52] Cerb: We've got this wonderful section 16, section 19, where it is
[3026.52] Cerb: In a race situation, we are a
[3029.52] Cerb: It's not called a shielded operation, is it?
[3031.52] Cerb: That's something else
[3032.52] Cerb: But we're in a controlled environment
[3034.52] Stephen: Yeah, there's a funny term they had for the operations
[3038.52] Stephen: Was it a sanitised operation?
[3041.52] Cerb: Something like that
[3042.52] Cerb: Something like that, I can't remember from the top of my head
[3044.52] Cerb: It does actually mean that we don't need individual dedicated spotters for each racer
[3051.52] Stephen: But technically, if you break line of sight because you're travelling behind an obstacle like a flag or a gate
[3056.52] Stephen: That is breaking visual line of sight
[3058.52] Stephen: And you technically should be disarming and dropping to the ground
[3062.52] Stephen: Technically, yes
[3063.52] Stephen: Technically, someone should revisit those rules
[3066.52] Stephen: Just a teensy bit
[3069.52] Cerb: Yeah, funny that
[3071.52] Cerb: But that's what comes when you
[3073.52] Cerb: Yeah, they've got a legislative body that are very risk adverse
[3078.52] Cerb: And very ill-informed
[3082.93] Cerb: So it's up to us to inform them
[3084.93] Cerb: We've just got to go out there and do what we do and do it well
[3088.93] Cerb: And show that we are, you know, not killing buses of nuns
[3093.93] Cerb: And they'll get on sight, they'll get on board
[3096.93] Jack: No more than one bus a week
[3099.93] Jack: Yeah
[3100.93] Jack: You know, like the I shot JR t-shirts
[3104.93] Jack: I might do a done I done Gatwick
[3108.93] Jack: I thought you already had one
[3110.93] Jack: Did Tony buy five of them?
[3113.93] Jack: No
[3114.93] Jack: I wish I had the video thing of him talking to police at that thing
[3118.93] Jack: If anyone has that, then they send it to me and I'll be like
[3122.93] Jack: You know, Tony done Gatwick
[3125.93] Cerb: There's a there's a reason why the police at Gatwick patrolling outside the fence didn't find the pilot
[3135.93] Stephen: There wasn't one because it was a police squad
[3139.93] Cerb: The secret to that statement is outside the fence
[3142.93] Stephen: Yeah, because it was because the police were flying from inside the fence
[3147.93] Cerb: Wasn't the police. It wasn't a police drone, but it wasn't being flown outside the fence
[3153.93] Jack: OK
[3157.93] Cerb: Wasn't being flown from outside the fence
[3161.93] Jack: Do you reckon I don't even think there was one
[3165.93] Cerb: Yeah, there was
[3167.93] Stephen: Well, a number of people certainly reported the police helicopter as being a drone
[3171.93] Stephen: because the general public is able to competently tell the difference between a large manned helicopter and a small unmanned drone
[3180.93] Stephen: Yes
[3181.93] Cerb: This this cow is small and this cow is far away
[3184.93] Jack: Exactly, the Dougal problem
[3189.93] Jack: Hang on, let me point that on my channel
[3195.93] Stephen: Right, and so I think
[3198.93] Stephen: FPV racing certificate
[3199.93] Stephen: OK, yeah, so
[3201.93] Stephen: To boil it down, the FPV racing certificate is really focused more on the safety procedures around FPV racing and not
[3208.93] Stephen: whether you can go round a track
[3211.93] Stephen: The going round a track is the smaller portion
[3213.93] Stephen: The larger portion is the safety procedures
[3216.93] Cerb: Yeah, you have to you have to demonstrate competency
[3220.93] Cerb: The when we when we did it at Buckminster
[3226.93] Cerb: One person did actually almost managed to fail it on the flying section
[3232.93] Cerb: Because they got one segment they kept getting broke
[3239.93] Jack: I love my words
[3243.93] Cerb: Yeah
[3245.93] Cerb: So yeah, it's it's not a difficult series of flying maneuvers required
[3249.93] Cerb: But they you do have to fly through some gates and you do have to change directions and you just to change altitude and
[3257.93] Cerb: Yeah, demonstrate some competency
[3259.93] Stephen: Don't roll more than a meter because that's that's a lack of control
[3263.93] Stephen: Yeah
[3265.93] Cerb: Yeah
[3266.93] Cerb: Which is difficult when you've got 50 degrees of camera angle
[3269.93] Cerb: Yeah
[3270.93] Stephen: Maybe maybe just I'm thinking of doing a relaxed lap on a three and a half inch with like a 35 degree camera tilt and just sort of, you know, walk in the park
[3279.93] Stephen: Yeah
[3280.93] Stephen: I think that's probably the way to go
[3281.93] Jack: I get lost
[3283.93] Jack: Racing, Frank has to tell me where to go
[3287.93] Cerb: Well, that's allowed your spotter can
[3289.93] Stephen: I find that very confusing to be fair because
[3292.93] Stephen: A trail of cones on the floor only allows for a 2d representation of the track and the tracks 3d
[3299.93] Cerb: No
[3300.93] Cerb: Because there's there's a whole nomenclature of conage
[3304.93] Stephen: A nomenclature of conage you say
[3306.93] Cerb: Yes
[3307.93] Stephen: Have you got any footage or images?
[3309.93] Stephen: We require conage diagrams
[3312.93] Cerb: A conage diagram
[3313.93] Cerb: Well, I can I can talk you through some of them
[3316.93] Stephen: Tell us about your rich conage history
[3319.93] Stephen: I'm El Dio talking about cones
[3322.93] Stephen: This week on El Dio we will be talking about cones
[3327.93] Jack: Oh God, good luck, you got five minutes
[3332.93] Cerb: Well, say say you're heading towards a split S
[3336.93] Cerb: Right, so now I'm gonna have to tell you what a split S is
[3338.93] Jack: Take your shirt off, that might prevent the coners
[3343.93] Cerb: So there's a split S and there's a reverse split S
[3345.93] Cerb: So you're either gonna go above the gate and then back through the gate or through the gate and then back over the gate
[3350.93] Cerb: So if you're going high then the line of cones will end in a T
[3357.93] Cerb: So there'll be a line of cone the cones you follow up to a T junction
[3362.93] Stephen: Then that means you're going over and back through
[3366.93] Cerb: Yep, you got it
[3367.93] Cerb: So once you go over you'll then be looking for an arrow of cones on the ground which point you back through
[3375.93] Cerb: So we can use the line as go high and the arrow to go back on yourself to actually solve most problems in coneage
[3384.93] Stephen: So if there's a vertical line before you go through the gate that means don't go through the bottom one, go through the top one
[3390.93] Stephen: Yep
[3392.93] Cerb: Easy
[3393.93] Cerb: Alright
[3394.93] Cerb: See, anybody can do it
[3396.93] Jack: All I heard was
[3399.93] Jack: Cones, cones, cones, cones
[3402.93] Cerb: And if your spot is shouting at you, you've gone wrong, then just listen to where he's telling you to go
[3412.88] Stephen: Fine, thanks so much, really appreciate you
[3416.88] Stephen: Laying out the history of the cones
[3419.88] Stephen: Because it's just one of those things you see and you're like, what is this? Have aliens been here?
[3424.88] Stephen: Yeah
[3425.88] Stephen: I understand that I'm supposed to follow them but then this thing happened
[3428.88] Stephen: What does that mean?
[3429.88] Cerb: And we'll change cone colours as well sometimes
[3432.88] Stephen: Oh, I just thought that meant you've run out of one cone
[3435.88] Cerb: No, so another thing we were talking earlier and you were saying about what are we doing to kind of mix things up and change things
[3442.88] Cerb: And one thing we did on race one of the Killer Quads 5 race series, signed up now at IFPV, was we did a joker lane
[3450.88] Cerb: So we put a second lap timer out in a joker lane
[3455.88] Cerb: And actually if you turned left after the first gate, you could go through one gate where the timer was to pick you up
[3462.88] Cerb: So we knew you'd done your joker and then head back to the middle of the track
[3466.88] Cerb: So you'd actually shorten, you'd half your lap, the length of the lap
[3471.88] Cerb: And miss out a complicated twiddly element
[3474.88] Cerb: So everybody was allowed to do one joker lane per qualifying round
[3481.88] Cerb: So when you flew and you could choose which lap you were going to choose on
[3486.88] Cerb: And people started, initially everyone was just doing it first lap
[3490.88] Cerb: I'll do my joker lane first lap, I'll have my short one first
[3493.88] Cerb: And then some guys were like, well actually no, I'll save it to my second or third because then I can overtake
[3498.88] Cerb: If I'm like stuck behind someone, I can use my joker for an overtake
[3502.88] Stephen: It might be pushing harder on subsequent laps as well
[3505.88] Cerb: Yeah, absolutely
[3506.88] Cerb: And also your battery might be sagging a bit
[3508.88] Cerb: So you might want to save it for your fourth lap
[3511.88] Cerb: So you don't have to do the complicated Dutch 8 gate with a saggy battery
[3516.88] Stephen: What's the Dutch 8 gate with the saggy battery?
[3522.38] Jack: So a Dutch 8...
[3523.38] Jack: Tailspin has ejected on the comb talk
[3529.38] Stephen: I just about found out what a Dutch 8 with a saggy battery is
[3532.38] Cerb: Follow this up
[3535.38] Cerb: A Dutch 8 requires a bit of kind of upside downiness if you're going to really hammer it round
[3539.38] Cerb: So you don't want to be doing that when you punch the stick and not much happens
[3546.38] Cerb: One colour cones for left turns, one colour for right turns
[3550.38] Cerb: Interesting, yeah, could be the thing
[3552.38] Jack: I barely follow cones on the road
[3555.38] Jack: Don't admit that, Carol
[3556.38] Jack: I don't think you're supposed to follow the cones
[3558.38] Jack: You're supposed to avoid the cones
[3560.38] Jack: Not supposed to catch them and take them home, Caroline, that's the wrong approach
[3565.38] Jack: I've seen some blue cones with electrical warnings
[3569.38] Jack: And I did fancy one of them
[3571.38] Jack: I've got nowhere to put it in
[3572.38] Jack: Or specialist cones for your cone collection
[3575.38] Jack: Welcome to cones 101
[3577.38] Jack: LTO special cone episode
[3580.38] Jack: And thank God on that note we have run out of time
[3584.38] Jack: So there'll be no more cones
[3586.38] Jack: Thanks, Seb
[3587.38] Cerb: Brilliant
[3588.38] Stephen: I think you've done an excellent job of updating everyone
[3591.38] Stephen: So if people want to join in with the racing, do you want to sign off with where they can go to get stuck in some racing?
[3598.38] Cerb: So BDRA is the governing body
[3600.38] Cerb: Have a look for them on the Intertubes and on Facebook
[3604.38] Cerb: FPV Racing Solutions is my little bunch
[3607.38] Cerb: We run around up and down the country running races for people
[3610.38] Cerb: So if you are starting to look at running races, you need help
[3613.38] Cerb: I can either come up with a team and run a race for you and show you the ropes
[3617.38] Cerb: I can give you advice
[3619.38] Cerb: I'm happy to share knowledge
[3622.38] Cerb: Knowledge is free
[3623.38] Cerb: I will share it
[3624.38] Cerb: It gets more people into the hobby
[3625.38] Cerb: Killer Quads, the FPV community
[3630.38] Cerb: Also on the faceballs
[3632.38] Cerb: Come and find us there
[3633.38] Cerb: We fly every Friday after work at Brumsgrove RFC
[3637.38] Cerb: Come along
[3638.38] Cerb: Meet us
[3639.38] Cerb: Join in
[3640.38] Cerb: If you're looking at our faceballs
[3641.38] Cerb: You'll also spot
[3642.38] Cerb: Very occasionally
[3643.38] Cerb: We'll go and rip a bando
[3645.38] Cerb: And do a bit of freestyle flippy flops
[3647.38] Cerb: But I haven't managed any this year
[3650.38] Cerb: I need to go and scratch my freestyle itch at some point
[3653.38] Cerb: And IFPV
[3655.38] Cerb: If you're anywhere in the country
[3657.38] Cerb: And you're looking for a local race
[3659.38] Cerb: An organised race event you want to go to
[3661.38] Cerb: IFPV.co.uk
[3662.38] Cerb: You'll find the calendar of all the organised events up and down the UK
[3665.38] Cerb: Awesome
[3666.38] Stephen: Thank you for being an excellent guest, Cerberus
[3668.38] Stephen: Really enjoyed that
[3669.38] Stephen: Everyone, hit that like button
[3671.38] Stephen: Subscribe
[3672.38] Stephen: Thank you very much
[3674.38] Stephen: It's been me, the man with the stupid mustache
[3676.38] Stephen: Stephen
[3677.38] Jack: Jack
[3678.38] Jack: Hello
[3679.38] Jack: Thank you very much
[3680.38] Jack: Don't forget about our lovely Patreons
[3683.38] Jack: They're scrolling across the screen right now
[3685.38] Jack: Thank you, lovely, lovely Patreons
[3687.38] Jack: Yep, keeps this impartial
[3689.38] Jack: And keeps the show going
[3692.38] Jack: Thank you, we'd be nowhere without you
[3695.38] Stephen: And thank you very much to our special guest, Cerberus
[3697.38] Stephen: And enlightening us on all matters race in the UK
[3700.38] Stephen: And we'll be having some more race updates
[3702.38] Stephen: Covering Scotland in the near future, we hope
[3705.38] Stephen: So thank you very much, and good night
[3708.38] Jack: Bye
[3709.38] Jack: Bye
[3711.38] Cerb: Cheers guys
[3712.38] Jack: Telemetry lost