The World of
James Carroll

A Big Kite - 8ft Rokkaku

 

On a number of occasions I found that my Delta was not able to lift the rig because there was not enough wind. Naturally these were times when the light was good and I was at a particularly photogenic location! It was a no-brainer that I needed a bigger kite for low wind conditions.

I have built several large Nasawing kites for buggying, so I decided to build a big American Foil. I first made a 3/10ths scale version, and I must admit that it flies well. This is my usual routine before investing a lot of time and money in a new style of kite. If I foul up it does not cost an arm and a leg. My grandson has inherited this little kite and is delighted, however, one day in gusty conditions, it folded and arrived back on terra firma. I thought of what might happen to my KAP rig in similar circumstances and it put me off the idea of a foil for light wind KAPping.

I discovered Gary Engvall's Kite Site where he gives very extensive instructions for making a 6 foot Rokkaku. and imcludes some pictures of 8 footers. I just went for it and produced an 8 foot version. Man can she lift some weight. In a strong breeze I have to anchor to something very soild or there is a danger I might take to the skies never mind the camera rig.

 

KAP - Video Downlink

What is it?

It serves the function of a remote view finder. It is a small transmitter that broadcasts (with a very weak signal) the video output of the KAP camera. This signal is picked up on the ground and viewed on a portable, hand-held TV. No more guessing what images you are capturing. It still necessary to shoot lots of frames as even this system is not fool proof.

Raison d'etre

You don't actually need a video downlink to be a successful KAPer. My downlink exists because I like gadgets; because I would like a better hit rate and because my family footed the bill as a birthday present.

Rig Three

Or should that be 2.1 - or even 1.2? the fact is that my current rig is still the original frame. I have changed servos, camera, battery packs, suspension method and configuration in a constant effort to improve upon the original.

Since the video downlink is still expiremental it is currently held in place by velcro. The receiver battery pack has been relocate to keep the rig balanced and it too has velcro tapes. This method of fixing gives me the option to add/remove the video Tx without too much trouble.

The Tx is fed from the camers's video out socket. The power is supplied by 8 AAA batteries. I had looked into the possibility of a voltage step-up circuit but found this to be impractical for me at the moment.

The all up weight of the rig, including the pendulum suspension is 2.2lbs [1.02Kg]. I have done some static testing and everything seems to work fine.

You will find a page on video downlink here