MyFlyDream Antenna tracker video mod

[Coyote]

After having owned two of these trackers now I can highly recommend them to anyone. They really are superb at what they do. What I have found though with both models is a really annoying problem with the video RCA sockets on the tracker itself.

It seems that no matter what cable you use, how hard / soft, long or short it breaks the connection now and again while your flying. Its highly annoying having to pull the goggles off sometimes several times as you fly to try and get the wire just right so it makes a connection again.

My fix was to leave the RCA socket as it was. I have a strong feeling the PCB mounted socket is the culprit with its inner pin so the best way around it is exactly that....... Go around it :)

I decided to fit a jack plug socket instead. Jack plugs are used almost exclusively with all the Vrx`s and for good reason, they work very well. The one I chose was a 3.5mm 4 pole.

Poles would be :

1 audio Left
2 audio Right
3 video
4 Ground



The plugs would then all be :



I then took the plate off the tracker to drill where the connector would fit. There was a previous hole where I was going to fit an RCA lead then though better of it. A lead would wear and a socket would not so it was more practical to go with the socket.



With the socket mounted I could then solder up the poles, as most Vtx`s don't pass the right hand side audio I skipped that but I can add it of ever needed.



You can solder the wires to the corresponding pads on the underside of the PCB easily and without having to dissemble the unit, the irons tip will get in no problem.



Once that was done its just a case of putting the front arm back on the plate, the plate back on and locate the arm in the tilt servo in the correct position. Then all done :



To see the problem I had and then the fix here is a quick demo of the mod :

! No longer available

[iPeel]

Looks great, and a worthwhile mod. I'm tempted to put some tape over the buzzer in mine, why do they have to be so loud?!

[wgt40w]

As with all the best design mods - simple and v. effective.

It should also be noted that it is easy to buy the 'new' video lead - RCA to 3.5mm Jack from numerous sources, e.g. Maplin, Amamzon, eBay.