28 the aerial eye / winter 1997 the aerial eye a quarterly publication of the aerial photography committee of the American Kitefliers Association volume 3 / number 1 / winter 1997 US$4.00 USA & CANADA US$5.50 overseas Villas, Porto Rotundo, Sardinia, by Patrick Morin. Nikon 2000, 4m delta. P.C. Electronics sources 2522 Paxson Lane If you can’t find what you’re Arcadia, CA 91007 looking for locally, try these: Phone (818) 447-4565 Amateur TV equipment. Catalog. Supercircuits One Supercircuits Plaza North County Radio Leander, TX 78641 PO Box 53 Phone (800) 335-9777 Wykagyl Station (512) 260-0333 New Rochelle, NY 10804 Fax (512) 260-0444 Phone: (914) 235-6611 Extensive selection of micro- ATV Equipment. Catalog. video equipment. Catalog. Tower Hobbies Eglise de la Digi-Key Corporation Post Office Box 9078 Trinité, Cherbourg, 701 Brooks Avenue South Champaign, IL 61826-9078 by Thief River Falls, MN 56701-2757 Phone (800) 637-4989 Christian Phone (800) 344-4539 (217) 398-3636 Becot Web: http://www.digikey.com Fax (217) 356-6608 Wide selection of electronic Radio Control and model-making components. Catalog. equipment & supplies. Catalog. KAP ELECTRONICS 2 the aerial eye winter 1997 3 our feature this issue: the aerial eye send us that stuff! As we start our third year of publica- KAP electronics This newsletter is produced by the Aeri- tion, interest in KAP continues to spread al Photography Committee of the Ameri- by STEVE EISENHAUER worldwide. We’ve added another dozen can Kitefliers Association. It is our goal to new readers since last issue. On the oth- publish quarterly, in August, November, I know a little about electricity, and less read about video- February, and May. er hand, as we expected, we lost a few at about electronics. My cradle’s wiring con- aiming, a walkie- the end of year 2. But this issue will still nections are all soldered, my ni-cad batter- talkie used to release Single copies and subscriptions be mailed to 160 or so. (including back issues) are available to ies are fully discharged before recharging, the camera shutter, AKA members and non-members alike, Half a dozen new contributors have spare AA lithium batteries are in my came- modifying a transmit- under the following fee schedule: jumped in for this issue, and if you’re still ra bag in case the ni-cads fail in cold weath- ter so it can be worn single 4 issues procrastinating, we’d love to hear from er, one mini-servo trips the camera's shut- on your belt, electric AKA $3.00 $10.00 you too. Deadline is the first of the ter and another servo rotates it 360 shutter releases, ro- overseas $4.50 $16.00 month of publication (see left). degrees. Nothing I’m doing is electronical- tary switches,and sev- ly ingenious. eral ways to improve Non-AKA $4.00 $15.00 Text via Email or on 3.5" (9cm) high- I did alter a servo once so it could turn on standard R/C ser- overseas $5.50 $21.00 density disk (Mac or IBM in ASCII text for- vos. mat) is preferred, but typed text or hand- 360 degrees continuously. With a 12-tooth Domestic subscriptions will be mailed In reading about electronics in this issue written letters are welcome too. Like- gear on the servo shaft and a 4-tooth gear by first class mail; overseas subscriptions of AE, I feel a great sense of relief. When wise, diagrams in PICT, EPS, or TIFF on the cradle's pendulum shaft, the servo (i.e., outside North America) will be mailed would then rotate (pan) the camera slowly our fledgling committee initiated AE in Sep- formats are best, but pen drawings, pref- by air. in either direction. By sending my S-VHS tember, 1994, we had to include too much erably on white paper, will work as well. Advertising is available in modules of video camera aloft in this cradle, I could ap- of our own writing and photography But 2.25 inches wide by 1.25 inches high, at Photos may be sent as negatives, proximate the view of a hawk in flight our goal for AE was for it to become an $20.00 per module, payable in advance. prints or slides, or by electronic transfer— looking slowly one way then the other open forum for ideas and information, not Advertising in which aggressively most of the time. We can also read Ko- then circling around. But this alteration a podium just for our personal thoughts. competitive pricing is featured will not be dak PhotoCD, or 3.5" high-density disks in was more mechanical (cutting out the tiny We hoped to help crew a ship full of inter- accepted; call if you have questions or the formats listed above. We'll keep the stops and one shaft nub from inside the esting and expanding personalities on a need more info. Camera-ready copy is not prints unless you direct otherwise, but re- servo) than electrical. voyage of discovery about kite aerial pho- necessary, but is acceptable if it meets turn all negatives, disks, CDs, and slides— The articles and letters in this issue of AE tography. the above criteria. Copy deadline is the eventually. put my limited knowledge to shame. I now sense that the AE ship is under full first of the month of publication. Contact Send everything to Brooks Leffler at You'll hear from KAPers, many of them sail, the crew is motivated and capable, the Brooks Leffler. the address below. new to these pages, in Canada, Great Brit- passengers are supportive, and the wind is ain, The Netherlands, Germany, and France, blowing consistently between 5 and 15 as well as several from the USA. You'll mph. • æ american kitefliers association aerial photography committee under 1/15th second,” says Christian. He Steve Eisenhauer, Chair Brooks Leffler, Editor about the cover adds, “I framed with video, but it was not 229 Lake Ave, Pitman, NJ 08071 PO Box 34, Pacific Grove, CA 93950 (609) 589-2049 Fax (609) 785-1766 (408) 647-8363 Fax (408) 647-8483 Eglise de la Trinité, Cherbourg, France, very clear. The white spot at the top is the moon, of course! The wind had some- [email protected] [email protected] by Christian Becot times gusts and there were blasts which Wolfgang Bieck Craig Wilson This rare night KAPhoto was taken May shaked and rocked the cradle all the time. Am Britzenberg 23 7210 Harvest Hill Road 31, 1996. The kite was Christian’s own Usually at night, I never get enough wind, 29549 Bad Bevensen, Cermany Madison, WI 53717 Crico III; the camera was a Konica Hexar, as it just faints with the daylight. That (+49) 5821 24 43 (608) 831-6770 set at f.2 with Fuji ISO 1600 film. “The shut- time, a storm was just going away, and I [email protected] [email protected] ter was such that it could not use speed had enough.” • æ 4 the aerial eye winter 1997 5 aerial video: get the picture legally the “how” of radio control by STEPHEN JOINER (KC6QFR), North Hollywood, California by PETER van ERKEL, Amsterdam, The Netherlands After being encouraged by a few men- 1. GET LEGAL Most R/C systems used for KAP are so- generates also tions of aerial video in earlier issues of the Most video transmitters worth messing called digital proportional systems with a pulse signal aerial eye, I was sorry to read in the Winter with are built for licensed ATV operators. two, four, or more channels. “Digital” proportional 1996 issue that several of our mainstay con- To go on the air with one legally in the means nothing more than that the output to the move- tributors had apparently lost enthusiasm USA, you need a piece of paper from Wash- of the transmitter is switched on and off. ment of the for video and sold or mothballed their sys- ington D.C. that says you can. “Proportional” means that the the time the servo axle (po- tems. transmitter is switched off is proportional tentiometer). Nevertheless, it has become common to to the movement of the joystick on the The consensus seemed to be that video see advertised in electronics publications a This pulse transmitter case. was intrusive to the KAP experience, and variety of micro-video transmitters tuned signal is then not the useful tool (much less the wave of to operate on the amateur bands and even Each channel is represented by a pulsing compared to the future) that I believe on vacant standard TV signal, whose pulse duration depends on the pulse sig- it to be. channels, yet many of the position of the joystick. The output sig- nal from the receiver. Depending on the Certainly there are pit- these ads bear only a nal of the transmitter contains information difference between these pulses, the servo falls on the road to video very fine print footnote— for all of the channels in use, one after the motor is turned to the right or the left until Valhalla, and in the pro- if even that—casually other, in a so-called pulse train. the pulses have the same duration. When cess of getting a Techni- mentioning that a license This is like a kite train, one pulse (kite) they do, the displacement of the servo axle cian's class license and is required to use their after the other, separated by a fixed time potentiometer on the receiving end is the spending a few years put- product.