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Staight line flying

My experience trying to make these kinds of shots has me doing a couple things:

1) Fly far enough away you won't notice slight variations in the final result. Your first video has you so close that a UAV really isn't the right tool for the job. If you want to be that close, you're really best off with a handheld or cart mounted camera setup. The second video is about as close as I would want to be with the UAV shot.

2) Set the forward movement with the d-pad so you're not holding the stick forward. Now make your corrections very gently with the yaw and aileron control. You'll probably want to turn down the rates on just those 2 channels (especially the yaw) so you don't do anything jerky that comes through in the final video. If you're not holding the stick forward, slight corrections are much easier to make I've found.
 
As a former railroad employee - - the public is normally unaware that the railroad has control signal on most rails - - Signal & crossing functions. Possibly this is an issue for you. Railroads don't publish this information as the signal does not radiate far from the rails.
This track is only used for hauling grain, alcohol and derivatives. It hasn't had any control signals for years. But good point!
 
My experience trying to make these kinds of shots has me doing a couple things:

1) Fly far enough away you won't notice slight variations in the final result. Your first video has you so close that a UAV really isn't the right tool for the job. If you want to be that close, you're really best off with a handheld or cart mounted camera setup. The second video is about as close as I would want to be with the UAV shot.

2) Set the forward movement with the d-pad so you're not holding the stick forward. Now make your corrections very gently with the yaw and aileron control. You'll probably want to turn down the rates on just those 2 channels (especially the yaw) so you don't do anything jerky that comes through in the final video. If you're not holding the stick forward, slight corrections are much easier to make I've found.
I've already turned down the rates. That's the odd thing is that I don't notice much difference in the before and after. Like I said in the original post I haven't tried flying sideways to see if that helps.
 
Looking at the pole in the distance as a reference the H appears to be flying straight, it looks to me like the tracks are curved which makes it appear as though the H is vectoring away.
I've tried this on straight track and on various parts of the track with the same results. I thought maybe someone would have a work around or suggestion that makes subtle movements left and right but I don't think that looks like the case. Someone mentioned using the dpads and maybe that might be a work around.
 
More a left and right slip of the thumb. The ST-16 is quite sensitive to roll around center stick. It's why the D pads work better for straight line flight.
Do you have a link on youtube that shows how to use the dpads?
 
Skip to about 3:30 for the section on D Pad

Thanks for the link. I tried the dpad tonight but even when not near the railroad tracks it still moves abruptly. May be a issue with alerons acting differently. I like the fact that you can move at turtle speed consistently.
 
Have you done an accelerameter and compass calibration recently?
I've got 2 H's and they both respond the same way when trying to fly a straight line. I've now tried flying sideways and using the dpad. Aileron inputs are very abrupt and cause the gimbal to be jerked when aileron inputs are received.
 
I'm sure most are going to wonder what drugs I'm doing on this one but here it goes. I have been trying to fly straight down the center of a railroad track. The wind is not a factor. If I try and keep it centered the left and right movements are jerky. The longest straight flight thus far is 20 seconds but the H usually drifts within 2 or 3.

I've gone in and adjusted the rates and it doesn't make the movements less pronounced. I have not shut off GPS as I've got bushes and trees near the track and don't want to visit them! Below is one of the vids of me going slow. Faster is easier to reduce jerkyness but then it introduces more likeliness that I'll visit a tree!

I've just reduced the J2 speed to slower to see if that helps with the jerkyness. The only other thing I haven't tried is flying sideways to see if that reduces drift and jerky corrections.

Here's a video of flying pretty straight at a distance up to 300 feet.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Steve Carr suggested CCC but the trees and bushes concern me on that option. Thanks in advance Terry Thone

Thanks for the feedback. I'm always looking for suggestions to get over issues. I appreciated the feedback that has been given. Do you guys think that upping the speed of the lateral movements on the channel settings would help? I've done the broken line option in channel settings and reduced the settings so that the stick movements suppose to be more subtle but I don't see any difference in the real world.

Since I've rec'd various suggestions I've gone out and tried them. I've flown at 5 feet above ground with no rails with the same result. I've tried flying sideways, dpad, straight track only, dpad with yaw, dpad with aileron on the stick, flying faster and slower and dpad with the aileron on the stick. All have the same issue of abrupt input.

Flying higher and/or faster gives the best results as the abrupt movement is spread over a greater distance which basically is fooling the eye. In other words it still is jerky but spread over a greater distance at higher speeds. It's not as noticeable at higher altitudes. It's much like being at 600 feet in an airplane looking down at the ground versus being on a go cart. The ground appears to be moving much faster on the go cart.
 
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In a year and a half of flying two H's I have yet to see the abrupt initiation of any maneuver get telegraphed from the gimbal into the video. If you want an agile aircraft it will be abrupt in some aspects of maneuvering. I've found Yuneec provided considerable agility and compensated for it at the gimbal. Unfortunately, people that don't understand how multirotors are tuned and function complained about "jerky" control response so much of the early agility has been progressively tuned out in sequential firmware updates.
 
In a year and a half of flying two H's I have yet to see the abrupt initiation of any maneuver get telegraphed from the gimbal into the video. If you want an agile aircraft it will be abrupt in some aspects of maneuvering. I've found Yuneec provided considerable agility and compensated for it at the gimbal. Unfortunately, people that don't understand how multirotors are tuned and function complained about "jerky" control response so much of the early agility has been progressively tuned out in sequential firmware updates.
Not sure what your point is here except to imply that I don't understand how drones function. That implication is not known by you as you don't know my experience. I have 2 years flying experience with multirotors. I have a year and a half of flying H's so that puts us at the same experience of flying times.

You evidently didn't read or comprehend the initial post. I've gone through and adjusted the rates on the ailerons in an attempt to reduce abrupt movements that are "telegraphed" into the gimbal. There's no telegraphing into the gimbal. It's not the gimbal I'm having issues with. It's the fact that I can't do minuscule aileron adjustments period. Others are having the same issue. I called Yuneec to ask for their help with this. Angel at yuneec is going to go out and test this and see if it is occuring.

I asked for suggestions and I also asked for others to go out and try to fly in a straight line without doing abrupt aileron adjustments. I don't see how implying that I don't know how to fly, make adjustments or how they function is helpful especially after I stated that I made rate changes in my posts. Kudos on your 1.5 years of experience and knowledge of functionality and tuneability!
 
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Not sure what your point is here except to imply that I don't understand how drones function. That implication is not known by you as you don't know my experience. I have a have 2 years flying experince with multirotors. I have a year and a half of flying H's so that puts us at the same experience of flying times.

You evidently didn't read or comprehend the initial post. I've gone through and adjusted the rates on the ailerons in an attempt to reduce abrupt movements that are "telegraphed" into the gimbal. There's no telegraphing into the gimbal. It's not the gimbal I'm having issues with. It's the fact that I can't do minuscule aileron adjustments period. Others are having the same issue. I called Yuneec to ask for their help with this. Angel at yuneec is going to go out and test this and see if it is occuring.

I asked for suggestions and I also asked for others to go out and try to fly in a straight line without doing abrupt aileron adjustments. I don't see how implying that I don't know how to fly, make adjustments or how they function is helpful especially after I stated that I made rate changes in my posts. Kudos on your 1.5 years of experience and knowledge of functionality and tuneability!

Not that PatR needs anyone to come to his defense; I will offer a counterpoint: I don't think PatR was referring to you [thoneter] directly, but rather detailed how the manufacturers have succumbed to the whining and complaining from "others" who may not understand "...how mulitrotors are tuned and functioned..."

I read PatR's statement as simply articulating how firmware changes were made to quell the masses. Nothing more, nothing less.

I have been flying since January, almost every day weather permitting. I still am learning and will continue to learn. I did not take offense at PatR's statement.

Just sayin'.

Jeff
 
Not that PatR needs anyone to come to his defense; I will offer a counterpoint: I don't think PatR was referring to you [thoneter] directly, but rather detailed how the manufacturers have succumbed to the whining and complaining from "others" who may not understand "...how mulitrotors are tuned and functioned..."

I read PatR's statement as simply articulating how firmware changes were made to quell the masses. Nothing more, nothing less.

I have been flying since January, almost every day weather permitting. I still am learning and will continue to learn. I did not take offense at PatR's statement.

Just sayin'.

Jeff
I have to agree. I read PatRs post in the same way and not as a slur against thoneter. This is one of the problems with reading text in a forum. You read what you read...unfortunately there's no inflection or body language so it's all too easy to misinterpret what is being said. I may have misinterpreted PatR's post...or not. I can only go off what he wrote and how I read it.
 
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Forewarning, I am most always blunt. Ya'll didn't misinterpret. It was a lamentation over what we have lost in the H due to so many that humped into the game fresh off the truck or from lower performance, more automated aircraft.

As for trying to "de-tune" the initial reactions to stick input, you can't. It's been tried many times and failed every time. You can reduce it a little but not much. Best thing to do is accept it and not let it be a concern. FYI, I set up custom builds to be very agile but the flight controllers used in them provide for more room in the set up so they don't initiate a move with a snap to the direction. The H FC works well but leaves a few things to be desired and the rate and expo controls are deceiving. They don't cover all the bases as they should.
 
Not that PatR needs anyone to come to his defense; I will offer a counterpoint: I don't think PatR was referring to you [thoneter] directly, but rather detailed how the manufacturers have succumbed to the whining and complaining from "others" who may not understand "...how mulitrotors are tuned and functioned..."

I read PatR's statement as simply articulating how firmware changes were made to quell the masses. Nothing more, nothing less.

I have been flying since January, almost every day weather permitting. I still am learning and will continue to learn. I did not take offense at PatR's statement.

Just sayin'.

Jeff
I appreciate the clarification. I'm not offended but I had no idea what his point was and why it was said. I'm looking for suggestions and advice to determine if this is a problem or just something that can't be fixed. I wasn't sure and I'm still not sure how this helps me or anyone else on these forums.

I get bitching about bad fliers or those that don't understand how multirotors work. I'm extremely good at whining and bitching but I did not get how it correlated to my posts or this "problem". I sincerely did not get how the point related to the issue or even what the point was.

After your interpretation I do understand what he was referencing but I still find it not helpful and a little insulting. I see that he stated that he is blunt and I get that he wasn't specifically targeting me but their is still room for implications or why bring this in to the equation?

So with that said I'm done with my hissy fit and will move on.

With all of this said my point is that I truly appreciate constructive feedback which always gives me food for thought and this post in my opinion had nothing constructive that I can use to focus on the issue or any ideas to figure out what the issue is or if it is an issue.
 
If the H is not perfectly aligned with the desired path, meaning the extended line of the desired flight path does not perfectly intersect a line running the exact center of the aircraft, front to back, it will not fly a straight line along the path of intended flight. If the front/back axis of the aircraft is but 1 degree off that of the flight line it will angle away from the desired path using only pitch for flight control. It's darn difficult to get things perfectly aligned before starting the aircraft forward.
 
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If the H is not perfectly aligned with the desired path, meaning the extended line of the desired flight path does not perfectly intersect a line running the exact center of the aircraft, front to back, it will not fly a straight line along the path of intended flight. If the front/back axis of the aircraft is but 1 degree off that of the flight line it will angle away from the desired path using only pitch for flight control. It's darn difficult to get things perfectly aligned before starting the aircraft forward.

That's a good point, thoneter, have you tried making a CCC path with 2 points to see if the H will follow the tracks straighter? This could help narrow out if its a control issue or a sensors on the H issue.
 
That's a good point, thoneter, have you tried making a CCC path with 2 points to see if the H will follow the tracks straighter? This could help narrow out if its a control issue or a sensors on the H issue.
Others have mentioned CCC but I haven't done that yet. I don't want to throw to many variables at the H at the same time. I've done many and the CCC is my last one to try with suggestions and advice given. Is your assumption that the CCC is more forgiving with the axis and straight flying?
 

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