The HeliPort support thread

[Ber60]

I agree with Sutty

[Z900]

OK Raf and other guys....thanks for clearing some things out !

ff in het nederlands over het afsluiten van heliport:

Opstarten heliport -> Tools -> 6. Tachometer

Tacho meting(en) gedaan -> click OK -> begin scherm
Tools -> click X -> click X -> Tools -> click X dan pas ben ik uit heliport.

[redbird300]

I see what you mean now, when in the spectrum screen, you need 3 clicks to get out of HeliPort indeed. I'll give it some thought, and might go for an "exit" menu option on every screen or so.

[copterboy]

Thanks for the tips guys. I've checked my windows default mic is working, so i can now rule that out. And I found that I have 2 mics available, and a third can be plugged in.

Maybe I can figure this one out now, but I not had the time to test my theory yet.

I was running the app on my laptop inside a fairly large room (6m x 5m), which has sound insulation in the wall and roof cavities. My theory is that the frequency reverberating around the room is distorting the signal, or it was were I had my laptop positioned - right next to my brothers set of drums . Somehow I think either or both of these problems are the culprit and it should be fine once I get outside and test it. I'm gonna do a quick indoors test again tonight (using both the avaiable windows mics and then an outdoors test in the morning). I'll post my findings for you tomorrow evening and hopefully put this one to bed.

[copterboy]

Originally Posted by Ber60

Copterboy can you post a pic of the spectrum of your recording because I think you may try to get a rpm of "static noise"

I'm right on it.....will edit a pic in a mo.

No need for a picture Ber, I worked it out You were along the right lines.

The problem was that the recording level of the microphone was low. Did a quick re-configuration of the mic settings, and my laptop can hear it loud and clear

I pleased to report my t-rex's headspeed is 2842 in a stable hover. Wasn't a fresh pack either, so that's the kind of result I was expecting. Can't wait to test it on my belt.

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by copterboy

The problem was that the recording level of the microphone was low. Did a quick re-configuration of the mic settings, and my laptop can hear it loud and clear

I pleased to report my t-rex's headspeed is 2842 in a stable hover. Wasn't a fresh pack either, so that's the kind of result I was expecting. Can't wait to test it on my belt.

That's more like it. If things don't seem to work, you can bet it's a hardware problem.
Nice work, let us know how the other measurements went.

Even in a small room, the tacho works fine. It's best to put your laptop, or any other recording device, on a solid surface. This prevents unwanted vibrations in the chassis of the laptop, possibly causing interaction with the signal.

Very close measurements like a few inches or centimeters will also work in fact, but point the mic 180 degrees away from the main blades. Normally I never advice this, especially for safety reasons, but it works perfectly.

Might be nice if somebody took the time to do some tests to find out the maximum distance. This would of course depend on mic sensititvity, the presence of other sounds in the area (there is always some), and the type of heli. But even then, it would give a good indication, if we would know what size of heli is used.

[sutty]

Glad you solved it Denis. Can't think that doing it in a room with a bunch of resonating musical instruments can be the best idea either, but hey, if you have the correct result now then that's cool.

Raf, I can, and will, do a kind of range check with the 450 on Thursday evening, although I cannot do it sooner. If I get beaten to it then so be it.


Cheers


Sut

[dxtarl]

is there a version for the iphone??

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by dxtarl

is there a version for the iphone??

On the HeliPort website, there is this information under the chapter "Installation and supported OS":
"There are no plans for other versions like Symbian, Android, iPhone, Mac, Linux or anything else."

I developed for example for Symbian / Nokia S60 before, but I decided to try to reach as many people as I could this time. Hence the Windows version. And an easy port for me to Windows Mobile 6.x from there on. A cheap netbook running Win XP would also do the job, BTW. Might be an alternative to an expensive and heavy laptop, these small devices are becoming extremely popular..
And we are looking if there is a possibility to run it in its actual form on Mac or Linux with the right tools. But that's as far as my efforts go, I'm sorry. It's a huge job, a free app for the heli community and all done in my spare time, I hope you will understand.

[Ber60]

No but if it is for the tacho part there is a existing soft called Helitach

[redbird300]

OK, let's talk about the upcoming version 0.15, here are some changes that will be incorporated:

For the tachometer:
1) A better user interface: all buttons will disappear while recording (delayed or not) to get a good visual clue about when the recording is finished. And the green spectrum button will only be visible when a valid RPM calculation has been executed. I hope this will make things more clear for the users.
2) On top of that, an option to set one of eight user-selectable sounds (or none if you like) to be heard when the recording is finished. Stuff like beeps, gongs, whistles, horns, alarms, even a gun sound, lol
3) Very weak signals, like below magnitude 1000, meaning only noise, will not be calculated anymore, it's useless. HeliPort will indicate that clearly and abort, telling it's best to make a new recording. I'm thinking about the lowest magnitude that still needs to be taken into account. Any suggestions from experience ?

for HeliPort in general:
4) Not sure yet, but thinking about it:
A settings file, like an ini file, where HeliPort stores choices the user made, like the above sound, or the tacho delay, or his latest search in the motor list, or whatever will be applicable in the actual and later modules.
5) The tail belt module will be released. Each new release should have something new, and it will be this one in verion 0.15. If I find the time, even the battery calculator.

It should be out in a few weeks at most, I hope.

[copterboy]

Hi Raf,

About the tacho/lowest magnitude. I guess micro heli's are electric heli's and have a lower headspeed than 450's/250's etc. So should the software work for MSR's/MCX/CX2 and the like of a lama? Hope that is what you mean!!

If so then I would suggest finding out what the average headspeed is of some microheli's and drawing a line under that headspeed. I can't wait to see if it works on my co-ax too Will let you know what results I get later for my extreme productions CX2...lol

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by copterboy

Hi Raf,

About the tacho/lowest magnitude. I guess micro heli's are electric heli's and have a lower headspeed than 450's/250's etc. So should the software work for MSR's/MCX/CX2 and the like of a lama? Hope that is what you mean!!

If so then I would suggest finding out what the average headspeed is of some microheli's and drawing a line under that headspeed. I can't wait to see if it works on my co-ax too Will let you know what results I get later for my extreme productions CX2...lol

Well, there should be no problem, even with very small helis. As long as the mic can pik up the sound of the main blades (over 1000 RPM only !), and there is no louder sound around. Let me know please ! I have no co-ax anymore :o.
Might be a good idea to measure a little closer, if they run very silently.
And especially, tell me the magnitude value of the highest peak in the graph (make the distance larger in subsequent tests) at which it still seems to work reliably with a small heli. That would give me an indication where to draw the line. But that should be done in a very quiet environment.

[sutty]

Hi Raf, will it be able to make the distinction between two sets of two blades, or would this sound like four blades. I guess not, there would be two close peaks, each at its own frequency, and HeliPort will pick the loudest one? There might be a lot of turbulence between the two sets of blades which might give a peculiar result?

Cheers

Sutty

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by sutty

Hi Raf, will it be able to make the distinction between two sets of two blades, or would this sound like four blades. I guess not, there would be two close peaks, each at its own frequency, and HeliPort will pick the loudest one? There might be a lot of turbulence between the two sets of blades which might give a peculiar result?

Cheers

Sutty

The blades of a co-ax heli are counterrotating, so the 2 frequencies don't add up, but should appear individually. Allthough the harmonics will be very weird. Theoretically, the loudest RPM will indeed be shown, followed by a close second, I guess. You saw that right, IMHO. Never thought to use it for co-ax helis, but the experiment sure does appeal to me, I'm curious what will happen.
I hope the turbulence is not as loud as the blade sound itself, or you really would need the spectrum graph and a rough idea of your headspeed to get the real value.

[copterboy]

What is an easy way to cut and paste the spectrum graph here?

[redbird300]

Originally Posted by copterboy

What is an easy way to cut and paste the spectrum graph here?

Use some screenshot freeware. Or make a screenshot in Windows simply by pushing the PrintScreen key, open Paint and click "paste". Select the area you want, drag it to the upper left corner and cut off the parts you don't need at the right and at the bottom and finally save.
Then you publish a pic as usual in a thread, "manage attachments", "upload", after that click the file, copy the url and paste the url in the dialogbox "insert image".

[sutty]

Just a quick addendum to Raf's post, if you use the windows print screen function, use the Alt Print Screen option, and it will print only the active Window, i.e. just the Spectrum, as long as it is the active window, you can then paste it into your image program as a new image, and may not have to crop it down. Or at least I should say you can with some programs. For interest the one I use is GIMP, very nice free alternative to some of the other packages. Just select 'Paste as new image' in that one and save as a jpeg, or similar.

Cheers

Sut

[copterboy]

Ah yeah, memory jogged.....here you go. Two nice peaks showing there.

[sutty]

What heli is it Denis? The co-ax you landed on the drums in the little vid the other day? That was you right?