To compete in a drone racing event or just to go fly at the park for fun, you need some equipment. I am not the best drone racer, I just enjoy the experience of flying and building my own drones. In this article I will go over the basic equipment needed to get started. Yes there is a lot but it does not need to be scary!
Transmitter
The first thing that anyone getting into radio controlled aircraft needs is a transmitter. This is how you will control your drone. This is an important purchase as it will also determine the receivers that your drone will be able to use. Invest a good amount of time researching which one will fit your preferences as it becomes a big investment if you want to change systems in the future.
I am using the Fr-sky Taranis QX7. This is currently my 3rd transmitter system. I started out with the Spektrum Dx6 then used the Quantum evolution. The reason for the switch is because first I wanted to use a pinch style which the evolution could not provide and I wanted cheaper receivers as the Spektrum ones run $30 and up. Fr-sky is also the defacto transmitter radio system for most of the professional racers. But you should investigate and watch youtube reviews on the one you are thinking about.
The Fr-sky system also has some interesting features that can make drone racing a lot easier.
Goggles
Since I wear glasses I was hesitant to get a pair of Fatshark goggles as they are quite expensive and I was not sure if the diopter inserts would be able to correct my near sightedness. Therefore I choose the cheapest option, the Fatshark Teleporters. In hindsight this was a bad decision as they do not allow you to swap out the receiver module like the higher end modules. I was therefore stuck on only 8 FPV Channels and no antenna diversity. After a few races where it was becoming difficult to keep a connection to my drone I decided to modify the Teleporters to accept a RealAcc Diversity module and to integrate a DVR to record my races. This was no small feat and required complete disassembly of the goggles soldering and cutting out a lot of the plastic from the enclosure. So if you are just starting out get something that can grow with you such as a higher end Fatshark model as they are the best in the industry.
Drone Hardware
There are quite a few components that are necessary for building a racing drone, so try not to become overwhelmed. There is also lots of help out on the web but I will go over the basics.
Frame
The frame dictates the size of the drone and which class it is qualified for. I use frames that range from 210mm to 250mm they are mostly made of carbon fiber of various thicknesses and quality. It is best to get a good quality frame from US companies because they have good support and the mounting hardware is made of good quality metals. This is important as you will be crashing very often in the beginning and the cheaper hardware and frames will not hold up very long.
LHI 220-RX is the cheapest of the three frames I use regularly. It can be purchased on amazon for less than $30 but is more difficult to assemble and the mounting hardware easily strips out and needs to be replaced.
Flight Controller
Flip32 AIO Pro is an older flight controller but it still runs the Betaflight software and has a built in On-Screen-Display (OSD). You can find many options but try to find one with good community support and a new F3 or greater processor. The Betaflight software is the what everything possible, I will go over that in a future post.
Motors
If you are not trying to be the fastest out there any 2206 brushless out-runner will do. These motors are good for the 210 to 250 size quads and 5 to 6 in propellers.
Speed Controllers
The speed controllers produce an alternating signal that is needed to drive the brushless motors. I am currently using the 30A RaceBee pro ESCs. There are always new developments in the speed controller market so new versions are created frequently. You will need 4 of them, one for each motor so the price per each is important.
Power Distribution
A power distribution board is necessary to supply power to all the electronics on your quadcopter. These boards can be just a simple PCB with pads for soldering the ESCs, and Battery but they also can come with voltage regulators on board. These voltage regulators step down the battery voltage, which can be any where from 12 to 22v down to 5v. This then powers the flight controller, receiver, and any other low voltage electronics. I am using a board form Matek that includes 12v and 5v regulators.
Receiver
The receiver is FR-Sky XM+, this goes back to the transmitter, you have to get receivers that are compatible with the system you choose. The XM+ is a diversity receiver, that means there are 2 antennas, which allows for a stable control connection while the quadcopter is moving in all directions. The diversity essentially picks the best received signal on either antenna.
Camera
The FPV camera is what allows you to see from the drones perspective. I am using a Runcam Swift. There are lots of different options but all of them use an analog signal. There are digital systems but they are currently over 10x more expensive than the analog counterparts.
Video Transmitter
The video transmitter takes the analog video signal and transmits it over the air using a 5.8 GHz FM signal. This is analog modulated RF signal that means that it does not employ many of the interference mitigation schemes that we would get with digital modulation. The reason that we use analog is because the latency is really low. digital systems need to use compression to encode data which takes time on each end making it difficult to control the drone, basically lag in the real world. I am using the Team Black Sheep unify module that has the capability to be controlled from the flight controller instead of buttons or switches to select the transmit frequency.
Battery
The battery is the power source for your drone I am using a Tattu 4s Battery. The 4s means that there are 4 cells. the cells are lithium polymer cells at 3.7v so for a 4s battery the voltage is 14.8v not charged and 16.8v charged. This is important because the electronics on your done are designed to operate up to a certain voltage. This is especially true for the ESCs they are usually labeled up to 4s or 6s etc.
Propellers
The propeller creates the thrust necessary to propel the drone into the air. The propeller has aerodynamic characteristics that allow it to create the lift. The first is the length of the blades, most FPV drones used propellers that are 5in from tip to tip. The next is the number of blades, usually 2-4, the Dalprop 5045 in the picture below is a 3 bladed propeller that is 5in in diameter. the number 5045 describes the length and pitch of the blades. Pitch is what determines the mount of distance the blade would move forward through the air in one revolution, like a cork screw.
Antennas
Antennas are very important in FPV. the antenna translates signals into the RF domain so that they can be sent and received through space. In FPV you will be dealing with 2 areas of antennas, receiver antennas and FPV antennas. Receiver antennas are connected to the control receiver that operates in the 2.4 frequency. The antennas are basically a dipole antenna, these are usually soldered onto the receiver but they can also be connected with ufl connectors for easy replacement.
The second area of antennas are the FPV antennas. These operate in the 5.8GHz and can have very different designs to optimize for deficiencies in the analog FPV transmission and reception. The two major types available are linear and circularly polarized antennas. linearly polarized antennas are not used very often because if the 2 antennas are off-axis we get reduced reception. This happens very often because as the quadcopter moved through the air it is twisting and turning. This is where the circularly polarized antenna really comes into its own because it does not lose gain as the orientation changes. The other advantage is that multi-path interference is reduced because when a reflection from a surface occurs it changes the circularly polarized rotation. This means that the antennas are labeled as right or left hand polarized. So if a transmitter is using a right hand antenna the receiver must be using one as well to get the best reception.
I use Spironet and pagoda antennas which are circularly polarized omni-directional antennas and a patch antenna for long range and diversity.
Clover Leaf Antenna 
Pagoda Antenna Patch Antenna
Battery Charger
A battery charger is needed to charge the lithium polymer batteries. This is because the batteries are very dumb, they do not contain any electronics to regulate a battery’s voltage or manage charging. This is why we need a special charger to do so. The chargers charge each cell of the battery individually so they are all at the same level, having a battery where one cell is lower than the others can cause the battery to explode and catch fire. I use two different kinds of battery chargers a few that are AC powered and one that is DC powered.
Tools
Here are a few tools that you will need to have to repair and build your drone!
Multi-bit screw driver, zip ties, Transmitter Power Meter (optional), wire, solder, tape, velcro straps, heat shrink, RF attenuators, spare antennas, spare propellers, spare mounting hardware. The key here is basically bring everything as you do not want to go all the way out to the field and have nothing to fly.
Here are some pictures of the tools I use regularly.
Other Field Equipment
Backpack, portable chair, and a hat just to keep you comfortable!
