I was inspired by some of the crew trying to live stream videos from their phone so I decided to make a ground station that would be able to record up to 8 channels at once, run off a 12v battery or car, be able to live stream any of the 8 channels or multiples using OBS (or similar), be ultra-portable and convenient and cost less than a quad.
It took a lot of research and trial and error to find the parts that would work but I finally was able to get them all together and put into the case. The build without the case came in at about $450. Here is the final product:
The finished case looks great. The battery can either be inside the case or outside. I prefer outside for now because when there is no action I can use it to charge a pack.
Here is a list of what I used to create this:
Aluminum Briefcase ( FREE)
I was very lucky to have one laying around that I bought forever ago that was just the right size. I am sure you could find something at Harbor Freight or Amazon that would suffice.
16″ 12V HDMI Monitor ( $70 )
This was the one to find. I needed a 12V monitor that would fit in the case and these days they do not make a lot. I found this little gem and was very excited. It is a perfect fit for my case.
8 Channel DVR / Multiplexer ( $55 )
This was another gem to find. I had some pretty hard requirements. Has to be 8 channel, 12V, and has to be able to output to a livestream. This one fit the bill.
Solid State Drive ( $30 )
Really anything solid state will work. You do not want to use an old mechanical hard drive if you are going to be carrying this around. I used a 256gb.
12000mAh Battery ( $140 )
This was the major purchase. This battery is not only good to run the case but is a fantastic field charging battery. This will run the case for about 9 hours.
5.8gHz Video Receiver x 4 ( $55 )
I kinda cheaped out here but I have been somewhat impressed with these little guys. I only purchased 4 of them and will probably buy some diversity receivers when I can get something on sale. However, these work great and give good results.
RP-SMA LHCP Antennas ( $12 )
Honestly I got these for TidwellFPV. He is a good friend and flys LHCP and I wanted to get a good signal. Doesn’t hurt to have a couple in the bag.
RP-SMA RHCP Antennas x 4 ( $20 )
These 5dB RHCP work great. I have a few in my bag but wanted to generic ones to have available if needed at the field.
VGA to BNC Transverter ( $16 )
The multiplexer has a VGA output which I use this to convert to a BNC output which in turn I can feed into my RCA to USB video capture dongle. This also lets you use a large monitor at an even while streaming with the VGA passthrough.
SMA to RP-SMA Adapters x4 ( $8 )
I wanted to have a few of these on hand just in case a racer had a specific antenna to use with the case.
Wood Look Contact Paper ( $10 )
This was a great addition to clean up the look of the wooden board I used to mount the monitor to as well as for the cover that hides all the components.
Short HDMI Cable ( $9 )
I didn’t want to waste a lot of space in the case with a coil of very heavy HDMI cable so when I ran across these I was pretty excited.
Lipo Alarm ( $9 )
I didn’t want to take a chance and over pull my new expensive 13000 mAh battery so I ordered one (well you get two) of these. The other sits on my bench but this thing will definitely warn you before you do any damage to your Lipo.
XT60 Connectors ( $9 )
You will need a few of these so why not just get a bunch. You will undoubtedly need them for your quads too.
JST Connectors ( $6 )
This was to create the pigtail from one XT60 to 8 JST to power the receivers.
BNC to RCA Adapters ( $7 )
The video mutiplexer / DVR has BNC connectors and most of the receivers have RCA. Grabbed a pack of these for the project.
12 Regulator ( $18 )
I wanted to be able to run this from a pretty standard Lipo battery from 4-6s. This regulator will convert anything from 12v to 24v down to nice clean 12v. It handles 20A which is about 5x what you would need in this rig so it stays nice and cool.
1/8 Inch Hardboard ( $5 )
I found a 2ft by 4ft one at my Home Depot. I used this to attach the monitor to and then I glued this to the briefcase. Also used for the main cover of the components. Cover with the shelf paper and it looks like real black stained wood.
All you need to stream is a RCA or VGA to USB adapter and plug that into your computer and use OBS or your other favorite streamer to show the action that is on the screen.