
Mode 1 makes a lot of sense for people who are hand launching fixed wing aircraft. That’s not to say that people don’t fly this mode elsewhere. This mode is more prevalent in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand (Noticing a trend here? They all drive on the opposite side of the road). Of all the modes, I would say that “Mode 1” is the second most common control setup that people use. If one mode is more intuitive to you than another, go with it! Mode 1 Keep in mind, it’s all about what makes the most sense for you. Often, people follow others so that they can share in the experience as a group. It can also depend on what mode others are flying around where you live. Depending on how you came into FPV, you might already be biased toward a certain mode, for example, if you practiced on a toy grade multirotor first, like I did, you may already be used to the transmitter mode it came with. Our predecessors created transmitter modes so we can map our controls to better suit the pilot. Thrust, roll, pitch, and yaw are all control names for multirotor aircraft. Throttle, ailerons, elevator, and rudder are all control names for fixed wing aircraft, and thus are the classical names for these controls. Think about how a compass spins as you turn in a circle. Rudder (Yaw): Rudder controls the ability of an aircraft to turn flat to a different heading.Elevator (Pitch): The elevator control determines the pitch of the aircraft, for example, is the aircrafts nose pointing up towards the sky, or down towards the ground.To get a bit more grasp on this, think about your favorite fighter jet executing a barrel roll. Ailerons (Roll): Ailerons control the roll of the aircraft from side to side.Thrust always is in line with where the propellers are facing. Throttle (Thrust): This is the amount of thrust your aircraft will generate, thus how fast your model will go.Now when it comes to flight controls, there are some basic definitions that we need to cover really quick. Those are your gimbals, and when we talk about transmitter modes, we are just talking about those. But take a look at those two sticks, the main controls. Take a deep breath, and know that the only thing they will do, is what you tell them to do. It can be a little overwhelming at first, trying to figure out what it all does. Starting with a good system makes the next step easier, rather than starting from scratch.On your transmitter, you will have all these fancy switches, knobs, and two sticks. Once you have a working system at your desired frequency, then you might want to improve on it. You can often find suppliers by searching for keywords such as "RC", "50MHz", "75MHz", "transmitter", and "receiver". They can be special ordered, or found from online retailers. You can find transmitters and receivers that work across that range from RC retailers, though it's unlikely that local stores will stock Amateur Radio band RC equipment. The RC community has already created a channel list for all the available frequencies:

CONTROLAIR RC TRANSMITTER LICENSE
License free users can only use frequencies in the 27MHz and 72MHz bands. RC frequencies are located at 27MHz, 50MHz, 72MHz, and 75MHz. The RC community has determined standard frequencies and uses the same modulation and protocols as on other license free bands, so as long as you follow their guidelines you can get equipment off-the-shelf that allows you to use your general license to access RC frequencies that are uncluttered by other unlicensed users. There are two amateur radio bands in the US the FCC sets aside for line-of-sight remote control for planes and surface craft (boats, cars, etc).

I recommend you don't reinvent the wheel. More info on that can be found online, for instance this site: Essentially you send digital pulses of varying lengths, and the length of each pulse determines the value of the control. If you wanted something more old-school and analog, you could implement a protocol like the RC transmitters use.

CONTROLAIR RC TRANSMITTER SOFTWARE
I would favor a digital approach like I described above, but I'm a software guy.
CONTROLAIR RC TRANSMITTER PC
If you want something that doesn't require a PC on the transmitter side, there are a lot of options to connect a USB joystick directly to a Arduino type micro controller. Both have cheap hardware available, are relatively easy to integrate with electronics (via a microcontroller such as an arduino), and operate on frequencies which you have extra privileges with your ham license.ĭepending on what you are wanting to control, it would be fairly easy to control via software on a PC or tablet, you could even connect a game controller. I would strongly consider a Zigbee or 802.11 based approach.
