About

Gender

Male


Location

Salt Lake City, Utah


About Me:

I live in Utah with my wonderful wife, Karalee. I work as an electrical engineer. I love backpacking, rock climbing, and I'm learning to paraglide.


Please tell us a bit about your UAV interest

I started UtahAerials.com with Scott Paul about three years ago. I'm primarily interested in multi-rotor helicopters, but I like conventional helis and fixed wing craft as well. I love FPV. I love the engineering aspects of designing, building, programming, and flying. Experienced with various microcontrollers.


Hometown:

San Diego


Activity Feed

Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Steve, I have been pretty surprized at the interest in the bare PCB reward. I did think about a reward that included the parts but ended up shelving it. I'll look into making parts kits. Also, I looked at the part you speficifed for flying dual…"
Jul 1, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post Early Flights of the MAXrotor
"Thanks guys!"
Jun 28, 2013
Michael Colton posted a blog post
I posted this way down in the comments of my other recent post about the MAXboard, but I thought I'd share it here where more people would get a chance to see it. You'll notice that I refer to it as the "Bomb Squad Helicopter" in the video, that's…
Jun 27, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Sayan, Wow! That sucks! But please don't think I am one of the lucky ones! I wrecked the very first Octocopter UtahAerials got (the only aircraft I didn't design myself) it was about $8,000. Actually, out of probably ten designs I've produced, all…"
Jun 27, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"BayAreaCrasher, the RC receiver I'm using (the EzUHF) does support a recieved spectrum read out. I could pretty much do what you describe with that. I'll give that a try. I can use the spectrum analyzer at work to see if there are any other obvious…"
Jun 27, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"BayAreaCrasher, I haven't had any issues in flight testing, but I haven't thoroughly investigated RF issues. I'd love to get your suggestions on how to do that. I have the equipment to measure and localize RF emissions (up to 1.5Ghz) but it's harder…"
Jun 26, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Peter, Love it! Most of my early helicopters used crossed booms like that (the one that flew from the hot-air balloon in the kickstarter video, for example) but I didn't know PCB design back then. I may have to revisit it. Man, you're giving me all…"
Jun 25, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Taylor, you're awesome! Thanks!
Alexsev, thank you very much! I really appreciate the great feedback.
Luiz, you're one of a few people who have asked. Maybe I'm missing something. What interference are you talking about? I haven't seen anything out…"
Jun 24, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Nick, you're right that RF interference is something to keep an eye on. So far the board flies very well and I am not aware of any RF issues, with one exception: I routed the video line too close to one of the servo control lines and it picks up…"
Jun 24, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Morli, I see the button for editing the post, but not for editing my comments, that's mostly what I was referring to. Oh well. I'll just have to be a little more carfelu."
Jun 23, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Luca, Thanks! I'd love to see what you're designing!
Jack, I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean.
Sam, I thought long and hard about that one. I agree that the jump from $30 to $200 is large, but I didn't think very many people would go…"
Jun 23, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Thank you!"
Jun 23, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Gary, thanks! I really appreciate it! A lot of work and trial and error were involved, but I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. Yes, the top frame is ABS."
Jun 23, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Garry, thanks for your comments. I think some of this will be clarified more easily with a picture.
The entire upper portion is vibration isolated. The MAXboard goes on top, protecting the components on both sides (there are cutouts for the sonar…"
Jun 23, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"I keep catching typos right after I post. Is there a way to edit posts?"
Jun 23, 2013
Michael Colton commented on Michael Colton's blog post The End of Wiring Woes
"Nick, you're totally right, if these modules had standardize dimensions and connectors the MAXboard would be much more useful to use DIYers, but if I make it too flexible, then it's not as easy to use, which was my primary goal. I guess it's a trade…"
Jun 23, 2013
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