Hi guys
I have a fpv system which is 5.8ghz 200mw - I am after some better range.
I have cloverleafs on atm which are good, however i NEED more! :)
Plus what is the best channels to fly?
Best antennas ?
cheers guys
Someone did a test and showed that there is a discrepancy in watts depending on what channel you choose, I can't find the link now but there is a specific channel which gives the most output power.
And for range you need a better antenna on your VRX. I suggest the Immersion Spironet Patch antenna. Should be able to go 4-5km with that.
I could do you a 5 turn helical mate, good for a couple of k at very least, also one of my skews attached to your vtx
Click on link in my sig or pm me
Cheers
Simon
Dogzilla - that's very interesting, if you could find the channel which is best ill appreciate that alot
Hello, this is Tony from fpvlr.com
with 200mw foxtec unit (same as hk) I am still the record holder.
With a pinwheel on the model and a 16 turn on the rx I did 20km about 1 and a half years ago.
My customers get between 4-7 km with a 4.25 turn helix, and 6-10 km with a 8 turn helix on the same tx with rc305 rx.
the 8 turns is here
http://www.fpvlr.com/store/dettaglio_articolo.php?id_articolo=3 (http://www.fpvlr.com/store/dettaglio_articolo.php?id_articolo=3)
and pinwheel is here
http://www.fpvlr.com/store/dettaglio_articolo.php?id_articolo=12 (http://www.fpvlr.com/store/dettaglio_articolo.php?id_articolo=12)
this video is of a customer of mine doing 7km with a 4.25 turns + pinwheel
7000m (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfIpdG-7ZC4#)
and this
is of a customer dong 10+km with a 12 turn and a pinwheel
10km part2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYqlrNAt9Y8#)
One word... WOW... 20km!!
hows the picture when flying?
It is as you see it above, that's a ground recording.
i.e completely shite and like flying through a snow storm.
One thing about the Boscam gear is that they tend to work much better at the very limits of video reception, that is, even though the picture is basically whited out, you might still be able to see enough to fly and the RX is happy when the reception comes and goes.
Whereas with the Immersion kit. the video quality seems to stay better all the way until the limits, at which point it just shits out and it's gone, and once the image is gone I find that the receivers tend to have a hard time locking onto the signal again. They definitely don't like having the reception come and go, I think they lose sync or something. (I have no idea what im talking about... ).
So I would say if you are trying to fly outside of your range at all times the Boscam stuff tends to be a bit better for that. But I'd still go with Immersion every time because up until the image goes it's way way better.
absolutely,
immersion gear has much better picture quality, there is no contest.
with the immersion stuff, I could go 40km with no problems, I will probably set up a plane to show very long 5.8 range.
The best channel is the one with least noise on it. Varies from one location to another.
Just flick through your available channels without your Tx powered and see which one has least interference on it.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Quote from: Steve W on July 26, 2013, 03:49:53 PM
It is as you see it above, that's a ground recording.
actually this guy recorded at 240p, but actual quality in the goggles is better at 640x480.
here you can see a crosshair I made with a a better resolution and also a boscam 200mw
Testing 5.8 GHz Crosshair antenna from FPVLR.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDVvR81gt2s#)
here you can see the same boscam 200mw with a decent camera and 2 pinwheels.
you can watch it at 480... quality of video is more than decent.
Quadcopter Long Range FPV.avi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2m7wKgNPAQ#)
Now, if you really want very good live video , there is no match for 1.2 ghz stuff, make sure you watch it at 480p.
Here you can see a 4.25 turn I made + pinwheel.
You see perfect picture up to 17km (please feel free to forward the video, to minute 29 when turning point is approaching.
This guy is a noob at long range, so he left his cell phone in his shirt pocket, and at 30:30 he gets hit badly by incoming calls from his wife, and he does not realize until he lands that the problem was all the missed calls from his wife.
Again, with 4.25 turns helix+ pinwheel you get 40-50km of range, and with a 8 turn 1.2 you get 50-70km range.
best rx is lawmate rx for 1.2 and best tx is 800 mw sunsky.
Taking myself and the penguin out for a try (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBZ_i1eACHU#)
staying with boscam 200mw here is another video from the same guy as before going 11km and you can see how hard he gets hit at times.
At least you can watch this at 480p
10800m (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87sNVdhZu8o#)
Great videos Kondor you've got a lot of long range experience :)
I am currently on 600mw Immersion 5.8 and I am maxing at around 9.5km on a good day and 6.5km on a bad day.
I have a Circular Wireless SPW on the VTX and a Spironet Patch on the VRX. My range seems to vary day to day, and so far in Summer I have struggled to go past around 7km. It seems that atmospheric conditions must make quite a big difference.
I'm surprised as the Spironet is supposed to be a 13dbi so was expecting a bit more when comparing against your results.
Well, a lot of manufacturers will make "interesting claims", some of them would seem to defy logic and physics (i.e. mysterious antennas that seem to be able to punch through hills and mountains), but strangely none of these put demonstrative videos of the live feed of their antennas by their customers.
It's too easy for us manufacturers to make an antenna look good, it's much harder to have your customers prove the antennas for you and report back. Skills and setups do vary quite a bit.
As you mentioned environmental factors do play a role when it comes to 5.8 ranges, with humidity being the worst.
With 600mw immersionrc tx, a pinwheel and a 12 turn helix, I'd be surprised if you don't cover 15km.
If you decide to try them out I will make you a set, and if you don't get at least 12km I would give you full refund, including your cost of shipping the antennas back to me.
Now when a manufacturer is confident about the quality of their gear, they will stand by their word.
Pretty impressive range. What is the beam width like on 12 turn helix then? Guess you would really need that on a tracker of sorts.
Chris
Yea im interested in this too was planning on getting the immersion patch but cant see that doing 12km
Quote from: chris-s on July 26, 2013, 10:55:38 PM
Pretty impressive range. What is the beam width like on 12 turn helix then? Guess you would really need that on a tracker of sorts.
Chris
yep you would need atracker mate
this vid was with a 10 turn with a 200 mw boscam, we tried to keep track but once I was 1500 meters or so it was just a guessing game where I was
For Ian (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3GVuf3oDik#)
The GPS data noise was for the 2.4 setup I had, I just changed the vtx to a 5.8
Youll see once I get past 2000, the vid keeps coming in and out
Also at 200 meteres I turned the 10 turn Helix 180 degrees to see how effective it was going behind me
Cheers
Quote from: chris-s on July 26, 2013, 10:55:38 PM
Pretty impressive range. What is the beam width like on 12 turn helix then? Guess you would really need that on a tracker of sorts.
Chris
Hello Chris, the beam width of course depends on how far down range you are, but it's in the 30 deg ballpark for most flying.
If you are close it's larger if you get to the far edge, it's a bit less.
I did the record on a 16 turns, and manual aiming. I find manual aiming to be the best if you are flying in a straight line just to get your best distance, since you can aim the antenna while looking in the goggles, and adjust the position to get the best possible video. A tracker will not be as precise.
Though if you do fly around yourself and want to use a high db antenna for every day flying, the use of a tracker is recommended.
Do you guys mind if I jump into this tread with a FPV range related question? The subject mater is relevant to a problem I'm having and the people in this conversation might be able to help.
I too have a 5.8Ghz 200mW Tx/Rx (Boscam TS351+RC305 kit sold by HobbyKing) for my DJI Phantom. I also upgrade to circular polarized antenna's (Fat Shark Immersion RC pair sold by HobbyKing). Literature on the internet tells me this setup should give me a range of maybe +500m, at the very least. But I've only been able to manage maybe 50m!!! (Still a step up from stock antenna's that only achieved 5m).
I'm very impressed with the range some people here have achieved with directional antenna's, and I'm sure upgrading with one would help some, but is it me or am I starting with a VERY low baseline? Shouldn't I be getting better results with this setup? Am I doing something wrong? Or is yet a better antenna my only option?
I need some outside perspective.
See picture for a look at my setup.
Tx is fed 9V via a UBEC which draws power from the 3S on-board lipo.
Rx "was" fed 5V in a similar way (info on the HobbyKing website is misleading. I now know I could give it up to 12V). I've tried giving it more power (7.4V 2S lipo) but no change in performance.
Any suggestions/input would help.
Thanks!
(http://s9.postimg.org/r61bli9ej/2013_09_26_11_20_39.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/r61bli9ej/)
If your using fatshak antennas and boscam video gear your sma connectors will be mismatched
RP-SMA for the boscam and SMA for the fatshark antennas
I'm surprised you got as far as you did
Quote from: bignose13 on September 26, 2013, 05:34:46 PM
If your using fatshak antennas and boscam video gear your sma connectors will be mismatched
RP-SMA for the boscam and SMA for the fatshark antennas
I'm surprised you got as far as you did
I'm using this: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__31647__ImmersionRC_RP_SMA_5_8GHz_Circular_Polarized_spiroNet_Antenna.html (https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__31647__ImmersionRC_RP_SMA_5_8GHz_Circular_Polarized_spiroNet_Antenna.html)
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__15295__Boscam_5_8Ghz_200mw_FPV_Wireless_AV_Tx_Rx_Set.html (https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__15295__Boscam_5_8Ghz_200mw_FPV_Wireless_AV_Tx_Rx_Set.html)
The connectors are a match. Both the Tx/Rx and the antenna's have RP-SMA connectors.
Immersion And Boscam don't mix, one need male on the aerial the other female. Can't remember which way round though:o
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Both Tx and Rx have male RP-SMA connectors.
Both antenna's have female RP-SMA connectors.
If there's an incompatibility, it's not the connectors.
Yup those antennas should work fine with your Boscam stuff.
Not sure on your range problems. Youre not going 50m straight up so youre in the antenna void?
Didn't know immersion made rp-sma antennas
Do know :)
I'd try another vtx and rx also make sure you defo got the same channel on both, boscam can be nearly there and you get a good pic till your about 50 meters, then bang no pic, ask me how I know ;)
Quote from: bignose13 on September 26, 2013, 06:28:05 PM
I'd try another vtx and rx also make sure you defo got the same channel on both, boscam can be nearly there and you get a good pic till your about 50 meters, then bang no pic, ask me how I know ;)
The channel is one of the things I've checked and I'm pretty sure I got it right... unless the hardware is faulty... I'd rather not buy more hardware until I have a fair understanding of why this setup is not working. Otherwise, I could end up buying stuff I don't need.
Quote from: Ratty on September 26, 2013, 06:21:22 PM
Not sure on your range problems. Youre not going 50m straight up so youre in the antenna void?
I did my most recent tests at a 45 degree angle, approximately, so that should not be an issue. But I was unaware of a possible void when going full vertical, which could be an issue later on. I'll have to research that and find possible solutions.
Are those legs on your landing gear and the skids carbon ?
Quote from: Coyote on September 26, 2013, 07:28:36 PM
Are those legs on your landing gear and the skids carbon ?
They are.
I've done more tests and I'm starting to think it's simply an issue of placing the Rx antenna correctly.
For one thing, it's too close to the controller antenna, which causes interference (I should know better).
Ratty also put me on the right track: the fact that I'm operating much more vertically than the average model airplane could be part of the problem, since circular polarized antennas seem to have a blind spot on top of them.
I will make some modifications and see if it helps.
Ah right, then in that case the antenna is so close to the carbon the carbon is blocking the signal giving you bad range
Quote from: bignose13 on July 26, 2013, 01:05:07 PM
I could do you a 5 turn helical mate, good for a couple of k at very least, also one of my skews attached to your vtx
Click on link in my sig or pm me
Cheers
Simon
Hi bignose13... how much dya charge for the 5turn helical buddy? I have the HK Boscam rc305 rx an the ts351 tx with cloverleaf but cant seem to get great distance from it.... :(