My ground station options..

[rob.thomson]

Starting on the left:

- Feelworld LCD & PVR
Superb, wireless and able to work direct with model, or indirect with external antenna.

- Skylark Tracker
Uses dual diversity rx with a clover & a fatshark patch.

- Quad Array
4 x  3 turn helical antennas mounted to provide 360 cover.  All attached to a quad diversity receiver.

Both my antenna systems have integrated 10mw relays.  The relay sends the signal on to my goggles, and to the PVR.

I like this approach.  Wires are a pain to work with.  Being wireless means you can place the antenna in a location that suits it - and sit/stand in a location that suits that!

Antenna wise.  The quad helix is about half the weight of the skylark tracker.  Despite being a large antenna system, the array breaks down smaller than the tracker.

Result - depending in where I intend to fly I can take a different system.

:)


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[skyscraper]

Am interested in the wireless relay for the video.
.what setup are you using? Is it in the same band as the Video on the aircraft or different and if its same , are you limited on frequencies you can use?
In other words I can see the advantages. but wonder if there are disadvantaegs.

regards
Andy

[rob.thomson]

I relay with a 10mw boscam, using rubber duck antennas.

Downside at the moment is that it is on the same band.  So you use two channels.

But.... 

The boscam rx on both my systems support 32 channels.

This means that at some point I can change the tx in the plane to the new 32 channel ones, and spread right across the band.

Mostly - people I fly with use fat shark - or I fly alone.  So no issue.

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[Coyote]

Interesting setup Rob

[Dizzy]

sweet set up Rob,  I run with a pair of gs set ups but don't use a tracker myself.

I am also using the boscam10mw for my relay works a treat for me too :)

dizzy :)

[BlueFlyer]

Diz,

so you have one tripod to receive, then you relay that signal to another tripod, one with a screen on? or are your goggles physically tethered to the 2nd one?

[rob.thomson]

The whole point of a relay is to remove your 'wires'.

In my case, the relay is attached to the 'leg' of the tripod with the tracker/helical array on it.  Essentially, I route the AV lead from the primary receiver, through to the relay tx.

The goggles listen to this signal, as does the dvr screen.

To be honest - anything can listen to it.  Just another video feed.

I flew three times with a cable tethering me to the ground station.   I hated it so much I made a relay.   It is much simpler to work with and prevents me tripping over the wires!

[Dizzy]

Diz,

so you have one tripod to receive, then you relay that signal to another tripod, one with a screen on? or are your goggles physically tethered to the 2nd one?

Chris my old gs on a tripod consists of a cheap recorder and screen and a single vrx  5.8 and teathered goggles useful for passengers the frequency i use can recieve from my new gs. :)

My new gs  consists of larger tripod with eagletree diversity built in dvr japan a choice of three reception frequencies and relay out on 5.8 at 10mw.

I carry a couple of pairs of fatsharks now one as a spare or for my spotter if needed, but the old gs is ideal for friends and extra passengers i have not tried it inside the car but i suspect it would work ok(maybe back seat passengers would like it LOL)

I still fly straight to goggles for small planks and baby plateform no cables as been a blessing after pulling over my gs a couple of times in the early days

Worth a note i sometimes  leave my older gs with friends in there garden and go off to fly whilst they can enjpoy the flight from either the gs goggles or screen or wired to their tv direct ;D
I just phone when i.m about to fly  ;)

dizzy ;)

[Dizzy]

The whole point of a relay is to remove your 'wires'.

In my case, the relay is attached to the 'leg' of the tripod with the tracker/helical array on it.  Essentially, I route the AV lead from the primary receiver, through to the relay tx.

The goggles listen to this signal, as does the dvr screen.

To be honest - anything can listen to it.  Just another video feed.

I flew three times with a cable tethering me to the ground station.   I hated it so much I made a relay.   It is much simpler to work with and prevents me tripping over the wires!

precisly Rob i had to use cables for a year before i upgraded to the fatsharks hence my relay, best thing i ever done for fpv freedom at last lol
dizzy :)

[BlueFlyer]

when i moved from 5.8 to 2.4, I was tethered to the 2.4 rx on a tripod (goggles were 5.8 only)

I hated this, so I bought the 2.4 module for the fatsharks.

but that was a crap module and not very sensitive. plus 2.4's range without directional antennas wasn't good enough for what I wanted to do.

Now I've bought 1.2 lawmate video equipment but want to remain wire free.

hence my questions... I intend on building a 1.2 -> 5.8 relay (with built in DVR) within a plastic project box and mounted on a tripod that will stay 20ft or so away from where I'm sitting to reduce interference.

[rob.thomson]

It will work.

I would not worry about the 20ft.

Mine is mounted to the same tripod.  I just mount it below, so the weakest part of the antenna points skyward, at the other antenna!

No issues at all :)

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[rob.thomson]

Decided to clean things up a bit.

New cases to make travel a bit easier..

Ground station one:





Ground station two:





Now all I need to do is device a strap to secure the tripod to the case.  But to be honest...  This is quite robust and will probably just be carried or bunged in a back pack.

Lastly...  I played briefly today with my sky zone goggles setup with a TBS patch, and a fat shark Spiro in diversity mode.

This works remarkably well.  I flew out to 1km with no issue.   Yes.  The signal degraded more than it does with the tracker...  Yes..  I had to point my head in the right direction. (Avoid use of head tracker). But no complaints.  Its a superbly portable way to fly!

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