5.8ghz 200mw - Best antennas for range - best channel?

[KondorFPV]

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.

[chris-s]

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

[Randall]

Yea im interested in this too was planning on getting the immersion patch but cant see that doing 12km

[bignose13]

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
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

[KondorFPV]

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.

[WL Production]

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!

[bignose13]

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

[WL Production]

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/__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.

[Jake Bullit]

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

[WL Production]

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.

[Ratty]

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?

[bignose13]

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 ;)

[WL Production]

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.

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.

[Coyote]

Are those legs on your landing gear and the skids carbon ?

[WL Production]

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.