Help needed.

[Dragon Lady]

Evening all.

I have a DJI f550 running 250mW Immersion transmitter with Fatshark Attitude goggles and Spironet anntenna.

My problem is i have fairly crap reception, 100m or so.

Can anyone give me any pointers on ways to improve things?

Thanks.

[bignose13]

A couple of pics of your gear might help mate

[Dragon Lady]

It's simple.  The 3s lipo powers the transmitter directly.  The Go Pro has its own battery.
The signal from the camera goes through the Naza IOSD before reaching the transmitter.

[Dragon Lady]

[Heliotrope]

The setup you have is pretty standard and should work perfectly well. Although there are a number of ways to improve reception with this setup there's no point in going that route until your existing system is performing how it should, which clearly it's not.

I reckon there must be a faulty component somewhere. Apologies if I'm stating the bleedin' obvious!

[nbpicklesno2]

It also might be something to do with the face that your antenna is mounted upside down :)

[CurryKitten]

It also might be something to do with the face that your antenna is mounted upside down :)

Nope, that a perfectly reasonable way of stopping the body of the hex from blocking the video signal.

Have you double checked your video channels ?  You can be in an adjacent channel and still pick up a picture if very close - sorry if obvious, but it's worth checking everything.

[electrotor]

Antenna up or down makes no difference - it's the radiation pattern, which is strongest off the side of the antenna, which is important. The thing to avoid is tx/rx antennae pointing at each other.
Check that all the antennae connectors both tx and and rx are clean and screwed up tight.
It could be that your vtx is not outputting the claimed power. If you can borrow an identical one off another flyer that may help to check. Be careful if it is not identical as not all vtx pinouts are the same, even if the connectors are the same.

[Ratty]

Antenna mounted like that is the pro way of doing it, that's how I have mine.  ;D

Have you ever had decent range? Is it a new set up? Have you ever had the VTx on with no antenna?

This is why it is always handy to have 2 (or 5) of everything. So you can swap things out to check for dodgy components.

[martynv]

Do you get a better reception if the F550 is facing in a different direction or is it 100m in any postion to you on the ground. If it's better in other directions something is blocking the antenna and don't forget the signal won't ever be any good if you fly directly overhead. I had the exact same prolem on mine and the Lipo was blocking the antenna when I flew directly in front of me.

Although it's fairly unlikely it might be worth connecting the GoPro directly to the VTX bypassing the IOSD just to eliminate one more item and it might also be an idea to move the amtenna away from the GoPro if possible.

[Ynot6]

i think the gopro is partially blocking the signal. a longer antenna (hanging further down) may give better results. 

[Dragon Lady]

I have never had any decent range with this setup.  Maybe 200m on my old plane.


If i hover at 100m and slowly rotate the craft there is no improvement in image and the image is very poor.  I can hardly see anything.  I have tried different channels but they are all thr same.

I have never powered up the Vtx with no antenna, but i bought it 2nd hand.  Could it be that its damaged in some way?

I'll have a play tomorrow.  If i get no luck am i looking at a new transmitter?

[Lola]

You sure the sma connectors are matching?


It is right 😀

[Dragon Lady]

You sure the sma connectors are matching?


It is right 😀

Yes, i am sure the connectors are correct.

[tdmodels]

What about the receiving end?  What setup do you have including antenna etc