Antennas for FPV recommendation

[kenjancef]

I got the FatShark Spironet (dome) antennas, a pair. I put one on the Immersion, one on the Black Pearl, getting interference even before I leave the ground, then it gets worse as I fly. I've tried a bunch of things but can't seem to fix it. I am thinking it's the Black Pearl. It doesn't even switch antennas, and I'm in Diversity mode (which switches to the strongest antenna). Even if I change mode to the Rx that has the FatShark it still happens.

I am getting the Black Pearl replaced, and it actually should be delivered today, so we'll see what happens...

 

[Thunderbombman]

That black patch antenna may be left hand circular polarized. A lot of the cheep ones on ebay are. If you use that with the Right Hand Circular Polarized Fat Shark antennas (most of them are RHCP) then it won't pick up any signal. Thats the first thing you want to check. If the patch antenna came with an TX antenna, use that one instead of the Fatshark. Also look at the little blue lights on the monitor to see which antenna is actually doing the work.

Your transmitter also looks like a 400MW -500MW transmitter you will drastically improve your range with a black mamba transmitter.
Flysight Black Mamba TX5820 V2 Transmitter

You might want to just do a sanity test and put all the regular antennas back on.. The black linear antennas with a 400-500MW transmitter should get your about 200MM range.

Oh, and i'll assume that you know to point the flat side of the parch antenna toward the Phantom while in flight. :-D

 

[kenjancef]

The first thing I tried was using stock antennas. The one that came with the Immersion I put on the Immersion, and I put on the ones that came with the Black Pearl. GoPro and BP set to NTSC. Turned it on, got static-like bars on the screen, like if someone was banging the side of the BP. Wasn't constant, but every 2-3 second, and not in a pattern. Flew with it, got worse as I climbed, went about 200 feet and the picture was so bad I couldn't even see where I was. And all I did was go straight up.

Got the Spironet antennas on Tuesday, get same thing.

I put the Spironet on right side, stock BP antenna on left, and blue "active" light never moved from left side, and I was in Diversity mode. Switched sides (Spironet on left, stock on right), blue light stayed on the left still, and I got same interference/static. Put Spironet on right, switched to Rx 2 mode, got picture, but same static. And I've seen numerous videos about the BP, and all of them I see the blue antenna lights changing from right/left to grab the stronger signal. On mine it never moves from the left.

Exchanging the BP, the replacement should have came in today, but for some reason it didn't. Guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow...

 

[jason]

The first thing I tried was using stock antennas. The one that came with the Immersion I put on the Immersion, and I put on the ones that came with the Black Pearl. GoPro and BP set to NTSC. Turned it on, got static-like bars on the screen, like if someone was banging the side of the BP. Wasn't constant, but every 2-3 second, and not in a pattern. Flew with it, got worse as I climbed, went about 200 feet and the picture was so bad I couldn't even see where I was. And all I did was go straight up.

Got the Spironet antennas on Tuesday, get same thing.

I put the Spironet on right side, stock BP antenna on left, and blue "active" light never moved from left side, and I was in Diversity mode. Switched sides (Spironet on left, stock on right), blue light stayed on the left still, and I got same interference/static. Put Spironet on right, switched to Rx 2 mode, got picture, but same static. And I've seen numerous videos about the BP, and all of them I see the blue antenna lights changing from right/left to grab the stronger signal. On mine it never moves from the left.

Exchanging the BP, the replacement should have came in today, but for some reason it didn't. Guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow...

When flew straight up 200 feet where your stock antennas pointed?? More then likely straight up as well and the same for your RC's antenna. Well there's very little signal if any coming off the tip of those antennas..

 

[kenjancef]

When flew straight up 200 feet where your stock antennas pointed?? More then likely straight up as well and the same for your RC's antenna. Well there's very little signal if any coming off the tip of those antennas..

Yea, i made sure that the antennas were pointing towards my Phantom. I even tried it with the Immersion antenna pointing up, then down, no difference.

 

[Reflection]

This could be a dumb question, but just trying to help. Did you make sure your TX channel and RX channel were the same? Some of them are very close. For example, I have the TX on my IRC600mw set to the first channel, which is 5740MHz. On my receiver (which is an RX-LCD5802), if I let it scan, the first channel it picks up is Group A, Channel 7, which is 5745MHz. I can see the picture and it looks pretty good. Had I not tried anything else, I would have thought that it's the right channel. But if I manually switch to Group D, Channel 1, which is 5740MHz (according to the user manual), the picture is even clearer. So a difference in 5 MHz (5,000,000Hz) can make a difference.

 

[kenjancef]

Hey, I'm still new at this, so for me, there's never a dumb question... lol...

Jason gave me some great information, with that being one of them. I got the replacement Black Pearl today, and only had time to set it up quick. It seems a little better, but I still get the interference. It's like watching an old TV and having someone bang it every few seconds, enough for the picture to go wacky then stabilize again. I will definitely check the channel on both to see what's up. My Black Pearl is the 7-channel variety, and I can only stay on Band F, so it's that, and Channel 7. I will see if both sides are the same.

Thanks for the help, and you too Jason...

 

[Thunderbombman]

When you installed the video transmitter did you also install the interference board?

http://download.dji-innovations.com...ence_Reinforcement_Board_Guidance_v1.0_en.pdf

 

[kenjancef]

Yea, I have the interference board installed. It is inside my Phantom mounted where it "fits" under 2 screws. It's been connected since I bought the Phantom in July.

Not sure what you mean by "IOSD FPV board"... I have the iOSD mini installed, that is inside the Phantom as well, and it is connected via the "no-solder" adapter cable.

Going to try some other things this afternoon and possibly tonight as well. Thought it could have been the Black Pearl, but got it replaced and still having issues. Possibly might replace the Immersion, but we'll see after today.

This is exactly what I did:

 

[Thunderbombman]

Did you use this thing to connect everything or did you just connect all the wires with solder?
http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/5/0/5/6/0/a6828552-54-image-b0e96f68.jpg

A Dji tech told me you want to install as little stuff inside the Phantom because it not only generates heat but when you have power wires run along close to video wires you can get interference. Does the interference change when you turn on or power up the motors or is it consistent ?

 

[kenjancef]

A quick video of what I see...

 

[kenjancef]

Did you use this thing to connect everything or did you just connect all the wires with solder?
http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/5/0/5/6/0/a6828552-54-image-b0e96f68.jpg

Nope... never even saw that before... i used this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LDX65OS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00

 

[Thunderbombman]

You should try and keep your antennas parallel. (i.e. TX/RX) If your antenna on the drone is pointing down then your antennas on the monitor should be pointed up. If you are using circular polarized antennas then both should be vertical.

Also, if you installed the transmitter wire with your IOSD inside your unit.... did you check to see if it is touching any of the power wires that run to the ESC?

Did you do a video test to see what sort of signal you got before you tucked everything inside.

Is the wifi on your gopro off? I hope it is.

This is an interesting video to watch to to help identify the type of interference.

 

[kenjancef]

You should try and keep your antennas parallel. If your antenna was pointing down then your antennas should be pointed up.

I've tried down and straight across.

Also, if you installed the transmitter wire with your IOSD inside your unit.... did you check to see if it is touching any of the power wires that run to the ESC?

I didn't check that, but I assume you are talking about the thick black wire from the iOSD to the CAN-BUS? I will check, and if so, I'll wrap with electrical tape, unless there is something different...

Did you do a video test to see what sort of signal you got before you tucked everything inside.

Unfortunately no I did not.

Is the wifi on your gopro off? I hope it is.

Of course! lol... I already know about that...

I'll watch the video... thanks!!!

 

[Thunderbombman]

I will check, and if so, I'll wrap with electrical tape, unless there is something different...

I am not sure if the power running through those wires is enough to generate any interference but if they are, tape won't help. You need to move the wires to a different spot. When you have your phantom opened up.. pull all the wires out (keep your GPS) connected, turn the unit on and see what sort of signal you get.. You may want to even giggle some of the wires around to test the connections.

 

[kenjancef]

Also, if you installed the transmitter wire with your IOSD inside your unit.... did you check to see if it is touching any of the power wires that run to the ESC?

Funny you should mention this... Jason sent me a pic of his install, and so I just finished changing it to his way about 10 minutes ago, and So far I notice a big difference, but I'm in my basement so hopefully will get to test it outdoors either tomorrow or Thursday. But I was doing the same thing in my basement that I've been doing the past week or so when futzing with it indoors, and there is a difference. I'm attaching a before and after picture.

In the "before" picture, do you think that the ESC was causing interference in the iOSD Mini cable? That's the only thing I can think of right now...

 

[Thunderbombman]

Did you use this thing to connect everything or did you just connect all the wires with solder?
http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/5/0/5/6/0/a6828552-54-image-b0e96f68.jpg

A Dji tech told me you want to install as little stuff inside the Phantom because it not only generates heat but when you have power wires run along close to video wires you can get interference. Does the interference change when you turn on or power up the motors or is it consistent ?

Jason reach out to me and said "I didn't have a clue what I was talking about" So I reached out to my contact at DJI again and he said, "I was specifically taking about the video transmitter. You really don't want to put that inside.[primarily because it generates heat] As long as you have the power filter board in place the ESC's shouldn't generate any noticeable RF noise." So my mistake, I thought the tech was talking the IOSD too. Putting the IOSD inside just make it annoying to update or change any of the parameters.

Did you solve your interference problem?

 

[kenjancef]

I'm not sure... lol... I haven't had a chance to fly it after moving the stuff around. Won't be able to fly until Saturday... I'm a sports photographer and got lucky to get media pass for NASCAR in New Hampshire this weekend, so spending tomorrow there, and Sunday too. So I BETTER get a chance to fly on Saturday! lol...