Boscam 200mW FPV setup - poor range - help

[mroberts]

I've got this tx/rx setup and am getting terrible range. The website quotes 500m (which I always assumed was optimisitic), but it seems like I'm barely getting 50-75m - even when the antenna is on the "right" side of the quad flying away from me.

How should the stock antennas be oriented - I'm assuming vertically for both, but does up/down matter?

Is it possible I've got the channel wrong on the Rx? Would I get any signal at all if I was off by one channel?

I've also picked up a set of these - 3 lobe tx and 4 lobe rx. They actually seem WORSE than the stock antenna.

Any tips for improving reception, using either the stock antennas, or a combination?

 

[boat chaser]

I use the fatshark dominator fpv system. Standard antenna with the set are only 100mw so I upgraded to a 600mw immersionRC vtx and then upgraded both antennae on the goggles and the vtx. I originally had the antenna on the vtx pointing down near the rear left leg. I found that when I turned around to return home that the reception was terrible mainly due to the antenna on the vtx being obstructed by the gimbal and phantom. I have the vtx mount on the exterior of the phantom just under the LED on the back. I removed the 90 degree elbow joint and now I have the antenna pointing out the left side by about 7 cm. Moving the antenna has greatly increased the quality of the video as the antenna is now only obscured on one side compared with two sides on the old configuration. I upgraded the antennae to IBcrazy blue beam airscrew high gain. Apparently much better than the spironet antenna.

 

[TickTock]

What are you using for your monitor? That can make a big difference. Since the RF is just sending the analog signal, a monitor with a weak input amp may have a problem while a different brand may not. I use that exact same TX/RX and one time I had my goggles on and an LCD in the other AV output so my friend could watch. He said the LCD video kept freezing and dropping out while I never saw any issues in the goggles.

 

[mroberts]

It's a GoodLuckBuy 7". It goes noticeably fuzzy before it drops to blue screen. It's an interesting idea, but I don't have another monitor to test. Next time I fly with some other guys I'll see if they can plug into my rx.

 

[mroberts]

Took it out today to try to do some systematic testing of the different antennas, and decided to check the channel assignment first. It would appear I got the channel settings wrong and the Rx and Tx were on different channels.

I blame Boscam - what sort of idiot has a different encoding for their Rx and Tx switch sets???

It seemed to perform a lot better (duh), but it was so windy I didn't want to fly high or too far away.

IF that was the problem, it will show that the $7 Banggood antennas may be worth the $$

Where's the facepalm smiley when you need it.

 

[gardenroute]

I have this set on my Phantom, a cloverleaf antennas to see 500 to 700 meters.
I wanted to also help control channels, exactly the same problem I had too

By the way I use Fatshark Dominator goggles, for which TBS group manufactures integrated receiver with frequencies Boscam.

 

[mroberts]

I have this set on my Phantom, a cloverleaf antennas to see 500 to 700 meters.
I wanted to also help control channels, exactly the same problem I had too

By the way I use Fatshark Dominator goggles, for which TBS group manufactures integrated receiver with frequencies Boscam.

That was why I was getting annoyed - it seemed other people were getting far better performance than I was. As soon as the **** weather clears up I should be able to do some more testing, btu I'm hopefuly that the channel thing was th eproblem. I'm surprised I was getting ANYTHING with the channel wrong. Does that indicate that the signal bandwidth is actually larger than the spacing between the channels?

 

[TickTock]

I have this set on my Phantom, a cloverleaf antennas to see 500 to 700 meters.
I wanted to also help control channels, exactly the same problem I had too

By the way I use Fatshark Dominator goggles, for which TBS group manufactures integrated receiver with frequencies Boscam.

That was why I was getting annoyed - it seemed other people were getting far better performance than I was. As soon as the **** weather clears up I should be able to do some more testing, btu I'm hopefuly that the channel thing was th eproblem. I'm surprised I was getting ANYTHING with the channel wrong. Does that indicate that the signal bandwidth is actually larger than the spacing between the channels?

It is more likely the RX bandpass filter not being sharp enough. Not really a problem until someone starts transmitting on an adjacent channel and they are closer to you than your craft is.