Horizon FPV Antennas

[Mossie]

Yeahhh !

Just tested my Blackawk 2.4 LHCP which I received very quickly from Horizon. Must say the service from them is great.Every email is replied to in less than 30 mins.

I just have one of these antennas velcro'd to the front of my extender, nothing else is modded and I got a good FPV out to 600 mtrs which is about as far as I want to go. I could have probably gone further but I didn't want to loose control signal.

The only time I lost FPV briefly was when the aircraft was flying back to me and the camera was pointing towards me. With the camera facing directly away from me and at 90 degrees to me the signal was fine.

 

[mr_3_0_5]

These numbers are not that impressive given the size if these antennas

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

Yeahhh !

Just tested my Blackawk 2.4 LHCP which I received very quickly from Horizon. Must say the service from them is great.Every email is replied to in less than 30 mins.

I just have one of these antennas velcro'd to the front of my extender, nothing else is modded and I got a good FPV out to 600 mtrs which is about as far as I want to go. I could have probably gone further but I didn't want to loose control signal.

The only time I lost FPV briefly was when the aircraft was flying back to me and the camera was pointing towards me. With the camera facing directly away from me and at 90 degrees to me the signal was fine.

that addition to the P2V is the simplest but most effective you guys can do . most of the RF energy on the camera antennas is radiated 180 deg from, the camera , the camera antennas are pretty good actually and for most users can be left stock. You could add the 5.8 GHz Blackhawk micro to give the RC control a lift , even better if you put a single SP on the UAV or even a pair.
The RC control is most import and so you a best making the RC control signal SOLID.

for you extreme guys there is the BH 90 deg that fits to the UAv ( rear pointing ) and a pair of BH Super micro antennas each side on the UAV replacing the camera antennas , they are 8.4 dB ( LHCP) and match up to the LHCP on the pilot end . That's about the most you can do to P2V in that configuration ( images shortly ) this then gives on the UAV, 9 db on 5.8 and 8.4 dB on 2.4 !!

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

These numbers are not that impressive given the size if these antennas

its all down to a simple factor , GAIN Vs RF power applied.

if you want to double the distance you have to quadruple the RF power , since the P2V has fixed Rf power all we can do is Up the gain and focus all the RF energy in a broad beam to get the efficiently up , also convert to LHCP to prevent multi path loss. For the Size and weight they do a pretty good job.

Using reverse antennas tracking principle i devised some years ago this will make a BIG difference on the range as we then have gain at each end of the RF path.

Will

 

[mr_3_0_5]

These numbers are not that impressive given the size if these antennas

its all down to a simple factor , GAIN Vs RF power applied.

The 5.8 side doesn't have to be upgraded till like 5000 ft and I don't see any of these making it that far and if they did then you would just upgrade the 5.8 on the tx to get out to 4+ km

 

[Mossie]

Yeahhh !

Just tested my Blackawk 2.4 LHCP which I received very quickly from Horizon. Must say the service from them is great.Every email is replied to in less than 30 mins.

I just have one of these antennas velcro'd to the front of my extender, nothing else is modded and I got a good FPV out to 600 mtrs which is about as far as I want to go. I could have probably gone further but I didn't want to loose control signal.

The only time I lost FPV briefly was when the aircraft was flying back to me and the camera was pointing towards me. With the camera facing directly away from me and at 90 degrees to me the signal was fine.

that addition to the P2V is the simplest but most effective you guys can do . most of the RF energy on the camera antennas is radiated 180 deg from, the camera , the camera antennas are pretty good actually and for most users can be left stock. You could add the 5.8 GHz Blackhawk micro to give the RC control a lift , even better if you put a single SP on the UAV or even a pair.
The RC control is most import and so you a best making the RC control signal SOLID.

for you extreme guys there is the BH 90 deg that fits to the UAv ( rear pointing ) and a pair of BH Super micro antennas each side on the UAV replacing the camera antennas , they are 8.4 dB ( LHCP) and match up to the LHCP on the pilot end . That's about the most you can do to P2V in that configuration ( images shortly ) this then gives on the UAV, 9 db on 5.8 and 8.4 dB on 2.4 !!

do you think that if I just bought a single SP for the Vision camera, I wouldn't loose FPV when the UAV is flying back to me i.e. camera pointed towards me ?

 

[Pull_Up]

These numbers are not that impressive given the size if these antennas

its all down to a simple factor , GAIN Vs RF power applied.

The 5.8 side doesn't have to be upgraded till like 5000 ft and I don't see any of these making it that far and if they did then you would just upgrade the 5.8 on the tx to get out to 4+ km

Totally stock, my 5.8 side never got me beyond about 1200ft, wifi never got me past 1100ft. Sticking a small 9dB Blackhawk on it (about the size of a 35mm film canister?) takes me to 2370ft without doing anything else to the aircraft side. Regarding the 2.4 with just the 9dB Blackhawk 2.4 on the range extender I had rock solid wifi with the aircraft in any orientation and a Rotorpixel gimbal attached at 2370ft - I ran out of 5.8 grunt whilst the FPV was still solid in highest resolution. Not bad considering none the aircraft-end antennas have been touched...

 

[enterprise1]

These numbers are not that impressive given the size if these antennas

its all down to a simple factor , GAIN Vs RF power applied.

The 5.8 side doesn't have to be upgraded till like 5000 ft and I don't see any of these making it that far and if they did then you would just upgrade the 5.8 on the tx to get out to 4+ km

After reading almost every antenna mod post for the PV2 in the last 2 months there seems to be quite a lot of variability in range achieved with the stock radio setups. Signal interference seems to come in many forms as listed by different pilots. Maybe the quality control of tx and rx is part of the differences.

I fly out in the flat desert. Not a tree in sight over 6ft. tall. Some wifi signal but not that much. No hills, towers or roads. Should be perfect flying location. My best complete stock range was about 900ft. Had RTH and wifi disconnect about the same distance. Other pilots achieve more then double that distance with stock setups. Why the big difference?

After installing the Horizon PV2 super kit I'm out to 1600ft. before losing Wifi. Just about 80% increase. From where I started I'm happy. Not any record range breaker but not all of us will achieve the same results with many variables present.

 

[mr_3_0_5]

I think you guys need to send your tx back to be checked
Or your not aiming the antennas properly
I've seen only a couple of you guys loose tx range that early on
Maybe four or five of you the rest seems to get 4000 or more ft out of the stock 5.8 side

I'm still using my rubber sucky antenna on the 5.8 and regularly fly it to 2500 ft with no problems
I have lost control signal way early when not orientating the antenna properly

 

[Pull_Up]

I'm good thanks. I'm not into big FPV flying, I just wanted a solid 2000ft to give me flexibility when filming without having to move around or worry about trees and bushes a lot, etc. A small investment in a small antenna saves me the pain of a whole return. DJI state the max on the 5.8 is 500m in ideal conditions and I was getting not far off 400 before. My antenna was always oriented appropriately. Happy camper now.

 

[FlyingFox]

Just fitted my Blackhawk and nimrod and the rain has started, so no tests today, it looks like a "Science" experiment and I feel like the" Doc " off back to the future.
I would post a pic but forum states board quota reached?

 

[mr_3_0_5]

Hey as long as your happy with it that's all that matters

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

Re: Horizon FPV Antennas P2V on steroids

The P2V on steroids
2 x Gold SP 5.8 GHz
2 x BH Super micros 2.4 GHz
Notice the 10 deg tilt down angle on the 2.4 GHz.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w8t1ss20xsbfo75/P1000928.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1tjllgin5pnoo0r/P1000930.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/roqfodl77l642r4/P1000935.png

 

[mr_3_0_5]

You don't have to pile on the antennas to get the distance
I have seen some consistently bad numbers come out of these
Will you need to perform some real world tests to back up your claims
Setting antennas up on a hillside and aiming them at each other is not a real world test
What's the furthest one of your set ups have flown ?
Why would you mount two helical on the sides of the pv2 ?

How bad are flight times going to be?

 

[FlyingFox]

You don't have to pile on the antennas to get the distance
I have seen some consistently bad numbers come out of these
Will you need to perform some real world tests to back up your claims
Setting antennas up on a hillside and aiming them at each other is not a real world test
What's the furthest one of your set ups have flown ?
Why would you mount two helical on the sides of the pv2 ?

How bad are flight times going to be?

At present my aerials are not performing, I am to double check tomorrow, weather permitting, and will post if it's my error, and apologise, ie wired incorrectly, or one of the pigtails isn't fastened , if not my experience of the Blackhawks and nimrod are it gives you about half a football pitch more distance than stock.

 

[Pull_Up]

Odd. With just one of the Horizon 9dB 2.4 Blackhawk's on the extender and no aircraft mods my wifi has gone from 1000ft to 2400ft+ verified by Flytrex data (I say plus because I ran out of 5.8 control at that point with full wifi).

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

Odd. With just one of the Horizon 9dB 2.4 Blackhawk's on the extender and no aircraft mods my wifi has gone from 1000ft to 2400ft+ verified by Flytrex data (I say plus because I ran out of 5.8 control at that point with full wifi).

there does seem to be a varying amount of distance with some P2V systems , this is probably the RF being applied to the antennas and the receiver sensitivity. If the mod is not not correctly the results could be worse. This is something we can not control. One customer was only getting 400 meters and we found there was no antenna actually connected !. the best mod is to just do the pilot end and leave the camera alone , also putting at least one SP on the RC antenna on the UAV end to ensure solid RC control.

We also have flytrex fitted and will post some flights shortly.

 

[duneview]

Hi Will

Received my antennas.. Many thanks

Please see the 'temporary' placement for both. I suspect the transmitter will be ok, but what about the aircraft. do you suspect this will work?

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

Hi Will

Received my antennas.. Many thanks

Please see the 'temporary' placement for both. I suspect the transmitter will be ok, but what about the aircraft. do you suspect this will work?

hi , you would need to connect some antenna to the other output port to stop it 'floating ' ( on the extender )

on the UAv i do not know the effect the motor gimbal has on the internal antenna in the camera. but a metallic object that close would upset the radiation pattern I would think, put the U.fl on that output and move it to the position away from things.

Where you have placed it should be ok

Will

 

[Pcdeveloper2014]

Odd. With just one of the Horizon 9dB 2.4 Blackhawk's on the extender and no aircraft mods my wifi has gone from 1000ft to 2400ft+ verified by Flytrex data (I say plus because I ran out of 5.8 control at that point with full wifi).

me thinks there is a bit of variation on Rf power levels ( or receiver sensitivity) , as its not consistent as one would expect.

local Rf noise would also come in to play in some location, using a spectrum scanner to look at the airwaves if your having problem may show up some strong RF flying around.

When i was out testing the other day I picked up a signal of someone's front Gate ( on 2.4 ) a very strong signal and it was at least
2 miles away across the valley. Also a car went past using a rear camera as i could see the road images as he was driving.

the best thing to do is go to a quiet ,out of the way place where you are sure there is no strong signals flying around, then check the kit.