FPV-Community Reviews

Upon unpacking, I first noticed the small size of the video TX and the professional looking video transmitter. Up to now I used a normal (“standard”) receiver and transmitter system and its ok so far. But the new transmitter is slightly bigger, heavier and has a more professional look compared to my “old” transmitter.

The video receiver

The two audio outputs makes me curious because the transmitter only has one connection for mono sound. There are openings on the other side of the receiver to attach it to something else, maybe a ground station. The antenna input is a female connector (RP-SMA) so if you buy an antenna you should take this into account.

Of course, there is an adapter for any kind of antenna. Unfortunately, the receiver does not have an on/off switch, but the device remembers the last chosen channel, which is a very nice function. The switch to the channel selection has a noticeable pressure point. You see the chosen channel through one of four LED like on other receivers as well.
A big question mark appears over my head about a socket close to the channel selection. The dealer explained that this is a kind of “remote control” for channel selection.

The receiver needs 12V and consumes 500 mA, according to the print on the bottom. The supply connection is identical to that of the silver, “standard” receiver. It is very handy that it’s also a 12V output, to which other devices can connect too.

The video transmitter

The video transmitter is slightly larger and heavier than my previous one, which is noticeable. For sufficiently large aircraft this is no problem, but for smaller ones like my little Quadrocopter it’s a factor you should keep in mind. For a great video, audio and power supply there is a separate ground connection. The channel can easily be set via toggle switch. If you have a FPV meeting, it’s easy to change the channel if another pilot needs the same channel. For the channel selection, there are four switches, but to choose all of the four available channels you need only the first two of the switches. The antenna connector is the same as the one on the receiver (female connector). The transmitter requires 9-12 V at 50 mA. In general, video transmitter should not be used directly on the flight battery, because of strong fluctuations and disturbances which can be expected. It would be better if it is a filtered, through appropriate electronics, or an extra battery.

The video transfer

I’ve a very positive impression on the set, because the reception quality and coverage will improve over my previous solution. Distances, for which previously a “larger better” antenna (Yagi, about 9 dBi) was necessary to use. Now it is possible to reach the same distances with the normal, smaller antennas which are included with the set. However, the signal loss at the high-set is significantly faster and not known just before dropout. This is the only thing to comment on especially if you are familiar with other solutions.

It’s just a shame that the High-tech RX/TX set are not compatible with existing systems. However, this is understandable for the much better performance they need to optimize both, receiver and transmitter technique.

The test video

The video quality is not the best because of my poor recording device. It did not help that it was a cloudy day, the sky was completely covered. Nevertheless, it should be illustrative enough of the video transmission.

At the beginning you can see the test setup for the ground test. I have a video standard RX / TX combination with the current high-end system. To have equal test conditions on ground the antennas of both receivers was removed and on the HighTech receiver I put an adapter (RP-SMA to SMA). You can see in the video very well that with the new system the range is easy doubled compared to the old system. At the subsequent flight over the terrain, only the enclosed, short antennas are used. The maximum distance was about 300m. Any disruption in flight can be explained by the fact that the Quadrocopter had one of its metal brackets between the transmission signal, or a group of trees are blocking the signal.

For comparison, a video from my previous “normal” transmission system used in the in the same area with nearly identical Quadrocopter a very similar flight was undertaken. The video is a few months ago:

http://www.vimeo.com/2612052

Conclusion

The high-end video transmission system is highly recommended since the slightly higher cost of the transmitter / receiver combination almost modest in comparison to the performance plus. With a flight model of wood or EPP, and a lot of distance of the transmission set to the on-board electronics or electrics are get you certainly much better results than in my test. If you are accustomed to traditional systems, you should be careful to get you maximum flight distance, because the signal does not weaken gradually as with other systems.

Receiver

+ Mounting possibility e.g. Ground Station
+ Save channel settings
+ 12 V output
- No on / off switch
- Antenna connector on the bottom and hides a little bit of the antenna

Transmitter

+ GND for each line
+ RP-SMA connector for antenna
+ Switch selectable per channel
+ Cam box and mounting bracket
- Slightly heavier

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 1:44 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.