5.8 ghz Helical antenna

[Crashtestdummy]

So far I've made my own cloverleaf and skew planar antennas. I was very surprised at the relative ease of the build. Let me just say also that I'm extremely pleased with the results. I'm now ready to make a helical. My question is do y'all have any suggestions on the wire thickness of a helical. I used .035 welding wire for the others. I've got .035 wound through the antenna but I'm wondering now if I should use soft copper. The photo that Ive added is of the partially finished antenna. I'm just second guessing myself on wire thickness.

thanks.

 

[Reoscorpio]

Can't help at all but just wanted to say it looks good so far! Wish I could do that myself

 

[Crashtestdummy]

Thank you

 

[garrock]

It looks good physically.

There is a thing called SWR or Return Loss for a given frequency band. In this case the 5.8GHz band.
Typically this type antenna (helical with an air Dk) are broad band compared to patch type antennas made from PC board material.
So, perhaps your antenna is tuned and has resonance at the specific RF band (5.725 to 5.850 GHz). Or, maybe not.

I would offer to test it for you but the Network Analyzer I have access to only goes up to 3GHz.

 

[Crashtestdummy]

I have the copper covered pc board that i will be attaching to the back of the base. The antenna is only partially finished. I'm just trying to figure out if the wire that I'm using is the appropriate wire for this antenna. I wished I had an swr meter. So far with my cloverleaf and skew planar I've had amazing results. thanks for your reply

 

[Ohary]

Interested in your results.

 

[Crashtestdummy]

Okay so I went back and done some more reading and according to some forums the bigger the wire on this particular antenna the better so I went with 14 gauge soft copper. I made my first one out of 10awg and have hade amazing results. I wanted to make another one out of the 3d printed piece. I'm putting up some pictures so y'all can see my progress. Also the first one I used a wooden dowel as the center piece but I think once it absorbes moisture it might short out the antenna. Now I'm just waiting on the sma connectors to get here. I will keep y'all informed of my progress. Well I'm hoping for progress

 

[Crashtestdummy]

I just wanted wanted to give an update on my antenna builds. I finished up the helical yesterday and got in a quick flight before dark. I went out to 675 meters with crystal clear video. Even when I turned the bird around to head home it never let up. I'm super pleased with these antennas. Also I must say that Tony ay fpvlr.com is a super nice guy. I sent him questions and pictures to his fb page asking for pointers and he graciously answered and gave me every pointer he could without revealing his secrets. If your in the market for professionally built antennas I highly recommend his product. I'm just a guy that likes to tinker at something just to see if I can do it or not. I am including pictures of my cloverleaf and skew planar build as well. I have no way of tuning them so just judging by appearance let me know what y'all think of them. Thanks

 

[terrylowe]

Looks great and sounds like it works great too. Now you you need to put a blue LED in the center of it to give it that futuristic look! ;-)

 

[Crashtestdummy]

Looks great and sounds like it works great too. Now you you need to put a blue LED in the center of it to give it that futuristic look! ;-)

Thank you for your feedback. I watched some of your videos on your youtube channel. Very nice. I'm a diver as well. I've been tossing around the idea of doing a live-a-board in May to the Bahamas. These winter months are killing me, I'm gonna need to purchase a drysuit.

 

[terrylowe]

Welllllll now. Nothing can pull me off topic like SCUBA! I have a friend with a house on Little Cayman. What a pal! Most of my tropical dives are there. Would go back tomorrow if I cash and a non-homicidal wife. Most of my local dives are in Panama City FL where I have a friend with a house AND a boat ;-) We do spearfishing there, but wait on the water to heat up and start up in May. (I could see the look in my wife's eyes now as I tried to explain what a drysuit is. Nope! I'm too chicken to get one!)

There is a live-aboard route through Caymans on the Aggessors that is supposed to be out-of-this world good. I have been to the Bahamas a couple of times. My first dive was a "resort" dive there. What an experience! I should have died that day. It took me nearly 15 years to go back and learn how to really dive.

GoPros are amazing... From 100ft down where I am fishing for dinner >>> to the surface where I am throwing up lunch over the side of that cursed boat >>>> to the sky for a great sunset view.

 

[Crashtestdummy]

Sorry to go off topic. Phantoms are fun but diving is my passion. It is definitely nice to have friends in tropical locations. Now back to antennas, I'll try to get a flight in this afternoon to see if I could get to maybe 800 meters or so.

 

[terrylowe]

Let us know....I bet you go much further.

 

[Crashtestdummy]

I got a couple of flights in this afternoon. I went out to 919 meters. Picture was just starting to get a little grainy. I did have a good bit of trees between me and the quad. I'm hesitant to go much further because I'm not quiet sure how far my stock transmitter will go. I've read a thousand + meters is very doable for stock transmitters. Very pleased
with results so far.

 

[terrylowe]

I got a couple of flights in this afternoon. I went out to 919 meters. Picture was just starting to get a little grainy. I did have a good bit of trees between me and the quad. I'm hesitant to go much further because I'm not quiet sure how far my stock transmitter will go. I've read a thousand + meters is very doable for stock transmitters.

Oh oh....it's sounds like it is time to mod the stock transmitter!!!

 

[mendezl]

Stock radio control transmitter is good for 3kilometers no problem in open areas. I flew phantom out 3.6kilometers in a wide open lake with no issues. I'm no longer considering upgrading radio transmitter because battery life does not alow me to go any much further. You should be good to go with stock radio.

 

[Crashtestdummy]

Stock radio control transmitter is good for 3kilometers no problem in open areas. I flew phantom out 3.6kilometers in a wide open lake with no issues. I'm no longer considering upgrading radio transmitter because battery life does not alow me to go any much further. You should be good to go with stock radio.

Thanks for that info. I won't be able to fly until the end of the week. I'll try for further results then. I'm just leery of the rth.

 

[terrylowe]

I'll BET your FPV goes further out than the controller can.

If you are brave, fly away as fast as the quad will go in GPS mode until you hit 60% battery left. If you enter RTH before 60%, you know your max controller functioning distance. As RTH brings it back into range, change to ATTI and COME ON back....live on the edge!!! ;-)

Oh yeah....fly into the wind going out and return with the wind. Ask Mendezl about that one...

 

[Crashtestdummy]

I'll BET your FPV goes further out than the controller can.

If you are brave, fly away as fast as the quad will go in GPS mode until you hit 60% battery left. If you enter RTH before 60%, you know your max controller functioning distance. As RTH brings it back into range, change to ATTI and COME ON back....live on the edge!!! ;-)

Oh yeah....fly into the wind going out and return with the wind. Ask Mendezl about that one...

Sounds like a plan to me.

 

[PhantomFanatic]

Looks great and sounds like it works great too. Now you you need to put a blue LED in the center of it to give it that futuristic look! ;-)

Thank you for your feedback. I watched some of your videos on your youtube channel. Very nice. I'm a diver as well. I've been tossing around the idea of doing a live-a-board in May to the Bahamas. These winter months are killing me, I'm gonna need to purchase a drysuit.

You have another diver here! PADI Instructor, retired.