Hi,
I thought that I'd share some of the experiences that I've had with my Phantom 2 and FPV in case it is of interest to others planning their setup. I wanted a setup that is legal in Europe.
My hardware:
Phantom 2
Zenmuse H3-3D Gimbal (first edition with the GoPro backport, not mini USB ribbon)
Mini iOSD overlay
GoPro Hero 3+ Black edition
Immersion RC 5.8 Ghz 25 mW Tx
Immersion RC 5.8 Ghz UNO Rx
Immersion Spironet antennas.
Fieldview 555 monitor.
First of all, being a newbie, if there is a possibility to screw something up I do it. I learned the hard way that the antennas have two different connectors, SMA and RP-SMA. All the Immersion stuff has SMA connector, except that they stock their praised Spironet antennas with both RP-SMA and SMA connectors. Naturally I ordered mine all the way from China with the RP-SMA connector ;-) Fortunately I was able to purchase an adapter locally for 10 euros...
I've flown the gear with both the Spironet antennas and the whip antennas that were included. With the whips I get video range of about 420 meters (according to the iOSD). Also on the return leg when I turn the aircraft around I lose signal until about 300 meters, the Zenmuse is between the antenna and the receiver at that time.
Once I got the adapters for the Spironets, I gave it a try. I got a whopping 666 meters (is that a bad Omen ;-) ) before the video went unusable. At that time altitude was about 100 meters to maintain line of sight. All it takes is a treetop between the Rx and a TX and I have no signal... The good news was, that unlike the whips, orientation of the aircraft had no serious effect on the signal !
Conclusion: For my application, this is sufficient. I need the FPV for orientation and framing of videoshots. I do not have the balls to fly the Phantom beyond visual range anyway, the 666 meters was only barely visible (could hear it though...) to the naked eye and I cannot think of any reason why I would need to fly further than that. I also really like and recommend the iOSD. It gives you peace of mind because you know how much battery you have remaining and also it allows you to monitor satellite reception and home point recording in realtime.
I thought that I'd share some of the experiences that I've had with my Phantom 2 and FPV in case it is of interest to others planning their setup. I wanted a setup that is legal in Europe.
My hardware:
Phantom 2
Zenmuse H3-3D Gimbal (first edition with the GoPro backport, not mini USB ribbon)
Mini iOSD overlay
GoPro Hero 3+ Black edition
Immersion RC 5.8 Ghz 25 mW Tx
Immersion RC 5.8 Ghz UNO Rx
Immersion Spironet antennas.
Fieldview 555 monitor.
First of all, being a newbie, if there is a possibility to screw something up I do it. I learned the hard way that the antennas have two different connectors, SMA and RP-SMA. All the Immersion stuff has SMA connector, except that they stock their praised Spironet antennas with both RP-SMA and SMA connectors. Naturally I ordered mine all the way from China with the RP-SMA connector ;-) Fortunately I was able to purchase an adapter locally for 10 euros...
I've flown the gear with both the Spironet antennas and the whip antennas that were included. With the whips I get video range of about 420 meters (according to the iOSD). Also on the return leg when I turn the aircraft around I lose signal until about 300 meters, the Zenmuse is between the antenna and the receiver at that time.
Once I got the adapters for the Spironets, I gave it a try. I got a whopping 666 meters (is that a bad Omen ;-) ) before the video went unusable. At that time altitude was about 100 meters to maintain line of sight. All it takes is a treetop between the Rx and a TX and I have no signal... The good news was, that unlike the whips, orientation of the aircraft had no serious effect on the signal !
Conclusion: For my application, this is sufficient. I need the FPV for orientation and framing of videoshots. I do not have the balls to fly the Phantom beyond visual range anyway, the 666 meters was only barely visible (could hear it though...) to the naked eye and I cannot think of any reason why I would need to fly further than that. I also really like and recommend the iOSD. It gives you peace of mind because you know how much battery you have remaining and also it allows you to monitor satellite reception and home point recording in realtime.
