Signal Loss at 20m

[RLara]

I just set up FPV for my Phantom 2, but the signal goes away after the aircraft gets 20meters away. I thought it was the antennas and replaced them, but still lost signal at around the same distance. Then I did some testing with someone at my local RC airfield and still got the same results. The testing I did leads me to believe it might be my receiver. Below are the details of my situation.

My Setup
Monitor: BlackPearl RC 801
Set up for Diversity
Current Antennas

Circular Polarized Flat antenna (on monitor)
Fat Shark Omni antenna (on monitor)
Fat Shark Omni antenna (on Phantom)​

Transmitter: Boscam/Skyzone TS353 400mW
Frequency on Transmitter: 5495
Monitor setting: Band E Ch. 8

Here are the tests I ran today.
The other person that helped with testing tuned his monitor to my frequency and picked up my signal on his monitor.

He had the following setup on his diversity monitor
· Cloverleaf antenna
· Circular Wireless antenna


TEST #1
My monitor and the other pilot’s monitor sided by side. His monitor tuned to my frequency. With my current antenna setup. I Walked my UAV away from the monitors

RESULT FROM TEST #1
My monitor lost signal at 20m, his monitor was still receiving a signal.​

TEST #2
Mounted his Circular Wireless antenna to my monitor and kept the Fat Shark Omni antenna.

RESULT FROM TEST #2
My monitor lost signal at around 20meters​

TEST #3
Mounted his Cloverleaf antenna from his UAV to mine
Circular Wireless antenna (on my monitor)
Fat Shark Omni antenna (on my monitor)

RESULT FROM TEST #3
My monitor lost signal at around 20meters​

Final Results
After using high gain antennas on my monitor and the UAV, the signal is still getting lost at around 20 meters. It appears that my monitor’s reception could be the problem.

I purchased my monitor on ebay. The logo on the front of the monitor says 3D Robotics not Flysight. On the back of the monitor, where the battery goes, it says Blackpearl RC801. It’s a 32 channel diversity monitor. I know there are also 7 channel BlackPearl monitors. I did read there are problems with the modulation characteristics on the 32 channel diversity monitors because their designs are not precisely matched to the ImmersionRC and FatShark transmitters, but since my is the Boscam TS353, I figured it wouldn't be a problem.

Does anyone know if 3D Robitics and Flysight are the same company? The monitor was described as a BlackPearl RC801 in the ebay discription

 

[Jacob]

No, 3drobotics does not make the BlackPearl.

Many users on this forum use the Black Pearl, including myself. The Black Pearl has a few different bands/channels in the settings, please double check those.

 

[RLara]

I know the BlackPearl comes in two versions, the 7ch and 32ch. Based on my testing, I think there is something wrong with my receiver, unless someone thinks I missed something in my test procedure.

This weekend, I'm going to try all the channels the transmitter is capable of transmitting on and see if I land on one that will give me more range.