I'm completely new to all things related to multi-rotor copters and have a few questions about an FPV setup. I've been looking at the
Mondo Xtreme transmitter and YellowJacket
Pro Diversity and
Pro Diversity USB receivers.
1. The Mondo Xtreme appears to be a 1.5 watt transmitter. How large of a difference will a 1.5 watt unit perform compared to something in the 250 to 500 mW range?
2. What is the USB port on the YellowJacket Pro Diversity USB used for?
3. I've read quite a bit about antennas and I'm slightly confused... I see that the Pro Diversity includes an antenna(s), but must additional ones be purchased also?
4. What type of AV connector is on the Pro Diversity for going out to a monitor? (Component, I assume?)
5. What sort of range would you estimate could be achieved with this combination of transmitter and receiver?
6. I noticed that the manual and product description keeps making references to connecting the receiver to the RC transmitter used to control the aircraft. Is this correct, and if so, why does the FPV system receiver need to be connected to the RC system transmitter?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Hi Brian,
Welcome aboard.
To try and answer your questions I need to have some idea of your set up, and your intended application; how far you intend to fly from your Ground Station; will you be using goggles only, or monitor; or will you want the analogue video recorded to a hard drive/laptop, etc...?
1. 1500mW of power is massive, and probably not even legal in a lot of countries, without a HAM licence. It seems like overkill if your not going to be using a long range RC transmitter... 500mW VTx will more than cover the distance that any ordinary 2.4GHz RC Tx will give you. Also, 500mW won't be as power hungry as a 1.5W would either, so therefore easier on your battery. If you weren't going to push the distances too hard, 250mW would be sufficient. Using my fpv plane, I have gotten clear video right out to 1.9km, using 500mW 5.8GHz VTx. My Futaba 2.4GHz radio began glitching at that point, so I turned around and came back.
2. The USB port serves 2 purposes here : (1) you can connect the analogue video to your PC or laptop to view it there
(2) you can use the PC or laptop to power the Diversity Rx.
3. The FPV world has been revolutionised lately, because of circular polarised antennas or CP antennas. 5.8GHz is very susceptible to multi-pathing, because of the frequency pattern, and CP antennas virtually eradicate multi-pathing. So, these are a MUST!!! The Diversity Rx and VTx will come supplied with linear polarised 'rubber ducky' antennas, but I wouldn't use them.
Before you buy anything, I would strongly recommend to read this, and make up your mind which best suits your needs, because there are so many varieties and options out there.
http://videoaerialsystems.com/fpv-a-guide-to-success/
It's a lot to read, but WELL WORTH IT!!! And very valuable information.
N.B. please note there are right hand circular polarised (RHCP) antennas, and left hand circular polarised (LHCP) antennas. NEVER mix the two. They're not compatible. If you're using RHCP on your video transmitter, also use RHCP on your video receiver. RHCP is the most common and most readily available anyway.
4. The video outputs on the Diversity Rx, are 2 x right-angle barrel connector jack plugs. On the opposite end of these are component/RCA/composite connectors : yellow (video), red (right audio), and white (left audio). These connect to your monitor or goggles or DVR. The USB is also another new output feature, so you can display the video on a PC or laptop, while also supplying power to the Rx.
5. I honestly don't know what sort of range you could expect to get with this system. Quite a lot, I'd imagine. Range has more to do with receiver antennas, than actual video output power. I've seen videos where guys get well over 2kms using just 200mW of power on a 5.8GHz system, because they had their components well separated on the bird, and they also had a good Rx set up, using directional antennas and an antenna tracker. Always remember if you're trying to achieve big distances, that you have enough battery left to take you back home again. No need to explain why.
6. You misinterpreted the product description. This just means that you can use 2.4GHz radio transmission to fly your bird, and the 5.8GHz video system won't interfere with it.
If you read the "FPV - A Guide to Success" you can't go far wrong. There's plenty of people on here also, who have a world of knowledge and experience, to help you. Expensive set ups don't necessarily mean the best. Just brand names. Lots of cheaper set ups that also work just as well.
Now get reading. A lot to digest. It won't all sink in straight away, but it will all come together eventually.
Good luck.
