ImmersionRC 600mw VTX issue

OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
I am only getting some 500 ft away, have the normal break up in picture then it just goes. Not good when out of LOS, had to hit my failsafe to return to a place where I could regain control and come in for a landing.

The VTX is mounted vertical on a mount for my Discovery, sits on the right front arm, has nothing around it, GPS antenna is only 2 inches off the top deck, EZuhf duplex antennas at the very rear. In fact the TBS Discovery that TBS use, mine is set up like that apart from the radio manufacturer. I have read stories of people having issues with them with bad solder joints, anyone confirm this?

Antennas on the VTX and RX are the standard dipole antennas, I was going to change them out at some point but I am concerned about the poor range on this VTX now. Might just change it out for a lawmate and be done with it.

Thoughts on the issue? The TX can get pretty hot, but I know they can do that. Seems like it was not too bad on the way out, but on the return it was not as good as it was when going out if you know what I mean? Wondering if this thing is faulty.... and no, the unit has NEVER been powered up without an antenna on it.
 

twistedshifter

twistedshifter

Member
I had same troubles with mine. I have my GP hero 3 running into the VTx, and noticed this only occurring when the actual GP in camera battery would get low. I have a 6s drivetrain that also powers the gopro, seems when the aircraft power supply had to try and recharge the onboard GP I would get very poor reception or no reception at all when at close distance. No idea why or how this effected the VTx but when my GP is at full charge prior to flight it works perfect. FYI I use blue beam CP antennas. Anyone else care to chime in why this might occur?
 

PeteDee

PeteDee

Mr take no prisoners!
I have added an extra filter inline on my Discovery and it improved my video distance, I am getting out to 1000 metres with 200mW so far just on Blue Beam Ultra's. So far have tested over 200 metres on 25mW but this will go further with a little work.

Pete
 

twistedshifter

twistedshifter

Member
PeteDee said:
I have added an extra filter inline on my Discovery and it improved my video distance, I am getting out to 1000 metres with 200mW so far just on Blue Beam Ultra's. So far have tested over 200 metres on 25mW but this will go further with a little work.

Pete
Click to expand...
Which filter would that be? Thanks
 


Benjamin Kenobi

Benjamin Kenobi

Easy? You call that easy?
Lose those dipole antennas dude! I get 500m from 25mW with CP antennas.

Your receiver is the most important bit. Get some little patch antennas and your range will treble.
 

OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
I was looking into other antennas, but I am also thinking about going with a lawmate on a lower frequency. I am a little concerned about the Immersionrc I have right now, it was a lot worse on the way back and I only started to get reception about 100ft out and that was breaking up and cutting out to the point of blue screening my FPV monitor.

Thanks for the replies too... much appreciated.
 

OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
I did find something interesting, until I can change out my system for a 2.4Ghz VTX, I pulled the ImmersionRC 600mw unit apart, found some suspect solder joint of which I took care of, took it back out and again, after a bit of messing around the same situation was upon me. Upon landing, I was 10 feet from my VRX and I still had no signal, how weird is that? So I shut down my motors and poof, my signal is back stronger then ever!.

Conclusion.... Well I believe the motors was starving the VTX of much needed power as it was wired direct to the TBS Discovery board, I never did hook it up to the core (power wires) as I was not sure if it could handle the 600mw, just for me to find out today the core can handle up to 1 Watt or 1000 Mw. I have now hooked it into the core power, so I am going to try again as soon as the weather cleans up a little.
 

DucktileMedia

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
If you are getting a blue screen at all, that could be your problem. I had a very frustrating experience trying to figure out why I couldnt go more than 20' with my setup, immersion 600mw 5.8 with cloverleafs. The problem ended up being my lilliput monitor went to blue. I was thinking it should be a strong signal that it would not matter but that WAS the problem! I bought a monitor that showed static and it works longer than I can fly for. The problem is that monitors that switch to blue/black do so at the slightest decrease in signal loss. And this is not only frustrating but dangerous! Another issue I had once, just to throw it out there, was I was bench testing with a 12v transformer on my vrx and monitor. Same problem, I needed to use a power supply with much more Amps than that little transformer could put out, even though it said 1000ma it was not enough under load. Not saying thats your problem but it is good to keep in mind. Also remember that the Cloverleaf antennas have a 4 and 3 leaf antenna. The 3 leaf goes on the heli.
 




OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
I was looking into building my own VTX antenna and tuning the length to the channel I am using, for the RX I was thinking of a patch, but again don't want to put too much money into a project I may scrap shortly. Seriously thinking about going to 2.4Ghz for the VTX, don't want to do the 1.2Ghz as I have read they interfere with GPS lock.

The good think about building a VTX cloverleaf is I can strip it down and change the length of the leafs to match the new frequency, yep I have been watching some pretty serious youtube movies on how to make them and tune them.

Certainly interested to get it back in the air now I have power off of the core, can't wait to see if that is my problem after all... I do agree the dipoles have to go, all part of getting my Ground station working better in the end, but my VRX will have a directional antenna which will focus more on the direction I am flying.
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
either build a crosshair for the ground or buy a mushroom, both work very very well, the mushroom is omni so you don't gotta track the rig moving the antenna

I have some crosshair blanks that just need the wire done, several sizes. Wanna trade for some props?
 

OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
Sounds like a plan, but I am all out of props for now... I can't keep hold of them for very long....

Crosshairs look interesting, would a patch antenna not work? not sure how directional patch antennas are, obviously I don't want to go to directional or at least, not without a tracker as you mentioned.

kloner said:
either build a crosshair for the ground or buy a mushroom, both work very very well, the mushroom is omni so you don't gotta track the rig moving the antenna

I have some crosshair blanks that just need the wire done, several sizes. Wanna trade for some props?
Click to expand...
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
a linear patch like i guess your refering to used with a rubber duck do work, but the beam at any sort of gain is around 10 degrees wide. A crosshair is a circular polarity patch antenna, used with cp antennas like bluebeam, etc. they have extremely high gains with extremely wide beam, like 130 degrees...... ones like a spot light, the other is like a flood light of signal area it'll receive signal on..... one needs a tracker, but now with cp and antennas like a crosshair it negates the absolute need for tracking and directional patch antennas
 

OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
Interesting, think this forum could do with some reference to types of antennas and beam angles. I really only know about dipoles from my radio communication days, Yagi beams I know some about, but these others are fairly new to me.
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP

OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
IrisAerial said:
I was referring to Deanot's post saying he had blue screening.
Click to expand...

I have since gone into my monitor settings and turned that off, I know what you mean when it blue screens it can take a bit to come back on again, if it is weak as you mentioned it may never come back.

kloner said:
try looking through here

http://videoaerialsystems.com/blubeam-ultra/

http://videoaerialsystems.com/products/10-dbic/

http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_45_49_98&products_id=227
http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_45_49_98&products_id=991

if you shop where i do, the beam widths and benefits are well explained...

ibcrazy is over at fpv labs with a forum if ya got something specific, he's never shy to respond
Click to expand...

Nice links, will surely have a look at them and I have been reading a lot of IBCrazy's topics. That guy is a wizz with FPV antennas and I am sure that I can learn a lot from him.

Appreciate the replies!
 

OneStopRC

OneStopRC

Dirty Little Hucker
I think I found the cause of the problem, I tried it again with the core inline supplying power to the VTX, flew out and it did the same thing... ok now I am pissed and yet again take it in the house and strip it down.... Turns out the connection on the camera was not good, it has one of them plastic plugs so I had put some hot glue on it to stop it coming loose. Unknowing to me, this connections was not making a good connection to the pins, everytime I touched the wire it would flicker and go out, now it is not doing it.. Can't wait for this snow, wind and -7deg weather to go away so I can test it again.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.
Top