Thought I would throw this up in here in case some one else is thinking of a way to extend their 5.8 ghz systems and micros.
I built this as I wanted to go a little further with my micros (rotorx atom, Blade Nano FPV Qx) and also push my other medium planes out a little further while being able to stick with my 5.8 ghz systems I already had, this way when flying close I can switch back to my googles and leave the ground station at home.
I built the frame out of model grade balsa that was easy to cut (most of I cut with a utility knife and a small hand saw) I used my model grade epoxy to glue it together and hot glue to hold it while the epoxy dried. I then hit it with a spray can black enamel to clean it all up.
For parts, I use two Helistar Diversity Receivers in the back attached to four antennas, three are 8 turn Helicoil focused antennas out the front that have an approx view of 60 degrees each (from what i could find in my research), i spaced these so the field of view just slightly overlapped giving me just shy of 180 degrees of view in front of me, I used the last input as a circular polarized antenna to catch when I am close, behind or above the field of view of the forward facing helicoils.
The two diversity receivers then send the signal to the front of the box where the eagle tree eagle eyes picks the best signal from the two diversity receivers and sends it to a 5.8ghz 25 mw repeater that then sends it to my googles, I used a dipole antenna on the repeater so in theory not blind the circular polarized antennas in close vicinity.
For when I am out with friends and don't want to tie up two channels or effect their flying, I built in a switch to turn the repeater off and run a wired connection to the ground station from my googles.
In the design i made a cubby hole which fits two 2200 man 3s batteries wired in parallel to power the whole thing, ( you can run off one or two depending on how long you want to fly)
So far it works really well, I had my TBS Caiprihana out to approx 1.5-2 kms with a solid connection, the only complaint I may have about it is at close range the eagle tree is hopping from channel to channel as all the antennas are getting fairly good signals, I can adjust the sensitivity on the eagle tree to stop this but just haven't had enough time in the air with it yet.
Its a nice small package which fits in your case and can be stored away, it easy to setup and turn on without running a million wires and battery packs.
Heres a link to my video walk thru
I built this as I wanted to go a little further with my micros (rotorx atom, Blade Nano FPV Qx) and also push my other medium planes out a little further while being able to stick with my 5.8 ghz systems I already had, this way when flying close I can switch back to my googles and leave the ground station at home.
I built the frame out of model grade balsa that was easy to cut (most of I cut with a utility knife and a small hand saw) I used my model grade epoxy to glue it together and hot glue to hold it while the epoxy dried. I then hit it with a spray can black enamel to clean it all up.
For parts, I use two Helistar Diversity Receivers in the back attached to four antennas, three are 8 turn Helicoil focused antennas out the front that have an approx view of 60 degrees each (from what i could find in my research), i spaced these so the field of view just slightly overlapped giving me just shy of 180 degrees of view in front of me, I used the last input as a circular polarized antenna to catch when I am close, behind or above the field of view of the forward facing helicoils.
The two diversity receivers then send the signal to the front of the box where the eagle tree eagle eyes picks the best signal from the two diversity receivers and sends it to a 5.8ghz 25 mw repeater that then sends it to my googles, I used a dipole antenna on the repeater so in theory not blind the circular polarized antennas in close vicinity.
For when I am out with friends and don't want to tie up two channels or effect their flying, I built in a switch to turn the repeater off and run a wired connection to the ground station from my googles.
In the design i made a cubby hole which fits two 2200 man 3s batteries wired in parallel to power the whole thing, ( you can run off one or two depending on how long you want to fly)
So far it works really well, I had my TBS Caiprihana out to approx 1.5-2 kms with a solid connection, the only complaint I may have about it is at close range the eagle tree is hopping from channel to channel as all the antennas are getting fairly good signals, I can adjust the sensitivity on the eagle tree to stop this but just haven't had enough time in the air with it yet.
Its a nice small package which fits in your case and can be stored away, it easy to setup and turn on without running a million wires and battery packs.
Heres a link to my video walk thru