In the previous post I showed how I built this tall antenna and was all excited. Well it didn’t work as planned. Initial testing showed that the receivers I was trying to use from foxtechfpv.com were junk. I have three of them and all of them produced static lines in the video so bad you couldn’t make out what was going on. Connecting the new patch antenna directly to the goggles proved to be much better..

The next day I went to the park to test everything in a much more open area. I learned more. One thing I learned was that even though my booster for my radio is 1w (1000mw) it wasn’t enough to push the signal through 6′ of antenna cable. The radio by itself was also not enough power to push the signal through 6′ of cable to get a strong signal to the booster. So radio range ended up being no different. Serious let down. I thought I had it whooped! (<- Texan thing.. lol) As for the video side I tried the patch directly on the goggles, the extension cable from goggles to the patch and several other combinations only to find that a regular old stick antenna did a better job.. So it was back to the drawing board…

After a few phone calls and a couple hours of research I figured things out a little better. First off new antennas arrived from http://www.readymaderc.com . The new antennas are the immersion rc circular polarized antennas BUT these have a plastic dome over the actual antenna so no more broken lobes on my cloverleafs! See the picture below. So Installed these on the goggles and the truck. As for the radio I mounted everything directly on the radio. I robbed the CCBEC from the wiring harness on the antenna system in the previous post to power the booster. See the pics below.

The end result was almost 1600′ distance. I was very pleased. I could have went farther but I knew there was construction on the trail in front of me and didn’t want to fall in an unsuspecting hole or whatever. So I turned around and came back. The video is below if you want to watch it. It is a bit boring but it is what it is.Last night I also installed a Schwinn cyclometer. It records max speed, average speed, distance traveled, overall distance and time of ride. For $10usd it is a cheap way to get some feedback. I’m also curious how much mileage I put on the Summit, a figure I have never thought about with an RC car.

So basically you don’t need a ton of special equipment to get decent range. I have some other things to test later but for now I am happy. This same system will transfer over to the multi rotors as well and hopefully allow me to fly higher and farther than before.

I discovered fpv long ago but it wasn’t until about a year ago that I really started applying myself to the practice. For me being a near 30 year vet in the hobby it takes something serious to impress me. FPV reinvented the entire hobby. All these cars, helis, planes, multis, etc can now be driven from the cockpit or drivers seat. That is something I dreamed about doing forever. Now its a reality.
Like most things the new wears off after a while and you begin pushing the envelope. The same is true with fpv. I just want to fly/drive farther and farther. So I figured it was time to begin building a long(er) range setup. This is just a first installment. The future holds tons more in the way of long distance fpv’ing but for now this should hold me over.
My radio is a Turnigy 9x modified with a smartie parts pogo board running er9x. I have also installed a frsky dht 2.4g system. Currently it puts out 60mw.. however it is about to put out 1000mw. Should be good for a mile plus on the ground depending on obstructions.
On the video side I’m currently running a 400mw video transmitter at 5.8ghz. That’s basically about a 1/4 mile line of sight with my cp antenna at head level on my goggles. I will be moving the antenna high on a pole with a standalone video reciever. The antenna is a 5.8 patch from http://www.readymaderc.com . Hopefully I can push that video signal to a mile on the ground. We shall see!!

Pictures and descriptions of everything used is listed below. Please click on the picture for an explanation of that particular step. I plan on testing over the weekend. Fingers crossed everything works as planned! If everything does go as planned I will surely clean up the wiring and weatherproof the unit.

Today I started the process of converting the Summit to a full recon rig. I coated the body with Black Plasti-Dip. This stuff dries flat (no glare) and is very durable. If you don’t like it, simply peel it off. So today the bead locks got the treatment as did the body. Next step will be the cantilever / toe / tie rods, wheels and chassis. The idea is to make the truck disappear in the dark. The flat nature of the Plasti-Dip also has almost no glare from IR lights. All the electronics were reinstalled as they were before.

I also received some new batteries to try from Speed Monkey RC in Irving, Tx. The batteries are Reedy Wolfpack 25c 6600mah 2s. With these batteries I can FPV for almost an hour no problem. So thanks to Speed Monkey RC for the good deal. http://www.speedmonkeyrc.com/

Tonight during soccer practice I decided to drive into the stadium and do a lap around the track just for kicks. Watch in HD.

I decided to put the Summit through the woods beside my shop. Nobody really walks thru them as they are full of vines and small trees. Most of the vines have thorns. I decided to drive the Summit into them to see how far I could get. Surprisingly I made it farther than I thought I would. The Summit mows over small trees and vines. I previously wasn’t aware! Below is a quick video of the first of many treks thru the woods. As always watch in HD.

The lens on the Horyzon HD still needs some fine adjustment. So far so good though. Watch in HD 1080p