As a PhD in Engineering Technology and RF, I can say I fully and thoroughly enjoyed this video. Love how you used the balloon to illustrate the main RF lobe/pattern and respective gain. Great work.
I don't know how this man gets any thumbs down at all. He reminds me of my university/Academy professor....except professor RC Model is fun. He explains everything as elementary as he could, even my 6 year old daughter can learn from him. She likes him a lot actually.
I greatly appreciate the fact that you included the actual, practical ranges with the antennas. Most reviews or explanations of antennas just go into the theoretical ranges compared to other antennas. not the actual distance that you should expect with it. Thank you so much for that!
Greetings from Annapolis Maryland, U.S. of A. along the shores of The Chesapeake Bay. Been flying fixed wing War Birds for just over 1 yr.. Going FPV with one. Your vids and your channels have been a huge help and a lot of fun to view. Thank you for your time and efforts.
This is a great explanation of antenna gain, propagation, polar patterns, etc. I learned this many years ago when I was a HAM radio dude and took 2 years of electronics. I used to build giant v beams and rhombic antennas. I am now getting into multi-rotor RC and this just came to me very clear. Thanks for jogging my memory on power versus gain of an antenna. You B da man. Jimdog in Minnesota.
What a great video. This kind of changes my battle plan an I'm now to switch from more power to more gain. Used your instructions and built myself two helicals. A patch I allready have. Now to tweak my eagletree setup for success! Can't wait for the diversity controller build!
barry has passed away sorry to hear. bruce you have a new opening now to stand. so will many others but if knowing is important to planning then keeping quiets is anti plannning. great video. welcome back. rip barrry H.
after watching some of your videos I have a better understanding now of what is required to make a usable fpv system...I recently purchased a WiFi fpv (connects to phone) drone and the fpv was unusable even though the drone is brilliant..you've now got me thinking of making some kind of fpv for the drone in the configurations you show.thanks mate!
Excellent illustrations! I'm trying to come to a better understanding of how antennas work, and you've helped a lot. I'm fascinated that a tiny little FPV transmitter that I can hold between two fingers can transmit as far as it can. Thanks!
best explanation and practical analogy i've come by. Been following your videos and an ardent subscriber, you make things that seems "un-understandable" look so cheap to the brain to process. Thumbs up! Much appreciation. Looking up to more vidz.
I would like one of the 4ch diversity controllers but want to build my own. I will wait for the plans but willing to pay a reasonable price for you to produce them earlier than later. Thanks for all you do for the hobby and educating on various topics.
Hi Bruce, I built the FPV back pack by following your build and it works wonderful. I can't seem to find your 4 channel diversity build. I'm really enjoying building my own electronics, I don't know if it is any cheaper building them but I get much more enjoyment and satisfaction out of them, knowing I built them myself. Thanks Jim from Maine, north eastern USA.
Bruce it would be nice if you could upgrade this video to explain the new long range antennas or systems being used now. Guys are going out 20 miles and as high as 10,000 feet. I see what looks like Sat stations being used. Could you explain these systems so we could better understand how they work.
Thanks a million Bruce. It's always a good experience watching your vids. I am falling deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of a hobby. Hello sky life! See you in the sky! Michael STONEWULFF
Very understandable... I love your videos. Thanks to you I have made my own Cloverleaf's 5.8Ghz and are having so much fun flying multis VIA FPV. THANK YOU!!!!
Brilliant explanation of antenna signals! I appreciate this video. Maybe this is a dumb question, but with three directional antennae as you described, you should be able to tell if the signal is stronger to one side or the other and re-orient the antenna accordingly, yes? I remember a video on your XJet channel where a diversity controller had LEDs to show which antenna received the strongest signal.
Nice explanation video,thanks. Looking forward to the video assembly of the diversity vrx. Would be great if the board and components to complete the build could be sold as a kit to be assembled by the user following your videos as a guide. Keep up the great work Bruce,thank you!
I like this idea a lot! It makes perfect sense to switch between antennae. Also; there's this other video on this subject on Vimeo: first hit on a google video search on ---Antennas 101 - Polarization, Diversity & Gain Patterns ---
Great video. Really looking forward to the DIY diversity controller video. I've been waiting patiently since you first teased us with it in that video a few months ago. Also very interested in the DIY 5.8Ghz Rx. I'm hoping we will be able to build a full 4 antenna diversity ground station (antennas, diversity controller, Rx's) for the same cost as a Commercial diversity controller alone. High hopes but if you build every thing yourself I think it's possible. Keep up the great work, thanks
Thanks a lot for this good video. I already knew the antenna stuff - but anyways it was nice to watch and it freshed out some of my fpv knowledge ;-) Nice to see the spain antennas are also used in NZ. They're great, aren't they?
You are correct.. Radar is a radial beam. Also there is a computer between the radar dish and display that build's the Image. Giving the smooth look, other wise it would be very fuzzy when the beam is looking away from the object..
For you video tx in your aircraft you are going to want an omni-directional, like a skew-planar. If you put in a directional antenna, like a helical, you would have to find some way to point the antenna on your aircraft at your receiving antenna on the ground constantly in order to get a clear signal. The military can do this, but can you?
Many thanks, you are simple and clear as in all your videos. If you get the chance and will I would love to hear more about "Fractal antennas" and if they can be used in rc ( for example: to improve video rx gain or mixing frequencies on single antenna )
Bruce,diversity principle is using two or more rx using rssi signal strength to switch either rx for best uninterupted signal and feed, its main purpose is to eliminate dropouts/glitches and always pick the best reception between the two.Do you agree using different antennas with different coverage area, diversity will only be optimized with the area it overlaps, where they both help each other,outside that area, working alone is no longer diversity optimized, but just an antenna switcher.
Hi, good day. Could you please answer the following questions from an FPV Newbee. 1. If high gain Helical antennas have greater distance but narrower width why don't you make a 8 antenna diversity receiver and have each helical antenna at 45 degrees to the one next to it. Then you cover the full 360 degrees at a substantially greater distance? 2. If you use a antenna tracking device for your receiver surely if you had a antenna tracking device on you transmitter you could double the distance?
really nice vid mate. really ineteresting to see the practical applications of antennas and their directivity having not long finished an electromagnetics course in uni. I would have thought a tracking system would be fairly easy to setup using 3 high gain antennas? essentially shift orientation left or right or keep it stationary depending on what antenna is receiving the strongest signal?
Three months to have my fpv aeroplane released by the Portuguese customs .. now two months waiting for a pusher propeller and lipo batteries .. at 70 years old .. I will probably peg it before I get the chance to try FPV.
nice video, and very nice information. you answed many of the questions that i had, thanks allot. are there any good ready 4 channel 5.8ghz diversity systems out there? i'm interested to build a setup like yours, but i prefer to buy the parts. also were did you get that helical antenna, looks very professional
Suggestion: If you have a 4channel diversity controller, upgrade it to also a tracking device, use three directional antennas and one omni. Lign up the directional anennas horisontaly and put them on a 360 servo, use an arduino or simuar to read what reciever has the best signal(rssi) and program it to turn the "turret" so that the middle of the three directional antennas is in sentre, Then the senter antenna is directed to the plane at all times.
@Pelle Wiersma - Some omnidirectional antennas have gain by "squeezing" the radiadtion pattern's vertical plane. Think of their pattern more as a donut than a sphere. They still radiate in all directions in azimuth, but don't radiate as far above or below the horizontal plane. So energy that would be wasted radiating to outer space (or in a sharp angle to the ground) is better used sending the signals in all directions.
FANTASTIC VIDEO AS ALWAYS BRUCE! Hope things are going well for you after the past dust up. Silly question; have you looked at making a signal tracker to apply to this unit? Thanks!
Excellent video Bruce, I loved the explanation. I have wanted to ask you about the 4ch diversity controller, but your video covered me. Any chance you might be building a few of those any time soon?
Your model explanation really made it easy for me to understand the subject matter at hand Sir. What I am wondering is how the Ukrainians are able to keep their drones from getting knocked out of the sky with JAMMERS. Could you be able to make a video explaining that technology for us to learn from on UA-cam ? Thanks 😀😀😀
As a PhD in Engineering Technology and RF, I can say I fully and thoroughly enjoyed this video. Love how you used the balloon to illustrate the main RF lobe/pattern and respective gain. Great work.
+CrazyHeliDude : I totally agree with your second sentence!
CrazyHeliDude don't read my channel name
CrazyHeliDude hi, I was wondering what Antenna gain would have been used by the Apollo missions? Would you have any idea what they would have used?
I don't know how this man gets any thumbs down at all. He reminds me of my university/Academy professor....except professor RC Model is fun. He explains everything as elementary as he could, even my 6 year old daughter can learn from him. She likes him a lot actually.
Even me understand everything :)
One word answer. Haters.
I greatly appreciate the fact that you included the actual, practical ranges with the antennas. Most reviews or explanations of antennas just go into the theoretical ranges compared to other antennas. not the actual distance that you should expect with it. Thank you so much for that!
Man, your explanations are way better and easier to understand than my 1 semester of Applied Emag class. Thank you so much!
Great Video for those of use who are getting into FPV. More information in 12 min than I could have gotten searching on the internet in 2 hrs. Thanks.
I'm a new person trying to learn at FPV and I enjoy watching all your videos
Fantastic explanation for those of us that are new to FPV. Eagerly awaiting the 4 channel diversity controller build!
Having been in Electronic and Rf for 40 yrs I find your teaching/illustration system excellent , well done.
A good teacher can make even the most complex process seem simple and you've done that here. Thank You
Greetings from Annapolis Maryland, U.S. of A. along the shores of The Chesapeake Bay.
Been flying fixed wing War Birds for just over 1 yr..
Going FPV with one.
Your vids and your channels have been a huge help and a lot of fun to view.
Thank you for your time and efforts.
Can't believe this was 9 years ago. You were FPV before there was FPV! Good on ya, Bruce!
This is a great explanation of antenna gain, propagation, polar patterns, etc. I learned this many years ago when I was a HAM radio dude and took 2 years of electronics. I used to build giant v beams and rhombic antennas. I am now getting into multi-rotor RC and this just came to me very clear. Thanks for jogging my memory on power versus gain of an antenna. You B da man.
Jimdog in Minnesota.
Learned a lot from this. Recently I put together a 350QX long FPV setup and it's been wonderful. A helical antenna is truly magical.
What a great video. This kind of changes my battle plan an I'm now to switch from more power to more gain. Used your instructions and built myself two helicals. A patch I allready have. Now to tweak my eagletree setup for success!
Can't wait for the diversity controller build!
barry has passed away sorry to hear. bruce you have a new opening now to stand. so will many others but if knowing is important to planning then keeping quiets is anti plannning. great video. welcome back. rip barrry H.
Best instructional video over a complex subject.
Great video. Fancy teaching at my university. You are much clearer and easier to understand. !
Finally a decent explanation of it all!
And will keep a lot of us fly legal FPV in the UK!
after watching some of your videos I have a better understanding now of what is required to make a usable fpv system...I recently purchased a WiFi fpv (connects to phone) drone and the fpv was unusable even though the drone is brilliant..you've now got me thinking of making some kind of fpv for the drone in the configurations you show.thanks mate!
Excellent illustrations! I'm trying to come to a better understanding of how antennas work, and you've helped a lot. I'm fascinated that a tiny little FPV transmitter that I can hold between two fingers can transmit as far as it can. Thanks!
best explanation and practical analogy i've come by. Been following your videos and an ardent subscriber, you make things that seems "un-understandable" look so cheap to the brain to process. Thumbs up! Much appreciation. Looking up to more vidz.
I would like one of the 4ch diversity controllers but want to build my own. I will wait for the plans but willing to pay a reasonable price for you to produce them earlier than later. Thanks for all you do for the hobby and educating on various topics.
An Excellent instructional video Bruce.
Its nice to have the old Bruce back :)
Excellent and simple explanation, using the balloon is genius.
I'm getting into FPV atm, I'm loving all the FPV vids your doing .
Thanks for them!
You have explained gain very well. Very good analogies. Thanks for the great video.
Thank you very much for such in depth video on different kinds of FPV antennas. It was the unknown universe for me 😩, until your in depth info.
Excellent video, really well explained. The balloon example really worked. Thank you for taking the time and effort to put this out.
Hi Bruce, I built the FPV back pack by following your build and it works wonderful. I can't seem to find your 4 channel diversity build. I'm really enjoying building my own electronics, I don't know if it is any cheaper building them but I get much more enjoyment and satisfaction out of them, knowing I built them myself.
Thanks Jim from Maine, north eastern USA.
Bruce it would be nice if you could upgrade this video to explain the new long range antennas or systems being used now. Guys are going out 20 miles and as high as 10,000 feet. I see what looks like Sat stations being used. Could you explain these systems so we could better understand how they work.
Thank you for the layman's explanation. It was needed.
Thanks a million Bruce. It's always a good experience watching your vids.
I am falling deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of a hobby. Hello sky life!
See you in the sky!
Michael
STONEWULFF
Appreciate you taking the time to explain this in detail. I have a much better understanding of how antennas and gain work. Its much appreciated.
Great vid - so much science simplified in just a few minutes.
Thankyou soooooo much for solving my 80% confusion...ur videos are best to get info
Great information and explained so well that even a guy like me can understand. haha.
I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much for your easy-to-understand explanation!
Another excellent video Bruce, you should have been a science teacher.
Very understandable... I love your videos. Thanks to you I have made my own Cloverleaf's 5.8Ghz and are having so much fun flying multis VIA FPV.
THANK YOU!!!!
Brilliant explanation of antenna signals! I appreciate this video.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but with three directional antennae as you described, you should be able to tell if the signal is stronger to one side or the other and re-orient the antenna accordingly, yes? I remember a video on your XJet channel where a diversity controller had LEDs to show which antenna received the strongest signal.
Thank you great explanation. Maybe diversity controller set up next please. Great job
That Circular Wireless 5 turn works great and is worth the money👍 Very helpful antenna theory thank you.
Nice explanation video,thanks.
Looking forward to the video assembly of the diversity vrx.
Would be great if the board and components to complete the build could be sold as a kit to be assembled by the user following your videos as a guide.
Keep up the great work Bruce,thank you!
I'm such a nerd lol I love it 👍👍 the way you teach visually is how I learn the best. I'm subscribed and I'll be watching more thanks so much.
Nicely explained using good working props.
I like this idea a lot! It makes perfect sense to switch between antennae.
Also; there's this other video on this subject on Vimeo: first hit on a google video search on ---Antennas 101 - Polarization, Diversity & Gain Patterns ---
Very nice video. Tons of info without getting confused. Thank you.
Great video. Really looking forward to the DIY diversity controller video. I've been waiting patiently since you first teased us with it in that video a few months ago. Also very interested in the DIY 5.8Ghz Rx. I'm hoping we will be able to build a full 4 antenna diversity ground station (antennas, diversity controller, Rx's) for the same cost as a Commercial diversity controller alone. High hopes but if you build every thing yourself I think it's possible. Keep up the great work, thanks
Please do that video about the diversity board :D
Thanks a lot for this good video. I already knew the antenna stuff - but anyways it was nice to watch and it freshed out some of my fpv knowledge ;-) Nice to see the spain antennas are also used in NZ. They're great, aren't they?
Great FPV info Bruce Thanks keep going!!!
Like to see your repair on the Tx to.
Thumbs up - excellent video Bruce, I like your teaching style.
Great analysis, and demonstration of how varies antennas work! good video! thank you.
You are correct.. Radar is a radial beam. Also there is a computer between the radar dish and display that build's the Image. Giving the smooth look, other wise it would be very fuzzy when the beam is looking away from the object..
Thanks for the speedy reply Bruce.
Thank you for this clear and practical explanation. Really, the best i've seen!
Great video. My 1.5W FPV system is only giving me about 430 meters. I definitely need an education on antennas!
For you video tx in your aircraft you are going to want an omni-directional, like a skew-planar. If you put in a directional antenna, like a helical, you would have to find some way to point the antenna on your aircraft at your receiving antenna on the ground constantly in order to get a clear signal. The military can do this, but can you?
awesome videos. can't wait for the diy diversity controller video
Thanks for the video Bruce, you are a very good teacher!
Good exampel with the balloon.
Many thanks, you are simple and clear as in all your videos.
If you get the chance and will I would love to hear more about "Fractal antennas" and if they can be used in rc ( for example: to improve video rx gain or mixing frequencies on single antenna )
Bruce,diversity principle is using two or more rx using rssi signal strength to switch either rx for best uninterupted signal and feed, its main purpose is to eliminate dropouts/glitches and always pick the best reception between the two.Do you agree using different antennas with different coverage area, diversity will only be optimized with the area it overlaps, where they both help each other,outside that area, working alone is no longer diversity optimized, but just an antenna switcher.
Fantastic. Now this is what UA-cam is all about!
Thanks Bruce that makes perfect sense, I hope you can get the diversity controller build up soon. Are the backpack modules on the market yet?
Hi, good day. Could you please answer the following questions from an FPV Newbee.
1. If high gain Helical antennas have greater distance but narrower width why don't you make a 8 antenna diversity receiver and have each helical antenna at 45 degrees to the one next to it. Then you cover the full 360 degrees at a substantially greater distance?
2. If you use a antenna tracking device for your receiver surely if you had a antenna tracking device on you transmitter you could double the distance?
Great video Bruce -- glad to see some new stuff from you again! Would you consider being my honorary grandpa?
I liked your video. Nice to be able to visualize the theorey. Yes do please make more.
Excellent Bruce, a perfect explanation, thankyou.
really nice vid mate. really ineteresting to see the practical applications of antennas and their directivity having not long finished an electromagnetics course in uni.
I would have thought a tracking system would be fairly easy to setup using 3 high gain antennas? essentially shift orientation left or right or keep it stationary depending on what antenna is receiving the strongest signal?
Excelent explanation, very clear. Your videos are really instructives, thanks for sharing. Cheers!
Thanks for such an informative video. Look forward to viewing more
Sorry my apologises......you guys are the best.
Three months to have my fpv aeroplane released by the Portuguese customs .. now two months waiting for a pusher propeller and lipo batteries .. at 70 years old .. I will probably peg it before I get the chance to try FPV.
very nice explanation.
But how about the transmitter range. What is the maximum transmitter range. From the old days, I know it's only 1km.
Good explanation, Thanks, what about the range for the rc transmitter, for example a turnigy 9x, is there a cheap way to get longer range out of it?
Thank you for your easy to understand explanation. Well done!!
great video! super informative! thanks for turning on the lights!
Thanks for your explanation but for a newbie: how can I connect the omni and directional antenna's together?
It would be great if you could show how to build a diversity controller, It would be greatly appreciated here in Canada
nice video, and very nice information.
you answed many of the questions that i had, thanks allot.
are there any good ready 4 channel 5.8ghz diversity systems out there?
i'm interested to build a setup like yours, but i prefer to buy the parts.
also were did you get that helical antenna, looks very professional
Love to have a kit, hopefully you;ll make them available
Hi great video. The small LCD you use does it go static when no signal?
You're golden, Bruce! Many thanks!!
Suggestion: If you have a 4channel diversity controller, upgrade it to also a tracking device, use three directional antennas and one omni. Lign up the directional anennas horisontaly and put them on a 360 servo, use an arduino or simuar to read what reciever has the best signal(rssi) and program it to turn the "turret" so that the middle of the three directional antennas is in sentre, Then the senter antenna is directed to the plane at all times.
Can you provide a little more information about the diversity controller?
I liked the idea of the 4 channel. Is it just a signal splitter?
@Pelle Wiersma - Some omnidirectional antennas have gain by "squeezing" the radiadtion pattern's vertical plane. Think of their pattern more as a donut than a sphere. They still radiate in all directions in azimuth, but don't radiate as far above or below the horizontal plane. So energy that would be wasted radiating to outer space (or in a sharp angle to the ground) is better used sending the signals in all directions.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thank you for this explanation!!!
Thank you as that was a great explanation and I have a decent grasp on what I should do. Great job!!
Youre like the obiwan of FPV
Yoda would have been a little insulting...
My condolences Bruce. I have been away for 2 weeks, when did Barry pass away?.
FANTASTIC VIDEO AS ALWAYS BRUCE! Hope things are going well for you after the past dust up. Silly question; have you looked at making a signal tracker to apply to this unit? Thanks!
A very helpful excellent video as usual. Good luck with the flying wings drama mate
Between you and Mr. Bardwell.... We'll never have a question that doesn't have an answer. 😉
7 years later and still referring to your video 👍
Thank you for the excellent info and a great model, back to the drawing board...
Excellent video Bruce, I loved the explanation.
I have wanted to ask you about the 4ch diversity controller, but your video covered me.
Any chance you might be building a few of those any time soon?
Very well explained, ive learnt a lot from your video.
excellent an informative as ever
cheers Bruce
Your model explanation really made it easy for me to understand the subject matter at hand Sir. What I am wondering is how the Ukrainians are able to keep their drones from getting knocked out of the sky with JAMMERS. Could you be able to make a video explaining that technology for us to learn from on UA-cam ? Thanks 😀😀😀