New to FPV, FPV antennas, and questions

[kdrcguy]

Hey everyone. I am new to FPV here so I thought I might get some useful info from experienced guys if I ask and share some of what I have.

I got into FPV very recently and know some about it but I can't say that I am an expert or even close. I got into this area of the hobby after watching a bunch of videos on youtube and researching the topic after I have gotten the interest in it.

What attracts me the most is the experience of yourself flying your heli (or plane) in first-person and seeing as though you are in the cockpit. However I am yet to actually fly my heli in FPV mode and all I have done so far is getting ready.

Anyways, here is my setup. I didn't buy the heli specifically for FPV but just used what I had, though I can't say it a bad choice.

Blade 450 3D for the platform
5.8GHZ tx/rx (the only choice I had to avoid 2.4 GHZ heli rx interference and GPS interference at 900MHZ and 1.2 and 1.3GHZ)
DX6i
no OSD yet, though going to purchase CE OSD 1.5 soon
Sony Bloggie MHS PM5 for the camera, again used what I already had, though not a bad choice as I can use it as the FPV cam and record at 720p 60 fps at the same time
Gens Ace 2200mah 30c and Turnigy nano tech 2250 mah 65c
will be using my laptop for the screen for now, soon to be getting fatshark goggles
Trex 500 wide landing gear on the heli for easier landings, cf blades, KBDD paddles and tail blades
running tx off of the heli battery to keep weight down, cam has its own battery
flight time with all equipment on is about 5:30

What I would like to know is what I can possibly improve upon, expect from flying FPV, and do to get great shots with my cam for viewing later, so if you have any suggestions and comments please post.

I know landings are the hardest thing and I will have to learn to hover and fly all over again but what worries me a bit is how to keep your heli stable and where you want it as I will not be able to gauge its distance from trees and such that are to the sides which I can't see outside of my cam.

Now, here's the (more) sharing part. While browsing the different sites I found this one rather useful: http://rcexplorer.se/ specifically the antennas part is you are to browse to here: http://rcexplorer.se/page14/CPantennas/CPantennas.html

That looks like a great upgrade to your antenna if you are not using a patch antenna and want better reception with an omnidirectional one. I am yet to test the range and signal quality on mine since I am not planning to fly far so this is on the possible upgrade list. I hope someone finds this useful.

Anyways, again if you have any suggestions, comments, tips, or just something to say please post. Thanks.

[Tomstoy2]

Nothing but good things being said about the sp antenna's! Got them myself for my new build.

Goggles last. Use what you have now, easier to maintain control when all you have to do is lift your head to get line of sight on the heli. Less crashes in the learning curve.

[SiNYKAL]

I don't have a strong personal opinion on it but have read a number of posts that suggest steering away from using complicated equipment such as a camcorder or laptop for video...

Camcorder Pros: High quality video. You already own it.
Camcorder Cons: Complicated, higher chance of failure for whatever reason. Relatively heavy and physically bulky compared to a CCD.

Laptop Pros: You already own it.
Laptop Cons: Higher chance of failure (OS / Software crash, system resource constraints causing your vision to lag out while you're trying to fly from it (eg. AV kicking off a scan or something stupid like that), forgetting to suspend screensaver, yadda yadda yadda). Not ruggedised for outdoor use (granted, I'm using a MBP 17" for recording, but aren't putting my equipment on the line with it)

The beauty about using something like a CCD and FatSharks is in their simplicity and that they're designed to perform one very specific task. You power them up and they either transmit or receive a video signal with very few moving parts or points of failure.

If you're planning on running VTX from the flight battery look at using an LC filter on the power feed to make it resilient to any filth from the ESC.

With regards to antennae - I'm also running 5.8GHz and using THESE antennae from ReadyMadeRC with awesome results.

Good luck with it, make sure you keep the thread updated with your progress