5.8 Patch Antenna Recommendations

Racing Quads, Self-builds & FPV
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Currently I am using 2 TrueRC singularity omni antennas on my goggles but I’m looking to purchase a patch antenna. I know very little about antennas and I know alot of you guys on here are knowledgeable on the subject. I’ve been looking and they vary alot in price and specs.
Wondering what’s the real world difference between one that’s £12, one that’s £24 and one that’s £50-60? Are they really worth 2, 3 or even 5 times the value in performance levels? Any help or recommendation is very welcome. Many thanks

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Suppose it’s the build quality, impedance matching accuracy, centre frequency accuracy, coverage angle etc.
I have a vas crosshair extreme which is very good.
I have heard the vas pepperbox is the best though.
The narrower the angle, generally, the more gain you get, but you need to keep your head in the direction of the quad.

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Great question. One thing i have learned is that some are meant for goggles and others for ground stations. The ground station ones are a little too heavy for goggles - I bought one by mistake and found out the hard way.

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Your truerc antennas are good for 1km I reckon. Patches are for long distance really.
I’ve had problems using cheap antennas in the past. I wont cheap out again.

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What would class as a “cheap” one Karl?

I’ve got some that were abut £15 so I’m guessing i need to pay more?

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Cheers Karl, I figured that would be the case but wondered how that would translate into the real world? Say would a 5 times price increase translate to 5 times better reception? Or would it be a 20-30% improvement?
I definitely don’t want to cheap out on it but also don’t want to pay premium price for a small amount of gain if that makes sense?

I won’t be going more than 1km distance at the moment so maybe the 2 singularity antennas will do me for now? When I was last out I was getting break up at way under 1km, but I’ve ordered a new omni for the quad to replace the crap stock antenna that came with my Quad as per Yours and Deanos recommendation. Waiting for it to arrive so will see what improvement that makes before ordering a patch. I’m just trying to pre-empt at the moment incase I need a patch :+1:t2:

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Great tip thanks Howard. I had not even considered if some were maybe for groundstations. I will keep a look out cheers :+1:t2:

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£5 from bg :laughing:
The vas and truerc are good, but I got some truerc ocp ones as they were cheaper. They were a tenner, but not great, and break easily.

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You shouldn’t need a patch. The dipole on your quad was the problem.
Put the 2 goggle antenna at 90 degrees to each other too so there are no dead spots. The top and bottom are dead spots.
image

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I’ve ordered a TrueRC singularity omni ‘matchstick’ antenna to hopefully remedy this thanks Karl :+1:t2:

I have a stubby that screws straight on the front coming out at zero degrees and the other goes straight up at 90 degrees above my head :+1:t2:

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That’s the perfect setup for freestyle :+1:t2:

Also worth checking that your VTX isn’t locked to 25mw (sometimes it can still display a higher value even when its locked to 25mw, its displays higher but is still at 25mw) I remember you saying you had your ham license so theres no reason for you to be running at 25mw :wink: crank up that power :ok_hand:t2:

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Yes mate I distinctly remember saying this too :wink: :rofl:

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Obviously my vtx is set to 25mW output but if I did change it, its a physical button press on the VTX board so presumably that would change the output to whatever I was going to set it too? Or does Betaflight have some control over this?

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Depends on the setup of your quad and how its wired up. If it has smartaudio setup then you can change your VTX settings using stick commands from your radio. But the button on your VTX will set the power band and channel. But again could be locked. You’ll need to download the user manual for your VTX or google how to unlock “insert make and model of VTX here”

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My VTX is built into my FC. I have the ‘manual’ but it’s more of a 2 page fact sheet than a full manual lol
It doesn’t mention it being locked to 25mW. It tells you how to change the power output, and channel etc using button presses. I’ll have a Google and see what other info I can find :+1:t2:

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What FC/VTX is it? I’ll have a dig around too :+1:t2:

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It’s GEPRC SPAN Pro F405 :+1:t2:
I’ve just had a quick search but can’t find any info on locking/unlocking VTX power

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I’ve just had a bit of a dig around and yeah doesn’t look like it comes locked :+1:t2:

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Bonus! Not that I will be changing it at any point :smirk: lol

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I’m guessing you’ve unlocked / changed the power of the vtx on the Nazgul @DeanoG60 .

Was that done in beta flight or goggles?

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