After some very casual and unscientific tests (“you look at my feed and I’ll look at yours”) at the meet yesterday, @notveryprettyboy has a theory that my poor video (see below) is down to my VTXs and in particular the type of connectors they use (MMCX, I think).
So, given that I’m still not ready to go digital (approx. £1k for two quads by my reckoning), what should I be looking at by way of replacement?
(Look out for a “near miss” with @GunjaFPV around the 2’37" mark.)
Wow compared to mine… yeah that’s poor. I know Brendan was complaining your’s dropped out every few seconds.
I will try and get some of my DVR footage online in the next day or two and I know we have the same goggles, but it is a lot clearer… My VTX is the Rush Solo (linked below). Goes up to 1600. But I “MAY” have a wrong antenna on the cobra X… I think it’s left, and all mines are setup for right… Will try out next time in field…
And WOW at our near miss!
Yes, I didn’t have any issues with anyone else’s video in my goggles, even my FS Recons, so it’s clearly at the quad end.
It was probably miles off. 
I had a similar problem a few years ago with a tbs on max power. It was after I changed my antenna. The mmcx tolerances for a good fit are dependant on the antenna. I’ve had an antenna that wouldn’t even plug in once.
Some people secure a loose-ish mmcx by using a 3d printed mount or a cable tie to protect it from vibrations and micro disconnections.
I also swapped a pigtail on an hdzero vtx for a longer one so there was less strain on the cable. The range went from 1 mile to 50-100 mtrs. I blew the vtx.
A different pigtail might help, its pot luck. But securing it is better.
I guess I’ll try that first. I thought I was going to get all spendy and I was looking at what else I could get “to optimise P&P”. 
I note that the Rush Tank is also MMCX. I guess a lot of them are.
Just a few ideas.
Are you running your Skyzone receiver in “Mix” mode?
The changes in colour and saturation is a known issue with with the Steadyview receiver in Mix mode with some camera’s, most notably some of the Caddx cameras. If you switch to diversity mode you’ll notice the colours and saturation remain constant.
The solid black lines are equally spaced, which means they are at a fixed frequency and not just weak signal interference.
This may indicate that some switching noise is making it onto the video feed, either via the camera’s wiring or the VTX wiring.
Yes, currently in Mix. And I believe the camera is a Caddx Ratel. The VTX is the Succex Force 800mW (on 800mW setting). I can try diversity but I suppose I should get a patch for that test case to be optimum. Again, didn’t seem to be an issue when viewing others’ video.
I can have a prod at the rat’s nest and see if I can spot anything (unlikely 
).
I have a spare vtx that is exactly the same (I found it to be pretty good) that you can have.
Pm me your address and I’ll send it over if you want to try that?
Cheers, mate. No rush, I’ve got a few things to be going on with, which will probably last me a few weeks the amount of spare time I seem to have at the moment. I’ll take you up on it the next time we make it to a meet, if I’m still stuck.
Do you pull the cable out the VTX a lot when rebuilding? Read somewhere they’re not designed for doing it lots?
I’ll stick it in my bag.
It’s sat doing nothing and I’d rather see it put to good use.
I’ve actually not done a lot of messing about with this. I’ve replaced a couple of the motors and added a buzzer. I generally keep as much plugged in as possible while I work - worried I’ll forget where it all goes and put it back together wrong! 
Yep. I find Mix mode works very well on my decent cameras and VTX units, but was almost unflyable on some cheaper cam/vtx combos that came bundled with a couple of cheaper quads - switching to Diversity on these solved the issue. The problem with Mix mode I find is that instead of just glitching out for a split second, it’ll go black and white (or complete black) and the image will scroll off to the left and it can take a full second or two before you hear it beep and the image comes back. It’s like once it loses the signal momentarily, it takes a while to then sync up the two new signals and give you your image back.
Other things that have massively improved my analogue video are:
No one wants to play me me 
At least you know you shouldn’t be wiped out by someone powering on mate 
You can see exactly this in my video at 2’39".
I’ll definitely be trying some of those suggestions when I get a minute.
Give a dog a bad name. I’m never going to live that one down am I? 
First off why not just get a cheap low power VTX and see if that helps? Something with uFL rather than MMCX?
I have one of these in my Tadpole HD. It came with SMA pigtail and uFL antenna, so you should be able to try it straight in a quad. 350mW is enough for a small quad for sure.
Put some slack in the antenna pigtail. Have it go in a loop so that if the antenna is pulled then it is not pulled off. I then used a zip tie around the VTX board to hold it down. I’d tried hotmelt glue, but that melted under the heat generated by the VTX.
Hang on… that photo is of an Eachine Nano V3… lol… so very similar… It is the Tadpole HD though.
The Gecko must have the Zeus in it.
Ah yes…
That’s my ELRS RX on top of it in the kapton tape.
This is true mate, its us on the Darkside that wield that power 
