Getting ready to buy FPV goggles and camera. Since I'm planning on flying my quad out of my shop with walls and trees in the way of LOS, since I've got it rigged up to fly from the seat of a helicopter simulator, will a top quality FPV setup accomplish good visual feedback from a couple miles even though I've got wood walls, sheet rock and trees between me and the camera? I guess what I'm asking is, if I spent $500.00 on a camera and receiver, can I expect a good quality picture @ 2 miles away?

With a 5.8ghz system, which is the most popular for FPV, highly unlikely you will achieve that distance. You will probably looking into a 1.3ghz or 900mhz system. But both systems require large antenna which might not work for your purpose.

Consider that it is always good practice when flying FPV to have a spotter to alert you of any dangerous situations you may be unaware of with goggles on, its actually illegal to fly with FPV goggles where I live in South Africa, thankfully use of toy's is unrestricted. Also check legal restrictions on VTX output power and frequency where you live, in England max VTX output power on 5.8gHz is 25mW (which will give you a max 250 meter range if you are lucky,) higher output power requires a licence. 

The other question you have to ask yourself is -
"Do I want hundreds of my hard earned dollars worth of stuff, dangerously high above the ground, where it could cause serious damage, injury or even death while it is completely out of view 2 miles away!?"   

Remember that the hobby is undergoing serious scrutiny at the moment, and more risks, accidents and non-adherence to regulations by pilots could cause more strict regulations to be implemented. As a community it is our duty to attempt to follow safe flying practice at all times.

Sorry Gary, I really don't mean to imply anything, but put yourself on the other side of the situation, would you be happy with someone flying a potentially lethal device round your house when the pilot can't even see said lethal device?

Well said Tom!

Even with 900MHz FPV, sheet rock will seriously attenuate the signal. At higher frequencies, it will completely block the signal. As voodoo614 points out, the lower the frequency, the larger the antennas. 5.8GHz FPV really needs line of sight, but with circular polarisation and decent power, you can get decent range and reception even with the occasional tree.

I see that you live in the USA Gary. For most frequencies, you will need an entry level ham license to legally use them. It would pay you to check what the AMA has to say about FPV. There's a good summary in this document: http://www.modelaircraft.org/files/550.pdf

You'll also find some excellent information about FPV and the implications and requirements of various US laws on this page: http://www.fpvforme.com/fpv-video-frequency/

Excellent feedback. Thanks guys. I too fully understand how we all have to follow the rules and regulations of flight being a helicopter pilot. Any accidents/fowl play/mischief just brings in more regulations by the man. And none of us want that. You all have brought up some very good points I had not considered. Back to the drawing board. I'll plan on flying LOS with a spotter like I'm supposed to. Thanks again for all your words of wisdom. This website is awesome.

(26-Jun-2017, 12:08 PM)gary dahms Wrote: Excellent feedback. Thanks guys. I too fully understand how we all have to follow the rules and regulations of flight being a helicopter pilot. Any accidents/fowl play/mischief just brings in more regulations by the man. And none of us want that. You all have brought up some very good points I had not considered. Back to the drawing board. I'll plan on flying LOS with a spotter like I'm supposed to. Thanks again for all your words of wisdom. This website is awesome.

Maybe you got the wrong end of the stick there.

If you are flying line of sight, you don't need a spotter.
If you are flying FPV, you need a spotter and you can't (obviously) exceed line of sight distances or your spotter won't be able to see where your craft is!

Yep. That's what I meant. It didn't come out right. I do that a lot.