So I have been reading a bunch of tips from people saying that its best to zip tye your vtx antenna to the frame so that when you crash its less likely to break your vtx. This looks pretty simple and straight forward, but my vtx has a 90 degree bend on the sma which I dont think can be removed. So i think its either get some sort of pig tail adapter or figure another means of mounting everything.

Does anyone have any tips for this? Does this manner of mounting the antenna actually help out in crashes?

I am just trying to make it so I dont crash and rip my vtx apart in the first crash i have.

I too would be interested in what else people have come up with for saving the vtx

I don't think it's as much about placement as it is finding a durable antenna. I just strap my vtx under the top plate and use a Bluebeam antenna. They seem to take a lickin' and still keep tickin'
http://www.getfpv.com/fpv/antennas/5-8gh...-whip.html

get a vtx with pigtail, in case of crash the energy will be on cable not on the board of the vtx...
and there is nothing you can't disassemble

if you have a vtx with sma/rpsma socket already you can buy extension pigtail... yes few g more but better for crashes.

this all or you can remove the connector to solder your own pigtail or antenna directly. You can do it in a lot of ways, but this is the most safe for your components IMO. What I like to do is to wrap the TX in tape to avoid metal shavings stuck to components:



You can just cut one side (that with two legs) and desolder the other one. Just be careful not to rip the pads off.

Awesome thanks for the input. I think I'll be picking up a pig tail for now. Anyone have any recommendations on where to buy them? Amazon seems to have a bunch but they all seem to be pretty long.

So I ended up getting a pigtail and moving the vtx up to the front just behind the camera so I could run the antenna out the back. So far I have added the turnigy IA6C receiver that came with my turnigy evolution as it was much smaller than the big ole flysky one, swapped it over to ibus, and done all the configuration and updating in blheli and beta flight.

Do you guys think I will have any problems with the way that everything is set up? The pigtail is sort of routed right over the FC and I have the VTX and receiver ziptied to the top plate.

Heres a side profile pic:
http://imgur.com/8bT68Ul

Thanks for the tips! Now I get to skip the cost of learning this from first hand experience! The guys!