Overall I've always been disappointed with the quality of video coming out of my FPV gear.  I did spend a good amount of time already reading about how frequencies works and even experimented with different types of VTXs.  I've tried using LHCP, RHCP, dipole and patch antennas.  Whenever I'm out in the field or park, a bunch of them all seem to perform the same.  I've decided to go out, get some exercise and have a fun little field test with my antennas.  

I'm using a 200mw eachine vtx from BG and a RHCP antenna (I think) zip tied to a bike and hooked up directly to a lipo.  The idea behind this was to go far enough to get out of range or at least further than what I can do flying LOS.   Also, if it wasn't obvious enough there are no other electronics running other than the vtx.



Here are the antennas I'm using.


The results?.. Well, it was a damn cold bike ride!!.

Worst video quality award goes to the patch antenna (maybe it deserves a long range test).  The left hand circular antenna behaved as expected.  It seems as though I had all the right to be confused about the range and video quality form the matching RHCP antenna and the dipole antenna.  Maybe the circular antenna is 5-10% better, not enough to make such a noticeable difference.  In some areas, it almost seems like I was actually getting better transmission with the dipole antenna.  Is this normal?

Have a look for yourself on this video comparing all of them.  I conducted 2 tests, first video loops around a section of the park The map on the bottom corner is just an approximation of where I was travelling.  Of course, I wasn't travelling at the exact same speed on all the laps.  I adjusted the videos to line up when the vtx and vrx are furthest away from each other.  Unfortunately, the patch antenna test was inconclusive since the cold drained away my batteries.

location 1: furthest distance 90 meters 


location 2: furthest distance 100 meters....  it felt way further than that





Now, my question for you guys are... Does a 5.8ghz antenna exist out there that can double my range and quality?  It just seems like a lot of the videos I see on line goes a lot further than 100 meters, what are they doing to get better ranges?  I am in the city after all, maybe that's just how it is.

Great test just so you know the range should be better if the transmitter side is up in the air... when too clsoe to ground you get lot of signal reflection and it will weaken your reception

It's hard to tell from your diagrams, but are you pointing the Aomway towards your bike? Depending on the path you take you may be biking outside of the antenna's "beam".

It's possible the dipole will outperform the others if it is is oriented in the perfect direction. The problem with dipoles isn't that they are crappy antennas, it's that they only work at the correct orientation, so are bad for aircraft that can be at any possible orientation during flight.

Also if your results don't seem to make sense, be aware of Fresnel zones, which you will bike in and out of because your bike is so close to the ground. So sometimes you can get a better signal when you are further away! See Bruce Simpson's vid on this if you haven't:

Finally… Corktown Common looks like a sweet place to fly (I used to live in Ottawa btw)! Any hassles there?