After a LONG time away from my workbench / soldering iron,  I decided to jump back in with both feet.  I was rebuilding my Tinyhawk Freakstyle, and adding my long awaited HDZero / Shark Byte upgrade.  This VTX was one of the first SB/HDZ released.  Well as I am dry fitting things, I realized this did NOT come with an antenna.  I decided to use a Rush "cherry" that i pulled from a older rig.  I had read about the U.Fl connectors lifting from the VTX board, but it didnt cross my mind until I decided to reposition  the antenna and felt not the "pop" from the connector releasing, but a "tear"....  I was like "NO WAY ..realy!" yup..  Luckily, it only partially lifted...So I fired up the hot air station, flux, solder, heat..the U.fl connecter "reseated"...checked for ground and continuity, all good.  Back to dry fitting things...this time the UFL came off completely , and   separated leaving parts in my antenna UFl.  I could see non-ground trace looked like it came directly from a adjoining capacitor / component.  I confirmed this with another VTX, so I decided to try and direct solder an antenna.  I decided on a linear one I had lying around..figured what do I have to loose..
  Added a 2s lipo, no smoke, then added a camera and fired up the goggles... got video... havnt  checked signal range / strength yet...  Im thinking of maybe doing a MMCX pigtil directly soldered, RMAs are just a little to much weight for this rig.... maybe if i put it in a larger rig.... but for now the "repair" seems to be good...
  I know the first gen of anything is not the greatest,  I HOPE HDzero has improved the QC of the newer VTXs.
Since I have another one of these VTXs, I may make a U.FL to MMCX pigtail so I wont have to worry about ripping that one off, I can just disconnect the antennas at the MMCX. I know there is some signal loss, but its better than NOT having any signal.

Nice work around Rob! Yeah those u.fl can be a real pain. I've noticed on newer versions of the ws vtx that they now have some UV hardened glue around the edge of the u.fl connector, helping it stay in place. Seems to be a common process, hopefully hdzero took this up with later revisions of their vtxs as well.

I’ve thought about “reinforcing “ the other vtx ufl.. but I believe it’s is more of a board “de-lamination” rather than the ufl letting go… again, I may do a UFL TO MMCX pigtail … and secure it to the board the best I can..

Also, let me see what kind of range I get from this…or maybe a band-aid over a bullet hole..

.. got a couple of these in last night from GetFPV, ufl to Mmcx (female), they are about 10cm. I’m gonna sacrifice one and see if I can remove the female Mmcx (see if I can shorten the length for the other vtx. I will replace the antenna I just soldered with one, add some “welder/e6000” to the solder joint / capacitor area and maybe zip tie the female end to a firm component for antenna install..
.. if this was a 3” or larger build I would have just used a RMA pigtail.. but this is a 2.5” .. figured i would try to save a gram or two.. I’ll post the weight difference also..

.. well, this repair didn’t last long, it failed on the bench shortly after swapping cables..(no video transmitting-but got LEDs )..
I reached out to HDZ CS, inquired about “repairs”.. I got a email within a day or two.. not only with very good instructions regarding returning the vtx for repair.. but also what I should expect.. AND they included a possible “diy repair” with a clear photograph..
And honestly it doesn’t surprise me.. seeing I got the second shipment goggles w/ the loose optics.. they had these picked up, repaired, and back in my hands within a week!!
Not sure how other digital fpv system companies are doing.. but HDZs CS had been ON POINT so far and it goes a long way in my book!