RC India

My attempt of making a 5.8ghz CL antenna. What do you think?

Its made out of stock antenna with 1.2mm enameled copper wire for 5705mhz i.e channel 1.

(http://i.imgur.com/SKvzOd8.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/rJguOak.jpg)

nice.

Great, this is the one we have discussed on phone right?

@SideWinder

Cool! Did you make the arcs with needle-nose pliers or did you press the wire against a circular object?

Very nice, look forward to increased range and clear video reports...  :thumbsup:

Swapnil used a pen to bend the wire, improvise with whatever you have. Soldering is the only tedious part IMO.

And I had made two of those CL and used it, video link was great but crashed the Tri and lost one of the antenna(actually had lost the tri for 3 days in jungle, found it on the 4th day ;D . No more out of sight for now), so made a 4 turn helical antenna. Havent tested it yet, waiting for a new frame to build a quad.

(http://i.imgur.com/hfiWU4r.jpg)

Wow! That's exemplary persistence!

What are the advantages of using a helical antenna over a CL (apart from the construction, that is) ?

Helical antenna is also circular polarized as cloverleaf but its radiation pattern is directive in nature compared to omnidirectional CL antenna. It also has higher gain than CL(1.2dbi) while a 4 turn 5.8ghz helical will give you 9 dbi (if constructed as per exact measurements with right materials) . The more turns you add the longer the range altho it becomes inefficient to go above 12 turns. In short it increases range tremendously and video link is rock solid.

You can read more about both these antennas @ IBcrazy's threads, who is an expert on this topic
CL- http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1388264 (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1388264)
Helical - http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1377791 (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1377791)

And persistence was a direct result of desperation. I would have given up the hobby for a while because of the financial loss and the mental distress experienced while assembling and perfecting the system. Could not pinpoint the cause, soldered joint to the battery was ripped off, but not sure whether it happened before or after crash. And the APM too isnt working after the crash, cant connect to MP. Anyways other than the FC, damage was limited to broken props.

Rains had left me with some time to try new stuff. So I made Virevent & Turbine (http://fpvlab.com/forums/showthread.php?1497-Virevent-amp-Turbine-advanced-CP-antennas-tutorial./) 5.8ghz antennas. I didnt need them because my CL/Helical were enough for me but why not  ;). Turbine is supposed to be the best antenna for receiver due to its mulitipathing rejection capabilities and its radiation pattern. Making these @ 5.8ghz is a tad difficult due to its small dimensions but I managed it barely. I doubt if its tuned properly. Virevent works as good as CL.

Testing these is a headache without an attenuator. Would be grateful if anyone can point me to one if available locally.
A big shout out to IBCrazy and Hugeone who made it possible.

Virevent on the extreme left
(http://i.imgur.com/0L5DWEz.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/cBLZxJm.jpg)