A $1.29 FPV diversity controller (build video)

An FPV diversity controller for RC planes that costs under $1.50?
Yes, and in part two of this project, I show you how to solder it all together, without a printed circuit board -- dead-bug style.
I've tried to make it easy to follow in a step-by-step format so hopefully you'll be able to replicate what I've done here to create your own uber-simple diversity controller.
In the next video I will be adding hysteresis - which is a fancy term for a system that reduces the amount of switching back and forth that happens when the receivers are picking up almost equal amounts of signal.
Stay tuned for part 3!

[@Soldier53flyer]

I think you time is worth a lot to people like me that do not know a lot about electronics. So from a man that like your video's Thank You Bruce, and have a great day. :-)

[@john-paulhopman318]

I like the development aspect of this build.

[@alanpowell328]

Excellent - diversity - it's all coming together!

[@JonLinde]

Bruce, You are not only supporting the sport, you are also encouraging everyone to learn, play and evolve. I love your simple and no-bullshit design approach. Just one "complaint" (not really a complaint, just a request for the future): Could you try to put links to the stores where you get your different gizmos and gadgets? Saves a lot of search time, especially when you find some gold on i.e. ebay

[@fpv1016]

This man is bloody brilliant!!! Think one day you show us how to make a 4-8 channel! Diversity receiver thank you for your intelligence kind sir.

[@fpvrcstuff]

Excellent beginners project ,and very well illustrated !

[@RodCastler]

I'm liking Bruce's videos more and more every time. Looking fwd to the next one!

[@RustyHero]

Great video Bruce! Looking forward to more of these projects!

[@stefanodamaggio6782]

This is the best made tutorial I have ever watched in my whole life. Brilliant Bruce!!

[@MrSneakyGunz]

I love this type of video. Well done.

[@Focht08]

Interesting project for winter time. I simply love todo diy things, thanks a lot!

[@Betruet]

Really great Bruce. Thank you so much for taking the time. :D

[@chrispeachey1]

very interested in this, i watch a fair few of ur vids. i like how you go into so much detail :) keep em coming.

[@guygodbille2104]

Amazing teaching skills, I've learned more about electronics in these vids then I've read in any book. Thanks Bruce, keep up the great work :) Got to build this :)

[@one4stevo]

Great job Bruce. I thought you were going keep us waiting.. Great job

[@Ozflyguy333]

Great video Bruce. Has made me get out my old electronics components and have a go myself. Just had a quick play for the pcb design. Great job.

[@jbx907]

even with hysteresis, it will have those flicker, try RC dampening on those gate inputs instead, it will smoothen the switch transition, the switching is to sharp, we call it noiseless toggle switch in in audio circuits which eliminates pop in audio mixers when a DJ using switched scratching rapidly, anyway the video signal is also analog signals. great video Bruce.

[@xjet]

Yeah, I'm going to look at the slew rate.

[@sbodi4d]

You Da Man Bruce! I am just starting to build my tricopter, and this will come in handy!!! Keep up the good work...

[@mrdoney2001]

Thanks, Bruce! Great project!

[@TeamIcarusRC]

This is REALLY helpful! I'm going to try to build one as soon as I can!

[@rctv-uk3126]

Great job Bruce and thank you for this.

[@ztoon13]

great tutorial Bruce... as usual. Thanks

[@Tryin2FlyII]

Really cool little circuit!! I am self taught in electronics and have tinkered with both the 741,Op amp as well as the 4066 so I have all the parts to build this little gizmo Really liked both videos keep stuff like this coming as its getting into Fall and the weather is changing (winters coming) here in the States and I love to tinker with things like this GREAT JOB!!!

[@cmavr8]

Great video Bruce, keep it up! This controller plus a $26 RC305 and a homemade antenna will upgrade a working system very easily and on the cheap! I also like the "back to the bench" moto :)

[@PyroChimp75]

Wicked build! thanks for sharing!!!!

[@LikeOnATree]

I love your energy! Great video!!

[@ME-zu5kg]

Thanks another great learning circle. Thanks, bring on more.

[@DaveMerc]

First of all I think this is a great project, thanks! In the next video could you please cover how to use a 12vdc supply and also where to find the RSSI on other receivers such as the common Immersion or RMRC ground station units?

[@1cipi]

to pover it just use a regular ubec 5v/1a or even a 7805....

[@DaveMerc]

Dalvaru Ciprian Thanks, now I just need to figure out where the RSSI output is on my 1.3ghz RMRC receiver. Do you know?

[@alcoxy]

Looking forward to building one

[@brentpctoyou1492]

That is such a cool little project and cheap I like BRUCE

[@Blustreek007]

Nice one Bruce. Thanks.

[@STRK3R1234567]

11:12 Bruce, you are an engineering artist! :)

[@zimmy1958]

great stuff Bruce

[@tubezeronine]

Excellent! Thank you for the explanation!

[@kevint2211]

Excellent video,

[@Irich1961]

Brilliant work...!!!!!! Typical.. I just got my Skyzone goggles for head tracking with the diversity receiver but then it accured to me, I cannot use a directional antenna on my goggles and also turn my head for the head tracking without loosing signal.. Back to using a ground station and give your diversity controller a bash.. :o) Many thanks Bruce...

[@dougfenrich4373]

wow, Thanks for going through this for us... Hope to build one next week or 2. Thanks again for sharing your skills. Doug :)

[@2bSurfing]

Your a clever fellow, well done

[@iam12hak]

Great little build. Get ready for the bombardment of how do I find rssi on my receiver. I will add one foxtech 1.3g 800mw :)

[@blackmennewstyle]

Wow! Fantastic!

[@davelongley]

Great job Bruce! I think I prefer perfboard over the dead bug method though. Thanks for yet another great video!

[@mscir]

Great video, thanks.

[@DavidStahlOLDHAPPyMACs]

GOOD JOB BRUCE

[@thespeedymex]

great video thanks for the info

[@BenjiNotknown]

You Sir, are a genius. Hope all is well :)

[@Walt1119]

Great video Bruce!! Thanks for all your time and effort with the projects and videos!! W

[@remyhendrix9817]

You all prolly dont care at all but does someone know of a method to log back into an Instagram account?? I was stupid lost my password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me!

[@kristopherangel2307]

@Remy Hendrix Instablaster ;)

[@remyhendrix9817]

@Kristopher Angel thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and im in the hacking process atm. Seems to take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@remyhendrix9817]

@Kristopher Angel It worked and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy:D Thank you so much you saved my account :D

[@kristopherangel2307]

@Remy Hendrix happy to help :D

[@bemacStudios]

Great video Bruce!!! Hope you guys are all ok over in NZ that cyclone is looking pretty nasty!!! Stay safe mate. From an Aussie friend ;)

[@shaneellasdaicastrestorati3675]

thanks for these vid im a bit behind the 8 ball but im going to make this and others of your designs

[@plowking57]

Fantastic !!!! Thank You !

[@RobB_VK6ES]

Liking the wing it attitude Bruce. Apart from the hysterisis issue I can foresee it may require a voltage divider to to exactly match the RSSI voltages to account for tolerances and possibly even different models or brands of receiver. For those with misgivings about the dead bug construction method, while it may look chaotic and a pain to construct there are actually advantages from a signal integrity point of view over using say strip board and this unit is ground station based so issues with viration etc are minimal. I am sure after making the first it will become clear where it would be possible to improve the layout and wiring. Things like cutting small squares of pc board to form insulated islands on the back plain board or to cut similar islands into the back plain copper. Like Bruce said don't get too hung up on the construction even if you need to make a few up to get wher you are happy with the finished article it's still going to com in under $20.

[@jackheartpersonal2072]

Thanks B !

[@Psi105]

Hot glue is a really cheap & fast way to protect dead-bug PCBs, once they're working good.

[@MrLimitlessME]

wow. :DD nice one Bruce. Thanks.

[@coolt5]

nice job sir

[@cbluebeard]

You inspire me.

[@GeorgeGardinier]

best one yet in 2014, eh, one way to get us all to watch another part, thanks for showing us how to do this, i really hope it does what you say it will, if that is the case you could make a bunch of these for some dough,eh

[@wakeywakey9214]

Love the bug board, any change of a printed board DIY, am going to get the components now and try it... Love your work

[@keyrrjohnmelperino8871]

OMG!!! subscribed.

[@markrowse7359]

Great videos Bruce.....always makes me laugh seeing the "electronic exspurts!" come out of the wood work telling you to do this do the other or you should do this...bleurghh!! If you guys are so good why aint you building something like this huh! Keep up excellent work as usual Bruce.

[@warmfreeze]

Ah! very useful video! I have been wanting to make one of these for a while but the "destructions" ive found on other websites are ridiculous. I followed along and made mine while watching your video and it works PERFECT! thanks once again Bruce! now to fit all this other mess onto my air titan. and just in time for the weekend! WOOO!

[@azzurripro]

hey I made it but I am having problems. refer to the latest comment to Bruce, can you help?

[@muffdriver69]

Cool!

[@ZoeCide]

you can even integrate an audio switcher in this circuit without adding more components... for those who have an antenna tracker based on audio transmission

[@ATXHELI]

I have used a commercially available version of this many years ago that already has hysteresis and works very well no soldering required.. Rangevideo's micro diversity controller...very inexpensive and works super

[@goldenval]

You're Awesome !

[@MyGunfreak]

Hey, I can only find the LM324N 14-pin DIP chips not the LM324 14-pin DIP, does that matter? Thanks JT

[@ciprianwinerElectronicManiac]

Don't worry it's the same thing.

[@Hoverbot1TV]

Anyone want a used Eagle Eyes controller? LOL! kidding. Great job teaching this to the masses! Nice design may even fit in goggles with a bit of planning.

[@OutbackKanga]

You Beauty Bruce :)

[@VOTmusc]

Super interesante!!!! Thanks for your time, like the way you explain...Can you add antenna tracker??...Gracias

[@gilcd85]

Bruce, if my understanding is correct, you may have switched vid1 and vid2 on the CD4066. If RSSI1 goes into pin3 of the LM324 and goes high to pin5 of the CD4066 then vid1 should go into pin4 of the CD4066 and not pin8.. Don't think this would cause the flickering but still.

[@bencornett7821]

I looked everywhere and was surprised I could not find and answer. I had the controller picking the weaker signal. I fixed the problem by switching the two wires on Pin 5 (control B) and Pin 6 (Control C) on the 4066. So Pin 7 on LM324 now goes to pin 5 of the 4066. And Pin 6 on LM324 now goes to Pin 6 on LM324. Hope It saves someone some headaches.

[@AA-gl1dr]

i rather like the birds nest method of electronics. i also like the look of bare copper so. excellent video

[@sebydocky5080]

Good teacher :)

[@rif42]

This got to be most complicated use of a copper circuit board. It has only one connection - GND. It is a surprising use, and I had never thought about that method. However I would suggest a perfboard (perforated prototype board). It costs only a few euros and can make nice solid implementation that can last for years.

[@JLWoelf]

Pro of using the entire copper base as ground: It's a nice shield.

[@jamesceastep8874]

This the coolest project! Do parts 2 and 3 exist yet? Jim

[@b1tw0nder]

one improvement would be to use 2 4066 gates for each video in to out junction. this will decrease resistance between in and out.

[@obese1konobe]

Great stuff, well done. (could the copper plate be reflecting the signal) no problem on the breadboard.

[@michal.gawron]

As those devices have MOS gates on the pins, it would be nice if you told people to be careful not to discharge themselves on those. ;-)

[@daveylc]

FYI HobbyKing does some 42x25mm bread-board PCB that would make a nice base for a really tidy build of this :)

[@GeorgeStephen1959]

So does JayCar Electronics, and dont have to wait a week to get it :-)

[@naw054]

cool

[@titobi25]

I hope you can make a similar project to convert digital rssi to analog signal. for frsky rx.

[@nickvasilev]

Hi Bruce your work for the hobby is PRICELESS, THANK YOU!!! I wander (and I am sure it possible) to make a schematics for 3, 4 and even more receivers connected, to avoid antenna tracking just having multiple directional antennas. can you take few minutes to link schematics for multiple receivers? Regards Nick

[@Tryin2FlyII]

Hi Nick if I understand you correctly it is pretty easy to add two more receivers to this circuit ,I was thinking the same thing lol I was looking at the data sheets for both chips and since this only uses 1/2 of each chip there is room for the same circuit on the other 1/2 giving you 4 receivers total all feeding one monitor but don't take my word on it as I'm self taught & not 100% sure how good it would be-I did build this one and it seems to work pretty good I have yet to fly and test it in the real world (I plan on adding the other 2 Rx to see how that works)

[@timokallenbach9219]

HE SAYS IT!!! AT FUCKING 00:30 HE SAYS IT!!! I'm sitting here for HOURS figuring out why my Controller doesn't work!... The ICs are the wrong way!!! I Bet i'm not the only one who did this :D

[@nabbsone]

LOL dead bug style ya years old and this video is still the bees knees

[@GhettoRanger01]

If you didn't know that little tidbit of info you shouldn't be fucking around with microchips, buy a book and read.

[@ElAMPox]

Go for the LM339 instead of the LM324, check the app notes for the hysteresis, just 2 more resistors. Also the chip is REALLY cheap and fairly common.

[@qumefox]

The LM339 will do the job better, but isn't a drop in replacement. Bruce's circuit would have to be altered somewhat by swapping it.

[@Tryin2FlyII]

Both circuits are working the way they should Finally lol (really simple mistake on my part)

[@gforcefoamy]

nice work this is great! so i need this for my fpv unit but i am running the 5.8g so will this work for me also.

[@mick7sp]

Nice work Bruce. Secondary question to ask one's self. What made it work without excessive switching on the breadboard but not on the buildup? Component placement,signal proximity, breadboard parasitic capacitance perhaps?

[@ROBOFORCERX2000]

Nice one Bruce, I'll give it a go for sure! Here's a question- if it has 2 Vrx's for diversity, would I get away running 2 Vtx's on an aircraft? Lets say if I put one Vtx on my quad with RH clover facing up, and the other LH clover horizontally, or both in a "V" and get 2 matching Vrx's (with the right polarization antennas of course) with each Vtx? Should work? Edit: I just realize that I would have to run 2 cams as well...

[@bunker1213]

Bruce, what rating should I have for the LEDs? Assuming your 330/390 ohm resistors. Nice build video to get the basics and then I can be creative with my own way from there.

[@Glofilter]

Great video Bruce. Thanks. I wonder, is there such a thing as triversity? At the place I usually fly (our club field), I usually fly right to left. We have close to a mile of space each way, and maybe only 100 yards in front of us, so it would be nice to put two high gain antennas pointing left and right and a simple CP for the center.

[@xjet]

That is where the other RCModelReviews diversity controller will come in handy -- it has the capacity to support four receivers.

[@WinstonSmith1984]

Thanks. I hope you add the audio diversity too which can be done on the same chip I think.

[@andrewgoldberg6301]

I added to the basic design so audio switches at the same time as the video. All you need to do is bridge pins 5 to 13 and 6 to12 so that each pair closes at the same time. Then bridge pins 2 to 10 with a connection for audio "out". Then run the wires for audio "in" to pins 1 and 10. Make sure to match audio/video input wires (pins 1 and 4 RX (A) // 8 and 11 RX (B)). I can make a video of this if anyone needs it.

[@andrewgoldberg6301]

Andrew Goldberg Forgot to specify those connections are on the 4066 chip

[@andrewgoldberg6301]

Andrew Goldberg ****Correction*** the Audio "in" pins are 1 and 11

[@skycamvideo]

Where did you get the 2 vrx from. They look tiny. Are they any good. They look like a kit. Have you are video of how to put these in a box with the diversity board?

[@power-max]

Are the video inputs supposed to be the 5.8GHz signals directly from the antenna'so? If so I am surprised that that would work well, but I suspect that you have the video out of separate receivers going into those. I would have designed this using small shielded Reed relay switches with antennas connecter to one end, and the other side of the relays joining together at the input of one receiver. That way you are effectively swapping antennas rather than receivers. Aluminum sheiding should stop radiation losses and interference, but let low freq. magnetic Flux penatrate to close/open the switch.

[@stevelaminack1516]

Great, your videos are so informative. Been waiting for this video. I noticed when looking for the CD4066 there are many variations denoted by letters at the end ..BE, BM, BCM and so on, what do I want? Resistor for the LED's, was that 330 ohm or 330k ohm?

[@NickB2513]

+Steve Laminack I think I may have bought the wrong ones too. Also, I think I may have the wong resistors :-( I've asked Bruce but it seems that he never replies to comments and questions.

[@kennethholland1502]

Could you please do a video on the video output buffering.

[@picturesfromhell]

i am wondering if i can use this for a range extender for example to make a 2nd reciever around the corner of a house by wire. what do you think how far can i go with the 2nd input by wire? around 50-100m would be awesome!

[@tab-rr3gs]

correct me if im wrong, but the Lm 324 is a quad comparator and it seems your using only half, so you could instead use an lm393 which is a dual comparator. (i have lots of lm393's lying around as a result of making lots of line following robots XD)

[@tonyh0905]

Hi Bruce, This is a great project! I have started mocking up the circuit on the bread board and prepping the rx's. I'm going to be using an RC305 and RC832, which I have noticed have slightly different RSSI voltages. The 305 goes between 0.52v - 1.16v and the 832 0.47v - 1.12v. Will this different RSSI input voltages cause the diversity controller to favour just the one RX?

[@tonyh0905]

don't get cocky, just 'cause your rubbing shoulders with the stars :)

[@worthingsteve]

Hi Bruce, thanks for taking the time to do this... I would like to see if it is possible to make one that works the other way around? I think my airwave vtx runs an inversely proportional rssi, so good signal results in low voltage, so for me wiring the system in this way would result in the unit constantly picking the worst signal. Any pointers really appreciated. Thanks steve

[@xjet]

Just swap the RSSI (red) wires over and it'll work with reverse RSSI. So put receiver 1's RSSI wire onto the resistor that currently has receiver 2's and v/v - then it'll work just fine.

[@blueflamingo1]

Is the centre pin of a RCA connector signal and the outer bit ground?

[@davidgaspar1981]

+blueflamingo1 yes...

[@JbVest]

can i substitute the LM324 for a 4558D IC ? i got to looking at it and you only use one side of the 324 and thats pretty much all the 4558D is ?