Finding ways to improve the range on my WalkSnail goggles

In my previous video featuring the iFlight Chimera7, the quad was rebuilt and working well, but I was disappointed with the range we got out of it - leaving me with barely any video signal at 1km. In this video, I'll be going through some of the changes I made to improve things.
Thanks to our sponsor for this video www.pcbway.com/ and don't forget to check out their KiKad Open Source design competition here www.pcbway.com/activity/kicad...
One of the biggest jumps in improvement was to simply swap out the stock WalkSnail goggle antenna with some MenaceRC ones (with thanks to Greg from Menance for sending these over). If you want to try them out, you'll find MenanceRC antennas sold on many FPV shops, but this is the link to Menaces website for them menacerc.co.uk/product/dji-an...
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[@MCsCreations]

Awesome flying, Wayne! Pretty nice testing! 😃 Looking forward to the next tests! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@CurryKitten]

Cheers MC

[@rmirov]

Note that any metal near an antenna will change the "antenna pattern". So Even though the battery at times is not between the antenna and receiver, it will reflect some of the transmitted energy towards the receiver. Depending on the distance from the VTX antenna, that power might add or subtract (and with different effects at different angles). Moving the battery to the underside probably gives you more uniform reception regardless of Quad orientation.

[@hirnlegorush]

caddx is sure selling better antennas...i have some cherrys that are caddx branded for their dji vtx´s ! they have 2 sizes at last- 5cm and 10 or so... but the lollipop 4´s i have are way better and larger(~15cm). especially for a 7" longrange rig you should get with the biggest antenna available imho

[@CurryKitten]

Some new antennas coming in from RushFPV to try out

[@ched999uk]

Interesting to see the comparison. It does seem like manufacturers never seem to use decent antennas.

[@CurryKitten]

No so much it seems

[@shannonbaker9922]

You really need to test running patches on the top 2 antenna ports. (unless you've swapped the internal ufl connections around) It's important for range that the tx is optimally talking to the VTX as it's this antenna that asks for packet resend. If too many packets are missed and not resent successfully, the signal quality drops.

[@CurryKitten]

I've mention of this several times - but it doesn't really fit into the way I fly - which is more often all around. Putting directionals on a transmit antenna in that situation would have a more negative impact than an omni

[@cyclops-fpv]

I use thrashers on my vrx and get great signal and picture out to 400 metres at 25mw vtx power,the dipole Antenna seems better than the walksnail stock Antenna on the model so sent off for some Atom RC ones to replace them.

[@CurryKitten]

It does seem that replacing the Walksnail standard antennas with a well known decent make of antenna will enhance things a lot

[@ktkt1825]

In an earlier vid, you reviewed the HappyModel Fyujon ExpressLRS RX + 300mw VTX- very helpful! I'd like to hook up a loud Matek beeper to it (lost a build in the grass recently) with a switch in my Zorro. If there is a way to do this, please help- Thanks in advance!

[@christopherconkright1317]

I use long antennas on the back I use ones that flex

[@CurryKitten]

Long antennas with a UFL connector for Walksnail? I haven't seen these at all. I've got some new antennas to test from RushFPV and while their ufl connecting antenna is large, you'd need a ufl to sma adapter to use a decent sized antenna

[@Caroline_Tyler]

Much improved, heard before that 1200mw was actually worse then 700mw. Seems a shame that the supplied goggle antennas are sub-par, the goggles are not cheap!

[@CurryKitten]

I heard a rumour the 1200mw option was only added because DJI had it! Yeah, when a manufacturer gives you some little omnis and patches you'd think theat they'd been tuned perfectly, and weren't just some generic cheapo things

[@andrejmirt]

If You put both high gain antenna's on your right side(when goggles are on your face) facing the same direction...You will get the best results. Antenna 1 - top right is tx and Rx antenna. All other 3 are Rx only.

[@TakeItToTheGround]

I only bought Walksnail so I could fly HD on whoops. Mixed feelings. I can't fly Walksnail in summer here even inside as the mini VTX's just over heat mid flight. Even at 25 mw. DJI V1 outside with the fabulous vista VTX's and inside with Walksnail. DJI has no issues even at at 110 plus outside in full blistering sunlight. Walksnail mini vtx's overheat inside the house in the shade, where it is maybe 90. Back flying Walksnail now winter is coming.

[@CurryKitten]

That's annoying - I've no worries using the VTX's indoors or outdoors, but "summer" here is usually a week in June when it doesn't rain quite as much as normal

[@TakeItToTheGround]

@@CurryKitten I think I'd find a summer like that far more annoying than overheating Walksnail vtx's.

[@Michelsen3K]

Thanks for your test. That' pretty interesting. A question as a walksnail user: do you recommend focus mode? haven't tested focus mode yet. whats the benefit of it? kinda alert to get back home or just a stable picture in my avatar googles to get back home safely? Thanks for your help subbed! 🙂 btw i changed my stock antennas on my avatar v1 google to TRUERC patch. Only one TrueRC Omni on the upper left side (when wearing the goggles) haven't tested yet, but 1km was fine last time i tried.

[@CurryKitten]

I flew without focus mode to start with - and I had an issue when I go to the edge of range. The latency went to over 100ms and it was a difficult few seconds before it recovered and I could see again. Having focus mode on "Auto" as I do will give you those pixellated images down the side, but the latency will stay much the same. So it's useful for me so I can not just keep control, but get a useful visual indicator if the signal is weakening

[@StewardsNotes]

Watching your videos for a while, sorry I just realized I wasn't subscribed. Love the experimenting. I'd suggest tilting the antennas upwards a bit too so that the antenna points straight up and down while in flight. That way the radiation pattern will be stronger in your direction.

[@CurryKitten]

Thanks - don't worry, around 70%+ of all views are from people who aren't subscribed. Weird really! Having use a single 3.5 turn helical on my old goggles, I'm pretty good at keeping my head in the right direction. Although it's much easier to act like a manual tracker on analog because the feedback is so obvious. It can be quite useful to film yourself and see your normal head position when flying. I see a lot of people with powerful patch antennas staring down at the ground which isn't going to work quite as well :D

[@StewardsNotes]

@@CurryKitten hey yeah, I was more referring to the antennas on the quad. I've noticed a small improvement by making sure the cloverleaf antenna is pointing straight up. At lower power levels it's even more noticeable.

[@blackmennewstyle]

Who on Earth actually thought that calling a FPV company "WalkSnail" was a brilliant idea? 😂

[@CurryKitten]

I feel it might have been some sort of weird translation error... but who can tell :D

[@BlisterEye]

Nice video! What would you think about mounting one antenna on the top of the quad and one on the bottom? I've purchased the Avatar HD Pro and I'm thinking of best ways to have max range for a jack-of-all-trades 5 inch. I found a free 3D print mount in a Y-shape for the dual antennas that goes on top of the quad behind the battery, but what if I were to have one antenna behind the battery and one below the quad?

[@CurryKitten]

That's certainly a way of doing it. In most cases, having an antenna underneath the quad woulf be a good idea as 99% of the time you'll be above yourself and thus a antenna coming out the bottom would get a better signal. The reason most people don't do it is that it's hard to protect the antenna from getting smooshed when you land

[@BlisterEye]

@@CurryKitten Good to know, the 3D printed part should be sturdy enough for my needs! Cheers

[@batmojuice5704]

Great test. Thanks. Maybe I missed it, did you ever swap out the top right transmit antenna port to make it face forward, as a lot are suggesting? I think your findings with the battery are killing my range, and I hadn't thought of that until now.

[@CurryKitten]

No - as the transmit antenna on the goggles isn't doing too much (at least that's my read) basically telling the VTX to resend some bits if we need to correct for errors, but it the received data is as good as it can be, then this should be used less

[@kylecarnahan6688]

What OSD is that? Looks good

[@EnglishTurbines]

I only run at 25mbps...the image in the goggles looks no worse TBH....A longer vtx antenna is the next move although all my quads have original WS vtx antennas. The Goggles have a full set of TrueRC antennas, which makes a huge difference. I run at 200mw, and its plenty...😮😏🇬🇧

[@CurryKitten]

I notice the grass smears more at 25Mpbs, but it might be all in my head :) I've got some replacement VTX antennas coming in to try out nect.