NEW DJI O3 Range & Penetration | Improve FPV Drone Signal Testing | DIY & TrueRC High Gain Antennas

[@Mr.Laidukas]

I was already missing your videos and waiting for a new one. You edit them in calm, esthetic, pleasing manner. They are like ASMR, I enjoy them even if content is not relevant to me. For example I do not have and do not fly DJI.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Hey man thanks, I appreciate you on-going support! I wish I could produce more videos, but my obsession with details and lack of free time limit my production capacity to like one video a month… which system do you fly the most? I have a few videos in the works.

[@Mr.Laidukas]

@GiantAntCowboy I enjoy flying fixed wing planes line of sight. I also enjoy technology, so I occasionally fly FPV to learn technology and try new systems and setups. Curently, I use Walsnail V1 goggles with different Vtx.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@Mr.Laidukas cool, I haven’t built a fixed wing yet, though I used to fly RC Planes years ago. It’s on my “to do” list! WalkSnail is perfect for fixed wings, can’t believe some of the range tests I’ve seen!

[@FPVVins]

thanks to you I discovered helical antennas, I fly with 2 helical 7 turns and lumenier patch at 7km I have 50.8mbs it's incredible 😮

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Are you using DIY Helicals? 50mbps at 7km is awesome!! Glad to have helped, hoping folks find this video helpful as well.

[@FPVVins]

@@GiantAntCowboy yes diy, 3d printed, i use a 1.5mm2 domestic electrical copper cable and the base is 1mm thick copper plate. I forgot to mention that is with the old dji unit, two hglrc antenna.. it's awesom yes, first time for me that i reach as much km.. i would like to test 10 or 12km the next time, with 6000mah i fly more than 20km flat

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@FPVVins amazing! Yea keep pushing the limits, exciting stuff. Very satisfied with this setup!

[@Lorenzo.Rizzuto]

mw?

[@OzFPVflyer]

Are your helicals LHCP or RHCP and is the connection to goggles RPSMA or sma with adapter?

[@eminyesillie122]

I'm excitedly looking forward for the new video. Thank you for the effort you put into the FPV community.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@eminyesillie122 thanks! I really appreciate the support from everyone and will keep trying to produce quality videos!

[@xjet]

Stag--- geringly good tests. 😀

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Thank you sir, appreciate you tuning in! The STAG & I are just trying to keep these tests fun & interesting.

[@andy_louie83]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to teach us dude. Imma give this setup a go!

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@andy_louie83 thanks for checking out the video. The iFlight crystal just fits so well, and works good enough. Then for add a couple High Gainers on top and boom, incredible performance! These helicals are like $5 or less to make.

[@Wild__FPV]

You totally helped me out, thanks man! The test was awesome - you're the best!

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Thanks bud, appreciate the comment!!

[@colibrifpv]

Awesome test, it was nice to see the differences between these antenna setups... makes me want to go antenna shopping...

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Have you tried making some helical antennas? Really easy and just incredible performance!

[@Magneticitist]

It's odd to see the iflight combo working better than the TrueRC at times as the TrueRC patches are definitely superior.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Yea, “take it with a grain of salt”. There were some variables that may have affected the results. All the antennas I used were Linear or LHCP, but since the X2-Airs are RHCP I had to use a different set of Helicals & Omni antennas which were connected using UFL-SMA connectors. So these variables could have created performance issues, however as mentioned i did have similar glitches in my original HDZero tests years ago. This X2-Air setup did perform the best through the gantlet though. It’s hard to do perfect tests with all these variables. Thanks for watching, appreciate the comment. Cheers!

[@scottyh72]

I have gone 5 miles and 2.5k' up with truerc x2s on bottom and omni's on top. Stock 03 antenna on vtx. 20 mbs setting. Lowest bitrate was around 8.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Yea the stock VTX antenna works great, I just found it loses performance when turn due to its size. Using two tall Omnis isn’t necessary but does offer some performance gains. Appreciate you sharing your experience!

[@jaysonrees738]

The wild thing is that wireless video is still getting better.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Yea, curious what the O4 or the future of other FPV systems will bring. Even after years of doing these tests I’m still amazed by the capabilities of these systems!

[@Arcticfawksie]

@@GiantAntCowboyso far personally not liking the o4 over the o3 could just be since it’s in the Avata 2 but yeah.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@Arcticfawksie interesting, what don’t you like about the O4 system?

[@Arcticfawksie]

@@GiantAntCowboy mainly the goggles and the avata so far. sold it and went to using the o3 just cuz it doesnt feel right.

[@WildpixFPV]

@@Arcticfawksie No hate, just to put some counterweight here: I am amazed by the Goggles 3! Best and lightest fit for me, don't even feel them on my head and face! The picture, range, screensize and over all handling has reached the furthest optimum possible. Will never upgrade again (lol)! The Avata 2 is a good longrange cruiser and an amazing explorer with all its functions! But not suitable for true freestyle at all. Can't wait to slap some 04 Air unit on a built!

[@InfinityDrones]

Awesome video as always! Looking forward to those teasers you mentioned.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Thanks man, appreciate the comment!

[@WildpixFPV]

Thank you so much for the great work, the way you set up the screen is super professional now! I would have preferred some more "usual" upgrade patches only instead of the multiturn-helicals. Did you ever try the Maple Wireless Mjolnir? I have them laying around, waiting way too long to finally build a O3 setup with the Goggles V2 for them.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Thanks, appreciate the comment. I’d love to test more antennas but decent high gain antennas are expensive. This video will only make like $3.50 in ad revenue… so I can’t justify buying antennas just to test. These Helicals only cost like $5 each to make and perform great! Are they’re any antennas you’d like to see me test though? You mentioned the Maple Mjolnir setup, maybe I can reach out to some companies for samples to test. Thanks for watching, cheers!

[@farisnazeri9841]

Hello sir , are u doing new long-range walksnail kit ? i am eager to watch the review from u

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@farisnazeri9841 thanks, appreciate the support. If WalkSnail wants to send me a setup I’ll test it. I’ll reach out to them. However feel free to send them a message too, it always helps when others recommend my channel. I’m certainly interested to see how higher power performs in these tests!

[@LivLazer]

Awesome video, interesting results and incredible performance! Thanks!!

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Thanks, happy to share, cheers!

[@BrandonBeans]

Did I miss the control setup? The one with stock DJI v2 antennas on the goggles all the way around and the stock o3 antenna on the drone... Thats how I do ALL my LR now and I don't need to worry about turning my head to aim for signal. With MIMO we can have gain through beamforming, and when we swap to antennas that don't take advantage of that we have to rely on the antenna gain by itself (no MIMO gain!). When using stock v2 antenna, the best drone antenna I found is the long FlyfishRC o3 antenna.... Also, food for thought: I was just flying tandem with a buddy with patches and true rc stubbies on the goggles and long truerc sma antennas on the o3 in the drone and when he had signal issues a few km out I had perfect video. he lost video and had to ascend, while I was just following him up wondering whats wrong 😂

[@GiantAntCowboy]

You’re basically saying that using Linear antennas allows the system to use multipathing, or bouncing signals to strengthen the signal. While using CP antennas eliminates the ability to use these bouncing signals? I would think this would be more useful in a parking garage or bando situation than in long-range where higher gain directional antennas should perform better. (Though theoretically directional linear antenna would be best). In my tests my high-gain CP antenna setups seemed to perform better. Regarding your buddy’s setup, I wonder if he wasn’t aiming his patches well, or if there was just a general issue with his setup. Eitherway great info, appreciate you watching and sharing feedback! I continue testing and recording results, but let me know you thoughts.

[@BrandonBeans]

@@GiantAntCowboy multi path interference is not a problem with DJI digital transmission, the packets are serialized and it knows time of flight for the packets over the air, so there's no concern of displaying the slightly older and out of phase reflections. Antennas as the engineers designed allows the o3 to use creative phase offsets in the transmission and reception of signal and this forms constructive interference to boost this signal. Aiming antennas really can be a thing of the past!

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@BrandonBeans but you’re saying this only works with stock linear antennas? I didn’t actually test the stock linear antennas too much because I didn’t think performance was so great in initial testing, especially through “the gantlet”.

[@BrandonBeans]

@@GiantAntCowboy I'm saying it is designed to work with the stock antennas, and no guarantees any other way. That's all really.

[@Phoenix.-]

Great Tests! Regarding the long range part, do you prefer the DJI Goggles V2 for your daily flights to the newer models or is it just that they have a better mounting interface for the different antennas to run the tests?

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Thanks man. I have actually tried the Goggles 2 or Integra yet, so I can’t speak to them. The V2 goggles are great because swapping antennas is simple, I can fit glasses under if I’m not wearing contacts, and I got them used for a good price!

[@Phoenix.-]

@@GiantAntCowboy With the Googles 2 & 3 range improves. But have the feeling; the V2s still offer a better immersive experience of them all during flight.

[@WinstonSmith1984]

Interesting. You should try 4 helical antennas: you'll probably get an even better bitrate and lower latency at that range. I use 2 Pergoda triple feed patches on top with the Iflight Crystal plate and get reasonable range, but not as much as you got with the helicals.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Yeah I bet quad helicals would work great. I’ve used that setup on my HDZero and WalkSnail quads in previous videos. For this setup I’d like to use the iFlight Crystal antenna simply because it fits so nicely. Quad helicals are tricky to attach & aim properly and have to be removed after each flight. Thanks for watching, appreciate the suggestion and maybe for testing purposes I’ll make two more LHCP Helicals. Cheers!

[@문경준-p8o]

@@GiantAntCowboyDo you also have a video to make?

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@문경준-p8o sure do, here’s a basic process - kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioSXl4yZiZh3e6c Very easy, been making/using them for years! Cheers!

[@문경준-p8o]

@@GiantAntCowboy Will it also apply to DJI FPV drones by any chance?

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@문경준-p8o yes, and no. The DJI FPV uses both 5.8ghz & 2.4ghz for video and control link. These antennas are designed for 5.8ghz so you’d be reducing the 2.4ghz performance. Additionally the DJI FPV uses linear antennas, and these are circular polarized, so there would be some loss there as well. However if you ran two helicals on top, and kept the stock antennas on the bottom you’d probably see some performance gains.

[@admitmohan]

little confused what is the best VTX antenna for long distance flight on DJI03?

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@admitmohan Honestly I’ve been testing antennas for years and found most decent omni antennas work well on the VTX; ultimately taller is better. On other builds I’ve really liked the iFlight Alabtross antennas because they are tall, tough, and also inexpensive! For this build I’m currently using HGLRC Hammer antennas because they are tall but also they have direct UFL connectors. If you use a UFL to SMA pigtail you could run basically any antennas. But long story short the stock antenna is linear and too short for long-range uses. Using two long antennas Omni antennas gives better results.

[@KainniaK]

There are the most perfect buy advice videos because there is no bullshit, straight to the point. I have one question, with iflight patch and two long pointy antennas and then two iflight albatross omni, is there any signal behind your goggles? I like to sit down when I freestyle and fly 360 degrees around me sometimes in a circel 250 to 500 meters wide. With the stock antennas on my goggles v2 this is somewaht doable but on the goggles 3 and the avata 2 it's fricking amazing. How do I replicate that on my goggles v2? Sure when I fly in front of me I can move my head in the direction of where the quad is but I don't ever want to have to fully turn around. So how do I still get signal behind me with just only patch antennas?

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@KainniaK yea thanks, glad you enjoyed the video/tests. With DJI I haven’t yet tested 360° performance with this Helical antennas/iFlight Crystal setup. However, with my HDzero setup I used four helical antennas and could fly 500m behind myself before having signal issues. DJI has better signal performance than HDzero so I would imagine DJI would also have no problem do a 500m circle with this antenna setup. Let me know what you end up doing and stay tuned, cheers!

[@KainniaK]

@@GiantAntCowboy But Helical antennas all the rf is focussed towards an angle in front of you so how can there be signal behind you?

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@KainniaK Helical antennas are focused in front for sure, and you’ll be able to fly 20x further in front, but the antenna still picks up signals from the sides & back at close range, up to 500m in good conditions. Google: “helical antenna radiation pattern” for images illustrating what I mean. The performance on the sides is often worse than the back actually… I’ve been using helicals for years and really like them. Really cheap & easy to make!

[@Dec1duousTree]

Great video! Thanks for sharing! 🙏

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Thanks bud, appreciate the comment!

[@reedfpv]

the old goggles uses h.264 encoding, while the goggles 2 (new one) uses h.265. you can punish it with very low bitrate still remains very flyable, even with the stock antennas. (I use x-airs tho.)

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Interesting point, thanks for sharing. These retransmission systems (DJI/WalkSnail) make me nervous because they can disconnect when pushed too far. For mountain surfing I’ve always used Analog or HDZero, which have fixed latency/resolution, static feedback, and can’t disconnect (per say). However I’m obviously impressed with the DJI O3 system and will be testing it more in the mountains.

[@awerks12]

Goggles don't encode the video, VTX does. There's a difference in encoding between Vista and O3. Goggles don't matter here/

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@awerks12 thanks for sharing, good point. I’m guessing O3 looks better/ can transmit the extra pixels because the h265 encoding. Is there any disadvantages to using h265? Link stability for example?

[@awerks12]

@@GiantAntCowboy no, the only disadvantage is that more processing power required. Link stability is all the same.

[@reedfpv]

@@awerks12 yea my bad, still h.265 encode

[@saturn_fpv]

How does the vista compare to the O3 when using the same antenna setup?

[@GiantAntCowboy]

At the moment I can’t comment on the Vista performance. I might pick up a Vista at some point for testing though, at which point I’ll post some comparisons. Thanks for watching, cheers!

[@elxero2189]

The hglrc hammers are my worse antennas. I found thay the transmit anytnna frkm the wuad is pretty improtant maybe even more than the receieve. As for the true rc patches without them i have the woorse oerformmance on hdz

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Interesting, I got these HGLRC antennas because the were the longest antenna with a UFL connector I could find. At the moment pretty happy with the performance of this setup.

[@vk2icj]

With the 7 turn helical antennas, are they dual frequency 2.4/5.8? They only look 5.8.

[@GiantAntCowboy]

They are only 5.8ghz, but I don’t use the 2.4ghz for DJI. My RC Link is ELRS Gemini.

[@vk2icj]

@@GiantAntCowboy Thanks mate. Awesome flying. Do you think that sticking to 5.8 restricts your range at all?

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@vk2icj no, because the O3 system only uses 5.8ghz for FPV video. The 2.4ghz signal is for the DJI RC Link. The DJI FPV drone (and maybe Avatas) however can transmit video on 2.4ghz and does have noticeably better performance.

[@Robocopter_fpv]

Check out OTR Helical antennas

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Yea I know ORT and have always wanted a pair, however I’ve been making these helicals for years and they only cost about $5 each. Can’t beat that!

[@Robocopter_fpv]

@@GiantAntCowboy curious if your DIY ones are as good. They definitely don't look too, too hard to make but the OTR have nice laser cut acrylic and the craftsman is very good. The problem for me is finding decent male to female plug ins for the goggles 2.

[@Paulwhittingham]

​@@GiantAntCowboydo you have a tut vid for the helical assembly? I can only get rhcp locally

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@Paulwhittingham here’s a video I made years ago showing how simple it can be to DIY. ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioSXl4yZiZh3e6c ) However if you want more detailed explanation tutorials, search @ModelRCReviews or @FalconRad, both have excellent video with detailed steps. I’ve been making and using these for years, cheap, simple & amazing! Let me know if you have any questions, cheers!

[@GiantAntCowboy]

@@Robocopter_fpv OTR look very professional, and I assume they do some sort of tuning so theoretically they should be better than mine; however mine have always worked very well, I’ve made a dozen over the years, and they only cost about $5 each. FPV shops have adapters for the Goggles 2 that convert them to SMA or RP-SMA which could be a good option. Here’s a simple DIY video I made years ago - kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioSXl4yZiZh3e6c

[@resort4994]

Try connect Alientech antenna to the googles and do some test

[@GiantAntCowboy]

I don’t see any Alientech antennas for the O3 system. Can you provide more info?

[@CarlPaulsen]

Excellent video, as per, but pleeeeeaaaassseee use megaBITS, not megaBYTES when talking about mbps, thanks...

[@GiantAntCowboy]

Thank you sir, and yes good point… megabits it is. Cheers!