DIY Helical FPV Antenna, you won't believe how good it is!

For about $4 in parts you can build a helical antenna that provides a huge amount of gain and significantly increases the range of any 5.8GHz FPV system in a drone or RC plane. This DIY video shows you how to do it and I'll be posting more tests of the 5-turn and 3-turn versions shortly.
If you want to see the real-world tests just jump to 00:26:00 in the video.

[@unionse7en]

it's VERY valuable for older people that we can relate to ..to share what happens to us physically as we get older...mental/spiritual/physical/strategic preparations etc!

[@123coolx]

I've seen your videos when I was a kid and now I'm flying because of you!

[@OneOfTheRobs]

Such a nice comment and compliment to make and he doesnt even like it or say sonething back :-(

[@andrewCNC905]

@@OneOfTheRobs maybe there is reasons a creator dosnt read comments

[@wattage2007]

@@OneOfTheRobs That’s Bruce for you.

[@OneOfTheRobs]

@@wattage2007 who is Bruce for me?

[@currdog44]

Bruce good to see you getting back into the tech side of the hobby and showing us how to DIY stuff! Thank you good sir from Southern California

[@WindjumbieFPV]

I made my first one and I am blown away with the results! Thank you so much!

[@MnM_FPV]

Greetings from Italy Bruce, with your help I finally got around to building my own helical antenna and it works quite well! I'll be doing some long range testing over the weekend. Thank you so much for this great video and everything you do for the RC community! Ciao!

[@jeffbluejets2626]

When using epoxy to secure an otherwise (plastic) incompatable material, I find it useful to drill a series of small holes around the circumference, quite close to the base. These are loaded with epoxy and when the epoxy from the base makes contact, all become a "keyed" construction.

[@salg760g5]

recently, I really have gotten more into Antennas in general and I am fascinated by the creativity that adheres to formulas and mathematical rules that antennas have to go by. I have much to learn.

[@Spicks96]

Absolutely fab Sir Bruce. Have missed the DIY vids. Always best to make them yourself. So much more rewarding.

[@dockmanish]

Your DIY videos are by far my favorite of what you do.

[@damienkrohse3374]

Great video, I'm definitely going to try this out. Thanks for putting this video together and I would like to see more DIY stuff.

[@tomrosch8690]

These are my favorite videos of yours. Keep them going!

[@bosshog2328]

bruce, thank you for going back to making good videos again. RC planes, electronics, good and bad buys, and good overall knowledge of the hobby. I subscribed again and enjoy your content.

[@johnchandler4565]

Thanks Bruce for the motivation and inspiration to build a 5-turn helical antenna. I built one, using a 3D printed former, over the weekend and my testing showed that it far exceeded the performance of a commercial 7-turn helical that I already owned. The VSWR ended up being 1.6:1, which is not great for Tx but adequate for an Rx antenna.

[@joshsawka3078]

Great video, Bruce!!! The fact that you didn't over engineer the antenna or sweat blood over exact measurements and still have it work quite well, should encourage those of us that aren't amazing at crafting objects to give it a go anyways....and enjoy the results! Cheers....Jealous Josh in chilly Saskatchewan..enjoy summer my friend!

[@vlfreak]

thanks for keeping the DIY dream alive in this world of "just buy one".. sometimes i want a thingy RIGHT NOW, shipping takes time, so having the skills to actually make your equipment is awesome :) remind me of when i was experimenting with long range 2.4ghz wifi (back in the early days, about 15yrs ago), hand made biquads on scrap copper sheet, baby-food tin can-tennas and house guttering waveguides.. all good homebrew stuff that worked, well before commercially available gear cheers from across the ditch!

[@RavensSpirit2012]

Well said

[@hollywoodjoe67]

Nice job Bruce you truly are an awesome guy I appreciate all you do for our community

[@mikrot-rex747]

Started watching your vids from the diy fpv backpack days. So much has changed since... except the quality of your content. Keep those great vids coming Bruce!!

[@valderja]

Great instructional video Bruce. It's awesome to see such good results by making something that's accesible for everyone to have a go at.

[@TheBoatPirate]

thats an awesome build video. i understand how those antennas work better now. thank you!

[@loc4725]

Another very useful guide. Thanks! Oh, and I want more DIY. ☺

[@dukejet6997]

Man your a legend to this hobby Bruce. Love your work mate. Merry Christmas to you and your better half :)

[@TheDrunkenMug]

Awesome video Bruce ! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :) Best regards and health from Holland

[@austin200877]

So informative please please can we have more. Just love watching your videos.

[@mrph678]

excellent video Bruce! love the building and figuring things out side of the hobby as much as i love to fly. Going to give this one a shot once Crimbo is over! Happy Christmas to eveyone :)

[@maxiemusfpv198]

I am quite amazed and inspired. Thank you Bruce!

[@DaRoach5882]

Nice Bruce! I have been using Farvew's open source files to build my helical antennas for a few years now and have been loving them!

[@vernonlloyd1388]

Thank you Bruce I thoroughly enjoyed that video, i love tinkering I may have a go at one of them myself. im just started in to FPV bought the stuff over a year ago it's just been sat in the drawer 😏 thank you again big salute from South Wales UK 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@Taematoe]

I'm going to 3d print some parts and make a few of these. Winter is a great time to build while waiting for good flying weather. Thanks for the info!

[@wildeone1967]

Great video I've just made some and they work a treat thanks for the great content

[@dbm5540]

I would like to build some of these, Sure wish you would post links to a parts list. I could be sure I order the correct parts. Love the DIY videos. Great job Bruce

[@ChrisBalmforth]

A really good instructional video Bruce.

[@rbmwiv]

This video just made me subscribe. You have some great knowledge. I m a lifetime student. I love learning. Thanks for your quality content. Keep it up 👍.

[@paulmillard1130]

Never hurts to experiment , good idea.

[@stevrgrs]

So awesome. Your videos are great! :)

[@M0rdH0rst]

Nice, that will be one of my next projects. I already have a triple diversity receiver, so this would be a good solution for FPV flying planes.

[@jeremyboyce1537]

Hi bruce ,I am three years late with this video but I like it and it is not that bad at all bruce I think it looks pretty good and it works ,thank you Sir .

[@sUASNews]

Excellent, more like this, please. I need some omni love at 868.2

[@EnglishTurbines]

Lol...another R9M customer, mines awful too if that helps, and Im using a True-Mox on mine.

[@sUASNews]

@@EnglishTurbines Ah almost, I need it for a glider tracker, it's all LoRA though. I think coax and mounting are super important at relatively low powers involved.

[@kermets]

Awesome work Bruce.......Merry Christmas

[@Rosa.Elefant]

Loved it, will build my own soon :)

[@rhaseltiG]

Totally cool, I am going to build a 1686 radisonde receive antenna. Keep it up you are providing data to a radio junkie

[@flightlieutenant6902]

Great video . Thanks mate .Cheers from Australia

[@JonathanPopZAR]

As always , Awaresome Bruce . Gave me an idear what to do on my christmas leave :)

[@allennickles3970]

Very cool and educational video..thanks for sharing 😊

[@LincolnSP150]

Excellent Demonstration, ..... Thank You

[@audiogek]

Thanks! Love to see more diy.

[@miar9230]

Great video Bruce! As allways. ... Nice sidecutters by The way :)

[@RCModelReviews]

:-)

[@jackdaniels7913]

Thank you Bruce your a fpv treasure!

[@k6lsn]

Very nice job on the project and great demo of a helical. Look forward to seeing the effects of more experimentation with length, etc. Making something by hand is so gratifying isn't it? :) ☮️ Wheelchair John in Idaho 😎

[@pnwRC.]

I LOVE this video! This explains a lot why the FPV camera I tried in our clubs rc trucks gave us horrible video!

[@geologmtb]

Thanks for the video, Bruce. Very helpful especially for the simplicity. Just to double click on this a bit, if possible could you share the calculations you did for the distance between the spirals, etc? Thanks again

[@frankogara8774]

Great video learned a lot

[@kris4362]

Bruce ...... inspirational, keep it up mate :-)

[@VRFSC]

Great video Bruce

[@RCwithAdam1]

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!! THANKS BRUCE! Gathering materials now! 👍👍

[@joecaraco7503]

Very interesting, thanks Bruce!

[@iknowlaa]

You know, i really respect you man. Thanks for the tons of info, i never knew its possible to use 2 helical for a diversity goggles, you just gave me an idea!💡now i have a project to attend to.

[@13ahab]

Great stuff keep up the good work

[@WildCaptures]

I’m learning to make a Helical at 2:26am, Woo Hoo 👍🏻

[@maxiemusfpv198]

Steve B lmao im doing this at 1 am and i have end of semester testing in about 7h

[@emanuelmonterroso1667]

2:21 am for me 😉

[@___echo___]

@@maxiemusfpv198 GL lol

[@hipeoplesSr]

@@___echo___ lol 5an here

[@BellyUpFish]

4:04AM here....

[@h2o-fpv623]

Thank u for this video yes I'm planing to make it thank again for teaching us.

[@LA6UOA]

Great! I recognize an OM when I see one! Fantastic job, both the build and the test! 73 de LA6UOA!

[@MrMellamoto]

Yes, yes, yes, more DIY please 👍👍👍

[@vernelfpv]

will try this. thank you

[@MadMarcWinnipeg]

This is freaking great. Thanx man. Marc :)

[@jimo3129]

Thanks again for an educational video

[@kevalinopicks5555]

Thank you, Bruce for another very informative video.

[@demacherius1]

Thanks bruce for the Info. I will now trie to make my own. BTW I love the fact that Nz uses the metric system. I cant underastand this 3/5 17/6 stuff from Imperial 🤣

[@chrisparkin499]

Great video! Who knew it was so easy? Thanks for the information. Please do note vids like this.

[@pinkunwizard]

Good one Bruce. Thanks.

[@fpvdave]

Can't wait to give this a go. Thanks for the tutorial.

[@moyenaak]

Good video 💯❤️

[@ChongMcBong]

cheers Bruce, very informative :)

[@pulesjet]

A good heat gun has been on my bucket list for years and years. Guess I should do something about it . Altering dementions this antenna would be quite handy for WiFi as well.

[@danboarder]

Thanks! I'm making one 👍

[@ganon420]

Great video.

[@thelongranger55]

Perfect , im gunna build myself a big patch antenna and a helical !

[@Gw0wvl]

Nice to see the " Velocity factor " being used 👍

[@AscendElevator]

Thanks for your help

[@locoworks8179]

that's what i use Frsky receiver packaging for too.

[@rogergaard]

I love your diy videos Bruce. It hurts me to see the difficulties you get with shaking hands 😢 I wish i was your neighbor. You could learn me, and i could help you. You are a great guy Bruce !! It still hurts me that i wrote a couple negative comments (backpack / diversity Rx) some years back, Im sorry..hope you can forgive me. Keep you hobby / work and videos going. Marry Christmas / Happy holliday to you Bruce and your family 🎅🏻🎁 From 🇳🇴

[@UAVfutures]

16:30... bruce im shocked but Trev would be proud

[@snaprollinpitts]

Thanks Bruce!!!

[@tramsgar]

Thanks, Bruce!

[@stuungar3390]

You make electronics fun!!!

[@das250250]

Great work

[@jackbryan5851]

This was a great video. I have made one for 868 MHz but need an antenna for the plane. All the designs I have seen for clover leaf and skew planar antennas in 868 are really big. Are there any smaller circularly polarized antennas suitable for aircraft in the 868 frequency?

[@mscir]

Well done, thank you. Is there any chance you'll build a high gain helical for passive digital television reception, 1-2 meters long? Is there any chance you'll add a few turns to it and measure the beam angle to get even more distance? What would happen if you used multiple strands instead of the single strand ? Where is the web site / pdf?

[@garyhoffmann1615]

Thank you Bruce, might try this for a WIFI link too.

[@tonyemory3618]

For sure Bruce those little heat guns though cheap are nice to have, It sure does make your project much more professional when you have the right tools for the job, My Heat gun is a HAKO much more expensive than the standard unit off ebay but i own one of the cheap ones as well that i use in the garage if it gets stuffed oh well ill buy a new one.

[@fishballfpv9063]

From FPV drones now im playing with antenna's - thanks for this! I was thinking of applying clear coating on the back plate that is bare copper since it can and will probably get oxidized.. what you think?

[@juergenstremmler2286]

Build a 12 turns helical with my 3D printer which works very well, but it was relatively difficult to bring in the wire....

[@MyProjectsTV]

I always asked myself, if I could build multiple of these and connect them together to get a better signal, or to point them in sightly different angle to have a wider area to fly.

[@matthewbarger4592]

sorry your dealing with Parkinson's, my best friends dad had it however he still lived a long life. ah new Zealand, hope to visit there some day, looks like paradise on earth. i do mostly dlg and gliders so i think id have a lot of fun there with the diversity of terrain and weather conditions although here in the state of Washington there's always fun places to slope or find some thermal activity..

[@herbieraven7335]

Fantastic!

[@dronesforevercia3469]

MUITO BACANA SEU TESTE COM ESTA ANTENA! BREVE VOU FAZER ALGUMAS COM VÁRIOS TAMANHOS E FAZER UNS TESTES! OBRIGADO PELO SEU TEMPO E SUAS DICAS! ABRAÇO!

[@borimir]

Greate video!

[@Duncanlovett]

Hey Bruce that’s brilliant. Yours tested to a horizontal range of approx 50-60 degrees, but what would the vertical angle be approximately? Could you fly almost overhead with it? Many thanks.

[@TheBer7y]

what a boss , thank you , kind sir !

[@owencroney2089]

Cheers bruce, I'll have fun making this. few Quick questions, what gauge copper wire did you use, Does it matter? And does it matter if the copper wire is enamel coated or should it be bare copper wire? Also, does it matter if the copper wire is solid core or muti stranded....really curious to know if or how these parameters would effect performance if at all. Thanks mate!

[@gadgetfpv]

Great Video... So easy to follow, that is until you started talking about the length of the Coax... Would you be kind enough to give me a simple formula, for say a 5 turn helical... would I use "17mm x 5"... or does the coax length not affect the antenna that much? Many thanks in advance...

[@roberthmielak4774]

Hello,, I subscribed!! I am relatively new to this drone stuff & only have the Hubsan H501s that i love!! i have updated my FPV antennas & under stand all the basics of different antennas from your vidios,,thanks . But nothing iv`e seen talks about 2.4 do`s & don`ts!! BUT i am at a loss as to the 2.4 ghz side & how to improve it,, Everybody just talks about 5.8 FPV!!! my Q? is,,, can i use a dipole DUAL frequency antenna 2.4/5.8 for my radio signal,,,,[not FPV side.]???? OR can i just use any 5.8 ghz clovers ect??? does it matter??? Will it mess up or read the wrong signal frequency w/a dual or just have a better signal between the two??? & what would you recommend for the dbl gain 5,6,or 9db gain?? higher is better yes??,,but a more narrow focus??? Thank you,, Robert