I would like to know that too since I'm interested in putting 1.3ghz FPV gear on future quads. I can definitely not go behind trees with 5.8ghz. I tried but had to turn back after a very short distance.

It works extremely well behind trees. There's a lot of 75 foot tall trees behind my house. I sit in my back yard and fly sometimes and I'll venture out over the tree tops up to a quarter mile away. I'm not sure how many trees are in between me and the quad, but it's a lot. However, there are still no leaves on the trees here in Alaska. That might affect it here in a couple of weeks when the trees leaf out. But I fly around objects all the time. I get some interference sometimes. I worry more about the stupid Wi-Fi than I do about trees. If I go to a park with no Wi-Fi, I happily venture off behind the trees. In my opinion, 1.3GHz is the way to go for a quad.

Anyone know when the next batch of ht-fpvs are due? Ive just broken an arm on my current setup and am grounded. Now seems a good time to upgrade frames.

Originally Posted by KC10Chief

It works extremely well behind trees. There's a lot of 75 foot tall trees behind my house. I sit in my back yard and fly sometimes and I'll venture out over the tree tops up to a quarter mile away. I'm not sure how many trees are in between me and the quad, but it's a lot. However, there are still no leaves on the trees here in Alaska. That might affect it here in a couple of weeks when the trees leaf out. But I fly around objects all the time. I get some interference sometimes. I worry more about the stupid Wi-Fi than I do about trees. If I go to a park with no Wi-Fi, I happily venture off behind the trees. In my opinion, 1.3GHz is the way to go for a quad.

Is wi-fi an issue with 1.3GHz exclusively or does it affect 5.8GHz also? I've been building my FPV setup piecemeal and went with 5.8 for simplicity sake, but if I live in a very populated area and wi-fi is everywhere. If I need to go 1.3 I would rather do that sooner rather than later!

Originally Posted by Jef79m

Anyone know when the next batch of ht-fpvs are due? Ive just broken an arm on my current setup and am grounded. Now seems a good time to upgrade frames.

I would email Tom (sales@hoverthings.com). He should be able to give you a good idea of what his future stock status looks like.

Originally Posted by KC10Chief

I maidened my HT-FPV frame tonight! I really enjoyed putting it together too. Lots of soldering but the power distribution board was well worth the $6 or whatever it was. Made my soldering a whole lot easier. I'm terrible at soldering. Anyways, here's my setup.

HT-FPV frame in black
DJI Naza flight controller
Futaba 7C Tx and Futaba 7 channel Rx
Hoverthings 775kv 4S motors
Turnigy 18A Plush ESCs
2800mah 4S 30C LiPo batteries
Gemfan 9x4.5 carbon filled props

FPV:
FatShark Dominator goggles
1.3GHz system from RMRC
1500mw VTx
Bluebeam antennas

This thing flies great! Very nice and stable. I am having trouble programming the ESCs but will figure that out eventually. While I was flying it, I remembered that I forgot to reprogram the battery cutoff from 3S to 4S! This thing is a blast on 4S. It's about the same weight as my VC-450 was with everything on it. But it climbs much faster. There is a very noticeable difference when using 4S. I'm definitely glad that I went with 4S! It was stable enough that I was able to set the throttle to hover and fiddle around with my iPhone in order to take these photos.

Looks good. How is your GoPro secured...I don't see any straps or rubber bands!!!

Tjanks for the info. Time to hunt down some blubeams for 900 mhz, do they come rated in db or they are what they are, crap eh i guess my linear patches wont be of use but the plan for flyin behind things will be fairly close

Originally Posted by Muddie

Is wi-fi an issue with 1.3GHz exclusively or does it affect 5.8GHz also? I've been building my FPV setup piecemeal and went with 5.8 for simplicity sake, but if I live in a very populated area and wi-fi is everywhere. If I need to go 1.3 I would rather do that sooner rather than later!

It is a slight issue. I get some interference like lines in my picture. But I never lose the picture. I have a 1500mw VTx too! I have read that the high power VTX units can be part of the problem with the Wi-Fi. I'm ordering a 300mw VTx as I've read that it's a lot better for use in urban areas. Still, it's not that big of a problem. If I get up about 50 feet or more, the interference isn't bad at all. It's only when I'm close to houses with Wi-Fi.

5.8GHz isn't as prone to any kind of interference but the range is limited. The penetration through objects like trees and houses isn't good either. I wouldn't use 5.8GHz for my main video feed. However, I WOULD like to get a low power 5.8GHz setup that I can use to take the video feed from my video Rx and transmit the video to my goggles wireless. That's not on the top of my list of upgrades as the wire is only a minor annoyance. I would also have another battery to charge.

But I still believe that 1.3GHz is the way to go for quad copters. 900MHz is prone to interference from cell phones. That stuff has a lot more range than a wireless router and I feel it would be rough in urban areas. For me, I fly my quad copter around my neighborhood most of the time. I live in Alaska, but most people still have Wi-Fi. 900MHz has more range than 1.3, but 1.3 is more than enough for a quad copter. I'd use 900MHz on a plane that I would fly in a rural area.

Originally Posted by Vantasstic

Looks good. How is your GoPro secured...I don't see any straps or rubber bands!!!

In the picture, I was just using a piece of 3M double sided tape. I just wanted it on there for the balance. But I'm going to use some foam underneath the camera and then just secure it with a couple of big rubber bands through the very convenient holes and hooks that are on the frame. When I had my GoPro on my VC-450, I had it attached to a tab with the 3M stuff. Quad coptering is about all I've been using my GoPro for lately. I also bought a layer lens for it

Originally Posted by Muddie

I would email Tom (sales@hoverthings.com). He should be able to give you a good idea of what his future stock status looks like.

I did that 3 wks ago. Never got a response. Have a serious demo next week so I'm going with my 550 with the camera lowered as much as I can.

They (hoverthings) are either extremely busy or having problems. Some kind of response would have been nice.

Originally Posted by larryw461

I did that 3 wks ago. Never got a response. Have a serious demo next week so I'm going with my 550 with the camera lowered as much as I can.

They (hoverthings) are either extremely busy or having problems. Some kind of response would have been nice.

Larry,

I understand. My personal experience is that Tom has always been very prompt when replying to my emails, even when I'm asking a general question. Anything can happen with email to be sure, but my suspicion is that either he never saw your inquiry for whatever reason. I would give it another go to be sure.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by KC10Chief

It is a slight issue. I get some interference like lines in my picture. But I never lose the picture. I have a 1500mw VTx too! I have read that the high power VTX units can be part of the problem with the Wi-Fi. I'm ordering a 300mw VTx as I've read that it's a lot better for use in urban areas. Still, it's not that big of a problem. If I get up about 50 feet or more, the interference isn't bad at all. It's only when I'm close to houses with Wi-Fi.

5.8GHz isn't as prone to any kind of interference but the range is limited. The penetration through objects like trees and houses isn't good either. I wouldn't use 5.8GHz for my main video feed. However, I WOULD like to get a low power 5.8GHz setup that I can use to take the video feed from my video Rx and transmit the video to my goggles wireless. That's not on the top of my list of upgrades as the wire is only a minor annoyance. I would also have another battery to charge.

But I still believe that 1.3GHz is the way to go for quad copters. 900MHz is prone to interference from cell phones. That stuff has a lot more range than a wireless router and I feel it would be rough in urban areas. For me, I fly my quad copter around my neighborhood most of the time. I live in Alaska, but most people still have Wi-Fi. 900MHz has more range than 1.3, but 1.3 is more than enough for a quad copter. I'd use 900MHz on a plane that I would fly in a rural area.

Thanks for the detailed reply KC, much appreciated. I think I'll begin researching the switch to 1.3 based on everything I've read and posts similiar to yours. In the meantime, I'll play with the 5.8 gear to get some experience under my belt.

Originally Posted by larryw461

I did that 3 wks ago. Never got a response. Have a serious demo next week so I'm going with my 550 with the camera lowered as much as I can.

They (hoverthings) are either extremely busy or having problems. Some kind of response would have been nice.

Hi Larry, I looked back and I did indeed miss your email. I am going to send you an email now.

Originally Posted by KC10Chief

I like the bluebeams. I get real good range on it. With a 1500mw VTx, I get lots of range. When I'm flying around my house, I get interference from what I'm guessing is all of the Wi-Fi in my area. If I go out in an area with no Wi-Fi, it's nice and clear up until the point that I lose signal from my 2.4GHz transmitter! I've done that once. I need to order a 300mw VTx for flying around my house. I'm gonna go do that right now!

I haven't found my maximum flight time yet. I'll get to that tomorrow. I flew for about 8 minutes tonight. Then, I remembered that I hadn't programmed my Naza for 4S batteries! So, I landed and will program it tomorrow after work. I don't have any kind of OSD so I'm not sure how fast it's going. My next upgrade is going to be an EzUHF. Also, I'm not crazy about where I have my FPV camera mounted. It seems kind of exposed. It will also stick up too high for my Pelican case. I'll figure out something better for it.

The Pelican case is awesome. I have a couple of small ones. This one is big but it's tough. I can stand on it and I'm 220 pounds. I sure wish I could get them for free! I paid about $219 for it.

Sweet! Going to try and track down a pair for my tracker. With this frame design, the giant 1.3ghz ones actually fit coming off the back with a right angle.

Yeah anything made by pelican is pretty much going to make it past 2012

It'd be my guess you'd be getting around 14 minute flights or so, I'd hope. I get 12:50 now at 1260grams but think 4s should ass not only some power but help with efficiency.

Originally Posted by larryw461

I did that 3 wks ago. Never got a response. Have a serious demo next week so I'm going with my 550 with the camera lowered as much as I can.

They (hoverthings) are either extremely busy or having problems. Some kind of response would have been nice.

3 weeks and you didn't send another email? Might help. Tom's been absolutely swamped with FPV frame orders and even had to order help. Keep in mind this is not his fulltime job so he has a family and a job to deal with as well, not to mention packing, CNC time and cleaning the frames.

Send him a quick email, reply to your original I'm sure he'll get back to ya.

Originally Posted by Muddie

I would email Tom (sales@hoverthings.com). He should be able to give you a good idea of what his future stock status looks like.

Thanks, I probably should have figured that out for myself! Done.