heres my queston

i'm building a medium range fpv plane, and i will be doing mostly 1 mile runs with the occasional 4 mile long shot. my question is, if you were me, would you get a lrs or stick with a frsky 2.4ghz system with a long range antenna.

frsky has been used to 44km (there were spots where the auto pilot took over)
my dilemma here is that 2.4ghz is a sketchy signal as you go further out, lots of dead spots. but the up side is that i could get the whole system for around $50

on the other hand, i could just spend $269+shipping and get dragon link and just be done with it. no worries and i would have all the range i would ever want...

either way, i would still be using a fully functional osd with RTH as a fail safe if something goes wrong.

which route would you go if you were going to be flying out and around 1 mile and occasionally going out to 4 miles?

thanks for your input in advance

I voted for UHF LRS but in reality I would say that it depends. In some areas LRS around 430-450MHz don't work well. In these areas 2.4GHz might work a lot better. Just ask Daemon.

Also LRS in 430-450MHz tend to be more sensitive to RFI from voltage regulators etc which is used in most electronics we use such as VTx and cameras.

Price is also an issue, FrSky with patch is A LOT less expensive then even the least expensive UHF LRS.

But why did I vote that LRS is better? Well, for me the overall range without the need for a patch is worth a lot. Also I've found FrSky to be quite unreliable as far as range goes. I've been up to 1.5km with ordinary antennas and un-boosted RCTx but I've also gotten FS as close as a few hundred meters. With a properly setup LRS you should be able to get at least 10km.

And I don't find the limitations I mentioned earlier a problem. The areas in which I fly work very well for my UHF LRS. On-board interference is also not a problem as long as these sources are found before you go flying, but this not a problem if you take care to make proper ground tests.

is there a way to figure out which frequencies are being used in my area? so i could determine which one i want

I think UHF LRS is better for most FPVers. It seems to give a more reliable link on general conditions.

Frsky with 7dBi is almost the same within 2-4km radius, if you only fly on an area limited to 180° in front of you, else you have to change the antenna orientation to stay on the radiation lobe. Of course there is a lot of other factors that could cause one system to perform better than the other on specific locations.

For longer range I choose 2.4Ghz on my systems because:
1- Small antenna sizes. This makes way easier to find a place for them on the plane and they add less drag.
2- I have an autopilot on board so I don't care about the short failsafes caused by wrong aiming of the very directional antennas.

so how about open LRS with the 7w booster for the long runs?

open lrs is a piece of crap and needs a LOT of work.

i have frsky for sale if you want to go that route. it is the v8ht DIY package from hobbyking(needs 12v and ppm out). and the 7ch receiver. $40 shipped. pm me for pictures and stuff

openlrs works properly, but its name is misleading
its not really a "lrs" (it is with the booster)
it also doesnt go as far with the booster as others would, that being said, it has similar range to, say, the frsky, except it uses a lower freq.

but it's open source and you can hack it very, very easily. you can't do that with any other. i wouldn't get it if you don't want to hack stuff on it, but its not that bad really.

or maybe that's to sell your frsky.

Originally Posted by CrashMeUp

openlrs works properly, but its name is misleading
its not really a "lrs" (it is with the booster)
it also doesnt go as far with the booster as others would, that being said, it has similar range to, say, the frsky, except it uses a lower freq.

but it's open source and you can hack it very, very easily. you can't do that with any other. i wouldn't get it if you don't want to hack stuff on it, but its not that bad really.

i have to defend openlrs here even more then you did

using openlrs hardware (same parts, redesigned, doesnt affect range) i recently flew 16.7km with a simple moxon antenna on the tx (5.5db). so you'd get at least 10km with a normal antenna (2-3db). you also have bidirectional data capability.

that's much more then you'd get with stock frsky.

and there's no reason it shouldn't get the same range with 7W the others are getting.


now, on topic.

if you're just starting out, and have no rc-control, get the frsky. it cheaper, well proven and reliable.

if you already have a radio, work on that. every 2.4ghz radio can be modified to accept a patch. futabas for example have u.fl plugs inside (get a u.fl to sma pigtail). on my old hobbyking 2.4ghz V1 module, i soldered a sma plug myself and flew easy 3km with a biquad antenna. then, there are amps/boosters for 2.4ghz... or you could do the windsurfer mod, easy to do, no modding required.

first after reaching the limit of that, get a lrs. without a booster, not needed at all.

openlrs would be great in case it has FHSS
it just use 2 or 3 fixed freq. as far as i know.

honestly i dont know but with just so few components on it looks poor filtered just like simpleOSD, witch didn't success for too many problems like ultra bad accuracy on voltage, always dancing characters, ultra sensitive to any camera noise, easily flashed by some cameras, distorted levels output... and so on, it just can't be trusted like a dragonOSD, rvosd, or ezOSD.

I like the idea behind openLRS as is the single LRS uhf with telemetry, but after test simpleOSD i wouldn't trust it a lot,
it needs more people working on it, a more solid link and JR module option.
Also with just Melihk its not going to grow a lot.

hum ive never had more than 4-5km on stock setup (its decent tho)

there are quite a few ppl hacking on openlrs otherwise, just visit their forum

I can't comment on the Frsky since I haven't used it. But I did move to Dragon Link after I outgrew my 72 mHz range, and I am very happy with that solution.

Originally Posted by wallaguest1

openlrs would be great in case it has FHSS
it just use 2 or 3 fixed freq. as far as i know.

honestly i dont know but with just so few components on it looks poor filtered just like simpleOSD, witch didn't success for too many problems like ultra bad accuracy on voltage, always dancing characters, ultra sensitive to any camera noise, easily flashed by some cameras, distorted levels output... and so on, it just can't be trusted like a dragonOSD, rvosd, or ezOSD.

I like the idea behind openLRS as is the single LRS uhf with telemetry, but after test simpleOSD i wouldn't trust it a lot,
it needs more people working on it, a more solid link and JR module option.
Also with just Melihk its not going to grow a lot.

openlrs has a commercial ready to use radio module (like the others have) which doesnt need any extra filtering outside of it. you just connect the antenna to it. everything else on the board is digital and needs no "filtering" and no further parts. i cant comment on simpleosd, dont have it, but i've done osd in a similar way, and it needs very timing sensitive coding, which can be difficult. as does openlrs for it's servo output (which i've modified).

the hardware (openlrs and simpleosd) is very very capable, but also it needs the right software...