I guess long story short, where should the Vtx, Rx, and ESC be in relation to each other since they are the big players here? Should any component be wing mounted, or can they co-exist in the fuse?

My gear will be :

Airplane (PZ trojan or 120% polaris, still undecided)
Future Hobbies 900mhz 500mw system-
--KX191 camera
--Vtx
--small 3s vtx dedicated battery, forgot mah...
--Futaba FP-148DF 8 channel RX (72mhz)
motor appropriate to airframe and 40 amp ESC


Just what I gather from looking at photos:
-VTX and camera are often placed near each other. VTX omni is vertically oriented
-ESC is near motor/presumably as far as possible from Vtx and Rx
-RX is placed in between ESC and VTX somewhere, and antenna is run perpendicular to fuse.

So is that it?

I run the (USD $58 shipped) BestOfferBuy unit on 1.28 with stock antennas. I wrote the customer review on the BestOfferBuy item page.

I get good range. I have been out to 1.6km with clear video. My old RC would not go farther than 1.6km, but the BOB FPV video would have.

The stock antennas are both bazooka half wave dipoles. They are end mounted but center fed half wave dipoles. They do not need a ground plane and do better without one.

I run both transmitter and receiver antennas vertical and directly connected to the transmitter and receiver (without coax and with the antenna elbow straight, not bent 90 degrees). You want both antennas vertical for best polarization and range.

All of my electric airplanes run off 3 cell LiPo's and that is a good power source for FPV transmitters (and 12V cameras too). If you are running 3 cell LiPos for motor power then I suggest you use the balance connector for FPV power. That way you can use a single battery for both motor and FPV or experiment with a second small (say 400mah - 500mah) 3 cell LiPo for FPV only and you won't have to change your power connector wiring.

I mount my FPV transmitter in a slot cut in the top of the foam fuselage and forward of the (27mhz to 72mhz) RC receiver (to keep it away from the RC receiver and antenna) and the camera forward of that. The RC receiver antenna goes straight back out the tail of the plane. I think this might help minimize RC interference. If I were to attempt a 2.4ghz RC radio I would make sure that the two RC receiver antennas were in a 90 degree V with one antenna half way between straight left and straight back and the other antenna half way between straight right and straight back. This would give the least interference for the RC receiver.

I took the aluminum heat sink case off the transmitter to save weight. The hot part is up close to the antenna connector (on the tin can case bottom, not the removable tin can case top) so make sure that this part of the transmitter stays out in the cool airstream.

The FPV receiver with antenna is mounted on top a 2.5m PVC pole with antenna pointing straight up. The key is high up and with the antenna vertical.

Cliff

Thanks, I will consider that in my new setup, the Polish whatever plane as soon as I get it to fly. darn Epp is so twisty!