All I've been hearing is how great these antennas are so I picked up a RX/TX set for the standard 70$ & to my sheer horror these things are a complete failure "FOR ME", respectfully I may be doing something wrong, I am using a directional patch 1.3 Ghz in diversity with these cloverleafs.... 3 lobe on the Quad & 4 lobe on one of the receivers, I even unplugged the patch & used my whip antenna & to no avail all I get is distortion after 20 ft, to scary to fly with... I've been doing this for some time now so I don't consider myself a "NOOB", as far as I'm concerned I haven't met anyone who knows everything (especially in the antenna dept) SO PLEASE- unless it makes you feel good about yourself enough of the NOOB remarks- jeesh... ANYWAY, I'm using all "range video" products & have even went as far as getting a new TX just to make sure..... What's going on? This sucks

They arent trash, 99.99% of people using them know how good they are. They are significantly better than the standard antenna.
You need to do some research and work your way through this thread to find out what you could improve instead of just calling something trash https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1441664

Please don't trash on great technology invented by a man just trying to further this hobby. Read more threads like mentioned, and then, after applying the suggestions, you still have problems, use the search feature. I'm 99.999% sure others have had and fixed the problem. Use a process of elimination. Then, if you still can't fix it, post your symptoms and detailed setup.

Everyone is very helpful if you give them a chance.

yeah they really do suck

Originally Posted by Genetics101

All I've been hearing is how great these antennas are so I picked up a RX/TX set for the standard 70$ & to my sheer horror these things are TRASH! respectfully I may be doing something wrong, I am using a directional patch 1.3 Ghz in diversity with these cloverleafs.... 3 lobe on the Quad & 4 lobe on one of the receivers, I even unplugged the patch & used my directional whip antenna & to no avail. I'm using all "range video" products & have even went as far as getting a new TX just to make sure..... What's going on? This sucks

where did you buy them from? Post some pics please.

Also, how did you make a directional whip antenna?

also, what problem are you experiencing? you haven't described what exactly is happening to you. Can you go 50 feet with instant fuzz out? are you getting constant lines/noise? Do you get no reception 5 feet away? do you get good reception high and far?

Linear Polarized to a circular polarized vtx is not the best of ideas. You get dbi loss due to polarization differences. Also no multipath rejection as you would get with two CPA's. Best results are with dual CPA's. Ground station: 6-12 turn helical Plane: cloverleaf, is great combo.

yah ^
And ssquillace posted the answer!

Not a case of bad product just a case of a very newb mistake on your part!

Originally Posted by ssquillace

Linear Polarized to a circular polarized vtx is not the best of ideas. You get dbi loss due to polarization differences. Also no multipath rejection as you would get with two CPA's. Best results are with dual CPA's. Ground station: 6-12 turn helical Plane: cloverleaf, is great combo.

sounds like he has diversity, with a 4 lobe blue beam on one of the Rx, so he should get good circularity.

But the OP has not explained what his problem is. Is he getting fuzzy reception under 500m? Or is he trying to go 3km before losing clear video? What his is reception with only the whip antennas?

Can the OP please post a pic of his plane with the exact locations of all the wiring, flight electronics and video electronics. Also a schematic he for video used would be helpful. I would bet half the tea in China the problem is bad wiring design/layout/filtering.

Using the Bluebeams on 1.3 myself, I have noticed they get hangar rash easily. But I just inspect them regularly and resolder any separated contacts as needed.

Thankyou for your kind response dear sir & I very much appreciate your ability to see through my posting.. I meant no disrespect to the create of these antenna & could of used a better choice of words for those who are so defensive... After all I did clarify in my posting """"RESPECTFULLY"""".... Thais again & good day to you

Originally Posted by Genetics101

Thankyou for your kind response dear sir & I very much appreciate your ability to see through my posting.. I meant no disrespect to the create of these antenna & could of used a better choice of words for those who are so defensive... After all I did clarify in my posting """"RESPECTFULLY"""".... Thais again & good day to you

if you get fuzz after 20 feet, there is likely an antenna disconnection problem. you need to post some pictures.


have these antennas been damaged in any way? where did you buy them?

I got them from hobby wireless out of Canada & I am suspect of a badly produced set of antenna. The dimensions are correct but the bends are sloppy & unequal. I wrote an E-mail to them about quality control & what they could do for me but after a week they won't respond. I can't post pics due to the fact that I use an iPad for all my computer doings & it won't allow pics.

you should be able to upload pics to flicker with its app or something like that. it'll be difficult to help without photos

Sloppy bends won't reduce your range to 20ft. You have some other problem. I've crashed on,
mangled, and bent my various CP antennas (Bluebeam and others) many times, and then bent
em back into rough shape, and I can still regularly fly 2+ miles on 600mW 1.3Ghz with nothing
but a SPW on the Rx and CL on the Tx. Angles being off a little here or there won't cut
your range to nothing.

Check your SMA connectors and make sure your center pin isn't pushed back, and no longer
making contact. Get out a multi-meter and check continuity between center pin of SMA
connector, and the rest of the antenna including ground of the SMA connector. It's a closed loop
antenna, so should have connectivity between every point. Unfortunately, if the
antenna is shorted out between center pin and ground, there's not much you can do to test it,
but it's possible and it would cut your range to nothing. Try replacing each individual
CP antenna in turn with a known working linear antenna and see when your range comes back.

And while yes it is not optimal to mix linear and CP antennas (lose constant 3dB), I do it often
(Vee on one plane and SPW on Rx) and still get out well over a mile without issue. That's not
the issue here.

It's possible you have some issue totally unrelated to the CP antennas themselves. What
range do you get using nothing but linear antennas?

ian