FPV frequencies for dummies

Most people who are starting in FPV have allot of questions. In this article I am going to explain step by step how you can start in FPV.

FPV stands for First Person View.

You can do FPV on helicopters, multirotors, planes and some people even do fpv on cars.

The basics from fpv are:

Camera and video transmitter on your plane and a receiver and screen on the ground.

The transmitter and receiver both need to have the same frequency.

There are 4 frequencies that you can choose. 

o 900 MHz
+ Signal will go easy around and penetrate walls and trees because of the low frequency. 
+ Works with 2.4 GHz RC transmitters
+ DIY antenna's are easy to make because of the low frequency
 but are big
- Used by cellphone companies
- Picture quality not as good as 5.8 GHz (Because of lower frequecy)
- 'Old' technology

Medium range

o 1.2 GHz (1200 MHz)
+ Signal will penetrate walls and trees because of the low frequency

+ DIY antenna's are easy to make because of low frequency but are big
- + Works with 2.4 GHz RC transmitters if you use special filters.
- Stay away from these frequencies:
1227.60 1575.42 MHz GPS
962 - 1213 MHz is used for navigation of airplanes
- Picture quality not as good as 5.8 GHz (Because of lower frequecy)
That's the theory I have tested both 1.2 GHz and 5.8 GHz with the same camera but we could not see any difference!

Medium/long range

o 2.4 GHz (2400 MHz)
+ Used for long range fpv flights
+ Best technology
+ Much antenna's to choose from
- Wont penetrate walls and trees as good as 900 Mhz and 1.2 GHz
- Frequency is crowded. 
- Can't be used with 2.4 GHz RC transmitters

Medium/long range (longer range then 1.2 GHz)

o 5.8 GHz (5800 MHz)
+ Perfect for short range
+ Works with 2.4 GHz RC transmitters
+ Easy to setup
- Shorter range when the air is humid or when flown close to clouds.
-  Frequency is crowded
- DIY antenna's are small but need to be made really precisely for good effect.

Short range/Medium range

900 MHz skewplanar

You see? The higher the frequency the smaller the antenna. Because of the different size in bandwidth.

Note:
Many people say that 5.8 GHz has a better picture quality then 1.2 GHz. Maybe this is true but I tested both 5.8 GHz and 1.2 GHz with the same camera and I did not saw any difference. (So did 5 other people) The real difference is the camera that you use.

IMPORTANT:
Always check wich frequencies are legall in your country. It depends form country to country!!

Sources:

rcexplorer.se
rcgroups.com
fpvforum.nl

own experience/tests

I hope that you enjoyed this article, It took me about 3 hours to write since I am dutch and my english is not really good. 

Greetings Arman, nonamerc

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