guys just did some test with my Hexakopter , I have a Blackhawk plus mounted on the camera gimbal, since the Hexa is satnav and it can do POI ( point of interest) which ensures the camera always points to the POI ( ground station in our case) We now mount the Mini Blackhawk (12dBi) underneath the camera gimbal , now we have a directional antennathat always points to the base station. This is good new for you guys who video stuff and want a good solid video return at all times. the antennas are available from the developersHorizon FPV Antennas specific for this purpose. Images to follow, By the way using this kit you can expect a 4 Km link !
The same principle can be use on Rc planes with the antenna POSITION ANGLE being controlled by a spare CHANNEL.
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Paul,
I've had this exact idea but never had a chance to test it without smaller 5 GHz gear to use smaller directional antennas on the quad.
Good to hear that it's working, how far have you tested it yet? What about turning the quad and thus requiring the quad based antenna to make a full rotation to re-point?
Sounds great! I had been collecting parts wanting to try the same thing for my fixed wings. Can you share a bit more detail of your set up in in the ground station. I had realized early on that this will work only if you do a simple flight path. Once you maneuver the aircraft in a way that over exceeds the ability of the POI to track then you would loose signal. I had purchased a servo that could turn 3.5 revolutions to counter this but I think that the code in the ground station POI tracking might need to be altered to return the servo to zero once the servo limit had been reached and then turned back to the POI. So please share some more details and some photos.
Geoffrey KB6WSQ