Hi!
I purchased a pair of CloverLeaf Antennas (these: https://store.3drobotics.com/products/clover_antenna) for my fatshark FPV goggle and transmitter.
They state in their store: "Want to get the most out of your FPV setup? Our circularly polarized cloverleaf antenna and skew planar antenna will take your video signal the full distance, ensuring you get top real-time imaging each and every time you fly."
So, I took of the original "vanilla like" fatshark antennas, placed the CloverLeaf ones and ... WEAK reception! My FPV system was good for half or third of the distance, compared with the vanilla fatshark antennas.
The Red Colverleaf antenna was placed in the transmitter, on the Y6. The blue one on my FPV goggles.
I tried them both in upward position, downward, opposite position: Same extremely poor results.
I elevated a TICKET with their support desk. 3DRobotics response was (let me copy and paste, so there is NO misinterpretation):
"I'm afraid the clover antennas are not compatible with the fatshark equipment, they has been tested with our Video Tx/Rx."
What ? those are 5.8 Ghz Antennas, and Fatshark system is also 5.8 Ghz ... And EVENTUALLY, if their Cloverleaf antennas are built with some weird effect that makes them only good for 3DRobotics FPV ... shouldn't they advice about it on their store ?
Their "marketing speech" should start saying "Want to get the most out of OUR FPV setup? instead of "Want to get the most out of YOUR FPV setup?"
Of course, I answered them with my concerns and recommendation about changing their opening text on the product page, but since some time passed, and they are not fixing their product page, I decided to warn the rest of potential buyers about this incompatibility...
Regards,
Enrique
Replies
A point worth noting here, especially when trying CloverLeaf Antennas at the RX end, 'Some' RX's have an active DC voltage feed to the Antenna, ie: recent RX's based on an Airwave modules will probably have this voltage feed, the DC voltage is power for powering an 'Active' LNA (Amp) on their Patch antenna's, this setup gives a much higher gain than the standard dipole, (around 10db), I know I have a bunch of them here. this feed is NO problem for a Dipole, But is a DEAD Short to the RX with either of the Clover leaf types.
If your RX module is of the type with the DC feed?? then the feed line needs to be cut, then the Clover Leaf Antenna should then perform as expected.
How do you check if you have the DC feed? if you have a DVM, (with NO antenna connected) just measure between the Gnd of the SMA and the centre contact pin. If it reads something like 3.3V to 5V? then the feed is present and will need disconnecting, Some RX modules may die, if the Clover leaf is fitted, depending on how the DC is coupled to the antenna's Hot contact? so If worked ok on dipole before, and doesn't now? ........ooops.
Steve
As mentioned in this tread ImmersionRC makes some of the best 5.8GHz antennas.
The ones we make are right-hand circular polarized and we make them in a SMA (The ones with the black cap) and a RP-SMA (the ones with the grey caps) version. Although all ImmersionRC gear uses SMA connectors we make both versions for our antennas so you can always buy one to fit your your Tx or Rx.
There is no difference in performance between left-hand and right-hand polarized but you can not mix them. You have to use the same polarization for your Rx as for you TX.
As to the quality of the antennas, we put domes on ours to protect them from accidental damage not to cover-up badly made antennas. Small deviations can have a substantial impact on the performance of the antennas. That is why we test each one.
I also want to say something about adapters and the well known elbow connectors. Any extra connection will weaken the signal a little. If you can avoid using them please do. We currently make our antennas with bendable stiff wire (in racing go faster red) so you can bend it 90 degrees if needed and do not have to resort to a adapter to do that.
One last point. Make sure the antennas point up or down. Pointing them sideways will result in very poor performance.
I hope this helps.
Thanks Gerard,
I agree, the domes are better than naked antennas, even if the plastic dome does attenuate the signal a little bit. I originally bought some naked antennas, but very quickly the lobes got bent, and I think that will be worse for the signal than the dome could ever be.
Rob,
we make the domes out of airwave transparent material. I agree noting is best but this should not be noticeably different.
I forgot to mention our antenna are both 4 lobes, so there is not a Rx or Tx specific model. You can use them both on either the Tx or Rx. Some sets come with a 3 and a 4 lobe. This is because the 3 lobe is easier (read cheaper) to make but does has a less uniform radiation pattern.
I think the 3DR Cloverleaf's look dodgy in other ways..
Plus look identical to the Chinese ones I bought, the tuning of which was not great..
A quick glance at 'Their' specs reveals much stupidity and BS? even the Gains are written differently?? dBi & dbi?
My comments in [ ] and Bold
Specifications
There are so many web sites popping up selling technical stuff, with little of or no techie savvy to back it up? you can't say all the above are 'Typo's' Most of the critical bits above are nonsense, any n00b going here to buy, based on the spec's is being led down the proverbial garden path, not nice.
Steve
Electronic Engineer CCTV
Steve, Boscam, which is a very popular supplier of FPV equipment does use RP-SMA. So your statement that "most" TX are SMA is just not correct. I'd say RP-SMA is at leats 50% of the market, if not closer to 90%.
The rest of your comments... yeah, you're right.
They don't seem to answer customers questions in a timely matter at all. For example there Facebook page. I have asked several questions on there Facebook page and even a personal private message. THEY WILL NOT RESPOND ! This industry is only going to get more competitive. Someone will provide better customer service and push this company aside if they don't get there act together.
I couldn't believe at first, their answer. It was almost like a scam. They took away my 34 USD for the pair of CloverLeaf Antennas, which are a completely useless piece of plastic and wire.
When I realized the antennas where crap, frankly, I assumed they would AT LEAST give me some credit back, or give me a free shipping FOR MY NEXT PURCHASE ... which I had already in my shopping cart ... the DIY KIT Y6 2013 which I discuss in another post, I need it because my Y6 got it's three legs broken due to a bad landing.
So I waited for them over a weekend in the event that some kind of compensation would arise for the "almost scammy" way of selling the antennas without mention that they won't apparently work with any other system other than theirs.
Over THAT weekend, they took off their store the DIY KIT Y6 2013, and it disappeared from my shopping cart. It was like a kick on the b***s to realize that I also lost the chance to refresh the life of my 2013 Y6 with original parts.
I immediately consulted them about the disappearance of the DIY KIT and all bolts, nuts, separators, extensors, and whatever that comprised the "spare parts" for Y6 and they told me, succinctly, "we took them off the store, they are not for sale anymore".
¡What a frustration! It is almost unbelievable that a company placed in a niché with such an interesting future, also including some bright heads, interesting designs, good (or appropriate) design tools, etc. is consistently missing the mark on the marketing and customer relations side.
For an american company, I cannot believe that they are stopping selling spare parts, kits, etc. It is also like "we don't want to sell things to you". Or worse yet, "Yes you bought this a couple of months ago, but now you got to spend another USD1500 -2000 into the new model" which is just way too much to impose on this market, for this kind of hobby. Either way, on my opinion their behavior is not intelligent.
Enrique, I think Fatshark uses SMA connectors and not RP SMA connectors. I could be wrong but that may be the problem. You can get SMA to RP SMA adapters though.
Regards,
David R. Boulanger
Nice catch David!
I believe you are right, and the Immersion gear is SMA. Unfortunately, Enrique might have damaged his transmitter already, effectively running it without load.
The web store clearly lists them as an RP-SMA. This is a very common issue with FPV equipment, and users must be sure which they have.
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