Help! Do Fatsharks need antennas to see picture?

[CMadman]

Can I attach the LaForge V4 and still see picture through the goggles without any antennas attached?

 

[ElectriSean]

You may get a little reception with the VTx held directly to the Rx, but it won't be usable.

 

[FDS]

Also it’s worth checking which types of antenna work best with your module. Some like two of the same type and others like a patch and a cloverleaf.

 

[CMadman]

See I’m a total novice in this department lol I accidentally bought two male cloverleaf antennas and both modules for the LaForge v4 I got are also both males which I didn’t know because when I bought them it said I’d be given a pair. I guess I shouldn’t have assumed that the pair would be male and female lol silly me and of course it wasn’t til after I bought them I saw a video of someone breaking the antenna fiasco down and said that a male receiver into a male module won’t work. Which blows because I really wanna use my new HDOs lol this is one expensive hobby.

 

[CMadman]

The setups I’ve seen the most people have with the fatsharks seemed to be the patch and the antenna so I figured I’d go with that. I don’t fly with anyone else I’m all by me lonesome so I don’t need anything that performs well with other droners around.

 

[ElectriSean]

For the LaForge you are definitely best to go with an omni and a directional. I personally use a TBS Triumph and a VAS Crosshair. Cheaper options exist, but the nice thing about goggles is they don't crash Goggles are definitely the most expensive part of the equation, especially HDO's.. Quality antennas make a huge difference, so I wouldn't recommend going cheap there.

 

[sprzout]

For the LaForge you are definitely best to go with an omni and a directional. I personally use a TBS Triumph and a VAS Crosshair. Cheaper options exist, but the nice thing about goggles is they don't crash Goggles are definitely the most expensive part of the equation, especially HDO's.. Quality antennas make a huge difference, so I wouldn't recommend going cheap there.

And, in some areas, certain types of antennas work better than others. There’s a guy at my field that flies with a set of Attitude V4s, just like I do. Only difference is that he runs a pagoda style antenna, and I run the mushroom style antenna that came with the Attitudes, and my picture quality is absolutely pristine at the field. But as soon as we go fly at the baseball field across the street from me, his pagoda antenna combo gets better reception.

The only thing we can figure is frequency interference at one location vs another, and the different antennas “tune” better for the area....

 

[FDS]

The reason you are not able to fit your antenna to the goggles is that you have RP SMA ones, most goggles use SMA. I usually put adaptors on my modules so that I am not unscrewing the main threads and connector every time I remove the antennae. SMA connectors have a finite number of joining cycles.
If you get a male SMA to female RPSMA adaptor, one 90 deg and one 45 deg you can then run the RP SMA antennae you have.

 

[slembcke]

Not really. You will have *terrible* reception without an antenna.

Also, while almost always true of video transmitters, I also remember reading in my (non-Fatshark) goggles manual that you shouldn't power the reciever on without an antenna either. Apparently the floating signal can burn out the amplifier? Worth reading up in your manual if it applies to you.

 

[CMadman]

Thank you guys so much for your input I really appreciate All the different perspectives. I’ve got another dumb question. Since I’m using a parrot bebop 2 which uses WiFi and GPS to get acclimated to flying. I knew the goggles wouldn’t work without a 5.8G capable controller so I purchased a lightning adapter to use the hdmi. I hooked it up (still have no antennas mind you) correctly. Opened my application allowed my phone to trust the USB that was activated. And plugged it into the goggles but no picture. Would the no antennas thing still play a part in me not seeing picture despite being hardwired straight to the video feed off my phone application and into the goggles?

 

[ElectriSean]

When using the HDMI in you need to turn off the receiver, there should be a small switch on the bottom of the goggles.

 

[CMadman]

Still blank sadly

 

[CMadman]

Okay so I retried what you did turned everything off and reset it. Some weird things happened. 1st, I got picture. But it was breaking up horribly it never stayed true once. And then I turned it off a few times kept getting the scraggly lines and a faint picture. Then I tried doing it again and I got a QR code come up on the screen in the HDMI input.

 

[ElectriSean]

I'm not familiar at all with the equipment you're using besides the goggles... Does the image display properly on the phone?

 

[CMadman]

lol You and me both pal. And yes it does show up on my phone just fine. Parrot has their own FreeFlight app you can fly the drone via your phone as a controller or the controller they give you. And the controller they give you doesn’t offer 5.8(but their first version does. Go figure) so I wanted to just use my phone for the time being because it’s capable of 5.8 just until I can buy a good controller so I just wanted to try and fly around in an open field to test the goggles out but I didn’t think it would be this difficult lol

 

[FDS]

Cheapest way to test Fatsharks is a whoop with a camera. Eachine 013 is the simplest pre built one, they come with a controller for under $40.
I haven’t messed with the HDMI in on my goggles much, just to check, you switched off the receiver, plugged into the phone feed, set the goggles to HDMI 2D then looked? Do you have to set anything on your phone for it to output the screen?

 

[FDS]

OP is looking to input from phone to goggles, as their drone doesn’t do 5.8.

 

[CMadman]

I shall send screenshots of the in-app configurations. And yes. I set the receiver to zero before even powering on the goggles like the manual states. Ensured that the dock connector registers the hdmi on the phone before plugging the battery into the goggles

 

[CMadman]

At first when it wasn’t working my first thought I was thinking was it wouldn’t matter if both ends aren’t mini hdmi would it? But you plug the hdmi into the adapter plug the short end into your phone and then the other input next to the hdmi into a mobile power bank or the wall and it makes that little sound anytime a usb is connected click trust yadayadayada power my goggles on annnnd she’s blank. 2 times I had it where I could see the input of my phone. But it was constantly breaking up and very faint.

 

[CMadman]

Are you trying to play a saved video from the phone through the u?
The aerial on the goggles must be attached and make sure they are set to show the HDMI input if they have that setting.

No. I’m trying to fly FPV. I’m not sure what you’re talking about when you say “the aerial on the goggles must be attached.”