25mW VTX???

[DRKX]

I have just been reading through the ';Minmal FPV guide'; to attempt to answer my question before making a fool of myself with silly ';noob-ish'; posts, but I couldn';t find a definitive answer.
So... Here come the dumb questions.

I heard somewhere that in the UK we are restricted to 25mW VTX';s! Is this true?

I';m attempting to buy a VTX for a, what I had originally hoped, semi long range casual flying, casual photography/video quad but now I am very confused as to what I should be looking for.

Do any of you knowledgeable folk have any suggestions or pointers that minght help?

Thanks guys     

[ched]

You are right max legal in UK is 25mW. In open spaces this is OK but behind trees etc you will loose signal. Standard way to improve things is good antenna like Circular Polarised ones.

I would say a lot of people use 200mW+ tx and don';t worry.

[xxpitt]

25mw us the legal limit. You will hear people saying they';ve been 5km on this power. But you would probably need a very well put together rather expensive ground station to achieve this. Majority of people use 200-600mw. It';s not legal but no one will know unless you do something stupid and crash it into ofcom head quarters

[GdLookinMingeR]

I have just been reading through the ';Minmal FPV guide'; to attempt to answer my question before making a fool of myself with silly ';noob-ish'; posts, but I couldn';t find a definitive answer.
So... Here come the dumb questions.

I heard somewhere that in the UK we are restricted to 25mW VTX';s! Is this true?

I';m attempting to buy a VTX for a, what I had originally hoped, semi long range casual flying, casual photography/video quad but now I am very confused as to what I should be looking for.

Do any of you knowledgeable folk have any suggestions or pointers that minght help?

Thanks guys 

The UK legal restriction is 25mw unless you have a ham license, which in fact is not that difficult or expensive to obtain.

Example 25mw range 
! No longer available

To be honest most of us use 250- 600mw 5.8 in an open area that would not affect other users.
but with the right setup it';s amazing how far you can go.

this is an amazing tx  for the money
http://www.banggood.com/AOMWAY-FPV-5_8Ghz-200mW-32CH-Wireless-AV-Transmitter-Module-p-947147.html?currency=GBP&createTmp=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_content=saul&utm_campaign=rc-quad-uk&gclid=CKDd9OLD_sYCFZHHtAod2KULKQ

Hope this helps
Jay

[DarkButterfly]

The UK legal restriction is 25mw unless you have a ham license, which in fact is not that difficult or expensive to obtain.

Example 25mw range 
! No longer available

To be honest most of us use 250- 600mw 5.8 in an open area that would not affect other users.
but with the right setup it';s amazing how far you can go.

this is an amazing tx  for the money
http://www.banggood.com/AOMWAY-FPV-5_8Ghz-200mW-32CH-Wireless-AV-Transmitter-Module-p-947147.html?currency=GBP&createTmp=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_content=saul&utm_campaign=rc-quad-uk&gclid=CKDd9OLD_sYCFZHHtAod2KULKQ

Hope this helps
Jay

The HAM license for this application is useless anyway as it only covers ground use not airborne transmitters.

[DRKX]

Thanks all.
That video clip looks like an amazing range from a 25mW VTX, by far more than I will be attempting for quite some time (I get palpitations when I can';t feel the wind of the rotors in my hair!) Was there some super-special-ground-station-gizmo involved to enable that range?

I have read glowing reports about that AOMWAY transmitter in the FPV equipment/setup threads before so one of them is defiantly an option. Having said that I';d rather buy something that will suit me even in the long term so if I promise not to crash in to OFCOM (@xxpitt) then does anyone have a recommendation in the, much commented, 250/600nW bracket?

Cheers

[james]

The HAM license for this application is useless anyway as it only covers ground use not airborne transmitters.

Correct. Holding an amateur radio license does not get you a power increase in this band for aerial use.

25mW is the limit in this band. If you want more power, pick another band, and by definition modulation & coding scheme...

[davethepitch]

I have a full Ham licence and I will have a look to see if i can find a band plan but i doubt having a licence will allow the use of more power.

[Ynot6]

25 milliwatt for ANY mobile application. even ground based FPV is 25 milliwatt.

[GdLookinMingeR]

The HAM license for this application is useless anyway as it only covers ground use not airborne transmitters.

Ah see even I learn something new everyday :-) Thanks DB
I stand corrected and informed. .

[dirtyharry]

200mw is more than enough with decent antennas , i';d get the aomway one as most of the ones above this power either get very hot/are stupidly expensive or dont give any more range.

to get twice the range you need 4 x the power , more power = more chance of interfering with your other gear on board + other people

A good pair of  cloverleafs/ cp antennas will easily double your range

a circular polarised antenna on a quad and a 4 turn helical on your receiver will give  4 x the range. Their cheap as chips and you dont need a fancy ground station , just point it roughly where your going ,( i';ve been out over 2 km  with a home made stuff).

At the end of the day set-up is way more important than power output

[Hands0n]

^^^ What he said

CP antenna from the likes of Gaz on this forum will do you very well indeed

Couple that with a diversity receiver and a bought or self-made helical antenna pointed roughly where you';re flying out to will do you a treat.  Keep the helical short (4 turns, maybe a few more) a they get more directional the more turns they have.

[bazzerh]

there may be settings where 25mw is better than 200mw. hope to do some testing on this this week from a secret location (Halesowen Asda 24hr car park top level around midnight thursday or friday)

so far ive got my zmr rigged up with an eachine 200mw and a FT951 25mw and will record the video received on my aomway RX004 DVR.

[DRKX]

oo0.. interesting Bazzerh!
But dag-nabbit I';ve only minutes ago gone and ordered GdLookinMingeR';s suggested VTX: http://www.banggood.com/AOMWAY-FPV-5_8Ghz-200mW-32CH-Wireless-AV-Transmitter-Module-p-947147.html?currency=GBP&createTmp=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_content=saul&utm_campaign=rc-quad-uk&gclid=CKDd9OLD_sYCFZHHtAod2KULKQ
Still, it';s all useful to know... it might prove worthwhile to be legal.
Keep us posted please.

[Elmattbo]

Great vtx, annoying cables. It has 2 black cables and its shielded, which is fine, except it';s s about a foot long and needs shortening to go in a mini quad!

[Elmattbo]

When I say 2 black I mean an audio channel and ground lead are both black!