Helical vs Skew Planer Antenna

by bmsweb | July 15, 2012 | (16) Posted in Tips

This isn't a Tip or Tutorial but rather an interesting discovery/observation that we made a week or so ago.

Interestingly Jason (Danger Mouse), Thomas (My Son) and myself were doing some FPV range testing and on this particular day the video reception was really, Really, REALLY bad due to possible EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference) caused by Power-Lines.

We had both ground stations running at the same time and while monitoring Jason's flight we kept losing video and at times Jason would lose video and Thomas, who was monitoring our ground station had acceptable reception. We were running a Skew Planar on our RC305 Receiver and Jason was running a Helical, also on a RC305 Receiver.

Its worth noting that for the most part the Helical did do better, but there were times where it had no reception and the Skew Planar did. which was a completely unexpected surprise.

I've also had people ask if the Helical was pointing towards the aircraft and the answer to that is Yes. So its not like the aircraft was behind the Helical and this was the reason for better reception on the Skew Planar antenna.

This is a good example why a Diversity Receiver could very well be the way to go! I hope you find this rather boring video of interest, I know we did.

Jason's YouTube Channel



COMMENTS

Soldier53 on July 16, 2012
If I was a betting man I would put my money on the Skew Planar antennas for the money! But it look so close you can not tell? But thank you two for the test.
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bmsweb on July 16, 2012
I honestly wouldn't have expected the Skew Planar to help, but it did. With diversity I think it would make a world of difference :)
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quickpix on July 16, 2012
I have been pondering this same question.
Great
Thanks
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bmsweb on July 17, 2012
I can't wait to get the diversity to see how it looks in use :)
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flitetest_argentina on July 15, 2012
Great....5stars
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bmsweb on July 15, 2012
Thanks :)
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Soldier53 on July 16, 2012
You did a great job! the all of you did!
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Fabberdan on July 21, 2012
So you had a skew planar and a helical on the receiver end. What kind of transmitter antenna are you using?
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bmsweb on July 21, 2012
Clover
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Bigshow4u on July 22, 2012
Great observation. I guess it would be safe to say it is better two have 2 different types of antenna that just 1. Where one antenna is weak, the other may have strength.
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bmsweb on July 22, 2012
Thank You, You're 100% Correct!
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Arunabha42 on June 26, 2013
One question, its out of topic, maybe. The monitor on the right, the black one, it doesn't have the bluescreen issue, does it?
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bmsweb on June 26, 2013
Yes it does go to Blue screen but I don't us it for flying, since I'm using my Goggles
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SweFreezer on January 27, 2014
Just a thought.. Looking at the video it seems that there is a "transmitted" interference. If the source of that interference is in the direction you have your helical pointed it is not very surprising that it would pick up more noice as well. Did you have this phenomena in all directions?
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Rickster on February 15, 2014
Did you make you helical from scratch? If yours has less gain then your planar, there maybe a problem with the design or construction, resulting in problems with the impedance or SWR.
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Helical vs Skew Planer Antenna