wavy "interference lines" on Boscam w/TS353?

[canadavenyc]

Hi,

We just hooked up our Boscam TS353 video tx to our P2, transmitting to our Boscam 7" LCD-RX5802 monitor, and we're testing it on our kitchen table. The video signal's there and clear, except for some kind of horizontal wavy "interference lines" or something like that (like in the old days of TV with rabbit ears antennas, where you could see whatever program it was, but there would be these faint horizontal lines that would work their way down the screen). Also, every now and then there's some kind of quick static "pop"; the screen goes static-y for a millisecond, and with the volume up I can hear a very fast crackle, as if someone walked in front of the screen and interfered with the signal somehow.

It's definitely usable nevertheless, so I'm just wondering, is this "normal operations" for this type of thing? I've never used any kind of FPV before, so I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be, or if it should be normal video (no wavy lines) and no static "bumps" at all....?

I should add that when I soldered the wires from the tx to the iOSD mini and so on, my soldering skills were not exactly precise, so it's possible that maybe a wire connection is not totally filled with solder. However, in jiggling all the wires a bit with my fingers, nothing seems to make the video any worse than it already is, which I figure should be the case if one of those wires isn't exactly 100% "clean" in terms of connection.

One last thing--the iOSD mini's information overlay is too big for the screen and is disappearing off the edges of the screen. Not sure how to get that smaller

Any ideas? I can post a video of what I'm seeing, if that would help illustrate the problem further...?

EDIT: Here's the video, shot from about three feet away from the P2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAEigQGGIm8

 

[Elfman12]

I'm getting those lines with the same setup. I was also getting large bursts of interference, but that was from having the display too close to the Phantom's controller.
As for the iOSD, just hook it's USB port to your computer and run the DJI iOSD Assistant 4.0 (get from DJI website) and check the LEFT and RIGHT tick boxes. That will bring those in to where you can see them.

 

[QYV]

what antennas are you using?

regarding the iOSD being off-screen - did you use the iOSD Mini assistant software to update the firmware? in that same software there are separate settings for the left and right-side data columns, to move them towards the middle of the screen so that you can see the data properly

 

[Alib]

Try changing pal:NTSC on the gopro

 

[OI Photography]

canadavenyc, are you using the H3-3D gimbal as part of that setup?

 

[FangsCPO]

Try a different channel/frequency. It's mostly a trial and error. My FPV system has 32 channels that I can bounce around to until I find the best video. I believe your has 5 or 8 channels if I'm not mistaken. Try it out and see what happends. Also, I've noticed that sometimes you may pick up interference in the house more than outside. Good Luck!

 

[canadavenyc]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Just to answer a few points:

-- Yep, I'm using the H3-3D in that setup, with the anti-interference board installed inside the Phantom in DJI's recommended location.

-- Thanks for the tip on the left/right in the Assistant software. I did go into Assistant to update the firmware, but it seems to have been at the latest version anyway (I just bought it a week ago).

-- As for trying a different channel/frequency: basically when I set it up, I clicked the "Search" button on the monitor, and it started going through all the channels. All of them were complete snow/static until it hit the magic frequency, and there was the crystal clear video (except for the wavy lines/static burps that I described). Are you saying I should set the tx to a different frequency, let the monitor find/match it, and see if that different frequency clears it up? I'm willing to give that a shot....

 

[QYV]

I have to bring this up again because you didn't reference it... antennas. The antennas you use can make ALL the difference in getting good picture/range or not. The stock antennas that come with those devices are utter crap, and cheaper antennas aren't worth it either you should splurge on some good cloverleaf, pinwheel, or possibly even a helix antenna on the Rx side.

if you're interested in spending a few minutes learning about it, check out this video from the 3 minute mark until about 8 or 9 mins

anyway to be thorough you're going to want 3 antennas: 1 omnidirectional on the Tx, 1 omnidirectional on the Rx, and assuming you have a diversity receiver many people go ahead and add a Helix (directional, longer range) antenna to the Rx as well.

tons of 3 antenna bundles out there like this one from FPVLR that is specifically designed for non-vision P2

 

[FangsCPO]

Set the transmitter to a different frequency and let the radio find it. Give that a try. Good luck!!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[canadavenyc]

I have to bring this up again because you didn't reference it... antennas. The antennas you use can make ALL the difference in getting good picture/range or not. The stock antennas that come with those devices are utter crap, and cheaper antennas aren't worth it either you should splurge on some good cloverleaf, pinwheel, or possibly even a helix antenna on the Rx side.

if you're interested in spending a few minutes learning about it, check out this video from the 3 minute mark until about 8 or 9 mins

anyway to be thorough you're going to want 3 antennas: 1 omnidirectional on the Tx, 1 omnidirectional on the Rx, and assuming you have a diversity receiver many people go ahead and add a Helix (directional, longer range) antenna to the Rx as well.

tons of 3 antenna bundles out there like this one from FPVLR that is specifically designed for non-vision P2

Oh, I know all about the difference antennas make. In this case, though, from 2 feet away, I'd think even a stock antenna should be able to deliver non-wavy lined video

 

[canadavenyc]

Okay, so.........

I tried four different channels on the TS353 tx. All showed exactly the same faint horizontal line interference pattern "scrolling" down the screen. It's almost like it's out of phase, or something.

Also, I went into the iOSD mini Assistant software, clicked on the Left and Right checkboxes to move the screen inwards, hit Write, turned everything off, turned it back on, and......no effect. Screen text is still halfway off the screen.

Really frustrated right now....

 

[canadavenyc]

Here's a video of what's going on. It's a little hard to see at the beginning, a little easier to see halfway through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAEigQGGIm8

 

[QYV]

Here's a video of what's going on. It's a little hard to see at the beginning, a little easier to see halfway through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAEigQGGIm8

the iOSD mini thing... did ticking the boxes move the overlay image at ALL? on mine it moved them from being almost totally off the screen to only having little bits off the side of the screen, basically how yours looks now. all the important stuff is visible.. battery, GPS, Velocity.
Are you aware that changing the resolution on the gopro changes what you see on the display? I pretty much stick to 1440 because I like the balance of framerate and resolution and because of that my image doesn't fill the whole display screen it looks mildly squished. for me the FPV isn't about an immersive flight experience it's just about knowing exactly what I have framed in the video shot.

as for these scrolling lines... maybe it's worse in person but from your video they seem almost imperceptible, if that were my system I would say it was working just fine those look quite minor and easily within the bounds of normal interference, cheap antennas, or maybe the refresh rate of the screen is just low, is is the cheapest 5.8Ghz diversity receiver after all. I have that screen but my Phantom is currently down for repair so I can't fire mine up and see

 

[canadavenyc]

Nope, the iOSD mini overlay didn't move a millimeter. I even checked and unchecked the boxes while watching the monitor...no change whatsoever.

As for the wavy lines and static burps--yeah, they're certainly not "dramatic" or anything. I just wasn't sure if that's normal, or not? I kind of thought that from such close range, the reception should basically be perfect. I figure, if it's doing that from three feet away, what's it going to look like from two kilometers away?

And...I did NOT know that the gopro resolution affects the display I'll have to go experiment with that!! Thanks for the tip.

 

[denisodisea]

this works for me
first turn your dji phantom 2 on, then go pro camera after the gimbal initialization

 

[FedeVision]

this works for me
first turn your dji phantom 2 on, then go pro camera after the gimbal initialization

Having similar kind of issue, hope this fix my fpv also.

http://youtu.be/Uk91dWyzsvc

 

[GhostMaster]

The horizontal lines its not a FPV issue, its a known issue from the Zenmuse avout, try out without the gimbal and you will see that will clear out...

 

[denisodisea]

this works for me
first turn your dji phantom 2 on, then go pro camera after the gimbal initialization

Having similar kind of issue, hope this fix my fpv also.

http://youtu.be/Uk91dWyzsvc

today my phantom Assistant software update my gimbal, please try!!, maybe fix that issue, i see some improvements

 

[hamishue]

I have the same Boscam LCD and get the lines as-well. I find the lines are coming from the 2.4ghZ Phantom TX. As soon as I remove the monitor away from the TX it clears up fine, even with the signal going through the Zenmuze gimbal.

 

[jvancraa]

My second Phantom-2 Drone is equipped with a Boscam TS353 Transmitter and Zenmuse H3-3D Gimbal. I first used the Skyfox 7" diversity and replaced the stock antenna's on it. This made the visibility slightly better, but the interference staid.

I have now switched to Flysight Black Pearl 7" LCD with Diversity and mounted a Flysight Cloverleaf RX/TX and TP-Link 5dBi antenna. It is much better now, but I still have a little bit of interference. This LCD screen is mounted on the controller.

I mounted a cloverleaf to the Boscam sender as well. To my knowledge cloverleafs TX antenna's work as well when the drone is vertically above you on 300 mtr as well as well as when the drone is 2 miles away. TP-Links directional antenna's do not send a signal form its tips so that will lead to issues when the drone is on top of you on great heights.

Tomorrow I'm going to replace the 2.4 GHz Stock Antenna on the DJI controller with a TP-Link 5 dBi antenna.

Currently i have made a small FPV (ex-Tool) box with a Boscam RC832, Cloverleaf antenna, a cheap 7" HD LCD screen, a Mini-DVR and a 3300 maH battery pack. It's a standalone box that I use as a backup in case something goes wrong with my Black Pearl. The LCD is mounted in the cover, the rest of the box contains HD-PAL.

I have ordered a seperate Boscam 5.8 Ghz 7" LCD screen with a built-in DVR and built-in Battery. That one will be mounted on a tripod (that stands at least 2 meters away from me) and it will get a 8 dBi TP-Link Antenna. Hopefully it records in another format than the crappy ASF format that the Hobbyking Mini-DVR is using.

With the above, I hope to get a decent FPV/Controller range of at least 3 Kilometer (2 miles). Currently, I have not flown further than half a mile away, pending the installation of the FPV/Antenna improvements.