Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
1.3ghz is the system I've most thoroughly tested, but it's also the most limited system when it comes to availability. Out of 5 different transmitters and receivers, all 5 of them are basically different flavors of the same thing.
If you build your own diversity receiver, have a nice set of omni and patches and even a yagi antenna that tracks the car location via GPS you could probably go pretty damn far with good image quality. Otherwise you are likely going out somewhere with minimal building obstruction and have a spotter helping you orient your patch right, or have a big one sitting on an elevated tripod.
I have a little interference in my video from the crossfire but otherwise it's not too bad, and I feel comfortable going down into the drain area whereas I don't using the DJI. There are some areas behind obstructions where the video seems pretty good, and moving over just inches introduces a lot of noise. If I could filter that out then I think overall the 1.3g would really be a contender against the DJI. The automatic difference still remains though.. with good analog I can see that person in the distance. With DJI I can probably see the expression on their face. I can still understand using 1.3g for like long range flights though because when I do have good video it does look pretty clear to me, maybe better than 5.8g using the same cameras.
I could technically go a lot further using the 1.3g than I can using the DJI, but any further distances I go are having the video look like total crap and making it really hard to navigate. I don't see the point of that. I also don't see the point of driving around exploring areas that are more or less in my line of sight. Having total clear visibility in the video is more valuable to me than total range though. When I walked out to right the car for no reason it was because the lack of clear visibility was keeping me from thinking straight. I panicked and went to go fix it because I couldn't easily see that I wasn't laying sideways.
1.3ghz is the system I've most thoroughly tested, but it's also the most limited system when it comes to availability. Out of 5 different transmitters and receivers, all 5 of them are basically different flavors of the same thing.
If you build your own diversity receiver, have a nice set of omni and patches and even a yagi antenna that tracks the car location via GPS you could probably go pretty damn far with good image quality. Otherwise you are likely going out somewhere with minimal building obstruction and have a spotter helping you orient your patch right, or have a big one sitting on an elevated tripod.
I have a little interference in my video from the crossfire but otherwise it's not too bad, and I feel comfortable going down into the drain area whereas I don't using the DJI. There are some areas behind obstructions where the video seems pretty good, and moving over just inches introduces a lot of noise. If I could filter that out then I think overall the 1.3g would really be a contender against the DJI. The automatic difference still remains though.. with good analog I can see that person in the distance. With DJI I can probably see the expression on their face. I can still understand using 1.3g for like long range flights though because when I do have good video it does look pretty clear to me, maybe better than 5.8g using the same cameras.
I could technically go a lot further using the 1.3g than I can using the DJI, but any further distances I go are having the video look like total crap and making it really hard to navigate. I don't see the point of that. I also don't see the point of driving around exploring areas that are more or less in my line of sight. Having total clear visibility in the video is more valuable to me than total range though. When I walked out to right the car for no reason it was because the lack of clear visibility was keeping me from thinking straight. I panicked and went to go fix it because I couldn't easily see that I wasn't laying sideways.
