Pre-order page is up. Won't let you buy just yet, but we'll notify everyone on this list first when its ready for ordering. Should be in a few days. http://www.teradek.com/pages/clip-sign-up
Looks great and love the sounds of future plans/upgrades! Would love some input on routers and what you'll be suggesting?
Ill post a reply with our engineers' recommendations when I get back from IBC. Teradek are big fans of Ubiquiti (as most know) and Ruckus.
Pardon my ignorance, but is something like the Ubiquiti Bullet on the TX side on board the copter? So that would replace the Iftron Mondo Stinger, for example? And what kind of receiver would work best, or is the Clip's receiver best to use?
Update Tried this setup tonight and it is unusable. Distance was 900 ft and delay time on the signal was more than 3000ms. This is a 2.4gHz setup, perhaps something similar in the 5.0gHz WiFi range would be better but only testing will tell the story. Steve the CLIP would be on the copter. The Ubiquity Bullet would be on the ground station. I've got the Bullet and a Wi-FiRanger to pull in distant wifi while I am camping. I'll see if I can get a picture of my setup. Should be a good combination for the CLIP.
Where's the end of the line? Me want too. Or me want two too. (Sorry....I was too busy wetting myself to read all the posts....I see the signup page. What's the best range extender for this? Gary, I saw your posting, but I was suspecting there was a Teradek range extender?) Andy.
I don't believe Teradek has a range extender (...yet). Michael said they use Ubiquiti and Ruckus - he also said he'd post a recommendation from their engineers. I do like Gary's set up, hoping he finds a picture for us.
Update This combination is unusable after testing. Delays made it unusable at 900feet, perhaps due to be a 2.4gHz system/setup. So here's the components in my setup which would likely be close to what Michael would tell us. The first component is the Ubiquiti Bullet. This is a amplified receiver that runs using an Ethernet Cable and draws it power using a POE (Power over Ethernet) device to inject DC power. The POE can be a separate device or power can come from a special router. The antenna I use is a Engenius Outdoor High Gain 8dBi Omni Antenna (EAG-2408). A stick dipole. There are high gain antennas galore available but this works for general use. The Bullet and antenna are available on Amazon. About $25 for the antenna and the Ubiquiti BULLET-M2-HP Outdoor 802.11b/g M2HP is about $85. The router is from WifiRanger.com. Model is the Go2, $200. One of the ports is setup to do the POE bit. Standard ethernet cable from the WifRanger to the Bullet. I have a telescoping painters pole and can run that up about 10 feet if needed. You connect like you would to any WiFi router. It in turns uses the Ubiquity as a boosted power turbo charged antenna. At my house I can see maybe 10 wifi hotspots with my laptop. Power up the WifRanger and Ubiquiti and it jumps to 40-50. Since I recognize some of the names the range is easily a mile. The CLIP on a copter should be the proverbial piece of cake. Here's some pics, Bullet, WifiRanger and the antenna. Now for an HDMI feed to FPV goggles.
What was Arthur C. Clarke's quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." As you say, Gary, we need WiFi to composite or HDMI. There seem to be quite a few converters. I'm *sure* they work as advertised.... Andy.
So it looks like the Clip has antenna connectors just like our fpv Tx/Rx and it works on 2.4ghz, so would a cloverleaf antenna do for this what it did for the fpv community?
Sure. As long as the transmitter "sees" a proper antenna load (aka impedance), then it will work. (If anyone cares, I understand it's all about standing wave ratios. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_wave_ratio -- any EE's forum members can give a far better explanation that I can come up with). Typical FPV Tx and Rx use SMA connectors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sma_connector Andy.
What would you use to receive the video signal from the Clip? I get the idea of the Wifi extending option for longer range but where does the video signal feed to?
Drew the video is 'received' on your laptop or tablet. WiFi video. Just a guess that Teradek supplies software for that piece of the puzzle.
My guess is one of the accessory bits that they'll supply is a widget that outputs HDMI video on the receiving end, so you can just connect it to an HD display. The laptop/tablet/wifi thing is not the direction I'd want to pursue, personally. I'd rather just be able to monitor (or transmit/project) the HD video signal somewhere. I have quite a few people who have inquired as to the feasibility of "broadcasting" live from the copter. I've done some tests with the SD downlink using my Iftron kit, and it's certainly stable, but so much of the world is used to HD signal quality now, and it'd be a great selling point. Not that I'm doing this commercially or anything. Yet.
Hey guys, quick update before I crash. IBC is draining! This first iteration of Clip will only stream to iOS devices using our free application. However, the receiver will be available in a short period of time. From my understanding, no new hardware will be required to go to a receiver (other than the receiver) so if you bought in early, there would be no problems. There may or may not be a special announcement on the last day of IBC during our live broadcast at: www.teradek.tv If there is, ill be sure to post it on here.