how to make the FrSky receiver X8R antenna placement

FrSky receiver X8R Antenna Placement. In this tutorial you will learn how to place the antennas of your X8R receiver. Although this tutorial is about FrSky X8R antenna placement, it can also serve for almost any other radio receiver.

First, let’s describe how a radio antenna works to understand how to make the FrSky X8R antenna placement. In our aircrafts, there’s usually one antenna on the transmitter and two in the receiver of the aircraft that “catches” the signal sent by the transmitter. Both work at the same time. Everything in the radio setup, the transmitter, the receiver and the antennas, have to be tuned at the same frequency, in addition, the antennas have to have a specific antenna length.

The receiver antennas on the X8R receiver are PCB antennas that can improve the range of the receiver up to a 20% compared to linear monopole antennas if the FrSky X8R antenna placement is done correctly. As the name suggests, the PCB antennas are a pair of antennas in which its radiating elements are made out of a PCB with an specific pattern, whereas the radiating element of a regular linear monopole antenna is just the center of the antenna wire covered by a plastic insulation.

Having said that, now let’s move on into more specific details of the receiver antennas, of the radio system.

X8R PCB Antennas

The X8R antennas are used to catch the signal as I mentioned before, but furthermore each of the antennas radiates up to an specific range with a pattern referred to as “radio frequency doughnut” with a significant loss of range in the center of the donut. For this reason, one antenna has to be mounted vertically and the other one horizontally, we will see it later on detail in this FrSky X8R antenna placement guide.

With this FrSky receiver X8R antenna placement, one antenna mounted vertically an one mounted horizontally, the dual radiation pattern instead of having considerable range losses on the center, it will have full range at the center of each doughnut thanks to the coverage of the other antenna which remains in the opposite position. This technology is the well known as diversity, and to get the most out of it, it is recommended to place the antennas in 90 degrees with each other.

This is like that because when we are flying our aircrafts, we tend to do maneuvers that affect the position of our antennas, and, if we only had one, it would be very easy to lose the signal in certain positions of the aircraft. For this reason, a correct FrSky X8R antenna placement is so important

Not only that, but it is also important to do the FrSky X8R antenna placement smartly as there are some components and materials on our models that can produce signal reflection, materials such as carbon fiber, electricity conductors and metallic ones, and components such as motors, batteries, and especially, FPV antennas etc.

Placing Your X8R Antennas

At this point, you already know how almost any receiver antenna works, so now it’s your turn to decide how to set both antennas. In  order to do a FrSky receiver X8R antenna placement correctly I’m giving you some tips including some that have been already mentioned.

The most important advice is to do a range check flight before doing any real flight, so in that way you can prove that your antennas have been well positioned, and you can also make an idea of the limits of your receiver.
Both antennas should be mounted perpendicular to each other, at 90º, to get the best results from diversity.
In order to hold the antennas in place, it is a good idea to use zip ties or heat shrink.
As mentioned before, you should avoid also to mount the antennas near materials such as carbon fiber or components such as the FPV video antenna.
As the antennas have a hole in the radiation pattern, for remoteness flights, antennas must be placed in such a way that the doughnut hole doesn’t point regularly to the transmitter, this occurs when your transmitter antenna points tip to tip with the receiver antenna, the range can also be affected when their tips are pointing perpendicular to each other, in order to have the best range, both antennas should be parallel.
For regular linear monopole antennas, the radiating elements should be kept straight.