How to sync fpv goggles to your drone

Since 5.8 GHz is the most popular for fpv flying, we will look only at this frequency for now.

Step 1: Power up the quadcopter.

You should now see three LEDs on your VTX light up. A red LED, a blue LED and a green LED. The green indicates the power has been turned on. 

From the red and the blue LEDs, you should be able to read the channel and the frequency the VTX is transmitting on. 

in case you want to change the frequency of the VTX, you could use the DIP switches to do so. 

Step 2: Consult the frequency chart ...

and see which frequency you need to set your FPV goggles to receive on. 

Step 3: Turn your fpv goggles on.

It should display the frequency it is set to receive on.

Now, all you need to do is match the receiving frequency with the one the VTX is transmitting on. 

Mounting your VTX: a tip ...

What many people do while mounting the video transmitter onto the frame is this - they mount the video transmitter in a way that makes it extremely inconvenient to access the push button.

So if the frequency the VTX works on is clashing with some other frequency, it will cause problems - and they will not be able to easily change the frequency because they cannot access the push button.

You would want to get the VTX and the fpv goggles to work on the same frequency before you mount the VTX onto the frame. 

Once you power on your quadcopter drone with the VTX connected - but not yet mounted onto the frame, the LED lights on the VTX should light up. There should be three LED lights on the VTX - red, blue and green. The green indicates whether the power is on or off. 

The red and the blue LEDs let you know which channel and frequency the VTX is transmitting on. Consult your frequency chart to know which frequency the signal is being transmitted on. 

Now, switch on your FPV goggles - or your fpv monitor - and see which frequency the receiver is tuned to. 

Changing the channel on your fpv goggles

Your fpv goggles should be set to the same frequency as your VTX. You should have a list which specify the frequencies your goggles may be connected to. This should also be available online at the manufacturer's site. 

Once you know which frequency the VTX is transmitting on, you can either change the channel on your goggles, or use the push button on the VTX. 

You will want to have the frequency chart on hand while doing this. You can scan instead - but that takes longer. 

If you are using a analog video transmitter and flying in the same area as other drone pilots, it's possible that someone else might be using a video transmitter that's way more powerful than yours. In that case, your fpv goggles will receive video feed from their drone and not yours. And you might crash. 

So you would want to ensure you are not flying too close to others. Preferably, you should be the only one flying a drone in the vicinity. 

Or else you could use a digital FPV system. Digital fpv systems offer image quality that's immensely superior. And the latency is very low in comparison. 

Either way, you would want both to be communicating on the same frequency. 

Avoiding interference from other pilots

This is something that every drone pilot needs to be aware of. It's easy to get excited, turn on your VTX, your radio, power up your drone and just start flying ...

But if you do that without running a few checks first, you might end up crashing someone else's drone.

The very first thing you would want to do before you turn your video transmitter on would be to turn your fpv goggles on and check whether the channel you intend to use is available.

You would want to turn your video transmitter on only if the channel is available. Most VTXs do not let you change the channel without powering them up.