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Emax hawk 5 vtx

tevek

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Hi there crew, took the hawk out for a spin and was doing fine, last of the four packs I was pumping through it. I was feeling chuffed with the footage I was about to review when naturally I clipped the tree that I’d spent the afternoon avoiding. No real damage as such, changed the props and was about to close out the day with a celebratory beer when I noticed the ufl/sma lead was sticking out the side of the quad. Being a responsible non vtx killer, I stripped the bugger and for the life of me couldn’t reattach the lead. Being the worlds smallest connection, I bought the worlds biggest magnifying glass and found the vtx connection to be slightly distorted, I fiddled with the show for an hour, glued it all back into place and whilst I have a reasonable reception in my fat sharks, it’s clearly not as good as it was. Before I donate my remaining kidney to emax, are there any better vtx alternatives for the hawk that do away with this microscopic antenna connection? It truly is shite....
 
A u.fl connector should "click" into place, it sounds like it is damaged enough to keep that from happening so the ground at a bare minimum is iffy at best. There are really only 3 methods of getting vTX output coupled effectively at this size constraint, u.fl, mmcx, and direct solder. When the connectors are in good shape it is very easy to just set one on top of the other and push straight down and it will "click" securely into place. You will feel it happen, and if it doesn't, replacing the u.fl to sma pigtail should fix things for you. I always put a blob of Welder, E6000, or Shoe Goo over it to make sure it doesn't come off if I hit hard or get snagged by a branch. Many really like the mmcx connectors since they are a little bigger and beefier.
 
A u.fl connector should "click" into place, it sounds like it is damaged enough to keep that from happening so the ground at a bare minimum is iffy at best. There are really only 3 methods of getting vTX output coupled effectively at this size constraint, u.fl, mmcx, and direct solder. When the connectors are in good shape it is very easy to just set one on top of the other and push straight down and it will "click" securely into place. You will feel it happen, and if it doesn't, replacing the u.fl to sma pigtail should fix things for you. I always put a blob of Welder, E6000, or Shoe Goo over it to make sure it doesn't come off if I hit hard or get snagged by a branch. Many really like the mmcx connectors since they are a little bigger and beefier.
Cheers for the reply, I’m currently looking at a tbs unify vtx with an MMCX connector as a replacement and hopefully be done with stripping the hawk trying to get the ufl connector to seat properly with and without glue. Interestingly, I took one of my wizards and my trashcan out for a thrash yesterday and the goggles reception on both is streets ahead of the hawk which leads me to think that the original set up was sus to start with.
 
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Yeah, the Hawk should be as good, vTX's are RF components, so even if they are good to begin with, they degrade over time and usage due to their very nature. Some hold up really well and others develop degradation issues early, my guess is yours is one of those 2, bad from the get go, or quickly degraded due to infant mortality. You see that sometimes in electronics and that is why they do burn in (multiple days running at high temp) to weed out the weak ones. I assume very little real quality control goes into these things and they just blame it on us for running into stuff so they can dodge the repercussions.
 
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Yeah, the Hawk should be as good, vTX's are RF components, so even if they are good to begin with, they degrade over time and usage due to their very nature. Some hold up really well and others develop degradation issues early, my guess is yours is one of those 2, bad from the get go, or quickly degraded due to infant mortality. You see that sometimes in electronics and that is why they do burn in (multiple days running at high temp) to weed out the weak ones. I assume very little real quality control goes into these things and they just blame it on us for running into stuff so they can dodge the repercussions.
Thanks for the wise words, my chances of returning the unit to the supplier for a warranty consideration were less than zero due to the visible battle damage. Hoping to cure the issue with an ‘upgrade’ and for my 60th the war office has approved funds for a 6” build using the best parts that she can afford. Speaking to a chap over east that was pretty much dribbling over the phone with suggestions for a long range build and possibly a 6S setup. Much to learn and loving every minute of it!
 
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