Multi-Play with the XplorerHD?

Getting into HD, stabilized, and head tracking FPV is a very unique experience but eventually you may want to venture into running more than 1x XplorerHD system at a time with another person.

If you been following us on our socials, we had many fun adventures and got to experience things that were not planned. (Like seeing "dinosaurs", caption below)

However, there are some things to know so you and your partner will have a seamless experience.

Channel Selection

The first thing to decide is choose "different" channels so you will not interfere with each other.

Interference is anything that will prevent, confuse, or block your video that goes from the XplorerHD camera to the goggles.

In this humble example, we can see both the systems on Channel 1. The goggles will become confused on which video to process which results in broken video, black outs, or seeing the "other" person's camera view.

To prevent this, choosing separate channels would be the first step.

Please note, the further the channels are away from each other, the higher chances of the video not interfering which each other. This is very easy to do if there are only 2 people operating at the same time.

Your current setup might only show 4 different channels, more on this later

The channels can be changed in your goggles by accessing the "Channel" menu and selecting the appropriate channels after discussing it with your partner.

The Transmitter Setup

After you got that situated, the next steps are to setup your transmitter settings.

The 2 settings we will focus on are Transmit Power and Bitrate.

If one of the XplorerHD is transmitting at a higher power output, it can interfere with the 2nd one.

For example, if two people are on separate phone calls and one person is speaking extremely loud, it will be very difficult for 2nd person to hear their conversation.

To avoid this, the Transmit Power golden rule is to limit both systems to run at 25mW (or 25 in the goggle setting). However, this will be at the cost of range. (Note: the legal transmit power without a Technician HAM license is 25mW)

The Bitrate setting is very similar and we won't go into details in this article. Basically, bitrate allows for more data to transfer (sent) and this may interfere also. The Bitrate setting should be set at 25mbps (or "Standard" in the goggle settings).

Also, please don't forget to turn OFF "Standby Mode"

In the goggle menu under "Settings", you can select the Transmit Power and the Bitrate. Again, to legally transmit above 25mW requires a Technician HAM license.

Pre-Planning Tips

Lastly, please be mindful on your position and where you plan to operate.

At shorter distances, roughly 30 yards or shorter, this might not be a huge issue.

However, if you choose to go a little further than roughly 30 yards, it is best to do 2 things, Create space between you and your partner and Do not cross paths or have your R/C be too close to each other.

Again, this will apply to going further out but if you cross paths like the diagram, this may still cause interference.

Luckily for R/C cars, you can stop and reposition as necessary but if you are flying, this might cause a disaster.

For the spacing, this is specially the position where you and your partner will be sitting (highly recommend if it is your first time FPV!) or standing while operating in FPV. 8 - 10ft will allow the transmission to not cross over.

Again, this is for longer range use and if you plan to operate within roughly 30 yards, you may not have an issue.

Final Notes

You may be wondering why the diagram above that lists the Channels have 8 rather than the 4 you might see in your settings. This is for legal issues as operators who do not possess a Technician HAM license (U.S. law) according to the FCC are limited to the frequencies they can use and the transmit power.

(Credit to OscarLiang for this Frequency Chart)

The FCC allows 5.725 to 5.875 GHz to be used without a License. The Channels (CH) shown are the ones our system can use and we can see that CH1, CH2, and CH7 are not within legal range without a License.

(Note, the 4 channel setup currently on your system is within legal limits but the Channel Numbers are assigned differently)

If you can legally operate all channels with a minimum Technician License, you can see each channels are separated so 8 units can run at the same time.

If you do have a minimum Technician License and would like to unlock more channels, click here.

We look forward to your next adventures and please share your moments with us by tagging us on YouTube or Instagram!

If you want to check our system out, please click here: https://www.ironquad.com/xplorerhd