ok so this has been bugging me for a while and i feel like every time i search for an answer i end up on some page thats clearly written for electrical engineers or whatever. heres my actual question: if i have a 400mw vtx and i put a higher gain directional antenna on my goggles, is that actually giving me better effective range than if i just bumped the vtx up to like 800mw with the stock antennas? trying to figure out if its worth getting a patch panel antenna setup for long range cruising stuff or if i should just throw a hglrc zeus or rushfpv tank vtx on there and crank the power.

im running a 7inch long range build, crossfire on the RC link side so thats not the concern. just the video feed dropping out before i want it to. currently on a foxeer echo 2 at 400mw with the stock stubby that came in the box. goggles are skyzone 04x.

both matter but theyre not the same thing. vtx power affects how strong the signal is leaving the quad, antenna gain on the receive side affects how well you can pull that signal in at the goggles. a directional high gain antenna on your goggles will generally get you more practical range than just bumping vtx wattage, AND it doesnt drain your battery faster or generate extra heat on the quad side which is a real consideration on a 7inch where youre already managing power budget.

that said theres a ceiling to how much you get from receive-side gain with an omni vtx antenna. if youre flying in a straight line away from yourself a patch or helical pointed at the quad works great but the second you start orbiting or the quad goes behind you the pattern drops off hard. a lot of long range guys run a ground station with a powered diversity receiver like a furious fpv or an ImmersionRC rapidfire with a mix of patch and omni so they dont have dead spots. for just cruising and coming back though, even a single lumenier axii patch clipped to your goggle head on the skyzone mount does wonders.

foxeer echo 2 stock antenna is genuinely bad, like worse than most stock antennas ive tested. swap that first before anything else. i put a rush cherry on my long range 7 and the difference was pretty obvious even before i touched anything on the goggle side. not saying dont get a patch panel eventually but low hanging fruit first