this has been driving me insane for two weeks. my video feed just cuts out randomly during flights, sometimes comes back, sometimes doesnt. its not a total blackout like you'd get from a dead vtx, more like static bursts and then occasionally just goes grey for a few seconds. im on a rush tank 5.8ghz vtx running at 400mw, runcam camera, and immersionrc rapidfire on the goggle side with aomway commanders.

ive already reseated the antenna on the vtx twice, checked the u.fl connector, resoldered the power wires because one looked a little sus. problem is still there. flew it yesterday and it was fine for 20 minutes then just started doing it again with no obvious cause. weather was fine, nothing changed. i did crash it about a month ago but it seemed okay after that.

not sure if this is a vtx overheating thing, an antenna thing, or something i'm totally missing. the rapidfire was bought secondhand so maybe that's the issue but i kinda doubt it since the module itself looks fine. any ideas where to actually start diagnosing this

honestly that crash a month ago is suspicious, even if everything looked fine after. u.fl connectors can take a hit and have an intermittent connection thats hard to spot visually, like the connector looks seated but its not making full contact. id try swapping the vtx antenna completely, even just with a cheap spare, and see if the problem follows the antenna or stays with the vtx. if it stays with the vtx regardless of antenna then youre probably looking at a damaged u.fl port or the vtx itself took some internal damage from the crash.

also 400mw on a 5.8 setup can definitely cause heat issues depending on how your frame vents, if the vtx is buried in foam or close to other electronics it might be thermal throttling or just getting flakey when hot. worth checking if the cutouts happen more after the vtx has been running a while vs right at the start of a flight

secondhand rapidfire was my first thought too but yeah those are pretty robust. i had almost the exact same symptom set last year and it turned out to be a partially delaminated antenna, looked totally normal on the outside but the internals were cooked from a previous crash. bought a new lollipop for like 6 bucks and the problem was gone. cheap thing to rule out before you start chasing more expensive causes