Video transmitters and cameras: the link the pilot flies by.

What the video link is

The FAI's F9U rules say each racing pilot wears a headset goggle showing the live picture from the model's on-board camera, and flies from that picture. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in its Notice of Apparent Liability FCC 18-71 (released 5 June 2018), described audio/video transmitters as devices mounted on drones that send video back to the person controlling the drone, and noted their use in drone racing events. The AMA's indoor FPV document (#551) defines an FPV aircraft as a radio-controlled model fitted with a video transmitter sending real-time images from an on-board camera to a ground receiver shown on a monitor or goggles.

Wikipedia (a secondary source, whose article itself carries warnings about missing citations and outdated content) describes a basic analogue FPV system as a camera and video transmitter on the aircraft and a video receiver on the ground tuned to the transmitter's frequency, sometimes with an on-screen display (OSD) of flight data.

The FAI's video rules (F9U, 2025 edition)

From the F9 Drone Sports volume, 2025 edition (effective 1 May 2025), article C.1.5 unless stated. The 2026 edition was not read; its effective date is reported as 1 January 2026 and as 1 June 2026.

• Band: analogue and digital video systems may be used, but only in the 5.8 GHz band.
• Power: the video transmitter's output is at most 25 mW, on the ground and in the air, centred on designated frequencies with at most 30 MHz bandwidth. A breach can lead to disqualification from the event.
• Switching on: switching on any 5.8 GHz video transmitter at an F9U event without authorisation is strictly prohibited and can bring disqualification from the event, whether or not it was intentional.
• Pit mode (C.1): every model needs a pit mode whose triggering cuts the video transmitter's power, and pre-programmed increases in video power are forbidden.
• Organiser's equipment: the organiser's receiving system must handle analogue and digital transmitters and both left-hand and right-hand circular antenna polarisation; recording every race is strongly recommended, and the organiser's recording takes precedence in a dispute.

Earlier FAI texts

The 2019 edition (effective 1 May 2019, C.1.5) also set 25 mW. It required the organiser to announce the video system before the event, allowed it to publish a list of authorised video transmitters at least one month ahead (but not a single transmitter, and not on commercial grounds), let it require an antenna of a given polarisation, and strongly recommended a digital video recorder (DVR). The FAI's 2024 World Drone Racing Championship Sporting Rules (June 2024, art. 2.5) expected Raceband, eight channels at 5658, 5695, 5732, 5769, 5806, 5843, 5880 and 5917 MHz, kept the 25 mW and 30 MHz limits, capped digital video at 25 Mbps and had the organiser provide a DVR.

Other racing and association rules

• MultiGP (organiser; Race Class Specifications page, read 30 October 2026; Rule Book not read): sets no video system or power per class. Where a race uses a 25 mW limit, the stated aim is to reduce interference, and aircraft must allow quick, accurate channel changes.
• MultiGP Pro Spec, two wordings: the class page says any video transmitter is permitted, while MultiGP's Pro Spec page for the 2025/26 season says any HDZero or analogue video transmitter and camera. The two MultiGP pages disagree, and this site has not settled which applies.
• MAAA (Australia; MOP066, 19 August 2019, section 9.4): powering a video transmitter on a channel a racing competitor is using may get the offender excluded from the event.

Digital systems: makers' claims

The figures below are what makers say about their own products. They were not tested for this site, and none is presented as meeting any racing rule or radio rule.

No independent measurement of these latency figures was read for this site.

HDZero is named in MultiGP's Pro Spec wording. Its maker's own site was not found and its specifications were seen only in retailer listings, so no HDZero figure is given here; its history, as a trade reviewer and the trade press date it, is on equipment history.

Whether a given band or output is allowed is decided by the radio regulator where the system is used, not by the maker's region labels. See radio rules by country and radio equipment rules.

Cameras

The FAI's rules require an on-board camera because the pilot flies from its live picture, but the FAI texts recorded for this site give no camera specification. In the United States, the FCC's fact sheet of 7 January 2026 names "sensors and cameras" among the drone critical components covered by its December 2025 Covered List additions, but says it reads the term as parts designed and intended primarily for drones, so a general-purpose camera that could be fitted to a drone is not one. More on the FCC Covered List.