Aomway VTX Power Levels, Voltage Range and Antenna Safety
The one rule that protects your transmitter
Before powering on any Aomway VTX, always install the antenna and check that the connector is correctly mated. Running a high-power transmitter with no antenna connected reflects the full output back into the power amplifier, and the PA will be burned out instantly. This is not a warranty case — it is physics.
If you need to power up on the bench without an antenna, use the lowest power level and keep the transmission time as short as possible.
Documented power levels
| Model | Output power | Levels | Pit mode | Input voltage | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aomway 10W VTX 5.8G | 10W (peak up to 18W) | 6-level adjustable | Yes | 9-36V | 73.0 g |
| Aomway 4W VTX 5.8G | 4W (peak up to 7W) | 4-level adjustable | Yes | 9-36V | 32.0 g |
| Aomway 1W VTX 5.8G | 1W | — | — | 9-36V | 55.0 g |
The 9-36V input range covers 2S through 8S LiPo packs, so the same transmitter can run from a small freestyle quad or a large long-range airframe without a separate BEC.
Control protocol: IRC/Tramp (SmartAudio)
All three VTX families above support the IRC/Tramp control protocol, which is the SmartAudio-compatible standard used by Betaflight, INAV and most flight controllers. That gives you real-time channel and power adjustment from the OSD or a Lua script rather than a button sequence on the board.
Because control is handled over the serial protocol, the power level is normally selected from your flight controller’s VTX menu. Set the protocol to IRC Tramp (or SmartAudio) on the UART you wired the VTX control wire to, then use the VTX tab in your configurator.
Awaiting source data: the exact physical button-press sequence for each board revision, for pilots who need to change channel or power without a flight controller attached — this will be filled from official Aomway engineering documentation.
Pit mode and bench safety
Both the 10W and 4W transmitters include a pit mode. Pit mode drops output to a very low level so you can power the aircraft while waiting for GPS lock without cooking the transmitter or interfering with other pilots on the field. On a high-power build this is not a convenience feature — it is the difference between a transmitter that survives a long pre-flight wait and one that thermally throttles before you arm.
Connectors and mounting
The standard antenna interface across the range is RP-SMA inner hole. Mount the antenna where the connector is not load-bearing: a heavy directional antenna hanging directly off an RP-SMA joint will eventually fatigue the joint or the PCB pad.
