Esp2866 and Pixhawk - Wifi signal shows when used in pc, but not on my Pixhawk

I am using an esp2866 with a ESP-01S usb programming adapter. I flashed the chip and set up my wifi network and password. I’m able to connect no problem. But when I attach it to the pix using the pinout diagrams in the docs, I see lights but the wifi network never shows in the list.
I swapped the tx and rx and after triple checking, its wired correctly (rx to tx and TX to rx)

Is it because the pix is supplying with 5v rather than 3.3?

Yes you will need to get 3.3v level shiftier. The suggested ESP8266 is the Adafruit Huzzah because it is 5v tolerant and you don’t need to goof around with other stuff. The Pix racer is the only pix variant that you can just drop the common 8266 in.

Could I possibly tap into a 3.3v source from one of the pwm out slots?

There we go! I’ll give that a shot and report back

No dice. See pic http://imgur.com/gallery/5vqU1Ro

It lights up like its working, but there is no broadcast. I flashed a new chip and it does the same thing. It’s like it has to live on this usb adapter in order to work. This is what I’m using to program and test with. When the esp is plugged into this adapter and into the computer, it works and I can see the broadcast