No its real boosting.. ALL the boosters work by ssh'ing into the Phantom and RE and executing a command which increases the TX power.. its real power.. not virtual..
I logged in myself to Phantom and RE and put the commands in the startup files so mine is permanently set to 17dbm.. so when I turn on Phantom on RE the commands run and increase to 17dbm.. don't need to use the apps anymore :] I did purchase them both initially.. the FPV booster and vision utility plus.. vision plus is GREAT for the data logging anyways.. its a must have app I reckon.
If I recall the Phantom default is 12dbm and RE is 7dbm?? So you can increase it a fair amount... It definitely works and is real! But yeah the hardware is limited to a max of 20bm... I'd SSH in and show you some output of the diff dbm levels, but its all packed away ready to fly tomorrow heh.. There are commands you can run to check what dbm levels the equipment is set at, however I know if you use vision utility plus when you connect to the wifi it tells you what speed its set it, and then obviously lets you change it. Otherwise youd need to login to the Phantom/RE, install wireless-tools package and then you use can iwconfig to check the power levels.
I've had mine set to 17dbm for like 3 months and mine doesn't over heat.. I did put the thermal paste in though as shown in that 'wifi dying' thread..
I suspect some peoples that overheat might be transferring files across the wifi.. which will make it go incredibly hot as the Phantom is not moving...
Few people have asked how to do it permanently.. happy to tell them individually but don't want to make a thread etc.. because if you do something wrong you will need to send it back to DJI to fix..... Hard to screw up, but easy if you are not familiar with linux...
*edit* the command the boosters run after they SSH in as root is
iw phy phy0 set txpower fixed 1700
that sets it to 17dbm.. but you could do
iw phy phy0 set txpower fixed 2000
which would set to 20dbm.. however the devs said to use between 15-17dbm as its most stable.
*edit* forgot to say.. vision utility plus app has there source code online so you can actually see exactly how it works.. that where I got the command to change power levels from.. Its diff commands for diff versions on the Phantom.. but for vision plus (v3 included) the command I posted above works.. Thats why the apps say they only work on specific versions of the Phantoms.
rickasaurus said:
I am still unclear how the "booster" actually works. Does it somehow output more power from the wifi sender? Given the heat problems with the wifi, I am wondering how the "boosting" happens. Or is it just some sort of "virtual" boosting.
