ARGtek 7dbi or 10dbi?

[lil boss]

Changing the camera resolution will not do anything to the range.
If we are talking about the P3 Standard, the two side panel antennas are for video and data.
Yes I too seem to lose video before control.
I have a new set of omni rods on order that I hope will boost mine to 1.25 miles.
I question the logic of ordering a $109 antenna add on as opposed to just buying the better Phantom.
But as always, if we knew then what we know now . . . . .

I am sorry, but I didn't realize I was in the Standard discussion. I did a search on antennas and ended up here. I actually edited my first post to state that. Perhaps on Standard models changing the resolution does not help, but on adv/pro it does. There are videos out there which state that. Personally I know it works because I was going 3,000 ft on stock lightbridge. I was a beginner and was playing with the camera settings to see what worked best for me. One day I went out and could only manage 1500 ft... thought it was the weather... for several days 1500 ft was the limit. At that time I was researching antennas, specifically the ARGtek. The most important items was to download a file to increase channel range to 30 (not sure right now if the exact number) and to manually set the channel to 22. No searching for a clear channel... ARGtek's will work on the other channels, but best on 22. Now, back to the resolution.... They said to lower it to 1080p. Not knowing that earlier I had changed my setting from 1080 to 4k. After resetting to 720p (the lowest setting) I got my 3,000 ft back. I have no idea why that is... but for me it works.

I wish you luck with your new omni rods. Safe flying !

 

[roymoon]

Only 300 feet with the lightbridge ?
I thought those things would do 2-3 miles.

One of my omni rods just walked to the door. The 5.8ghz.
I'm going to put it on one of the 2.4 connections and see what my video range goes to.
Assuming the rain stops.

 

[lil boss]

Only 300 feet with the lightbridge ?
I thought those things would do 2-3 miles.

One of my omni rods just walked to the door. The 5.8ghz.
I'm going to put it on one of the 2.4 connections and see what my video range goes to.
Assuming the rain stops.

DJI says 3.1 miles.... about 16,000 ft... but as with all advertising, that figure is under the BEST of conditions... probably out in the desert where there would not be any interference. I live in a congested area and lots of stray signals all around. They say things like smart TV's, smart refrigerators (yes I said smart refrigerators) wifi signals, trains, electrical lines, anything metal, and probably more all share the same channels our drones use.

Good luck with your new antenna.. hope the rain stops for you. It's raining here also.

Just For The Record... I think you forgot a ZERO when you said "Only 300 Feet with lightbridge" ?

 

[longdog]

I flew four miles away on my record flight, and I was standing underneath high power lines. It was the only area I had a clear line of sight unfortunately. I was not expecting a good flight at all, but she kept going!

Odd this was though that my video recording kept stopping which was annoying. I got like 12 20 second videos. I guess the high power signal messed with the record command?
But, my video and control stayed strong to the four mile mark until my battery limit told me to come home.

 

[lil boss]

I flew four miles away on my record flight, and I was standing underneath high power lines. It was the only area I had a clear line of sight unfortunately. I was not expecting a good flight at all, but she kept going!

Odd this was though that my video recording kept stopping which was annoying. I got like 12 20 second videos. I guess the high power signal messed with the record command?
But, my video and control stayed strong to the four mile mark until my battery limit told me to come home.

Awesome Job.. You have the Standard and the DBS antenna if I'm correct... Are you boosted or unboosted.. or rather your drone .

Be careful flying around high power lines... They love to play havoc with the drones signals. I'm glad all it might have messed with was your video. Also those high power lines may be bad for you as well.

Take care all.

 

[longdog]

Awesome Job.. You have the Standard and the DBS antenna if I'm correct... Are you boosted or unboosted.. or rather your drone .

Be careful flying around high power lines... They love to play havoc with the drones signals. I'm glad all it might have messed with was your video. Also those high power lines may be bad for you as well.

Take care all.

Thanks! Unfortunately that day all I had was that spot. It's near my house (but not so near that I'm worried about it being bad for my health).

I did not go out that day planning a distance run either, it was just going so well. Perfectly clear control and video (except for the video stop/start). 10000ft happened pretty quickly, then 15000ft... I knew I could not stop, then hit 20,2xxft and got the low battery come home warning and I listened. I flew out with a tail wind and knew I needed all my battery to rerun. Made it back with about 22% battery and landed safely.

I hate those high power lines and for the most part where I live. Lol
It would have been a pretty sweet video had I been able to record the whole thing.

As for my setup, it's the P3S, with DBS, and three amps. One 5.8, and two 2.4's. All silver Sunhans.

It's a great setup, but I am really liking that new Mavic.

 

[lil boss]

Thanks! Unfortunately that day all I had was that spot. It's near my house (but not so near that I'm worried about it being bad for my health).

I did not go out that day planning a distance run either, it was just going so well. Perfectly clear control and video (except for the video stop/start). 10000ft happened pretty quickly, then 15000ft... I knew I could not stop, then hit 20,2xxft and got the low battery come home warning and I listened. I flew out with a tail wind and knew I needed all my battery to rerun. Made it back with about 22% battery and landed safely.

I hate those high power lines and for the most part where I live. Lol
It would have been a pretty sweet video had I been able to record the whole thing.

As for my setup, it's the P3S, with DBS, and three amps. One 5.8, and two 2.4's. All silver Sunhans.

It's a great setup, but I am really liking that new Mavic.

Hi longdog... Sounds like you have a real nice set up there... As per your tailwind, headwind, it's always a guessing game. It would be nice if DJI could put some kind of wind measurement "thingy" on the drone so it could better estimate how much battery it needs to get back. I fly in a park by a river, and my favorite direction to fly is up river. I usually have a tail wind on the return trip. Plus, the battery has a big enough "fuel tank" to handle the range I am presently experiencing. That will probably change when I go to a booster. At that point I'm not sure which will come first.... the RTH being triggered, or my personal "scare factor" .
Good luck if you decide on the Mavic. Looks like a pretty neat package.

Have a good weekend.... Maybe I'll get lucky, and weatherman will be wrong. They are still forecasting rain for tomorrow (Saturday), and it has been raining for 2 days straight already. Haven't been able to get my thrills in flying .

 

[longdog]

Hi longdog... Sounds like you have a real nice set up there... As per your tailwind, headwind, it's always a guessing game. It would be nice if DJI could put some kind of wind measurement "thingy" on the drone so it could better estimate how much battery it needs to get back. I fly in a park by a river, and my favorite direction to fly is up river. I usually have a tail wind on the return trip. Plus, the battery has a big enough "fuel tank" to handle the range I am presently experiencing. That will probably change when I go to a booster. At that point I'm not sure which will come first.... the RTH being triggered, or my personal "scare factor" .
Good luck if you decide on the Mavic. Looks like a pretty neat package.

Have a good weekend.... Maybe I'll get lucky, and weatherman will be wrong. They are still forecasting rain for tomorrow (Saturday), and it has been raining for 2 days straight already. Haven't been able to get my thrills in flying .

Unfortunately I've been too busy with work to get any flight time in. Plus I have a professional licensing test I am taking in about a month and all spare time outside of work and family is spent studying. Fun fun fun.

Regarding the wind, I think the technology does provide enough data to calculate wind. If you look at Healthy Drones, your logs are able to show you wind speed and direction. It's really quite neat. If healthy drones can calculate this based on the drone behavior, then the DJI app should be able to do the same. Now, it may not be 100% accurate, but it should give you a wind speed +/- 5mph and a pretty accurate direction. That can potentially be used to calculate remaining battery based on location and distance from home.
I'd definitely like to see that.
Maybe Litchi will beat them to it.

My eye is on the Mavic, but I'm not an early adopter and will wait to see how it performs in real world before pulling any triggers. Not to mention I spent a bit of time and money in modifying my P3S that I am satisfied with its performance. The portability and extra battery of the Mavic may win me over and I may have my boosted DBS P3S up for sale in a few months. I'm sure someone would be pretty pleased with it and it's setup.

 

[lil boss]

Unfortunately I've been too busy with work to get any flight time in. Plus I have a professional licensing test I am taking in about a month and all spare time outside of work and family is spent studying. Fun fun fun.

Regarding the wind, I think the technology does provide enough data to calculate wind. If you look at Healthy Drones, your logs are able to show you wind speed and direction. It's really quite neat. If healthy drones can calculate this based on the drone behavior, then the DJI app should be able to do the same. Now, it may not be 100% accurate, but it should give you a wind speed +/- 5mph and a pretty accurate direction. That can potentially be used to calculate remaining battery based on location and distance from home.
I'd definitely like to see that.
Maybe Litchi will beat them to it.

My eye is on the Mavic, but I'm not an early adopter and will wait to see how it performs in real world before pulling any triggers. Not to mention I spent a bit of time and money in modifying my P3S that I am satisfied with its performance. The portability and extra battery of the Mavic may win me over and I may have my boosted DBS P3S up for sale in a few months. I'm sure someone would be pretty pleased with it and it's setup.

Good Morning longdog.
I did not know the logs were able to semi calculate the wind, interesting. As far as the Litchi app goes, I have one small issue with it. ARGtek panels do best with the channel setting on "Custom" and set to channel 22. With Litchi app, I cannot find a custom setting for channel 22. For now, I am using the DJI app and setting it to Custom 22. Which brings up anther question. Which is better... using the custom and manually setting to channel 22... (doing that the app will not search, it will stay on 22) or using the auto feature and letting the app search for a stronger channel when needed ??

As per the licensing test.... GOOD LUCK with that !! Take care

 

[longdog]

Thanks for the wishes!

In not sure which is the best channel setting. I never touched mine and I assume it's set on default/auto? Seems to work fine for me so I don't mess with it. I guess you can say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. If you want to experiment then go for it.
It's odd, always seems things like this are case by case; or environmentally influenced. Take for example the firmware, some people get 50ft on the same versions others can go 5 miles. May be similar case with the channels.
Disclosure - I run the latest firmware others swear at, seems fine to me. But, I am afraid to upgrade when the next version is released.

Good Morning longdog.
I did not know the logs were able to semi calculate the wind, interesting. As far as the Litchi app goes, I have one small issue with it. ARGtek panels do best with the channel setting on "Custom" and set to channel 22. With Litchi app, I cannot find a custom setting for channel 22. For now, I am using the DJI app and setting it to Custom 22. Which brings up anther question. Which is better... using the custom and manually setting to channel 22... (doing that the app will not search, it will stay on 22) or using the auto feature and letting the app search for a stronger channel when needed ??

As per the licensing test.... GOOD LUCK with that !! Take care

 

[lil boss]

I run the latest firmware others swear at, seems fine to me. But, I am afraid to upgrade when the next version is released.

LOL... I agree. I used to download the latest firmware right away. That's changed... when a new firmware has been released I am going to wait and see before I install it !!!!

 

[Martin Fiset]

The panel arrived today. Yeah it sucks. 1200 feet before RTH. IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE not a house or cell tower nothing for miles and miles. My 7dbi was getting me about 800 now. I think it's time to just go back to the factory antenna and wind surfer.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

Must be something wrong,, I got over 3000 meters (about 10,000 feets) with both 10 dbi and 7bi, over an open field, and I personally prefer the 7dbi panel.. I have the P3 standard in Canada.