Argtek range extending mod problems

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Hi, I just modded my controller with the Argtek range extender antennae and I've run into problems. There seems to be very little signal coming from the controller and my video feed and range are greatly reduced. I've gone back into the controller and checked connections, swopped around wiring and antennae but nothing has worked. I bought the mod from amazon.com and I'm pretty confident that it's a genuine blue proton product. I believe that the long antenna included in the mod are 10 dbi which from what I've read should be powerful enough to do the job, it's almost like there's very little signal being transferred in and out of the controller. Could anybody suggest a test that can be done to assess the signals going to and from the controller? To compound things, I managed to damage the original antenna taking it out so I can't even revert to my original setup. I have been trying to source a replacement P3 antenna, from what I understand any P3 antenna will do? I have found it very difficult to source replacement parts for the P3 SE, maybe in other parts of the world it's easier but in ireland the dji store won't ship to here and there are very few replacement parts available on ebay etc. I have been in contact with dji support but that means shipping the controller to the Netherlands for repair when all I need is a replacement antenna which I can install myself. I'm fairly new to this so any info or advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks
 
Had the same problem with the Argtek tried all combinations of the supplied antennas and nothing worked, signal dropped out at 100 Mtrs, was flying 1k on stock antenna, purchased from Amazon and said Blue proton on the box, sent back and got refund
 
Had the exact same experience, used to get 1km plus esp in open areas but after the argtek mod lucky to get over 100m and my video feed to my tablet is gone to seed though i can still get video on my android phone. I've arranged a return to amazon and have ordered another kit straight from blue proton - i reckon it's worth another go, i think there's a problem with the wiring, it's possible that the antennae are fine but the signal isn't being conducted properly, i'm going to get a TV guy to have a look at it. There's a thread on this forum on switching to FCC mode - Switch to FCC mode in Europe, and fly miles instead of just 300 meters with P3SE I installed the modded dji app earlier and i was able to fly over 500m in an urban area even with the limited signal that i have so the dji mod does seem to work
 
I never found his products any good. When he posts videos online on range tests I usually get further range on stock setup with many of my drones.

Why do you think they work well for some people and badly for others?
 
I have read that there are some copies of the Argtek antennas and they don't work, not sure about how you go about identifying the fake ones, i do no that out of the three leads that come from the bar to hold the antenna's were not the same as the ones i saw in the video the white wire on my Antenna was actually grey, not sure if that identifies the fake from original antenna, but there are loads of postings on forums stating they are actually worse than stock antenna, then there are postings that people have seen a vast difference in range, one thing to make sure is that the connectors are inserted properly and that the pins in the center of the connectors are not bent over they are very fragile, check your connections give the wires a gentle tug to make sure they are snapped in all the way home
 
Yeah there are differences in wire colour between the stock and the mod but also between the different phantom models - i have the se and the mod has a white wire going to the middle antenna wheras i think the argtek mod for the P3 standard has a grey wire in the middle antenna position. I like the idea of placing the antennae outside the controller and allowing someone to put whatever antennae they want onto it. There can't be many reasons why the argtek mod doesn't work, i'm open to correction but it seems to me that it can only be down to a few reasons, dodgy antennae or dodgy wiring/connections and there must be a way to test and eliminate these reasons to find out where the problem lies - any techie people out there with an opinion on that?

You're right about the connections inside the controller, they're tiny and i was worried about damaging the pins but i've gone back in a few times and i'm pretty sure that the male connections attached to the board are ok, i'd be more worried about the connectors at the end of the argtek wiring, it's hard to see what's going on inside those.

When removing my original stock antenna i managed to pull the connector off the end of the wire - anybody have any suggestions how i might reconnect that or maybe connect a coaxial cable/connector to it to allow me to plug it into one of the inputs on the argtek bracket?

Many thanks
 
you can always check the cables for continuity and make sure they are all ok and also check for any shorts across the cables, i see your in Ireland same as myself
 
you can always check the cables for continuity and make sure they are all ok and also check for any shorts across the cables, i see your in Ireland same as myself

That's great, I have a multimeter I'll check that out. I had the drone out today and I'm finding the best setup on the Argtek is when I use all 3 omni directional antennae, the flat antennae aren't really working for me no matter how I use them. Yes, I'm in Clare :) Regards
 
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Howdy, just to let people know that i returned the original Argtek mod that i started this thread with and ordered another one and the replacement is far better. Today i flew my P3 SE over 3km and i still hadn't lost contact when i turned it around and the video feed was perfect all the way. I was flying it in a very open area across an estuary but still i was impressed with the range. It's a mad feeling to know that you can fly that far away and it's made owning a drone far more interesting.

I should say that I had been messing around with different formulae since i installed the first mod trying to increase the range. I also broke the original stock antenna taking it out and i haven't been able to source a replacement which in retrospect was a good thing because it forced me to stick with the argtek and to try different things to make it work. One of the things i tried was the modded dji go app that allows the drone to fly in FCC mode and i did see a significant improvement after that even with the original argtek mod which was only giving me a couple of hundred metres before i changed to FCC. I also found that using the 3 omni directional antennae worked much better than the flat panel antennae and i was also using direction and height to keep the drone from losing contact with the RC.

I'm not promoting the Argtek, they seem to be hit and miss but i'm glad i stuck with it. I ordered the first one off amazon.com but i ordered the second directly from blue proton - they look exactly the same so i don't know if there's any difference but i reckon it would be safer to go straight to the source. Thanks for the responses to this thread and happy flying :)
 
did you make sure you had the SE version of the antenna and not the standard? SE version the black cable is longer and the white cable is longer for the standard version.
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