DBS mod with Windsurfer

[longdog]

I did the DBS mod to my P3S. The range was decent. Unfortunately I don't have a bar to measure by. But I got up to about 1600 ft of range in a suburb of NYC. Tons of wifi interference, high power lines near by. My signal warning for interference was going off all the time.

I then for the heck of it made a windsurfer to go behind the DBS antenna to make the signal stronger/more wide. I noticed the DBS was very directional.

This new windsurfer got me to about 2200 feet and also helped recover signal faster if I lost the connection.

All in all it seemed to help. Can't wait to try out in a much less populated area.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Mattia]

It should be effective but ugly... Any idea about a more "standard" windsurfer?

 

[WilliamM]

OMG, my kid would never go to the park with me if I had one of those. She's a teenage girl, you know how they are.

 

[longdog]

It should be effective but ugly... Any idea about a more "standard" windsurfer?

I suppose I could make it smaller. But might lose some of the effect, no?

 

[Zuzua]

The curvature and surface smoothness of the windsurfers are very important, to be honest I am surprised you are getting any performance increase! I don't mean to put down your ingenuity, just stating what I observed.
If you do decide to better your setup, I would look at using smooth aluminum tape

 

[flpholt]

just get some sunhans and put on it so you can get rid of giant alien looking sail

 

[longdog]

OMG, my kid would never go to the park with me if I had one of those. She's a teenage girl, you know how they are.

lol. Thankfully my daughter is to young to care still.

 

[longdog]

just get some sunhans and put on it so you can get rid of giant alien looking sail

Ha yea it's probably going to end up there. I'm experimenting at this point to see if I can easily DIY some extra range with what I've got at my fingertips.

 

[longdog]

The curvature and surface smoothness of the windsurfers are very important, to be honest I am surprised you are getting any performance increase! I don't mean to put down your ingenuity, just stating what I observed.
If you do decide to better your setup, I would look at using smooth aluminum tape

Yea, that was a little bit of a problem; the smoothness that is. The only things I had that might work out was a limited supply of hot glue and some old semi dried out bathroom silicon. The silicon bond did not seem to hold well. The hot glue did but I only had so much and used it sparingly.
I know I could get the foil down better and may try that if I get some more suitable glue from the store.
The frame I used was a piece of lexan I had lying around the shop.

By aluminum tape; do you mean the stuff used on dryer vents? If so, I think I have a whole role in the shop. That might work great!

 

[Zuzua]

@longdog: yea that's what I used to make mine, the tape they use on ac ducts. Try not to make it too heavy as the antaennas start flopping all over the place. And remember that your aim to the p3 will be crucial with the wind surfers, in fact with any antaenna mod as they are not omni directional! also if you are looking for penetration through trees and suburban areas short of putting amps on there really is no other way. These work good in los situations.
Good luck

 

[longdog]

@longdog: yea that's what I used to make mine, the tape they use on ac ducts. Try not to make it too heavy as the antaennas start flopping all over the place. And remember that your aim to the p3 will be crucial with the wind surfers, in fact with any antaenna mod as they are not omni directional! also if you are looking for penetration through trees and suburban areas short of putting amps on there really is no other way. These work good in los situations.
Good luck

Cool I may give a shot at a new one since I have the aluminum tape. I am guessing it does not matter if it says 3M on the tape? It's still all foil/aluminum duct tape.

So I don't make it so absurdly large again, does it matter the size? Or would a simple fanned out rectangular design suffice? The goal is to more consolidate the waves of wifi signal and also create a wider net to catch the retirn wifi ping from the aircraft.
So how big is too big? Is a cone shape better or just an arc shape?

 

[Rommel]

Best I got in NYC so far was about 1200 feet over a small cemetery in Queens. Stock phantom

 

[N017RW]

You might be enhancing the ground plane with this design but the curvature has nothing to do with it.

The point of a windsurfer parabola is to focus the signal on a vertical plane occupied by a/the dipole whilst maintaining phase.
This will not have the same effect on a patch antenna.

You could likely get the same [ground plane] result with a pie tin or license plate.

 

[longdog]

You might be enhancing the ground plane with this design but the curvature has nothing to do with it.

The point of a windsurfer parabola is to focus the signal on a vertical plane occupied by a/the dipole whilst maintaining phase.
This will not have the same effect on a patch antenna.

You could likely get the same [ground plane] result with a pie tin or license plate.

Interesting. So there may be no point to adding windsurfer contraption to the DBS antenna?

 

[longdog]

Best I got in NYC so far was about 1200 feet over a small cemetery in Queens. Stock phantom

Not bad considering its queens

 

[N017RW]

Correct longdog.

I believe it's referred to as a 'mash-up'.

There's no science behind it.

 

[longdog]

Correct longdog.

I believe it's referred to as a 'mash-up'.

There's no science behind it.

I see. Guess it's amps for me.
Been researching that anyways for a while learning all I can for now before ordering the parts.