I give up: poor wifi range no matter what i do

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so I have tried the 8dbi tp link linear polarized antenna on the extender, a radiolabs wifi booster on the p2v, multiple rubber duck antennas on the p2v and now an fpvlr pinwheel on the p2v and LHCP 8dbi l-com patch antenna on the extender. Even changed out the pigtails thinking I may have damaged them or the small diameter cable was giving too high of losses.

......still no luck. I am lucky to get 600 ft at 200ft altitude. Strangely it seems fairly consistent despite all the antenna combos I have tried. The best I have had is about 900 feet. How is this possible? I am befuddled when I hear all these stories of 1km, 2km, 3000 feet. I just don't get it. Did I just get a dud? I need to try flying in more area. Only flown in about 4 areas so far. All have high wifi traffic but I cant imagine it would drop my range so significantly...especially from the reports im hearing from others also flying in busy wifi areas with good results.....

could I just have a bad camera tx or extender? or am I missing something?
 

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Your wifi range booster may be defective?
Even before the mod? Also some people say 1 antenna is better to use when using single antenna setup , than the other ( but not sure which, left or right )? Then leave the other hooked up to stock internal antenna!
I'm no expert, but I would either have the extender tested, or try another, also you might try RELINKING it to your phantoms camera! Maybe firmware issue?( conflict ) somewhere?
Just a few thoughts, I hope you figure it out, as long range can be fun, cloud flying is really cool, but you have to be able to get there first! Lol.

Jerry D
USA
( J Dot )
 
Stock setup even in wifi saturated area the minimum distance I'll get is around 800 feet give or take and in a park with a fair bit of WiFi I could do 1,300 feet stock setup on low preview quality or just about 1,000 feet on high preview quality. With mods I've done over 1.2km and could have gone further. It sounds to me like you've got a power output problem with either your P2V Camera, or the range extender. It wouldn't be the first time. Also it's worth noting that either port on the wifi range extender usually works fine. Also I used to have an antenna connected to one port on my range extended, but after some time I noticed I wasn't getting good performance and I switched to the other connected and my range was good again. I don't know if you're running a dual connector mod on your repeater or one, but you may want to switch the port the pigtail is connected to in case you have one faulty port like mine.
 
helixaviator said:
Strangely it seems fairly consistent despite all the antenna combos I have tried. The best I have had is about 900 feet. How is this possible? am I missing something?

"Consistent despite all the antenna combos I have tried" ... sounds like the smoking gun ... always points to a mod that isn't working right.

What if your mod connection on the repeater is faulty and you are always running off the repeater antenna... that would always show the same results...

Have you tried switching to the other u.fl jack inside the repeater?
Check the cable installed and make sure it isn't faulty? Or wrong cable?
The connection you can see in the picture... take it apart and make sure one side has a pin and one side has a socket?
Make sure the antennas you are using for the repeater are 2.4gHz and not 5.8?

Just throwing out stuff that popped into my head...

I had a customer that got an adapter cable and the end wasn't rp-sma... so the tip looked like this..
window-2-75.jpg


And then the end of the antenna cable WAS rp-sma... so it looked like this...
rp-sma-connector-plug.jpg


Therefore he was not making any positive contact on the center lead...
 
Down load a wifi speed tester and test the range extender speed and strenght. When I tested mine I was getting about 76000mbps. You can also test the range of the extender on ground by physical distance. Just a thought.
 
bs, bs, bs.....take it easy. i was in the same boat w/ you before. take your time and dont give up (rational). it will turn around some how and you will get a good result. we have so many expert here to help you (i wish im one of them). good luck and enjoy learning.
 
DBS said:
"Consistent despite all the antenna combos I have tried" ... sounds like the smoking gun ... always points to a mod that isn't working right.
.

Which points to a main reason why, at least in the US, any modifications to FCC Part 15 certified equipment is not legal to do other than by licensed amateur radio operators (hams). Yes, I know, "everybody" does it, but those with a ham license are doing it legally.
 
DBS said:
helixaviator said:
Strangely it seems fairly consistent despite all the antenna combos I have tried. The best I have had is about 900 feet. How is this possible? am I missing something?

"Consistent despite all the antenna combos I have tried" ... sounds like the smoking gun ... always points to a mod that isn't working right.

What if your mod connection on the repeater is faulty and you are always running off the repeater antenna... that would always show the same results...

Have you tried switching to the other u.fl jack inside the repeater?
Check the cable installed and make sure it isn't faulty? Or wrong cable?
The connection you can see in the picture... take it apart and make sure one side has a pin and one side has a socket?
Make sure the antennas you are using for the repeater are 2.4gHz and not 5.8?

Just throwing out stuff that popped into my head...

I had a customer that got an adapter cable and the end wasn't rp-sma... so the tip looked like this..
window-2-75.jpg


And then the end of the antenna cable WAS rp-sma... so it looked like this...
rp-sma-connector-plug.jpg


Therefore he was not making any positive contact on the center lead...

Thanks for the input guys. Yes, it would make sense that it is a mod issue since I am getting similar performance with all the antenna combos I have tried. However, everything looks good. I have the correct rp-sma connectors and pigtails are solid,, non-kinked etc. I am sorta leaning toward it being an extender issue. Perhaps I damaged something?

I think I will try rebinding the extender as a start and go from there. I have also had some weird aliasing issues even indoors with everything in close proximity (not a range issue). I have posted this in another thread. I will keep trying. Eventually, ill get it working right.

I may try going with the re700 extender(on the phantom vision+) when that becomes available.
 
after i modified all of my antennas (ie, direct., omni, sp. robber,) the signal gets stronger.... i have to aim it higher coz of the ground effect (i think). my last result was 3200 ft. horiz. distance and 600 ft high at altitude (trees all over ?). if i aim it lower the signal started losing. prior to that mod. (stock) 400 ft horiz. dist. and 80 ft. high alt. just an fyi.........!
 
Ranger003 said:
Down load a wifi speed tester and test the range extender speed and strenght. When I tested mine I was getting about 76000mbps. You can also test the range of the extender on ground by physical distance. Just a thought.

Do you have a specific wifi speed tester for iphone that works for this purpose?
 
I use GIST by Cisco. Global internet speed test. Google it and follow the link as it is difficult to find on the App Store. I pm'd you as we'll helixaviator.
 
Ranger003 said:
Down load a wifi speed tester and test the range extender speed and strenght. When I tested mine I was getting about 76000mbps. You can also test the range of the extender on ground by physical distance. Just a thought.


I get 7,878.8 kbps. I assume your result of 76000 mbps is actually 76000kbps which is 76mbps. At any rate that seems really fast. Being that wireless G maxes out at 54mbps not sure if I trust the result...hmmmm don't get it.
 

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