Increase your range for under 10 bucks... DIY MOD

DBS

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I did this to my first P2V+ last year and I couldn't stand it anymore... Had to do it again. :ugeek:

This one came out a little more "stealth" looking with the front antenna hidden inside the body.

Can't wait to get out and try it... **** wind :evil:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAUXPI8VTF4[/youtube]
 
Are you saying if I fly mine sideways I'll get better range?
 
Top Notch Big Dawg.... Thanks for sharing that. If you don't mind I would like to add it on my website as well.

Btw, you only need to buy the one cable?
 
flyNfrank said:
Top Notch Big Dawg.... Thanks for sharing that. If you don't mind I would like to add it on my website as well.

Btw, you only need to buy the one cable?


Go ahead with it on your site Frank

Yeah... just the one cable... the other one (S) is perfect for the front location

Sentec said:
Are you saying if I fly mine sideways I'll get better range?

Yes... you will... it's been like that since the original Vision model.
 
DBS - Fascinating solution, really ingenious. You Da-man!
 
Can we buy those ITELITE antennas yet? I would love to add one to my RC Extender.
 
Mako79 said:
That so genius!!!! Love your mods.

Would this work?
Instead of removing the white stuff, just add an extension cable.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MMCX-male-ri ... 43c7c7f47f

That will totally work... I did that the first time I did this mod last year.

FYI... the only reasons I chose a different route this time.
One less connector/failure point.
One less right angle in the cable routing.

Using a full cable would give the best overall signal... but the difference is probably so small it would be hard to measure.
And will make the mod much easier for those who don't like soldering...

I'm gonna add this to the description under the video :ugeek:
 
Got my MMCX extension cable today and redirected the antennas to front and back as per DBS instructions. Test flight this weekend. My personal best for stock FPV is 550m @ 640x480@15fps.

DBS%20%2410%20mod%201.png


Hopefully no interference. I should have ordered a longer cable.
DBS%20%2410%20mod%204.png


Mounted external wifi antenna on angle.
DBS%20%2410%20mod%203.png



Thank you again DBS.
 
I did something like this. I added extenders to the WiFi unit and put a pair of 3dbi antenna on the landing gear.

Pro's: it moved the WiFi signal outside the drone body so I got way better GPS signal and improved WiFi signal (Video). Nice and sharp video.

Con's: The extra weight of the antenna was minimal but may cut battery life slightly. Worse, the WiFi signal seemed to swamp the control signal a bit and actually decreased my overall range by a few hundred feet.

I wonder if moving the WiFi antenna outside the drone body might have the same effect on the control antenna in your mod? Have you checked the range yet?
 
I haven't been able to get out since I did the mod... Went out a week ago Sunday but had problems with a bunch of hot air balloons being launched at my spot :(

Last year I had a significant increase in range with this same mod which is why I went ahead and did it again... you could effectively produce three same results by flying sideways... all it's really doing is pointing the antennas in the direction of the control point. And they remain up high enough to stay out of the way of the control antennas.
 
Got my MMCX extension cable today and redirected the antennas to front and back as per DBS instructions. Test flight this weekend. My personal best for stock FPV is 550m @ 640x480@15fps.

DBS%20%2410%20mod%201.png


Hopefully no interference. I should have ordered a longer cable.
DBS%20%2410%20mod%204.png


Mounted external wifi antenna on angle.
DBS%20%2410%20mod%203.png



Thank you again DBS.


Good luck Mako... that came out very nice indeed.
 
Good luck Mako... that came out very nice indeed.


DBS%20antenna%20relocation.jpg


Worked well.
640x480@15FPS = 780m, about 30% improvement.
DBS%20atenna%20relocation%20640x480%2015fps.png


The real kicker was the 640x480@30fps. Managed 650m, where it used to be about 200m.
DBS%20antenna%20relocation%20640x480%2030fps.png


Just a note, when you rotate 90 degrees, the fpv drops. This just proves how silly and ineffective it is to place then antenna on the sides of the phantoms.

My next test will probably break the 1km mark. I will run the FPV booster app and post results here.

I would recommend this mod if you get the MMCX female to male extension cable. Its less than $10 and all plug and play.

I don't usually do distance, 800m was quite nerve racking. I just cannot believe what sorcery DJI has with the Lightbridge tech. 720p at 2000m for the P3 and 1080p with the full standalone system. Crazy.
 
Rth when you lose 5.8ghz control.
 
  • Like
Reactions: StevenQX
Pretty cool, simple mod. Nice Job
 
Set this up and Wow what a diff it made!!! 640x480@30fps stayed on entire time... huge increase!!!

Did slight variqtion..routed cable through hole zome of the cam cables come out of ( being careful to keep it away from motor obviously) and just used hot glue to angle the antenna.. bloody windy and the antenna/glue held up to 55mph speeds :)

Cant wait to do more testing with this. My area saturated in 2.4ghz so any to increase is great. But ya at 400m I still had no lag at 640x480 30 fps... amazing!

Thanks so much for posting it up.

Btw the right angle connector soneone else suggested (instead of using UFL) is like $4 from china.i went plug and play route.....so $4 and 30 mins well spemt!! :)

Next mod is to hookup my spare 2.4ghz booster to the RE :) awaiting the $4 cable lol
 
Wow I never noticed this thread actually still had some life in it... cool results here...

DBS%20antenna%20relocation.jpg


Worked well.
640x480@15FPS = 780m, about 30% improvement.
DBS%20atenna%20relocation%20640x480%2015fps.png


The real kicker was the 640x480@30fps. Managed 650m, where it used to be about 200m.
DBS%20antenna%20relocation%20640x480%2030fps.png


Just a note, when you rotate 90 degrees, the fpv drops. This just proves how silly and ineffective it is to place then antenna on the sides of the phantoms.

My next test will probably break the 1km mark. I will run the FPV booster app and post results here.

I would recommend this mod if you get the MMCX female to male extension cable. Its less than $10 and all plug and play.

I don't usually do distance, 800m was quite nerve racking. I just cannot believe what sorcery DJI has with the Lightbridge tech. 720p at 2000m for the P3 and 1080p with the full standalone system. Crazy.

Absolutely Awesome with the 640x480@30fps results!!!

Pretty cool, simple mod. Nice Job

Thank-you sir

Set this up and Wow what a diff it made!!! 640x480@30fps stayed on entire time... huge increase!!!

Did slight variqtion..routed cable through hole zome of the cam cables come out of ( being careful to keep it away from motor obviously) and just used hot glue to angle the antenna.. bloody windy and the antenna/glue held up to 55mph speeds :)

Cant wait to do more testing with this. My area saturated in 2.4ghz so any to increase is great. But ya at 400m I still had no lag at 640x480 30 fps... amazing!

Thanks so much for posting it up.

Btw the right angle connector soneone else suggested (instead of using UFL) is like $4 from china.i went plug and play route.....so $4 and 30 mins well spemt!! :)

Next mod is to hookup my spare 2.4ghz booster to the RE :) awaiting the $4 cable lol


Killer result!!! $4 mod FTW!!!

Maybe this is what they did to get the 4 km range on Phantom 3 lol

Nahhh... the P3 doesn't use the circular polarized patches... it has linear omnis in all 4 legs... so no need for upgrading the birdside... no need for circular polarization... no need for amps and boosters and batteries and booster apps any longer with the Lightbridge models... ITELITE has a tiny little panel coming that will run those suckers out as far as the battery will fly no problem.

This first test was out to 3 miles but we got more to post soon.


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