Itellite DBS antenna disappointment

[barees63]

I just installed the Itellite DBS antenna for the P2V+ today, followed the official video.. the fiddliest bit was removing the original TX antenna connector which is covered in goop, I actually damaged the connector slightly with the outer ring of the male connector cracked but I managed to get it back into shape sufficiently get the new connector to mate with it and secured it with hot glue.. pretty sure it's making a decent connection.

First flight and I'm not blown away.. range was pretty much what I had before, no worse but not notably better I am flying from an area surrounded by trees which have a major impact on range and I was hoping the Itellite would improve penetration.

A bit disappointed given the high cost and destructive mod.. :-|

Looking at some other threads (eg. P3s) I see I'm not alone in this, I'm guessing (hoping) range increase is going to be more apparent with better basic conditions.

[EDIT] just tried in a different place where I previously got RTH at less than 200m due to tree cover, this time it got to 570m which is about the same point my P2 5.8Ghz 600mw video starts to break up completely so that's an improvement, essentially getting the same 5.8Ghz range for control as I get with a pretty decent 5.8Ghz FPV video setup.

 

[Mark The Droner]

I did the same thing on mine and so do a lot of other guys.

Best thing IMO is buy a new controller and do it again. They're not that expensive these days. Do some research, check youtube, use the right tools, and you won't mess it up the second time. The key is, once you have cut away the silicone off the ufl cable head with a pen knife, grasp it with a pair of needle nose and rotate it so that you know it's not stuck to the board anymore from the silicone. Then pull it straight up off the board. Good luck.

 

[barees63]

I think it's OK, I did get it loose before lifting it and removed it without pulling anything off the board but what I found was the outer ring of the connector on the board had cracked and bent in a little, I eventually managed to tease back into a round enough shape for the new connector to mate with it, I'd be surprised if this was a problem? I know some people were unlucky enough to have the ufl connector pull right off the board but that didn't happen..

 

[Mark The Droner]

The thing about doing mods is you want to be sure you do them one of two ways: either perfect or better than perfect. Otherwise, down the road you are going to end up with a big mess and you won't know why or what or where the problem is. Good luck.