Hi guys! So, I’ve been lurking on here for awhile since I got my P4, and I have to say you guys are pretty amazing! Anyway, I was wondering, let’s say you have a large piece of property with a great high point that you could put an antenna at the peak. Is it possible to use that antenna more or less as a mirror to increase the range of your drone? If so, what would that entail and would be required. Just kind of a interesting pet project. Thanks guys!
Linking Antennas?
- Thread starter Bnstreeter
- Start date
It's theoretically possible, but...
The device that does that job is called a repeater. The repeater takes a signal it receives and retransmits it, in real time, to the receiver. If the FCC allows the use of a 2.4gHz repeater, operating on the wi-fi band, You could transmit on, say, CH 13, the repeater receives your CH 13 signal and retransmits it on CH 15 (or whatever). Your bird is set to receive the signal on CH 15, and you're off to the races.
The questions are:
Are you legally allowed to do this?
Is there such a thing as a wi-fi repeater that will do this specific job?
Will the DJI software and hardware allow you to do this?
Whatever the answer turns out to be, I doubt you'll find something on Amazon for $20.00 that will do the job.
There are wi-fi range extenders out there, but to do the job right it will take more than that. You probably don't want to risk your investment by using something kids use to increase the length of the leash they use to connect to facebook.
Disclaimer:. What I know about this is knowledge I acquired during my stint with ham radio 30 years ago. For all I know there is something they sell on Amazon that will do a good job and does cost $20.00. Perhaps it's best if someone who really knows about this stuff chimes in with a solid answer...
Cheers
Thanks guys! All this radio stuff is super interesting, and the things that board members have done are incredible and I appreciate your patience with me being a newbie. Would anyone happen to know of anywhere I could read up on this sort of stuff?
One more thing,
You can increase range by upgrading the antenna on the bird. You could port out internal antenna to a BNC connector. From there you build a center fed 1/4 wave vertical dipole antenna. All it takes to do this is a pair of BNC connectors and about 8 or 9 inches of 50 ohm coaxial cable. The parts to do this cost less than $2.00.
This would almost certainly improve the range you're getting now.
Cheers
No, I'm getting decent range with the P4, no need to tinker. I did this with my Syma X8C. Bulkhead connector dead center top of the bird. Antenna wiring ported to BNC connector. The antenna itself is about 8" of length, and consisted of only a scrap of RG58U 50 ohm coax I had laying around. There are 2.4gHz antennas on baangood, folks are using them and are claiming success. Me, I go with what I know. A center fed, 1/4 wave dipole antenna is a design that's been around forever, and it still works.
I would bet money that a 1/4 wave vertical dipole would be more effective than those reflector things that everyone seems to be in love with.
It's possible to use a repeater or bidirectional relay station. I use telescopic mast to get above obstacles. Relay transceivers and alike are highly expensive if you only want to relay specific signals. The repeater someone posted here nigh work but you gotta boost your signals beyond FCC tresholds if you want to fly 360 degrees 5+ km. Especially with some trees in between!
Actually, 2.4 gHz is an amateur radio band. There are antennas, yagis, that have extraordinary gain in the direction they're pointed in, and that's the catch. If the antenna isn't looking at the bird, you lose the connection. Still, a three element yagi has way more gain then any of the reflector thingies some people around here seem to like, and aiming requirements aren't as critical as what you'd be facing with a beam (yagi) antenna with several directors. The difference is the same as what you see with flashlights. Some are a bit more "floody", others focus the light into a narrow spot.
The thing is that the transmitter has a finite amount of power, and is always close to the ground. The higher the bird is, the more it's ERP (effective radiated power) is. The plus side of this is that the birds RF output still remains omnidirectional as it's ERP increases. That's like a free boost in transmitter power along with a more sensitive receiver.
The more thought I give this the more sense it makes to me is to increasing the RF capabilities of the bird.
This is fantastic guys! Thank you! Rich, what does a commercially produced 1/4 wave dipole antenna look like?
It would look like an 8" soda straw popping atop your bird.. there's not much to it. You can go on banggood and search for "wi-fi rubber duck" antennas. They have a bunch of them. The cheapest one would work fine. You'll need a bulkhead mount BNC connector sits on top of the bird that connects to wiring in the bird.
You could also build a vertical ground plane antenna (out of a few clothes hangars), mount it to the top of a 10' length of 1/2 in. PVC pipe. That will increase range substantially.
Cheers
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