Stock birdside antenna replacement
- Thread starter PhantomPhrank
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Watching this with great interest
Coming from an FPV long range fixed wing background, I've done a fair bit of experimenting with different antenna combos to achieve distance.
Coming from an FPV long range fixed wing background, I've done a fair bit of experimenting with different antenna combos to achieve distance.Looking good! I installed the DBS mod and got out to 800 meters in a residential area. Are those FPVLR or Maxx UAV? I ordered the Maxx UAV dipoles and should get them next week. I'm gonna try to get away from these high voltage power lines and get to a more remote location and see if I can get a better result. I'll be interested in your result.
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They are from Maxx UAV, nicely made. You should be getting much better than 800 meters with DBS. In the country I was getting 2500 meters with just the DBS. But it is all about the location, and with the DBS on how well your aiming is. That is very important as the distance increases.
Yeah, I agree and I was a little bit disappointed. But, my subdivision has some serious trunk lines running through it and I am discounting the results based on this. I own some mountain property and will likely go up the in the next month or so. That will be the ultimate test as it is very remote. In the meantime I can drive 20 minutes and get to a fairly remote area, so we'll see...
PhantomPhrank!
PhantomPhrank!
Hopefully the weather will be acceptable tomorrow for a short ranged test at least. Today they're calling for snow sleet and freezing rain, so not today.
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I will add one side note from doing not only this mod but also the DBS mod on my RC. Inside the RC all 3 antenna cables are not only snapped on, but glued on the board. But the Wi-Fi connectors within the gamble for the Wi-Fi are only snapped on without any glue to help them stay in place. They seem to pop off with ease, which makes me wonder about people having issues with their range being so short. The possibility of one or both these wires popping off during manufacturing, shipment or use.
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Got out today for on short test flight, one battery. Hands started getting cold. First off the place I went today was not my best location for a good range test. The first 1000 meters is farmland, but after that it becomes dense residential. Got out to 2172 before I started losing signal and RTH tried to kick in, but that could have been partly my fault as I was having some issues with aiming my DBS correctly. The line on the map (drone to me) was way off at a angel, like almost 45°, so as I got farther out it became harder to be dead on. But in my view the test went great, as I don't think I'd would have made it that far in this location without the new antenna. But we know it sure didn't hurt with range or signal strength till 2072 meters (first error), and again that could have been me.
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William do the inter cables come with these? No mention of these on Maxx website. Also did you glue them? Thanks
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No the cables did not, I had them as extras from the DBS mod kit. When doing the DBS mod I had upgraded the wires in the RC to better ones (3x 8" Mini PCI IPX U.FL to RP-SMA Antenna RG178 Cable for DJI Phantom 3 Standard | eBay), so still had these lighter ones. You can get them on Ebay for very little. I did not glue them, didn't want to make a mess if I needed to switch out the wires. It's easy to get back inside if I needed.
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Good idea. I used the ones that came with the Maxx antenna. Might get these and switch them out. Thanks
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Can anyone that owns these get this dimension exactly in mm for me please? I'm guessing that it's 58mm.
Not sure I'd have the motivation to open up my remote after all that work to switch out these cables. Good luck.
Yeah. I went from stock to ARGtec to Maxx so know my way around in there. Would like to get the better cables in there and button it up for good. Or untill that battery dies anyway.
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Thanks for sharing that. I think I'll do the same in the RC.
I managed 3250 feet yesterday by flying a different route. I'm still in the 'hood, but staying away from the power lines. It seems to have made a difference. Video cut out around 2300 and, boy is that a weird feeling continuing to push it without seeing where you are. Bazookas should be here tomorrow and hopefully I'll get more flying time next weekend.
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I'm a little confused about how to access the bird's rf connectors. Are they accessible from the belly by removal of the gimble? I thought you had to open the bird up from the top.
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I found a video on Youtube.... it looks like you just pop the 2 "anti drop" pins. Then you take the 4 rubber white dampers out. Then there are 2 little doors on top of the gimbal, each has 2 small phillips screws holding it on. Remove those. Open the doors. Then pop off the u.fl connectors. In other words.... NO.... you don't have to open the bird up. I'll try to find that video again.
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