Wind surfers do absolutely nothing?

[philmarker]

Hello everyone,

I have been flying my P4 for a couple weeks and was getting very little range. I read about the windsurfers and purchased the following SKYREAT Copper Parabolic Antenna Range Booster from amazon:

Amazon.com: SKYREAT Copper Parabolic Antenna Range Booster for DJI Phantom 4 Phantom 3 Professional Advanced Inspire 1 Controller Transmitter Signal Extend (2 pcs): Toys & Games



They received good reviews and most people said they increased range from 20-50% but did nothing for me. My range stayed exactly the same after many tests. Am I missing something? I thought they focused the signal and I would get at least a 10-20% increase. And yes I have them on and pointed correctly. Will I get better results with home made ones? Has any one tried these specific ones? Are these ones just garbage?

 

[Wibble]

They look ok so should be fine.
Have you tried the 32 channel hack?
Remember they are even more directional so you need to make sure you are always pointed at the Phantom.

 

[BigAl07]

Keep in mind there are MANY factors at work that are detrimental to your signal strength. It's possible that whatever is limiting your range is more prominent than the simple WindSurfers can overcome.

I added a set to my P3P and I would say 20% increase is about right. Nothing phenomenal but keep in mind all you're doing is trying to scavenge a few extra waves here and there.

 

[philmarker]

They look ok so should be fine.
Have you tried the 32 channel hack?
Remember they are even more directional so you need to make sure you are always pointed at the Phantom.

I haven't tried the the 32 channel hack. I thought I would get some range increase with these but they did nothing. I am pointing it directly at the phantom while flying. I always lose rc signal before video, with or without these on at the same distance.

 

[snowghost]

I tried the windsurfer I got for me P3 on the P4 and while I haven't taken it more than a couple thousand feet, I'm getting 100% signal the whole way. Just like on the P3 at great distance.

And heed Wibble's advice about orientation. They are very directional.

 

[Wibble]

What sort of area do you fly in? Before writing them off and buying another set try flying in a totally different area. Try flying before and after somewhere else first.

 

[philmarker]

What sort of area do you fly in? Before writing them off and buying another set try flying in a totally different area. Try flying before and after somewhere else first.

I fly in a suburban area. I tried it back to back and had no difference. Lost signal at the exact same place +- 50 ft. I also tried flying without them on and adding them on when I'm about to lose signal. They don't make a difference. Is there anyone whose added "windsurfers" and not increased their range even somewhat?

 

[isopro]

Windsurfer works best when they are tuned properly AND they are really directional, they must be pointed at the general direction of the aircraft, you can use the DJI GO Compass, to help you aim.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Did you have a range problem before you added the windsurfer?

If so, it could be your range problem is due to interference rather than a weak signal. If that's so, the solution is to remove the interference from the equation somehow.

If you ignore the interference and add a windsurfer, you're able to receive more signal, but you're also able to receive more interference. So you really haven't solved the problem.

 

[Wibble]

I fly in a suburban area. I tried it back to back and had no difference. Lost signal at the exact same place +- 50 ft. I also tried flying without them on and adding them on when I'm about to lose signal. They don't make a difference. Is there anyone whose added "windsurfers" and not increased their range even somewhat?

I meant travel to more remote area and then try with and without the windsurfers.
In the suburbs there will be lots of interference so try the 32 channel hack.

 

[philmarker]

I meant travel to more remote area and then try with and without the windsurfers.
In the suburbs there will be lots of interference so try the 32 channel hack.

Ok. Will do. However that's probably a 100 mile drive from me. :-(

 

[John Locke]

Ok. Will do. However that's probably a 100 mile drive from me. :-(

Check to make sure your transmission quality is set to 4mbps. If it's on 10mbps you will have this issue you describe. I recently went 15,000' in a rural area on the edge of suburban Orange County, CA with windsurfer, which is about double the distance I get without using windsurfer.

 

[Wibble]

Ok. Will do. However that's probably a 100 mile drive from me. :-(

That is one advantage of Britain - we may be as overcrowded as hell but no matter where you are you are no more than 74 miles from the nearest beach never mind an rural area. Even in the centre of London you only need travel maybe 10 miles to find a nice wide open space.

 

[Ramphex]

OP are your antennas with windsurfers pointed in a perpendicular relation to LOS of the aircraft? Definitely try the channel mod to maybe find a channel with less interference.

 

[Fallguy]

Hope he's not making the same mistake I first made by only flying 150ft up .

 

[Ramphex]

Hope he's not making the same mistake I first made by only flying 150ft up .

What happened?

 

[Fallguy]

What happened?

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[Ramphex]

Not too bad

How do you record your screen?

 

[Tron_X]

There's a possibility you have a TX/RX defect that the surfers will not address. My first P4 had a shorter range than the one that replaced it (I swapped it out for a defective lens). A couple times I had video breakup at as little as 500-1000 ft range. It's hard to think interference alone could have been the issue. I've flown a mile out with rock solid signal on the new bird (farthest I've needed to go) and it seems to have even better reliability than my P3 in terms of stable video at higher bitrates.