I think a healthy amount of Fear is a good thing when flying drones.
Antenna Mod - Mavic
- Thread starter TheLightSpeedz
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No not at all. Not when I can fly on private property where I can see 20 miles in any direction.
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I love the idea of the mod and the challenge of how to do it, make it work, where to put the battery, where to put the big antenna! It's the only reason I even touch these things. So for some of us, it doesn't defeat the purpose that it's not portable anymore, for some of us, modding for long-distance is the purpose!! When I get one, I will push it to it's limits and chances are I will never fold it up into the cute little package that it's intended for or fly it the way it's intended for. First thing I did with the P4 out of the box is shut off the avoidance sensors, after six flights I opened the P4 up and did the bat mod. I've never used any of the fancy features on any of my P3's and rarely take a picture or video with them! Point is, there are some of us that just want to tear these things down and build them back up to perform to a completely different specification that they were intended for. This is going to be fun![emoji41]
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My only worry is Hawks which occasionally get real interested when something is flying in their area. That and wind that changes direction sometimes in the middle of a flight.
I wish I had a nickel for every hawk that has come and checked me out. I have one that likes to follow me, and then when I finally turn around he swoops by real fast and close zooooooom - whooooooosh. I think it's a game to him...
I have issues with peregrine falcons where I fly.
They'll take out a Phantom when they have chicks.
Fastest animal in the world. 240 miles/hour.
They'll take out a Phantom when they have chicks.
Fastest animal in the world. 240 miles/hour.
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I totally 100% agree with you. Having already messed around with most of these mods for my Phantom 4, I think I'm going to just leave the Mavic alone, untouched, and with its stock antennas preserved. I too live in an urban area and every modification I installed on the P4 have made only a minor improvement, seldom worth the money spent. As it goes in urban areas, greater power and antennas, unless mounted to the roof of your house, make little to no difference when you're dealing with obstructions like all your neighbors' wifi signals spewing about. At least that's been my experience. I swear my RC looks like a joke now. It's so built-up with all these accessories, I need a separate set of luggage just to carry it around. Lol...just kidding. But seriously, it's so tricked-out with these mods, it's a mess and offers at best only a very minimal improvement in the urban area where I live over the stock antennas the original product came with - probably would've done just as well adding those $20 Windsurfers.
In all fairness, my first purchase was just a basic Itelite antenna and that made the most significant improvement in my signal strength to date but, please understand, it didn't perform any "distance miracles" either. Distance may have improved by about 20%-25% (always depending on environment) but saw no improvement in penetration which is what's needed if you're flying in urban areas (unless you're going to stand on the roof of your house). After using this set-up for many months, I then decided to bite the bullet and spend a couple hundred more on the Sunhans amp kit to complete the whole now fully-boosted package.
I can tell you quite honestly, I see very little difference while flying in my urban neighborhood and it's likely because the amps have now increased the power so much, it would make sense that the whole comm system has become more sensitive to neighboring interference, for example, my neighbors' wifi systems. I'm quite sure if I go out to an empty field in the middle of nowhere, I'll see a considerable improvement in signal strength. But that's not typically how I fly. I only occasionally take the bird to the countryside for some extraordinary scenic shots, worthy of posting because they're all long drives. Most of my flying, sheerly out of convenience and, yes, laziness, is out of my backyard (totally open to the foothills behind me, so not as congested as it could be considering I'm at the outer edge of my neighborhood). But I'm still picking up all the interference from neighbors. Reality in the real-world-use is that these add-ons make little difference to your range unless you're in a wide open area. and I believe the 4.3 miles I'll get "stock" out of the Mavic will suit me just fine. Plus they're not omnidirectional, which can only be a plus. I won't have to worry as much about aiming the RC directly at the bird.
Happy flying.
Better amps (bandpass filtering, noise, rwceive gain,etc..) and >16dbi directional antennas will make a big difference!
Flying in an urban environment is like conversing at a Kiss concert. You can talk. You can talk loud. You can yell. You can yell loud. Doesn't matter. A person more than three feet away still can't hear you. And if you give him a hearing aid, that will just make it worse.
correct.- but that's why directional antennas and proper bandpass filters in the amps Will help... And using more power Will make you the loudest to the Bird..
Has anyone thought of strapping solar panels on quads not to charge the battery but extend it, probably not possible but would be interesting as it could theoritically extend battery life
Could a Thermal Image Camera or mod be done to the Mavic?
Im new to this and not mechanically inclined but fascinated by you folks and your stories and thoughts.
Im new to this and not mechanically inclined but fascinated by you folks and your stories and thoughts.
Since they'd be tiny, the weight of them plus associated electronics will more than likely negate any extra charge they produce ending up with a shorter flight time.
I have no doubt when you know what you're doing, you can assemble your own the ultimate kit and make significant gains with all the right parts. And it does sound like you know what you're doing. For my P4, I just purchased the Itellite antenna and necessary internal cables they offer online in a kit form. There's another kit that starts with the antenna and adds two Sunhans amps as well. But I was initially drawn to the cleaner look of just the antenna. After I installed the antenna, I noticed a significant gain in distance when I was flying in an open field (no obstructions). But when I attempted to fly around my own neighborhood, there was little to no gain in distance. The signal was lost as soon as any of the neighboring structures (homes) blocked the LOS between RC and drone. From what I've seen on YouTube, I knew I could do better. I've seen several videos posted where the drone pilot has take off from their backyard or front yard, and have flown out to much greater distances. In almost any urban area, as soon as you're a block way from home base, you're bound to have a building obstructing your LOS, unless you take it straight down the street. But that's not how these pilots are flying them. They're taking off in a rather tight area of homes and other buildings, and flying considerable distances to reach their downtown areas. They're taking off from their street and there are several obstacles between them and their drone during the flight. I'm not as interested in standing in an open field just to earn the ability to say I flew 8+ miles away. I'd prefer to fly around the home area and not be concerned with losing my signal two blocks away. I'm flying at altitudes of 200, and have tried taking it up to 300 and 400. My signal still drops off pretty quick.
To be fair, I have yet to drive to an open field and try this new configuration (since adding the amps) for a fairer comparison. But I can say that around my own neighborhood, I see no improvement and am losing my signal at about the same or close to the same distance as I was before adding the amps. Sorry for the long post. It just seems no matter what I modify, I can't achieve the distance others are achieving from their backyards. I'm getting a Mavic Pro soon and have decided to keep everything stock. I'll see how that goes for me.
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Well I think the itelite DBS panels make your signal extremely directional for distance, whereas the stock antennas make a wider but shorter distance.
For flying around your neighborhood the stock is probably better, if you're going for distance the panel makes more sense.
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For flying around your neighborhood the stock is probably better, if you're going for distance the panel makes more sense.
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