DIY Antenna Booster for Phantom 3

[dedstik]

I had a chance to fly David's antenna mod this morning.

It was a modest flight of only 1600M each way.

What was significant was the fact that I was flying in the heart of Silicon Valley in a location that can only be classified as "RF intensive". Without the Windsurfer I was regularly getting video drop outs at about 1200M due to the intensive 2.4 RF in the area. Not enough of a problem to abort a flight but still some unnecessary pucker factor moments

Today, using David's Windsurfer I had full bars the entire flight and not even a flicker on the video down-link.

:harry

 

[duse500]

If any of you have seen my post about want more distance,I finally did it today .my best LOA was 3500'.
Today I used Davids windsufer at the beach(NOT the same place I did the 3500' LOA)
Off the beach ,straight out into the atlantic
I did 2 long range trips ,first was 13350,( round trip 26696)' Max atti was 99'
Second was 13946' one way ,(27892 R/T. )Max atti was 102'
First trip I came back with 40% battery
second trip was 28%
I went full throttle out on the second trip and I believe that sucks up the battery more??
Average atti was 40-60' , I just went to 100 around the dredges
second trip I was at 50% P3P battery and 3 bars on the controler,the RC flashed RED and said low battery RTH , and gave me the option of canceling or RTH. I hit cancel and RTH on my own I was already out at 13900',,,
Why would it do it at 50%
Thanks David ,

 

[jryser]

David is the man. He reminds me why I still have love for our crazy country.


Sent from my PT beating heart

 

[flyNfrank]

If any of you have seen my post about want more distance,I finally did it today .my best LOA was 3500'.
Today I used Davids windsufer at the beach(NOT the same place I did the 3500' LOA)
Off the beach ,straight out into the atlantic
I did 2 long range trips ,first was 13350,( round trip 26696)' Max atti was 99'
Second was 13946' one way ,(27892 R/T. )Max atti was 102'
First trip I came back with 40% battery
second trip was 28%
I went full throttle out on the second trip and I believe that sucks up the battery more??
Average atti was 40-60' , I just went to 100 around the dredges
second trip I was at 50% P3P battery and 3 bars on the controler,the RC flashed RED and said low battery RTH , and gave me the option of canceling or RTH. I hit cancel and RTH on my own I was already out at 13900',,,
Why would it do it at 50%
Thanks David ,

The message was given based on your distance away from Home point and how much charge remained in your Smart Battery. The software uses those figures to allow you to return back with a safe amount of time remaining. The feature itself can be turned off, but why do that? Btw, most that do distance flying will recommend that you always start by flying into the wind until your controller flashes red, and then fly home with the wind. Several have made the mistake and flown in the wrong sequence and end with not enough battery to make the return flight.

Too bad you didn't record your flight to share it with us.

 

[duse500]

The message was given based on your distance away from Home point and how much charge remained in your Smart Battery. The software uses those figures to allow you to return back with a safe amount of time remaining. The feature itself can be turned off, but why do that? Btw, most that do distance flying will recommend that you always start by flying into the wind until your controller flashes red, and then fly home with the wind. Several have made the mistake and flown in the wrong sequence and end with not enough battery to make the return flight.

Too bad you didn't record your flight to share it with us.

Thanks for the battery info.
Yes we had a 6-7 mph onshore wind yesterday(wind in my face) so it was perfect conditions.
I did record the first flight out ,but even though it was a exhilarating for me,I figure it would be boring to everyone else

 

[Sammynels]

I searched you web site 5 times and can't find that one piece double antenna booster for phantom 3. Am I blind?

 

[Sammynels]

Hi David, I found it and ordered it. Nice that it comes in colors also. I agree you shouldn't share the file. You did the work, designed it, I'm sure you went through multiple versions, so you deserve the credit and the profit. You might want to consider a licensing deal with DJI where you get a royalty on every one sold, and the Chinese sit up all night listening to printers!!!
Since I don't know much about 3D printers, how long does a printer take to make one? Thanks, looking forward to getting your antenna!

 

[Alton Mills]

I tried mine out and seems to work fairly well

 

[phantom3menace]

Great concept but; When a reflector is placed near the radiating element, the characteristic impedance of the radiator changes value.
This is why an impedance converter, usually a stub parallel to the radiating element and a tuning capacitor in series is used to cancel the inductive part
of the stub reactance. Look up; 2 element yagi construction and Gamma Match. The spacing between the radiator and the reflector is critical, usually
about .2 wavelengths. I would guess that the remote transmitter is seeing something like 10 to 20 ohms instead of 50 ohms. This will result in mismatch loss.
The only way to really tell if this is working is to set up a reference receiving antenna and with a spectrum analyzer and observe the signal level difference at a fixed distance in the far field. Also need to observe the SWR at the transmitter and tune the gamma match for 1:1 vswr.
Lee Snook
RF Engineer

Way too technical information for the most of us here on the forum. There's the one video where the guy goes straight up past the normal range. He then loses signal for a brief second. Then he pops on his signal reflector and regains full signal again and goes even higher.

I'd say these simple reflectors do the job without pulling out all the scientific mumbo jumbo like what you just said.

 

[jryser]

And I got three miles today. NO degradation of signal.


Sent from my PT beating heart

 

[atki]

Way too technical information for the most of us here on the forum. There's the one video where the guy goes straight up past the normal range. He then loses signal for a brief second. Then he pops on his signal reflector and regains full signal again and goes even higher.

I'd say these simple reflectors do the job without pulling out all the scientific mumbo jumbo like what you just said.

A tad disrespectful to a guy giving fact rather than a questionable video.

 

[atki]

And I got three miles today. NO degradation of signal.


Sent from my PT beating heart

Please post the video

 

[BenDronePilot]

Way too technical information for the most of us here on the forum. There's the one video where the guy goes straight up past the normal range. He then loses signal for a brief second. Then he pops on his signal reflector and regains full signal again and goes even higher.

I'd say these simple reflectors do the job without pulling out all the scientific mumbo jumbo like what you just said.

+1 that. This type of reflector works great. It doesn't need to be absolutely perfectly shaped and calibrated in every way to see a distinct improvement in range and reception. The benefits to these kinds of reflectors have been long proven and tested for years already.

 

[Dome]

I just repeat that quite any reflector let work better the stock antenna! The stock antenna are simply an half wave dipole with capacitive load to adapt impedance to 50ohm due to virtual ground. To make a correct and efficient antenna system is a matter of science and math calculations and instruments, not an empirical try and error.

 

[Kman]

@david wettlaufer Got the windsurfer today. High quality piece!!

How do the clips work? I can't figure it out.

 

[snerd]

@david wettlaufer Got the windsurfer today. High quality piece!!

How do the clips work? I can't figure it out.

Same here! Received mine today, but I'm in another town seeing the sawbones and getting stitches out of shoulder. So I can't try it until I get back home and charge some batteries. Hopefully later this evening I can get a couple batteries flown, anyway. I saw the clips, and the instruction strip, but don't have my RC at the moment.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Kman]

Same here! Received mine today, but I'm in another town seeing the sawbones and getting stitches out of shoulder. So I can't try it until I get back home and charge some batteries. Hopefully later this evening I can get a couple batteries flown, anyway. I saw the clips, and the instruction strip, but don't have my RC at the moment.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro

Just flew with the windsurfer. Pretty cool. Didn't use the clips. I don't think they are necessary.

 

[nhoover]

Dave offered to send me the clips as an add-on since my order was from before he had them. But I declined - it works fine for me without. If someone is using, please post a picture showing how they look.

 

[flax]

How about cutting a 'Pringles' can (carton) in half and use those as a booster? As far as I know, they are lined with aluminium inside.

Ah, I have just searched this forum on 'Pringles' and it has been done and seems to work.

 

[flyNfrank]

@david wettlaufer Windsurfer arrived to and I was impressed! I was expecting naked hardware but it shows up with all dressed and ready to go. I'm glad to put the note in mentioning there were clips otherwise I may have thrown them away by mistake. They were a breeze to install. At 1st I thought they were not needed but realized without them I would be forcing the tablet into the back of the windsurfer causing it to point more at the ground.

In my opinion I thought everything fit perfect. I could where some may think the parts were a little snug, but they're not especially if one compensates for wear.

I do have a suggestion that I will mention in a convo. I'm afraid if I bring it up here others will copy it and add it to their design.

Btw, by the numbers this is without a doubt the best Phantom 3 mod for performance and the money bar none!