DIY Antenna Booster for Phantom 3

Dome · Jul 23, 2015

Chuck Young said:
I have a different philosophy. It is a difference between engineers and scientists. Scientists believe the community as a whole benefits from the exchange of ideas and information. Engineers do not agree with that approach and if they don't know or can't get the information from a scientist, they simply approximate what they don't know with the equation for a sphere.

Lol

Lol ... Engineers spend their whole time solving problems that scientists and commercials toghether create to the community!

radus77 · Jul 23, 2015

Hi guys...
Today I had a second fly test on my antenna booster. I flew 5500m and still I had full transmitter and video range on 100m high. Probably I can also fly to 7000m but I worry about battery to come back to home. When I came I still had 17% battery.
I guess the Dji Phantom 3 has great range.
Now I will wait for battery booster

Cheers...

eliomartin · Jul 23, 2015

Good morning, when you will put more antennas for sale on Ebay? I want to buy one. At least one must be from Brazil. kkkk. Elio

Alex_ · Jul 23, 2015

david wettlaufer said:
Let me apologize ahead of time if I take a while to answer e-mails and messages as I'm in the process of moving quite a distance very suddenly within a 2 week window. I will continue to print, prep & ship items as I can, but please bare with me in this busy time. thank you for your patience and understanding

Sincerely,
Dave

You shipped mine out today. Thanks for doing that while moving!

nhoover · Jul 23, 2015

And you shipped my order for a couple other items too! Awesome. If only all companies worked as well as you Dave.

radus77 · Jul 23, 2015

Yesterday I bought this one antenna booster. It's exactly like my but made 3d printer so looks better and better made quality. Look's good I mean good curve and distans antenna to plate look's promising.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Parabolic-An...493?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48815f112d

PVFlyer · Jul 23, 2015

N017RW said:
I'm sorry we won't agree PVFlyer.
That's OK. I'm not on a mission to convince everyone but hopefully others will be curious and investigate for themselves.

The truth lies in the FB marketing you quoted previously (i.e. MIMO downlink, etc.) as well as the FCC required testing data and Grant info. which can be found on the FCC site.

The P3 P&A are clearly identified as MIMO type devices in their FCC Grants while the hand-held controller is not.

Maybe someone more familiar with LB can chime in in the future and add something to help clear this up since I am not successful.

Disagreement is absolutely fine. I respect your opinion and understand well of your basis. My debate quoted earlier was based on DJI marketing in RCGroup (not FB) from my technical and logical standard points.

This is easy to test it out as some P3 owners modded the RC antennas with RP-SMA pigtail cables. They can simply detach one of the antenna (or replace it with 50 ohm terminator) at a distance (such as 1000 ft), and see whether the connection dropped or not. If the connection dropped, then it's likely one TX and one RX. Otherwise, it's likely MIMO.

DiluxEdition · Jul 23, 2015

on the rcgroups p3 owners thread, i'm sure one of the higher up dji guys mentioned MIMO, i'm also pretty sure it was on the 1st page for a while. Also the technology is also based on 4G LTE data transmission... The FCC page may just be how the FCC tests a system out, maybe they only specify 1 antenna, I guess you need to understand FCC testing methods or practices, or something, or maybe someone took a shortcut... who knows. Its definitely MIMO with some 4G LTE code or something...

Jagdesh Samaroo · Jul 23, 2015

hey hey. Why ask the man for he design file? if you can spend over $1000 for a drone why not pay the man for his design? its less that $30 bucks people. The man have to live to. Say thank god someone figured out how to boost the range without opening the controller to void warranty. Pay and get your mod people geezzz

DiluxEdition · Jul 23, 2015

Its so simple to design there shouldn't be a point in asking for the stl file. You can make it in autocad in like 2 minutes or less. There is a parabola.vlx function (google is your friend) you can download for autocad, it makes a nice parabola quick and easy, using the link I provided before, you will know where the focal point is and you can make it connect to the antenna there... Simple, done... That is pretty much what david did. but I'm not sure if he did 2 pieces or 1, does the new antenna have the plastic piece attached to the foil or is it 1 piece with foil missing where the antenna holder thingy is? The original design seemed better, I just got my 3d printer, still didn't print the full antenna though (just a 2mm sample layer for now), I just need to fine tune the **** machine (I'd rather make the curve as perfect as possible), i'm totally new to 3d printing, but at least I know how to design anything already (youtube). there are wayyy to many parts inside these things with new names I never heard of, thermistor, extruder, blah blah blah... I'm getting there.

radus77 · Jul 24, 2015

If you want to be sure that your antenna booster is correct (parabolic and focal point) I suggest you buy in Dolarama store Point Laser for $1,25. If you put the laser on each place on the reflection plate you should see the laser point on antenna (reflection like in the mirror). If not your antenna is not perfect. Easy and cheap...

tcope · Jul 24, 2015

Trying to find the time to put together a video on this but so far from my own testing this is what I've found.... signal does not go further but it appears to be slightly stronger within that same range. I'm hoping to get that video done this weekend.

jryser · Jul 24, 2015

I tested mine today. Such a great piece of gear David! Thank you. Well worth the $ and u r such a great guy to work with.

Sent from my PT beating heart

Scott Cramer · Jul 24, 2015

DaGunn said:
Instead of foil glued to paper, why not use a soda/beer can for the dish? Trace and cut the support pattern from a heavier material like the side of a plastic milk container.

Be careful using a beer can, have done similar with wireless router and cut the hell out of my hand. The aluminum is razor sharp.

nhoover · Jul 24, 2015

What do you guys think of the shape of this one? Here he is flying quite high and adds the booster after he's lost signal - and gets control/video right back.

(Skip to 4:44)

duse500 · Jul 24, 2015

I have daves (Its GREAT, No complaints ) I do want to modify it to be able to slip on a little easier like the video shows

radus77 · Jul 24, 2015

nhoover said:
What do you guys think of the shape of this one? Here he is flying quite high and adds the booster after he's lost signal - and gets control/video right back.

(Skip to 4:44)

How does it work?

Dome · Jul 24, 2015

radus77 said:
How does it work?

It's a slice of a simil-parabola ... it can works as other reflector do. It's mostly similar to Dave solution, but perhaps slight better separation from focal plane to the radiator. Best result for this kind of antenna are at more than halfwave, >6cm (impractical mounting on RC).