DIY Antenna Booster for Phantom 3

[nhoover]

[Somewhat off topic, but if you want to try these boosters you need to be able to fly pretty far since they work REALLY well]

My rule of thumb in still air is about 5000' per 10% of battery life. That's around 30mph in GPS mode. ATTI mode goes faster but uses more power. Depending on conditions ATTI mode may or may not net you more distance. I didn't use it on these flights. Just prior to these flights I went out over a mile and measured the wind speed and direction so I knew what I was up against. I then flew directly perpendicular to the wind and it only had a small affect. My speed out was 29-30mph and my speed back was 30-31mph. 30mph for 6 minutes is 3 miles. I can fly about 15 minutes so ballpark I can go 7.5 miles total. Simple math that seems to work with the P3P. I like to have the return speed a little higher than the outgoing speed - just makes sense.

I don't know why you don't see the same numbers. There are many factors. If you are flying into the wind your speed out will reduce and your return speed will increase. I think overall it's best to fly in light wind if attempting long distance. I'm on old firmware 1.1.9 and old Android Pilot 1.0.10. Haven't had a compelling reason to upgrade as this setup is completely solid. I don't think it's any faster or more efficient than later software, it just doesn't ever crash or have video lag.

While I'm doing these flights I am constantly evaluating all the numbers and ready to abort in case of a problem like a big change in wind conditions when the phantom is, or a sudden drop in battery life or anything else suspicious. I've done 450 flights on various Phantoms so am quite used to how they feel while flying.

As for battery life, I baby all of mine: the first 10 flights they only discharge to 50%. I store them at 50%. I have the discharge time set to 2 days but usually don't need it. If I return home with batteries at say 20%, I charge them to 50% until I am about to fly, then charge to 100%. I keep track of each battery and how many times it's been charged. Lately I've been using www.dronehealth.com to analyze the logs and tell me about battery health. It's about a million times better than the DJI app.

Good luck!

 

[bobmyers]

[Somewhat off topic, but if you want to try these boosters you need to be able to fly pretty far since they work REALLY well]

My rule of thumb in still air is about 5000' per 10% of battery life. That's around 30mph in GPS mode. ATTI mode goes faster but uses more power. Depending on conditions ATTI mode may or may not net you more distance. I didn't use it on these flights. Just prior to these flights I went out over a mile and measured the wind speed and direction so I knew what I was up against. I then flew directly perpendicular to the wind and it only had a small affect. My speed out was 29-30mph and my speed back was 30-31mph. 30mph for 6 minutes is 3 miles. I can fly about 15 minutes so ballpark I can go 7.5 miles total. Simple math that seems to work with the P3P. I like to have the return speed a little higher than the outgoing speed - just makes sense.

I don't know why you don't see the same numbers. There are many factors. If you are flying into the wind your speed out will reduce and your return speed will increase. I think overall it's best to fly in light wind if attempting long distance. I'm on old firmware 1.1.9 and old Android Pilot 1.0.10. Haven't had a compelling reason to upgrade as this setup is completely solid. I don't think it's any faster or more efficient than later software, it just doesn't ever crash or have video lag.

While I'm doing these flights I am constantly evaluating all the numbers and ready to abort in case of a problem like a big change in wind conditions when the phantom is, or a sudden drop in battery life or anything else suspicious. I've done 450 flights on various Phantoms so am quite used to how they feel while flying.

As for battery life, I baby all of mine: the first 10 flights they only discharge to 50%. I store them at 50%. I have the discharge time set to 2 days but usually don't need it. If I return home with batteries at say 20%, I charge them to 50% until I am about to fly, then charge to 100%. I keep track of each battery and how many times it's been charged. Lately I've been using www.dronehealth.com to analyze the logs and tell me about battery health. It's about a million times better than the DJI app.

Good luck!

You push it to the limits but you know what you are doing. Thanks for sharing!

 

[PVFlyer]

As for battery life, I baby all of mine: the first 10 flights they only discharge to 50%. I store them at 50%. I have the discharge time set to 2 days but usually don't need it. If I return home with batteries at say 20%, I charge them to 50% until I am about to fly, then charge to 100%. I keep track of each battery and how many times it's been charged. Lately I've been using www.dronehealth.com to analyze the logs and tell me about battery health. It's about a million times better than the DJI app.

Good luck!

For long range flight, battery health and status is absolutely crucial. That's why we build a Weak Battery warning in FPV Camera app. If any cell's voltage (with loading) lower than other cells more than custom level (Disable, 20mV, 40mV, 60mV, 80mV, 100mV, 150mV, 200mV), the app will warn you. You should then land and check the battery ASAP.

Weak Battery: Display “Weak Battery cell#9, 9.999V, 999mV lower”

 

[atki]

Do you have a battery mod or something? Cause you could see I was at 43% battery at my furthest distance and I was worried about running out of battery before I returned. What happens when you get to 0% battery anyway? Does the bird just fall from the sky and I go pick up the pieces? lol

I haven't looked at your post outlining your battery % but you need to fly in Atti mode and you will fly about 15kms+ all up (on average) . You've about 17 mins of non stop fly time on the standard battery. That's what I have, along with the fpvlr basic system.

 

[atki]

Also the p3 will try to land if you're in gps mode and <10% battery, doesn't matter where it is and stick controls from my experience only stop the descent. Definitely Atti mode when low on battery, you'll go further and have more control, so to speak.

 

[atki]

If you are careful and know what you're doing the system works well out to 20,000' and beyond. My second to last flight this morning went to 20,242', stock except for David's booster (the original one). I should've then tried a flight without it - but didn't think to. This site was great, no interference at all. The wind was medium, 9.4mph I measured on a previous flight but I flew at right angles to it. Wind increased a little on the last flight and I only made it to 19,500'. Landed at 17% and 20% respectively. Given a good place to fly, range is certainly limited by battery more than lightbridge's reception. And this is flying at 200', maybe 280' above sea level as I was up on a bluff.

Here are the 2 flights on Flytrex and on HealthyDrones.com:
http://www.flytrex.com/mission/quadcopter-phantom-3-pro-nathan-hoover-MysIjOsd/
http://healthydrones.com/main?flight=340bc458547991af3a9a4d201d48a9d7&page_id=GENERALOverview

It was an overcast not beautiful day so I was flying by map rather than video. Here's a screenshot from the recorded screen video at the start of the return showing 5 bars (and the shoreline 3.8 miles away):

View attachment 28285

Really bad idea go for long range distance over water like that.

 

[Huskerfan]

I haven't looked at your post outlining your battery % but you need to fly in Atti mode and you will fly about 15kms+ all up (on average) . You've about 17 mins of non stop fly time on the standard battery. That's what I have, along with the fpvlr basic system.

That's good advice-atti mode. Harder to control but I think I have enough experience flying now that I can handle it. Thanks! I have no reason to go any distance but I guess I like to push the limits and see what is possible.

Plus, it sounds like we go faster in atti mode. I don't recommend that to beginners especially if there is a breeze. I lost my compass last week and had to quickly switch to atti mode to get my drone back home.

 

[HJR]

i have received the antenna boosters from giuseppe. build quality is good! installation is easy. no force used to attach them on the antennas. just shove it over!
i did not have time to test them out. keep you all posted!

 

[duddie10]

So let me ask this I keep reading it's not the material used its how smooth the surface is. So if I was to take a piece of aluminum and machine it to the dimensions of the cut out and give it a high polish would it work even better? Or maybe use gold leaf?

 

[atki]

That's good advice-atti mode. Harder to control but I think I have enough experience flying now that I can handle it. Thanks! I have no reason to go any distance but I guess I like to push the limits and see what is possible.

Plus, it sounds like we go faster in atti mode. I don't recommend that to beginners especially if there is a breeze. I lost my compass last week and had to quickly switch to atti mode to get my drone back home.

I've got over 80kms/hr in Atti mode, at 120m's altitude atti mode is very easy. Only time I switch into gps is if I have a strong cross wind.

 

[Foosy]

So let me ask this I keep reading it's not the material used its how smooth the surface is. So if I was to take a piece of aluminum and machine it to the dimensions of the cut out and give it a high polish would it work even better? Or maybe use gold leaf?

Not quite. Take a look at satellite dishes. They are not shiny. Just painted grey. The color of the satellite does not make any difference, and neither does the material coating it.

However, imperfections in the metal will cause dispersion of the signal. A perfect parabolic reflector redirects every path to the antenna dipole. If there are bumps or grooves on the reflector, signal hitting them is redirected somewhere else. So you are correct that a smooth surface is important.

 

[N017RW]

So let me ask this I keep reading it's not the material used its how smooth the surface is. So if I was to take a piece of aluminum and machine it to the dimensions of the cut out and give it a high polish would it work even better? Or maybe use gold leaf?

People get the same results using pie tins or empty cans.

Don't overthink this. It's a simple reflector like the door on a microwave it can even be made of mesh with the right dimensions and does not need to be solid or gold plated.

Radio waves don't know the difference.

 

[Tricky]

There are 515 posts on this thread. I would like to "make my own" this week, as I do not have time to wait 10 business days for folks who are out of stock, and I read a lot of the 514 posts...and it seems, in reading the first 50 posts, that the wider original windurfers are being replaced with the more narrow and taller windsurfer...but there is no "cut-out' PDF that anyone has provided...so I am politely asking...does anyone have a cut-out of the taller, more narrow windsurfer mod that they are willing to share pro-bono?

thanks!

 

[duddie10]

Not quite. Take a look at satellite dishes. They are not shiny. Just painted grey. The color of the satellite does not make any difference, and neither does the material coating it.

However, imperfections in the metal will cause dispersion of the signal. A perfect parabolic reflector redirects every path to the antenna dipole. If there are bumps or grooves on the reflector, signal hitting them is redirected somewhere else. So you are correct that a smooth surface is important.

That makes a lot of sense. I should've put in a little more research before he asked me to give it a try this week and see what I can get out of it can't beat the price of a piece of printed template haha

 

[PVFlyer]

There are 515 posts on this thread. I would like to "make my own" this week, as I do not have time to wait 10 business days for folks who are out of stock, and I read a lot of the 514 posts...and it seems, in reading the first 50 posts, that the wider original windurfers are being replaced with the more narrow and taller windsurfer...but there is no "cut-out' PDF that anyone has provided...so I am politely asking...does anyone have a cut-out of the taller, more narrow windsurfer mod that they are willing to share pro-bono?

thanks!

I'm unaware of taller parabolic reflector performing better as long as covering the PCB inside plastic antenna covers. The PDF template reflector in OP should cover most of (if not whole) PCB antenna. If you really want a taller reflector, simply cut a taller cardboard.

Proper/precise parabolic curve and focal point are more important than material and taller reflector.

 

[VenomX15301]

http://www.dynamic3dsolutions.com/

Your site displays a blank page for me. Win 8.1 IE11

 

[onderion]

There are 515 posts on this thread. I would like to "make my own" this week, as I do not have time to wait 10 business days for folks who are out of stock, and I read a lot of the 514 posts...and it seems, in reading the first 50 posts, that the wider original windurfers are being replaced with the more narrow and taller windsurfer...but there is no "cut-out' PDF that anyone has provided...so I am politely asking...does anyone have a cut-out of the taller, more narrow windsurfer mod that they are willing to share pro-bono?

thanks!

I just find this cut-out pdf. [WIKI]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6EvPgvmsFJlcVZ3QU5BZlFkVkk/view?usp=sharing[/WIKI]

 

[hidaven]

Does the thickness of the metal used make a difference? I.e. Foil vs tin stock

 

[onderion]

I do not think so. They are putting just foil.

 

[nhoover]

Went out flying today but when I got to the coast there was a lot of wind. Decided on just one flight to see anyway. This time flying over land, at 305', 5 bars the whole way to 20,358' and back. Landed with 20% - stock except David's windsurfer antenna booster. Amazing. The only bad part was my Nexus 9 crashing on the return trip - it's never done that before. After reboot, the Pilot app immediately reconnected and all was well but being out of contact from 15,000' to 7,500' was disconcerting.

Watch how solid the signal strength is all the way out, turning and returning. The slight glitch at 9,700' was me not pointing the antenna right for a second.