DIY Antenna Modification - RANGE TEST (14,180 FEET) with DJI Phantom 3 Standard

moflyer · Feb 13, 2017

Matts175 said:
His Wife won't let him have a drone, so he comes on forums to troll. LOL

Anyways, I found something useful that I wanted to share with the class....

I found this ARGtek type kit for $26.99.

Antenna Refitting Signal Booster Amplifier Extend Rang For DJI Phantom3 Standard

Throw the included antennas in the trash.
Replace with Alphas.
No need to drill holes, epoxy or Dremel anything, remove the back metal bar, etc.

Total cost: Still cheaper than ARGtek or DBS / ITELITE.

Have you tested this antenna yet?

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

Matts175 · Feb 13, 2017

moflyer said:
Have you tested this antenna yet?

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

No. I just wanted the base. The antennas are junk.

KCadby · Feb 13, 2017

Unit505 said:
Received my Alpha m25 today..............FAIL! Max distance was about 2100FT/636M. I tried to stay aligned using the radar on the new DJI Go update to no avail. I know it's not the update either. Yesterday after the update, I made my furthest flight in my immediate area. I'll give it another shot next weekend in a more rural area. So far, disappointed. I also considered those talking about which side of the antenna should face the bird. My new Alpha will only point with the Logo facing the bird. It will not swivel 180. I even pointed the antenna straight out positioned the controller to where the other side of the panel was facing the bird. I had to hold the controller vertically and that made no difference. At this moment, the ARGtek 10db omni gets me double the distance (4000+ ft) in the same area. FRUSTRATED!

I didn't get Great results with the Alfa either but they DID increase my Range from about 1,300Ft to 2,200Ft in a "Lots of WiFi-s location"... I had no reason to Range Test out away from civilization with OEM Antennas so I can only add that I was able to fly 3,500+Ft with the Alfas "out west of town"...

Unit505 · Feb 13, 2017

KCadby said:
I didn't get Great results with the Alfa either but they DID increase my Range from about 1,300Ft to 2,200Ft in a "Lots of WiFi-s location"... I had no reason to Range Test out away from civilization with OEM Antennas so I can only add that I was able to fly 3,500+Ft with the Alfas "out west of town"...

I actually got a little over a mile with the stock antenna and parabolic reflector. Wish I was off today so I could go fly. Always nice weather while I'm at work!

KCadby · Feb 13, 2017

Unit505 said:
I actually got a little over a mile with the stock antenna and parabolic reflector. Wish I was off today so I could go fly. Always nice weather while I'm at work!

I tried a DIY cardboard (pizza box) with Alum-Foil parabolic on my stock antenna which got me "slightly farther out" but my Range has always been at the LOW END of what I see people post = bad luck of the draw not getting a Good Unit with Longer Range

I would honestly be Happy if I could go 1-mile = to the OCEAN from my favorite launch site...heavy sigh

Unit505 · Feb 13, 2017

KCadby said:
I tried a DIY cardboard (pizza box) with Alum-Foil parabolic on my stock antenna which got me "slightly farther out" but my Range has always been at the LOW END of what I see people post = bad luck of the draw not getting a Good Unit with Longer Range
I would honestly be Happy if I could go 1-mile = to the OCEAN from my favorite launch site...heavy sigh

You cannot get a mile over open water? I don't have anywhere the I can fly over open water that is not in a no fly zone except the river and there is no place to get a line of sight that far. I hit the mile over open farm land with a few trees. It may have been a fluke. Still waiting to try again if the weather will cooperate.

KCadby · Feb 14, 2017

Unit505 said:
You cannot get a mile over open water? I don't have anywhere the I can fly over open water that is not in a no fly zone except the river and there is no place to get a line of sight that far. I hit the mile over open farm land with a few trees. It may have been a fluke. Still waiting to try again if the weather will cooperate.

No... I seem to have had Bad Luck of the draw when I got my P3S = has never had long range... Max so far has been less than 4,000Ft and that was where there were No Homes, Buildings, WiFi or Power Lines...

I'll add that the Open Water flights are from a spot that has MANY Homes behind and abreast of me so I'm not shocked that my max Dist. isn't flying from this spot...

Solly747400 · Feb 14, 2017

So I'm away at work and my wife sends me a pic of the goodies I received in the mail. Now I can't wait to get home but not for another 6 to 7 hours.

Sent from my SM-N920I using PhantomPilots mobile app

Matts175 · Feb 14, 2017

I'm still waiting for someone to slap 3x M25s on there and see what happens.

dronesover Texas · Feb 17, 2017

I need to do this

Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots keep her flyin

Solly747400 · Feb 18, 2017

As I'm still waiting for the sma wires ro arrive so I can install this beast on my remote, I have been playing around with ways to mount the antennas in a similar argtek way to avoid drill8ng holes etc. I had a piece of perspex here so i heated it up to see how I could use it. I might buy some 10mm OD plastic tube to glue onto this and insert it into where the original antenna goes.
Although this first attempt at bending this turned out pretty average, I might persist.

I know I can get a cheap kit mentioned here somewhere which has the argtek mount but if I can get this to work, all 3 antennas will fit side by side all facing up.

Any thoughts? Recommendations?

Sent from my SM-N920I using PhantomPilots mobile app

Unit505 · Feb 18, 2017

Sooooo......I've put it off for a while now and while it takes some of the fun out of it, I decided to try Litchi! Love it! I get irritated doing antenna swaps looking for the right combo on the right day to get to the areas that I want. I puckered a little at first, but I've gotten pretty confident with litchi and waypoint missions. Litchi pulls maneuvers that I can't pull so smoothly. I'm still learning the camera tricks, but it sure does take the frustration out of signal loss right before I get to where I was going. I did do the PowerMagic Mod and my wifi far outdoes the controller. Amps are in the future, but my wife just bought me a third battery and the blurex case. She has my bank card on hold! : )

Matts175 · Feb 18, 2017

Solly747400 said:
As I'm still waiting for the sma wires ro arrive so I can install this beast on my remote, I have been playing around with ways to mount the antennas in a similar argtek way to avoid drill8ng holes etc. I had a piece of perspex here so i heated it up to see how I could use it. I might buy some 10mm OD plastic tube to glue onto this and insert it into where the original antenna goes.
Although this first attempt at bending this turned out pretty average, I might persist.

I know I can get a cheap kit mentioned here somewhere which has the argtek mount but if I can get this to work, all 3 antennas will fit side by side all facing up.

Any thoughts? Recommendations?

View attachment 76576 View attachment 76577

Sent from my SM-N920I using PhantomPilots mobile app

Looking good so far. You're on the right track. They look great side by side like that.

sardinaattori · Feb 20, 2017

Hello. New to this forum. Just ordered the antennas to modify my P3S. I have made the Papatita CE->FCC mod so far and got pretty good results. Before the mod I was getting only about 420m distance. Now only with 24db mod it reaches 1700m. Just took a video yesterday to show you nice result

can't imagine what is the distance with better antennas...we'll see that later.

bigirb2002 · Feb 24, 2017

Welp got my alfa setup today and reached a new max. Stock 2100ft, argtek 5500ft , and drumroll 8100ft before i came home because batt was getting weak hahahahahah. I absolutely love the alfa setup

Solly747400 · Feb 25, 2017

I was planning on finishing the mounting gizmo for my alphas today but as I was putting it together I discovered that 2 of the wires aren't long enough because they have to travel to the centre of the half square plastic tube, so I will leave it as is until I get some longer ones. A bit dissapointed but it's coming together.

I am planning on wrapping the whole thing with black matte vinyl wrap (which I already have some here) and that will give it the finish I want.

microlinux · Feb 26, 2017

I did this mod tonight, can't wait to try it out. Any suggestions for a good 5.8ghz omni antenna?

Sisco · Feb 26, 2017

Solly747400 said:
I was planning on finishing the mounting gizmo for my alphas today but as I was putting it together I discovered that 2 of the wires aren't long enough because they have to travel to the centre of the half square plastic tube, so I will leave it as is until I get some longer ones. A bit dissapointed but it's coming together.

I am planning on wrapping the whole thing with black matte vinyl wrap (which I already have some here) and that will give it the finish I want.

View attachment 77186 View attachment 77187 View attachment 77188 View attachment 77189

That looks very clean. I like it. Great job.

Solly747400 · Feb 26, 2017

Sisco said:
That looks very clean. I like it. Great job.

Thanks

Jive · Feb 26, 2017

Ok, so I did the mod. Went easy enough, except I could not get the 5.8 connector to be tight in the old antenna hole. I drilled a hole in the top half, just above the stock antenna mount, and ran the cable there. Now it is firm. Did a test flight, and got to a mile. That's up from about a half mile that I normally get, not great, but better. The odd thing is once I landed, I pulled my Healthy Drones log, and got this:

For one thing, the Plane Name is incorrect, and the other, well, is the distance! Anyone seen anything like this? This is on Litchi BTW.