FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both sides

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I have completed my updates on both the Phantom and the RC and I am hoping for comments.
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

These are the smaller 5.8 pinwheels. This took a lot of work, including purchasing a new transmitter card because I broke the original trying to scrape off the black goo of death.
 

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Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

I had to install these close to the magnetometer and I'm a little nervous about that. I took a test flight, though, about 1000 feet out and tried a RTH and it came home perfectly.
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

This shows the 2.4 pinwheel at a 90degree angle. I used sloppy electrical tape with underlying stiff wire to keep it at a 90 degree angle. I will clean this up.
 

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Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

This is the back of the RC. I used the typical Velcro and have the Sunhans 5.8 2000mW amp with battery. It's pretty stable in my hands.
 

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Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

This is the face of the RC.
 

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Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

BaldEagle said:
I had to install these close to the magnetometer and I'm a little nervous about that. I took a test flight, though, about 1000 feet out and tried a RTH and it came home perfectly.

The other 2.4 is in the front of the bird. It is, of course, in the plane of the bird itself, 90 degrees from the other. I will post a picture of that.
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

Bald Eagle,

I recent received my Stage 4 kit and am anxious to install it. The pilot side mods look reasonable to accomplish. However, I'm very concerned about the bird side mods. Do you have any internal pictures that you took on installation? I note that you destroyed your transmitter card. Any suggestions on ways to minimize destroying my card?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions and I promise to post pictures here of my mod efforts. I have a VERY complete set of tools for working with micro circuits and assemblies.

Mack
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

Mack:

See this:

For the 5.8 pinwheels

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yakxhKUHeDw

The above demonstrates how to remove the 5.8MHz receiver.

2. Once you've removed the receiver, you have to remove the stock antennae. They are glued into place by a very hard black glue that is very difficult to remove. Some claim that heating it up removes it. Others suggest acetone softens it. I found neither really helped much and that it is about learning how to scrape it off very slowly and very carefully to remove the stock antennae from the receiver circuit board.

3. Once you have removed the antennae, connect your cables back onto the receiver circuit board and fish them through the appropriate hole in the Phantom landing gear.

4. Re-insert and screw into place the receiver. You have to be careful the new cables stay connected while you reinsert. It just takes time and patience.

5. Mount antennae whatever way you have chosen

For the 2.4 pinwheels, scroll through this. You should find more info. It is pretty easy:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12712&start=1030
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

I cleaned up the install. I "trained" the 2.4 pinwheel by taping it to 90 degrees and it has stayed at 90 degrees through 5 flights without a problem. For that side, I drilled two holes on the same landing strut.

The 5.8 pinwheels are installed on sidebox's antenna mounting kit (https://www.etsy.com/listing/200859048/ ... on-antenna ). All four are on the back of the aircraft.
 

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Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

BaldEagle said:
Mack:

See this:

For the 5.8 pinwheels

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yakxhKUHeDw

The above demonstrates how to remove the 5.8MHz receiver.

Whilst this is a video of the non-plus vision, it does look fairly similar. However, looking in my Vision Plus, the screw highlighted in the photo below is practically hidden under the circuit board. Were you able to remove this without removing the main board?
 

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Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

I've figured it out now - the circuit board above can be removed and the main board moved slightly to get to the screw.

I'm taking lots of photos so will post instructions later.
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

allemtura said:
I've figured it out now - the circuit board above can be removed and the main board moved slightly to get to the screw.

I'm taking lots of photos so will post instructions later.


I was able to remove the screw you arrowed .. but there seems to be a second screw farther back.
How do you reach the second screw that is further back ??


I'm confused how to remove it for the vision plus
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

BaldEagle said:
These are the smaller 5.8 pinwheels. This took a lot of work, including purchasing a new transmitter card because I broke the original trying to scrape off the black goo of death.
What was your thinking for putting the right-angled antenna on a bias (45 degrees)?
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

FPVLR stuff rocks. Quality and does what it says. I mounted the stage 4 MC end into a 'project box' with the antennas mounted to it. Just figuring how to attach that to the MC without sticky tape.
But in the meantime, the battery for the amps, the amps and the antennas are all in a box. I had to take the covers off the amps to make them fit snuggly.
Who is flying firmware 1.8? I am but worry about vortex of death risk. But otherwise the fixed descent rate of 2.0+ takes ages to come home.
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

slothead said:
BaldEagle said:
These are the smaller 5.8 pinwheels. This took a lot of work, including purchasing a new transmitter card because I broke the original trying to scrape off the black goo of death.
What was your thinking for putting the right-angled antenna on a bias (45 degrees)?

Tom:

I think I understand your question. When drilling the holes into the strut, I was worried about drilling the holes too close to one another and compromising the structural integrity.
I think you're referring to the plane the antennae are mounted, correct?

As an aside, I am finding that for reasons yet undefined, I lose video/Phantom pretty consistently at 3000 feet or so despite having control capability for a much longer distance. It may be that it is an interference issue as in my area there is plenty of wifi. But maybe it is the way the antennae are mounted? I'm not quite sure. Despite using the booster app and having antennae on both ends, pointing the RC's helical dome antennae directly at line of site, I still lose signal earlier than I would expect. And the amp doesn't seem to help much.
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

theram said:
FPVLR stuff rocks. Quality and does what it says. I mounted the stage 4 MC end into a 'project box' with the antennas mounted to it. Just figuring how to attach that to the MC without sticky tape.
But in the meantime, the battery for the amps, the amps and the antennas are all in a box. I had to take the covers off the amps to make them fit snuggly.
Who is flying firmware 1.8? I am but worry about vortex of death risk. But otherwise the fixed descent rate of 2.0+ takes ages to come home.

I downgraded my firmware and flew around a bit on the downgraded firmware. I definitely experienced the vortex instability when trying to descend too quickly and I did not like it - made me nervous. So, for now, I'm back to updated firmware until I feel comfortable descending at an angle and I just calculate the time it would take to come down at the slower speed.
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

BaldEagle said:
This is the back of the RC. I used the typical Velcro and have the Sunhans 5.8 2000mW amp with battery. It's pretty stable in my hands.


If your results are anything like mine, you might end up buying the 2.4 amplifier. I have the FPVLR 6.25 helical on my 5.8 (unamplified) and it can still reach out further than my amplified 2.4 half-sphere. Now, I am pushing nearly 10,000 feet @ 500 ft. alt. with that 2.4, so I'm not complaining, but the 5.8 is still strong when the 2.4 poops out. I have the 2.4 bird antennas on order so we'll see where that gets me.
 
Re: FPVLR antennas on RC and Phantom - 5.8 and 2.4 both side

I did buy it! Tony shared, however, that there may be issues that require an attenuator. I'm still trying to figure that out. I will be testing tomorrow morning, but thanks for thoughts. I will share experience, too. 10,000 feet is excellent, it seems. May I ask the terrain you were flying and whether you (with your RC) were elevated as compared to the terrain you flew (bridge, hill, etc.)
 

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