Yes Toph, like that but I am trying to avoid the retail profit margin. I already have a leftover 11.1v 2200mah battery from another project and can make a bracket out of plastic to hold it all together. I think the most expensive part will be the two 4 watt amps I ordered for about $23.00 each. There are only a few components in the $300.00 kits.
1) Antennas - admittedly this IS THE critical part and FPVLR has put some time into coming up with a fine tuned helical antenna. The DBS one is probably like two flat panel WiFi antennas in one very nice casing. I plan to try something more omnidirectional and just make up for antenna losses with amp power.
2) Cables - You need decent ones that have the right ends, etc. but that is not rocket science either.
3) Amplifiers - These are not rocket science, some brands are better than others but hard to tell until you try some. All will likely produce within 5-10% of each other at the same power rating. That's why I went with ones advertised at 4 watts counting on them being a real 2-3 watts.
4) Battery - Anything that can power the amps is good. You could buy a few 9v rechargeables and wire them in parallel. I am using a cheap and easy off the shelf RC 11.1v battery as I stated above. Recharge it with any wall wart that puts out 12-16 volts.
5) A Bracket - This is where most people will fall apart. I like dremeling plastic and making stuff. It really is not that hard to make something to hold the stuff together but will take a little time. I would BUY a nice bracket if someone was selling them separately, but so far I have only seen one battery holder bracket on Amazon, (for $45 I think) and I am not sure if my stuff will line up right to it. I will just make my own. I bought a big sheet of black plastic off Amazon for about $10 so I can just cut some and heat/bend it with my heat gun.
I figure it can be done for about $116.00
~$46 for 2 amplifiers, they come with antennas, antenna wires, and power adapters I will cut the plugs off of and throw in my junk pile.
~$20 for 2 antennas, cheap WiFi antennas omni or directional. IF you don't use the free ones that come with the amps, I will try to just use the ones that come with the amps at first.
~$10 for the antenna wires from the controller board to the amps. These come packaged with some of the cheap antenna kits advertised for DJI drones.
~$25 for the Turnigy 11.1v 2,200mah battery I already own. There is probably a battery that is better suited for this purpose but I already have this one, so I am using it for now.
~$15 for plastic, screws, etc. I am being generous in this dept.
As for me I already have the plastic, screws and scraps in my garage, a battery, and some Alfa directional antennas. All I will need is some time when the amps from China arrive.
As for swapping out I don't have another remote, but I would only trade this one for a GL300A model.
