Increased range of controller _ what about model ?

[solentlife]

There are range extenders out there for fitting to controllers, software to increase power. But what about the aircraft itself ?

How do you get the aircraft to transmit its information over greater distance ? Is there antenna mods for it ?

I have been looking through sites trying to find a way of boosting not only controller but also the aircraft return info / video.

Anyone else delved into this ---- any answers ---- equipment used ?

Nigel

 

[Waylander]

Hi solentlife

Umm... Do you need to increase Tx power from the bird, what about this, depending where you live in the world the phantom Tx will be limited to 25 or 100 mW.
A cell phone Tx power is around 3 watts, ( 3000 mW) you get decent coverage even from inside buildings, The Voyager space craft's Tx power is around 35 watts which gives it a range of 7 Billion miles (current distance from Earth), if the receiving station is sensitive enough and the antennas are big enough you get reception, so why not increase your Receiver's antenna.

Just a thought

Waylander

 

[redrussell]

Sounds like to me I need to shoot for a 35 watt booster lol


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Pgitug]

You want range? Get a Mavic.


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[solentlife]

At present with FCC we have 27db for each part.

So many mods available for controller but nothing for the aircraft. My question therefore is based on wanting to improve the aircraft transmission back to controller / display.

There are boosters available for 2.4 and 5.8 which I think many people will regard as for controller. But can they be fitted to aircraft as well ?

We could all rush out and buy a Pro etc. but given that boosters are actually not expensive - they may provide a solution.

Nigel

 

[solentlife]

You want range? Get a Mavic.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

No thanks.

 

[chrislongley]

I'd wondered the same thing Nigel, I can see that the analogy with mobiles etc is a good one. So long as one part has a really good antenna it can pick up a relatively weak signal from the other part. Plus I guess saving power at the bird end gives it more battery life.

 

[BillW50]

At present with FCC we have 27db for each part.

So many mods available for controller but nothing for the aircraft. My question therefore is based on wanting to improve the aircraft transmission back to controller / display.

There are boosters available for 2.4 and 5.8 which I think many people will regard as for controller. But can they be fitted to aircraft as well ?

Yes you could boost the output on the Phantom side. Although it is more complicated. As all of the boosters sold for the Phantom do so legally. All they do is to focus the signals straight out. The better the directional antenna (the more focused beam), the more range you will get. If you do the same on the quad, you'll have more range, but if your quad turns, your signal would be gone. Because the directional antenna has to be facing the controller, otherwise it will be worse than what you started with. So you probably don't want a directional antenna on the quad side.

The other choice is to boost the power output. This would be illegal for one which has its own problems. But I don't really see the point really. As if the controller has the directional antenna to increase the range for both transmitting and receiving video, that is all you need. Like that DBS antenna, people are getting a 3 mile range with the Phantom Standard. That is just amazing.

What more? Why? The battery can only last for an 8 mile flight before the battery would be dead. So going out for 4 miles and coming back 4 miles and maybe the battery would last long enough. And that is a big maybe! One could build a super directional antenna that could give it a 50 mile range. But what good would it do you? You could not fly that far anyway.

 

[solentlife]

Hi Bill ....

Many reports have antenna mods not giving the distance .... and in fact not all mods are legal. The power software changing CE to FCC is not.

The point is not to get 20miles or so ... its to give good range in all environments as well as congested.

Looking at the boosters online - I reckon for about $100 - I can add small boosters to both controller and aircraft giving me over 30db for both. It may be possible to get more --- but as I say - I am only looking for more reliable range improvement.

Nigel

 

[chrislongley]

I saw a P2 which had a booster on the aircraft end to boost the transmission of video over wifi (2.4ghz). Wifi boosters for computing tend to be at the transmission end.

 

[solentlife]

This is my point. I cannot get my thoughts away from need to improve transmission from both units. Improving reception is fine until signal strength is so weak that data transfer suffers.

I have passed my thoughts to an electronics engineer and we are going to look at whether it is necessary to boost both 2.4ghz or just one is enough. The 5.8 of course will be.

The Phantom has one advantage - it is a good load carrier and the small additional weight of boosters will not reduce its flight time significantly by weight, but power will be needed for the boosters ... probably taking just 2 or 3 minutes of flight time.

Nigel

 

[BillW50]

How much range do you want? I got 770 meters (2526 feet) over a forest. And I also went 0.7 mile down a country road (1126 meters) and I still had full control (LOS). The signals still looked good, but I turned it around because I had to fight a 20MPH wind coming back. Boy does that knock the heck out of battery capacity. Plus the 2°F temperatures didn't help either. I probably could have flown it 1 mile away and still had a signal. And mine is still stock (P3S).

 

[Ohiowoodsman]

Some people are using dipole bird side antennas and even boosting those.Troubleshooting problems really get tricky after that though. I think leaving the bird stock just keeps things alot more reliable IMO

 

[solentlife]

To just repeat my earlier - I am looking for reliable range regardless of environment.

I don't need 1 mile range but that figure would give me a better consistent range in residential areas. At present I get over 620m with control but my video is crap at 100m.
What I want is to have both reasonably sound for good range.

Of course I have the Argtek to fit once I get home, maybe that will do the job. I have doubts though based on too many reports of poor range. Why ? Who knows. I hope my installation fairs better.

I will still investigate the boosters as the data collected may help others.

Nigel

 

[Michael mashburn]

Hi Bill ....

Many reports have antenna mods not giving the distance .... and in fact not all mods are legal. The power software changing CE to FCC is not.

The point is not to get 20miles or so ... its to give good range in all environments as well as congested.

Looking at the boosters online - I reckon for about $100 - I can add small boosters to both controller and aircraft giving me over 30db for both. It may be possible to get more --- but as I say - I am only looking for more reliable range improvement.

Nigel

So where can I find the best parts to get the most range for my phantom 34k


Sent from my Moto G Play using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Ohiowoodsman]

To just repeat my earlier - I am looking for reliable range regardless of environment.

I don't need 1 mile range but that figure would give me a better consistent range in residential areas. At present I get over 620m with control but my video is crap at 100m.
What I want is to have both reasonably sound for good range.

Of course I have the Argtek to fit once I get home, maybe that will do the job. I have doubts though based on too many reports of poor range. Why ? Who knows. I hope my installation fairs better.

I will still investigate the boosters as the data collected may help others.

Nigel

Well then a dipole maybe exactly what your looking for

 

[solentlife]

So where can I find the best parts to get the most range for my phantom 34k


Sent from my Moto G Play using PhantomPilots mobile app

Thats what we hopefully work towards. Add-on that can work with stock antenna and/or with other antenna such as Argtek. My intention is not to produce another rival antenna. It is to boost those to maximum reliability of range.

Nigel

 

[chrislongley]

I think you and I are after the same thing Nigel. Not greater overall range, we simply want a video signal to match the range of our controller signal. I can go to a large rural area in Britain and still see several wifi networks available by checking with my phone. All competing against my Phantom and most more powerful than they need to be as the users are in the same house as them not a mile away over the fields.

The P3 already has a decent 2.4ghz wi-fi transmitter on board. Seems it could run at 27db but in CE areas will only run at 20db. Software hacks like Magic Power try to trick it into switching but my experience of that has been very unsatisfactory.

Is it possible to do a hardware modification to the transmitter, increase the base power level so that when the DJI Go App takes it down by 7db it's actually still strong, as strong as in the US?

 

[hotashes]

I think you and I are after the same thing Nigel. Not greater overall range, we simply want a video signal to match the range of our controller signal. I can go to a large rural area in Britain and still see several wifi networks available by checking with my phone. All competing against my Phantom and most more powerful than they need to be as the users are in the same house as them not a mile away over the fields.

The P3 already has a decent 2.4ghz wi-fi transmitter on board. Seems it could run at 27db but in CE areas will only run at 20db. Software hacks like Magic Power try to trick it into switching but my experience of that has been very unsatisfactory.

Is it possible to do a hardware modification to the transmitter, increase the base power level so that when the DJI Go App takes it down by 7db it's actually still strong, as strong as in the US?

I'm glad we have some uk members looking to help resolve these issues.


U.K. Side pushing the Phantom 4. Peace

 

[BillW50]

Thats what we hopefully work towards. Add-on that can work with stock antenna and/or with other antenna such as Argtek. My intention is not to produce another rival antenna. It is to boost those to maximum reliability of range.

How about something like these?

2.4GHz booster
2.4Ghz 2000mW Radio Signal Booster Set

5.8GHz booster
TXPA58002W5 5.8GHz AV Transmitter Signal Booster