New antennas for the Phantom 2, P2V , FC40 external

Pull_Up said:
drew4392 said:
We know you know, but I think it is more of a matter of demonstrating to the folks (most of which are probably not aware of 11km... assuming that is an event of sorts) who are considering buying this.

11km = 11 kilometres = 11,000 metres = 6.8 miles

Thought he was referring to something else besides distance. Gotcha.

Antenna supporting comms at 11km.. that's solid.
 
Interested in a set for the P2 but how does the element type (standard, silver, gold) affect performance?. Are they all much of a muchness or is there significantly better performance with the gold?

Cheers
 
xgeek said:
Interested in a set for the P2 but how does the element type (standard, silver, gold) affect performance?. Are they all much of a muchness or is there significantly better performance with the gold?

Cheers
Well unlike electricity RF travels on the surface of a conductor ( ' the skin effect ' ) , using precious metals like silver and gold reduce losses and increase the conductivity and efficiency of the antenna, hi end coax is silver plated for this reason , we only need a few microns of silver or gold to take advantage of the precious metal, Using copper covered steel will eventually wear away and the elements will just rust. Gold will stay bright and will not tarnish . connectors are also gold plated because it reduces losses for this reason. In the listing you have a choice , its up to you what you select. having a set of antennas matched and Tuned in Gold makes a BIG difference, see the video 'tuned antennas' on my channel to see the effect .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unerQ8Iivng

this video shows what happens first hand...... not tuned ... crap image ..... tuned .... perfect ( GOLD Plated Nimrod )
 
Would you mind posting instructions so we can get an idea of what is required to install the antennas?

Need to determine if this is over my head.

Thanks!
 
drew4392 said:
Would you mind posting instructions so we can get an idea of what is required to install the antennas?

Need to determine if this is over my head.

Thanks!


Hi there , we are in the process of doing a series on the Phantom , the Pilot end mos is quite simple and thats the one to do
first , we have put up a series on the Phantom 2 ( Vision ) and this shows the hard bit of fitting the RC control antenna pair by splicing in on the cable, we will also do the whole cable replacement method back to the RX board on the UAV. The only problems we find is the Glue they have used to fix the connectors to the boards. This is why the first mod bypasses these connectors,
 
some infos on the Phanton 2

you can when adding on the super kit use the NIMROD version of the 5.8 GHz for fpv these are better on the UAV and are very very strong and will take a hard hit and survive.

here is a quote from a recent customer p.s. VERY impressed with the Nimrods !! have reached 3600m.

also be aware if you have those white cap antennas and you try to put or use a Blackhawk micro with then as they are LHCP and you MUST match the BH Micro to this ( LHCP) as the rotation sense must be the same. you will loose signal by a factor of 100 if not !

so when using a diversity monitor for example put the open SP on the diversity with the Blackhawk and the Nimrod on the UAV

this one , http://horizonfpvantennas.mybigcommerce.com/single-nimrod-fpv-5-8ghz-rhcp-or-lhcp/

Will
 
drew4392 said:
Would you mind posting instructions so we can get an idea of what is required to install the antennas?

Need to determine if this is over my head.

Thanks!

Hey drew, for a very unprofessional video from someone who doesn't even own a soldering iron let alone have any tech background here's my take on installing only the pilot-end 9 dBi antennas from Horizon FPV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsUpYNeTwaU Once you've done the mods you can try out different antennas just by screwing them on and off. I managed not to fry anything. ;)

I did a range test video after this as well - left the aircraft end of things untouched for now. My distances weren't impressively long compared to others, but then I was only ever getting 1000ft out of my tx and wifi. After just doing the ground end my tx now runs out of grunt at 2175ft (or more - haven't been able to do more than a couple of extra range tests) with crystal clear video no matter which way the Vision was pointing. I'm going to test a 12dB 5.8 next to see if that gets even better tx range and then I should be able to tell where the wifi signal stops. But so far I haven't touched the aircraft at all
 
Pull_Up said:
drew4392 said:
Would you mind posting instructions so we can get an idea of what is required to install the antennas?

Need to determine if this is over my head.

Thanks!

Hey drew, for a very unprofessional video from someone who doesn't even own a soldering iron let alone have any tech background here's my take on installing only the pilot-end 9 dBi antennas from Horizon FPV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsUpYNeTwaU Once you've done the mods you can try out different antennas just by screwing them on and off. I managed not to fry anything. ;)

I did a range test video after this as well - left the aircraft end of things untouched for now. My distances weren't impressively long compared to others, but then I was only ever getting 1000ft out of my tx and wifi. After just doing the ground end my tx now runs out of grunt at 2175ft (or more - haven't been able to do more than a couple of extra range tests) with crystal clear video no matter which way the Vision was pointing. I'm going to test a 12dB 5.8 next to see if that gets even better tx range and then I should be able to tell where the wifi signal stops. But so far I haven't touched the aircraft at all

Hey there , hope to get out your Super plus kit shortly , Gone a bit Mad of late.
what connectors would you like or need , do you have dual Extender done ? Oh and i'll do them in White...

Will
 
Pull_Up said:
I don't have dual extender done - need another small pigtail. Everything else is done ground end, and when I get round to aircraft end I can use the existing pigtails I have, just swap antennas around I think?


ok i will sort it , how about a super plus set and a single 12 dB Blackhawk on 2.4 that would push the Boat a bit ..
with a 12 dB 5.8 you can mix it a bit , i'l send some extra cables for you to play..

Will
 
Hi Simon-- thanks for the link. Really helped clarify things for me. This looks great. Installation seems manageable, too.

1,000 feet is right about my limit. Great to hear that you were able to effectively double it.

Just to confirm, which antenna kit does your video include?


Thanks!
 
drew4392 said:
Hi Simon-- thanks for the link. Really helped clarify things for me. This looks great. Installation seems manageable, too.

1,000 feet is right about my limit. Great to hear that you were able to effectively double it.

Just to confirm, which antenna kit does your video include?


Thanks!

That kit (which included aircraft end stuff, yet to be fitted) was the Super 9dB kit.
 
Pcdeveloper2014 said:
Pull_Up said:
I don't have dual extender done - need another small pigtail. Everything else is done ground end, and when I get round to aircraft end I can use the existing pigtails I have, just swap antennas around I think?


ok i will sort it , how about a super plus set and a single 12 dB Blackhawk on 2.4 that would push the Boat a bit ..
with a 12 dB 5.8 you can mix it a bit , i'l send some extra cables for you to play..

Will

Sure. I was going to put the 12dB 5.8 on to replace the 9 first anyway - I ran out of control with nice clear wifi and no glitching with the aircraft facing end on (so least efficient) so there's more in the single 9dB 2.4. It would be a good experiment to see exactly how far you can get with wifi in our sort of environment with just one 9db. Then if I lose wifi before control I'll up the ante on the 2.4 again. I guess I'm keen to see how much we can get out of just ground-side mods before I have to get all soldery with the aircraft! (Can you tell I've got solder-reluctance? I don't even own a soldering iron!) If there was an easy way to overcome the glue on the receiver it would so much easier to get the 5.8 skews up on the aircraft...
 
Pull_Up said:
Pcdeveloper2014 said:
Pull_Up said:
I don't have dual extender done - need another small pigtail. Everything else is done ground end, and when I get round to aircraft end I can use the existing pigtails I have, just swap antennas around I think?


ok i will sort it , how about a super plus set and a single 12 dB Blackhawk on 2.4 that would push the Boat a bit ..
with a 12 dB 5.8 you can mix it a bit , i'l send some extra cables for you to play..

Will

Sure. I was going to put the 12dB 5.8 on to replace the 9 first anyway - I ran out of control with nice clear wifi and no glitching with the aircraft facing end on (so least efficient) so there's more in the single 9dB 2.4. It would be a good experiment to see exactly how far you can get with wifi in our sort of environment with just one 9db. Then if I lose wifi before control I'll up the ante on the 2.4 again. I guess I'm keen to see how much we can get out of just ground-side mods before I have to get all soldery with the aircraft! (Can you tell I've got solder-reluctance? I don't even own a soldering iron!) If there was an easy way to overcome the glue on the receiver it would so much easier to get the 5.8 skews up on the aircraft...


Simon yes they made a good job of the glue on the boards, that's the hard part ,,,, getting it off with out stuffing the board.

i'll open mine up shortly and tackle it the proper way .... then its the camera next.

Oh and there is another BH for the UAV , what we do is remove the rear SP ( longer cable) and fit the NEW BH 90 deg version
then connect to the cable , we now have 9 dB pointing back and a 360 in the front ... should be interesting flying strait out and back with it pointing home . that should get the range up ..... , also we can put a 5.8 GHz 12 dB on the RC transmitter .....

Will
 
looking at the P2V RX U.fl connection

opened up my P2V, just to see about re doing the proper cables and connectors back to the Rx board

all the screws on the underneath had lock-tight on them really tight, they don't want you to open this !

looking at the RX board , you can see the U.fl connections thru the battery compartment when removed
afer looking at it and removing the top of the UAV , i could see the grey epoxy on the U.fl connectors
now i have been doing electronics for over 40 years and in my honest opinion LEAVE well ALONE !!.

Not worth the bother and you would have to rip the UAV to bits and then find you can not get the glue off
so i'm going to leave it alone , the UAV did hit over 1KM with the cable splice mod, so let it be is my advice.

next i will look at the camera

Will
 
Re: looking at the P2V RX U.fl connection

Pcdeveloper2014 said:
opened up my P2V, just to see about re doing the proper cables and connectors back to the Rx board

all the screws on the underneath had lock-tight on them really tight, they don't want you to open this !

looking at the RX board , you can see the U.fl connections thru the battery compartment when removed
afer looking at it and removing the top of the UAV , i could see the grey epoxy on the U.fl connectors
now i have been doing electronics for over 40 years and in my honest opinion LEAVE well ALONE !!.

Not worth the bother and you would have to rip the UAV to bits and then find you can not get the glue off
so i'm going to leave it alone , the UAV did hit over 1KM with the cable splice mod, so let it be is my advice.

next i will look at the camera

Will


Hi Will,

Thanks for the feedback. Just to confirm... with the kit that Simon referred to (and recorded the video for) you would still recommend... but instead of the hard-wired U.fl connectors (because of the complexity of opening up and dealing with the UAV), you recommend splicing (on the UAV side). Is that correct?

Alternatively, if I only want to do the controller antenna mods (again, the one that Simon referred to), is there a partial kit with only controller connectors and antennas?


Thank you
Andrew
 

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