New Personal Best - 9000+ ft - 1.7 miles no amps

[Goldmagnet]

Hi there

Tested out the range on the modded Vision Plus, saw 9000 ft on the phone app but it was probably over 10,000 ft Google earth says 10.5K, I was shaking like a leaf kept panicking and not watching the distance, the video is below.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ruRlZFiwWQ[/youtube]

The only changes are the pilot end (Horizon FPV antennas) I did a quick video here:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNv9KNS-sec[/youtube]

I am upgrading the Phantom end in the next week or two and when I do I will get a flytrex unit, I had no idea how good distance was for the V2+.

Cheers

Huw

 

[ToThePoint]

Nice tight job Goldmagnet.

I don't know why you added 2 helicals on the WIFI ( pilot side ).
One would be enough because the wifi uses the rx/tx port that has the best connection with the bird.
I opened the wifi belly and seen that they have used different components on the left port, that is when you have the u-fl connectors facing you, the left one that is the best port to connect the helical on.
As a helical is a directional antenna it has to point in the general direction of the bird.
A skew planar antenna as you showed on the end of the video to mod the bird is my preferred choice to replace one of the helicals, its a omnidirectional antenna.
I have done the bird mods as well and your right that only one for RC and FPV is enough.
The antenna's have to point downwards though. Upside down that is on the bird.
I have replaced the 4 antenna's on the bird.
Anyway i get also a +10k ft range on RC with no boosters and on CE setting.
And indeed its trilling to see what you can achieve with antenna mods and NO boosters.
I didn't have a proper range test yet after the mods on FPV with a 10 turn helical ( a real one, axial fed and not a normal mode feed like they tend to sell as a authentic helical antenna ).

I see that you use 90degree connectors and i am surprised they work, its my understanding any sharp bend has to be avoided as they produce a lot of loss. As i could see in your video the can be replaced with strait ones but if it works out for you and the range you get is good enough then who am i to states something about it ?

Again, nice clean work !

 

[Goldmagnet]

Hi

Geert, yes I felt like I was playing a big hand of poker from 5000 ft and beyond !

TTP thanks for the reply.

I do also have a single helical/omni set up, but I don't bother with it. I never fly the quad behind me, I always like to face it, and the helical has enough "leakage" from a pure beam pattern for the close in flying. The 2 helicals are slightly spread (by a few degrees) meaning the resultant combined coverage is wider than a single helical giving me more pointing tolerance.

Can I ask what improvement did you see when replacing the 5.8 on the bird ? Were your connectors soldered on the board, and if so did you splice the cable ?

Thanks for your nice comments.

Huw

 

[Goldmagnet]

Hi Geert

Thats fantastic news, did you measure the cable length to ensure the 50 ohm impedance ? I only found the horizon video on cable length recently.

Have you replaced both (2 x 5.8 Ghz) antennas or just one ?

I am really keen to hear how you get on with the mods as my plans seem very similar to yours. I will fit my UAV side antennas in the coming few weeks, and will let you know how I get on.

Thanks I really appreciate you input.

Cheers

Huw

 

[ToThePoint]

@HUW

The stock dipole antenna's are really good and provide a nice range.
To answer your question, i really don't know anymore. We say " i am not going to stick my hands into a fire for it ".
I did so many changes i lost track.
What i first made was a collinear antenna and replaced the stock ones.
They did not preform better but i had cut off the stock ones from the coax. Due to lack off u-fl cables.
I got approx 5000ft with a collinear on the RC and bird. It could have been 7000ft. Really don't know anymore.
Anyway as i wanted @ least 2km or 6561.68ft of flawless range ( FPV and RC ) i wasn't happy with the setup because it had hiccups on its way in and out.
So i finally gave way and departed from my omni directional idea.
Up to the helicals.
As i had seen a test video with helicals and that the longer ones ( more turns ) provide as you mention also sideway control nearby i decided to make a 11 turn for the RC and a 10 turn or the wifi ( real helicals. axial mode article here).
Especially the wifi ones that i have seen and are sold are operated in normal mode and thus are actually onmi directional antenna's.
For 2.4Ghz the round disk must be @ least 12.4cm or 4.8479 inch. Calculate helical article here.

As i wanted to keep polarization the same ( bird and RC/Wifi ) i made the skew planar antenna's.
And this setup made a real big difference.
As the RC was the better link ( i guess ) it was time to do the wifi.
I have the RC on FCC mode now and made 2 days ago a 10 turn helical for the wifi that i range tested this afternoon.
I had +11.000ft with no RC or wifi loss, all crispy clear !
No boosters ( not even the special app ).
I did do the RTH because i was more then happy with it and i chickened due to that faulty battery from yesterday ghosted true my mind.
I made one mistake though.
On its return it did break up RC.
I placed the skew planar antenna that point downwards on the back. It had to be in front because when its fighting on its limits and you don't have control on the way back then **** can happen when the only way you can make it is in ATTI or even GPS.
GPS mode is way faster the RTH mode.
So i have to look into that, but for long range i have made 2 helicals ( 10 turn ) for the RC on the bird as well so i guess i have to stick with that. But i wanted to see the range of the skew planar antenna's and the wifi helical on the pilot side and how well they worked together.

Its also wise to consider the wavelength and the length of the coax. I didn't take it into account but i have to know better as a HAM radio guy.
Anyway i had the birds 2 x RC u-fl connectors removed by scraping with a hobby knife easy and gently away the concrete like glue.
I toke the coax cables and made then to fit the size i needed and soldered the rp-sma connectors myself.
But as mentioned i didn't take in account the length of it.

 

[Goldmagnet]

Hi TTP

Always nice to meet another Ham (since 78).

Thanks for the input, I already have 2 x LHCP SP for the bird so that my next step, will see how Geert gets on as hes going to be a few days ahead of me, hopefully I can learn from his install.

Yes the length of the coax is important, and I think many people do not take that into account .

Cheers.

Huw.

 

[mede8er]

Congrats!!! Stick a Flytrex logger on that bird and you'll get perfect distance readings...

 

[Goldmagnet]

Hi there

Yes going to get one this week, going for the core2, I aways get a bit shaky going for personal bests.

I wonder if the flytrex cable extension picks up more interference from the camera ?

Cheers

Huw