Parabolic antenna boosters: worth it?

When the video flickers, you push on till you loose all signal. It'll come back. Very nerve racking though [emoji3]
I hope that's not the first response you depend on when you lose signal. You shouldn't be turning off your RC. These steps are more safe.
1. Don't panic.
2. Stop all forward motion and then give full up vertical ascent for 10 to 20 seconds. Wait for signal to relink.
3. If no signal is gained, rotate craft with yaw in one direction slowly for 20 sec. and wait for signal. If no joy and you were at 200' elevation or less when signal was lost, do #2 again.
4. If the above fails, hold RTH for 3 secs to initiate return to home. When the craft starts back the radio will announce RTH is enabled, confirming it's coming home to daddy. DO NOT push the ON button, leave the RC on to retake control when signal is gained.
5. Wait for signal. When RTH brings the craft back and signal is gained, retake control by briefly pushing the RTH button again.
 
In a very dense neighborhood, I doubled my distance with mine...approx 7000 feet at 300 ft altitude...


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
 
I never did a distance test prior to using the Windsurfer but I went about 6000 feet and still had full strength. I got chicken and turned around as I had a head wind coming back. Best bang for the buck in my humble opinion.
 
I heard this Parabolic booster does NOT work on a Dji Phantom 3 SE? Does anybody has experience with this?
 
+ 1 on the parabolic signal boosters. Extends my range from 1Km without till more than 3Km! Only thing now limiting my range is my batteries.

Phantom 4 Standard
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Epitaph
Do you know if it works as well with the Phantom 3 SE??

Being a non electronic item that actually just focuses RF signal - it makes no difference what frequency or source ... as long as the parabola is such to bounce the wasted signal forward to add to the useful - it will work. (We can ignore micro-waves etc. that will pass through it - as that is not what we have).

So answer is YES. What you need to do is make sure the reflector is correct height for the antenna.

Nigel
 
Just to clarify ... as I understand it - the SE has similar setup as the Std with internal patch and an external omni post antenna. The reflector of course will only have use on the post external antenna on an SE.

IF you have this version as displayed on DJI site :

P3SE-P3S-7-696x410.jpg


DJI Phantom 3 SE Unboxing: Featuring a 4k Camera - DJI Guides

Of course if your version is NOT same as that ........... then it will not work.

Given that the SE is supposed to give up to 4km range ... why the need for booster ? Just my curiosity ...

Nigel
 
Mark steered me to a discussion on the SE and how it may work ... seems that DJI may have taken an existing Std controller and modified the electronics inside but kept the case design.
It is claimed by some that the centre antenna is purely a WiFi link to your phone / tablet and that the real gear are the two internal patch antenna.

If that is true - then a reflector is not much use. I stand corrected if that's the case.

Nigel
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mark The Droner
Just to clarify ... as I understand it - the SE has similar setup as the Std with internal patch and an external omni post antenna. The reflector of course will only have use on the post external antenna on an SE.

IF you have this version as displayed on DJI site :

P3SE-P3S-7-696x410.jpg


DJI Phantom 3 SE Unboxing: Featuring a 4k Camera - DJI Guides

Of course if your version is NOT same as that ........... then it will not work.

Given that the SE is supposed to give up to 4km range ... why the need for booster ? Just my curiosity ...

Nigel
I guess i just want to be sure that i don’t loose the signal. I hear from some people that they lost it after only 400m and that scares me. If i can add just a little bit of range, i’ll do it.
 
As I read ... the range of the SE is extremely variable .... especially if CE version.

When they brought out this version - I could not understand why to be honest - the Adv and Pro have reasonable range, good quality results ... and much more reliable range ...

Judging by the threads on it ... since reading Marks link he PM'd to me ... I have seen so many claims about it working this way or that - seems that there are as many claims as to its format as there are varied range claims !

Some say its Lightbridge (used by Adv and Pro) ... some say its just boosted WiFi .... as DJI never give out techno info - looks like that part will never be definitively answered. All I'll say is ... if it is Lightbridge - then why the extreme variance in range performance ?

It looks like only solution for a SE is antenna swap ... not a reflector.

Nigel
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Epitaph
they do work I added a 1/4 more distance compared to flying with no reflectors
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,358
Members
104,936
Latest member
hirehackers