Replaced my GPS antenna...

So I just completed the Taoglas GPS antenna upgrade and initial flight test. Like others have mentioned not getting any GPS sats indoors, I was able to get at least 4 and oddly i was even able to get GPS and 6 sats on my kitchen table (near a large window).

The upgrade wasn't too difficult to complete either. Took my time with getting the old antenna to release and then after finding a good position for the new antenna, trimming the plastic ribs where it would sit. All in all, less than an hour.

First flight outdoors, it seemed to get GPS lock quicker than previous flights. Unfortunately i didn't do a time or video comparison but I think its well worth it!
 

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Now you've got me thinking if I should have trimmed the plastic ribs on the top shell..
I just replaced the PCB and screws. What do you think?
 
Sandman1962 said:
Now you've got me thinking if I should have trimmed the plastic ribs on the top shell..
I just replaced the PCB and screws. What do you think?

If it fit without forcing it, I'd guess you might be good to go. Check the wires underneath on the board, see if anything is stressed or smashed. If you didn't have to force the top cover on then it may be fine.
 
Got my GPS today... only took 6 days to come from USA to Australia!!!
Quickest shipping ever!
 
Is there a vid of this mod anywhere? Looks like a good addition.
*edit* yes there is..

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5EI-MzyoAI[/youtube]
 
Install looks pretty easy.
I'm about to do mine very shortly.. just eating lunch.

i think if i get satts in my house I will be very happy as that proves a BIG gain/improvement.

Will report back soon.

BTW i bought a few.. so if anybody in Australia wants one let me know and I can send it out.. will cost $12AUD.

It costs $34 shipping for 1 or 20 units, so I think $12 is a fair price.
 
Got my upgraded ceramic GPS antenna in the mail today. I didn't expect it to be so small as it seemed larger in photos. About the size of a Scrabble board game piece.
 
I have been thinking of the update also. I have two or the Taoglas modules or antennas.
This is in the + posting area. Has anyone done this on the P2V non plus?
Also when it comes to removing solder, I have found this below to work much better than wick ever does.
 

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Happyflyer said:
I have been thinking of the update also. I have two or the Taoglas modules or antennas.
This is in the + posting area. Has anyone done this on the P2V non plus?
Also when it comes to removing solder, I have found this below to work much better than wick ever does.

I used to use one of those before I used flux on wick. I still use a sucker ball from time to time. That tip on that unit is large enough to cook a couple extra components off the board. I actually add a bit of solder to the tip when I heat the GPS pin. No reason to remove the solder until the pin is removed. If you try to remove all the solder you may end up with insufficient heat transfer and you want to keep the temps down to not dislodge something else. I also like to have the solder melting thoroughly through the hole so that there is no damage to the traces on the board.
 
As long as I had two of the modules and some spare time, I decided to change mine. In the past out on my deck it would and has taken over five minutes to get six satellites. Most of the time it would take at least 2 minutes to get six and hold them. So after the change and just the phillips head screws on the ends of the arms I fired the quad up. By the time I had WiFi connection and camera showing, I had 4 sats indoors. I waited for some time but could not get over 5 indoors. Shut down and set quad on a stool on the snow covered deck. Control and RE-700 were on so I turned on quad. Back inside the utility room and after WiFi and camera connection, about 30-40 seconds, I already had 8 satellites. Never had that many in my yard on the ground. As soon as in the air they would pop up but not on the ground.
I know different times you can get a different number of satellites, but as far as I am concerned, this works!
 
You have to wonder (well, not really) why DJI wouldn't just put the better antenna into their quad. Seriously, how much extra would that have cost them?!
 
Happyflyer said:
As long as I had two of the modules and some spare time, I decided to change mine. In the past out on my deck it would and has taken over five minutes to get six satellites. Most of the time it would take at least 2 minutes to get six and hold them. So after the change and just the phillips head screws on the ends of the arms I fired the quad up. By the time I had WiFi connection and camera showing, I had 4 sats indoors. I waited for some time but could not get over 5 indoors. Shut down and set quad on a stool on the snow covered deck. Control and RE-700 were on so I turned on quad. Back inside the utility room and after WiFi and camera connection, about 30-40 seconds, I already had 8 satellites. Never had that many in my yard on the ground. As soon as in the air they would pop up but not on the ground.
I know different times you can get a different number of satellites, but as far as I am concerned, this works!

I was actually the first guinea pig on this one... :D There may be room for a larger antenna.

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=29100
 
Thanks for being the big porker.
It sure is an improvement in grabbing satellites.
 
BTW... Could you connect a wire to the GPS module and then connect the Antenna to the wire, but mounted in another location away from the GPS module ?
 
justin00 said:
BTW... Could you connect a wire to the GPS module and then connect the Antenna to the wire, but mounted in another location away from the GPS module ?

Yep but you would need to use a shielded wire and attach it to a ground point on the board. There is a limit to the length you can use before you get too much decibel loss but I think its a fairly large amount +12" .
 
Ah ok.. wasn't planning on doing it but was just curious... Thanks for the info.

Looks like the GPS module is one of the most expensive items on the Phantom.. well except the camera... Its like $180-200... Lucky I didn't need a new one in the end :]
 
Just did another test at night 10pm here... at this one park at night I get between 4- 7 satts.. and it eventually gets to 6.. then 7.. drops to 6..5..back to 6.. etc etc.. not the safest area to be playing seems it drops to under 6 frequenctly..

Anyways with the new antenna it went from 0 to 7 then 8 and stayed on 8 the entire time!!!
So its not going to magically get you another 15 more sats, but maybe a couple extra.. and from what I have seen (and I think others saw similar results) its more likely to keep a "lock" on the satts it aquires.. presviously it jumps between numbers.. but now its stable !!

Highly recommended for like $5 + shipping.
 
Just replaced my stock 2mm antenna with the 4mm taoglas antenna. I'm shocked at the difference. In my back yard it would take around 5 minutes to get a 6-7 satellites, after replacing the antenna by the time I opened the Vision app (20 seconds) I had 7 satellites, after a minute I had 10. Inside my house I would always have 0 satellites with the old antenna, if I was lucky I would get 1, with the 4mm antenna I had 5 satellites in my house within a minute.
 

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