This is gonna be fun! (Distance tests)

Is that the right angle one you ordered? It looks like it has an RP male on one end which I believe is reverse polarity and almost like a female, you can see on the pic there is no pin in the middle. The pic could be wrong. Is that the exact one you ordered? And it works?

Weather has been miserable here, I just started flying the phantom a week and a half ago and the weather has been the worst. I have a huge field next to my development which is connected to Reid Sod Farm, decent space minimal interference, no problems reaching 6000 feet with the DBS unboosted with still a pretty strong signal w/ video getting jumpy.


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Thats awesome! I cant find any place near me with no interference. Even flying over the ocean i still get interference lol.
Yeah thats the exact one i ordered.
SMA Male to RP SMA Male Right Angle RF Lot RG402 Semi Flexible Blue Jumper Cable   eBay.jpeg
As you can see its the same RF plug as the DBS mod & amps cables.
IMG_1403.JPG IMG_1385.JPG IMG_1397.JPG
Its regular male plug with pin inside to angled RF Male plug with no pin/hole.
You can also pick up a couple of angled adapters just in case.
 
This is NOT going to be fun [emoji22]View attachment 49767
Got the bird modded up for (part3) of the tests. Dipoles birdside ,dbs panel UNboosted,
Although I havent got pigtails yet
I had (2) so I went ahead and did (1) 5.8 and (1) 2.4 figure i'll give it a shot even though it's not all (4)dipoles its worth a test!
Took it out this morning all charged up and excited, it was a calm day for testing. It went out 12,600 feet and was dropping bars and then gaining them back from 2000 feet and on. Return to home kicked in and when it spun around I noticed rain in the Cameraview! It was a zero chance of precipitation! So needless to say I didn't try to spin it back around and see if I can push it past 12,600. And on the way back maybe because I have both dipoles on the rear of the a/c (although that shouldn't matter at 2 miles) I barely picked up reception until is almost all the way back to me.AHH, I HAD A PERFECT FLYING BIRD! This is exactly what I was afraid of. I wanted to follow through with these tests but the stock antennas with boosters took me so far my gut feeling said don't mess with it
It's in your blood DB. You can't help yourself.
I know for a fact that you won't stop. You will always keep pushing that envelope.
Good luck, and thanks for all you do buddy.
 
Thats awesome! I cant find any place near me with no interference. Even flying over the ocean i still get interference lol.
Yeah thats the exact one i ordered.
View attachment 49779
As you can see its the same RF plug as the DBS mod & amps cables.
View attachment 49782 View attachment 49783 View attachment 49784
Its regular male plug with pin inside to angled RF Male plug with no pin/hole.
You can also pick up a couple of angled adapters just in case.

Got it, I thought the cable ends were identical.


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BTW Guys, if someone's looking for those 'better' blue RG402 cables (originally suggested by dirkclod - thank you!),
that chinese ebay seller ships them very fast. I ordered them last tuesday Apr 29, and got them this morning Aprl 6, thats only 9 days from China to NJ.
He is a lot cheaper that other ebay sellers and has more options.
I hooked mine up today, im gonna try and test tomorrow to see if i notice any difference.
(here is what it looks like - promise not to laugh at my RC, i designed the bracket myself :eek:)
View attachment 49743 View attachment 49744
Di you have a link for the blue cables???....I'm going to order them today
 
You should start a whole cable thread! There seems to be a lot of interest in the subject and with the right title he could draw a lot of attention and send people in the right direction
 
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Di you have a link for the blue cables???....I'm going to order them today

Yea here it is:
SMA male to RP-SMA male both right angle RF lot RG402 Semi Flexible blue Cable

You should start a whole cable thread! There seems to be a lot of interest in the subject and with the right title he could draw a lot of attention and send people in the right direction

Sorry DB i didn't mean to interrupt or hijack your thread, i just thought since we were talking distance and mods and stuff, i would chip in and share some info on some of the related stuff that could help others.

I think there is already a long thread on this subject tho:
Phantom 3 STANDARD antenna upgrade

Thats where i learned most of this stuff.. :)
 
Yea here it is:
SMA male to RP-SMA male both right angle RF lot RG402 Semi Flexible blue Cable



Sorry DB i didn't mean to interrupt or hijack your thread, i just thought since we were talking distance and mods and stuff, i would chip in and share some info on some of the related stuff that could help others.

I think there is already a long thread on this subject tho:
Phantom 3 STANDARD antenna upgrade

Thats where i learned most of this stuff.. :)
No there's no threat at all! That is not why I suggested that you start a new topic. I'm perfectly fine with you leaving right here in fact I've been enjoying reading it! I just noticed that it kinda grew its own legs & it seems like a lot of people are hungry for this information, so if they put a search in on it I'm wondering if they wouldn't find it in this thread, that's all. Keep going with it.
 
What battery mods have you done? I assume you've done them all yourself as well? Below seems like the end product I'd like to achieve.

P3 BATTERY UPGRADE MOD INCLUDING PARTS AND LABOR FOR LONGER FLIGHT TIMES... INCLUDES 2-3 DAY RETURN SHIPPING

This price seems a little steep though.


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Most of us just mod the battery these days, it's a lot simpler than taking the shell apart and for those lucky enough to still have warranty, it doesn't void it. If you've done it before you can usually do these in 20 minutes
ImageUploadedByPhantomPilots1460061646.870906.jpg

I have all my P2's battery modded inside the Shell and if you're already taken the shell apart to do an antenna upgrade or something it's super simple on the P3 once you get inside
 
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Partly my fault its getting bigger. I sent a couple of people that was asking about the DBS and ARGtek mods and if people were boosting them. I told them you had a thread going here with a ton of good information on the subject. LOL
 
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This is NOT going to be fun [emoji22]View attachment 49767
Got the bird modded up for (part3) of the tests. Dipoles birdside ,dbs panel UNboosted,
Although I havent got pigtails yet
I had (2) so I went ahead and did (1) 5.8 and (1) 2.4 figure i'll give it a shot even though it's not all (4)dipoles its worth a test!
Took it out this morning all charged up and excited, it was a calm day for testing. It went out 12,600 feet and was dropping bars and then gaining them back from 2000 feet and on. Return to home kicked in and when it spun around I noticed rain in the Cameraview! It was a zero chance of precipitation! So needless to say I didn't try to spin it back around and see if I can push it past 12,600. And on the way back maybe because I have both dipoles on the rear of the a/c (although that shouldn't matter at 2 miles) I barely picked up reception until is almost all the way back to me.AHH, I HAD A PERFECT FLYING BIRD! This is exactly what I was afraid of. I wanted to follow through with these tests but the stock antennas with boosters took me so far my gut feeling said don't mess with it
As you can see the test yesterday (dipoles - unboosted) was disappointing.
So for tests sake, I took it to the same flight path this morning, weather was the same, A little less cloudy. But on the DBS controller I hooked the boosters back up. I got a good signal for most of the way out, bars dropping a couple times due to antenna aiming. Took it out to 27,000+ feet turned around at 50%. On the return home my signal wasn't as great,The Wi-Fi signal would go up and down every two seconds causing the screen to display "safe to fly GPS" & then "no signal" it switched back-and-forth between the two so fast that I never lost satellite view and was able to fly that way but my camera view was in and out every other second.this happened for most of the way back which would've been concerning had I not had my satellite view to fly with. I was also getting a "strong interference"message during that time! So I don't know if the strong interference was causing the signal loss or if it was the dipoles. Either way big difference between the 12,000 foot unboosted & and the 27,000 foot boosted flight. By the way my signal was strong I only turned around because of the battery percentage. But I've done that flightpath several times on this windy days, stock bird with boosted DBS, and got 30+ thousand feet with a lot less signal issues. Eventually I may have to just go back to stock bird with boosted DBS
ImageUploadedByPhantomPilots1460130411.109372.jpg
ImageUploadedByPhantomPilots1460130421.448011.jpg
 
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As you can see the test yesterday (dipoles - unboosted) was disappointing.
So for tests sake, I took it to the same flight path this morning, weather was the same, A little less cloudy. But on the DBS controller I hooked the boosters back up. I got a good signal for most of the way out, bars dropping a couple times due to antenna aiming. Took it out to 27,000+ feet turned around at 50%. On the return home my signal wasn't as great,The Wi-Fi signal would go up and down every two seconds causing the screen to display "safe to fly GPS" & then "no signal" it switched back-and-forth between the two so fast that I never lost satellite view and was able to fly that way but my camera view was in and out every other second.this happened for most of the way back which would've been concerning had I not had my satellite view to fly with. I was also getting a "strong interference"message during that time! So I don't know if the strong interference was causing the signal loss or if it was the dipoles. Either way big difference between the 12,000 foot unboosted & and the 27,000 foot boosted flight. By the way my signal was strong I only turned around because of the battery percentage. But I've done that flightpath several times on this windy days, stock bird with boosted DBS, and got 30+ thousand feet with a lot less signal issues. Eventually I may have to just go back to stock bird with boosted DBSView attachment 49894 View attachment 49895

db I'm gunna go ahead and say this, it's so **** windy outside!!!

I went for two of the 3W 2.4ghz amps. I know you said the 3W wont make a much of a difference, but for $15 more I'll try it.

I don't see much on the original FPVLR on here, so I wanna see what kind of distance I can get!
 
I don't think we can deny with the test results that I've been getting, both with the standard and earlier on with the P2 vision plus, the difference the boosters make! A 3watt booster is not overkill, it'll give you peace of mind that you put together the best system that you could have. I hope you see the difference that I have ,I can't wait to hear about it!
 
My best RC distance is only 330 meters.
While video and telemetry is around 1900 meters in the same area.
 
ImageUploadedByPhantomPilots1460387969.662756.jpg

I wonder if this could be some of the signal issues since i added dipoles! I took it out to fly and noticed the solder connection broke, so I put it back in the case walked back to the house to change it. When I got back it was completely in half just from the vibration of the walk. These blue ones are so fragile, if you order some from FPVLR then demand the black ones i own a pair and they're thicker and stronger ( signal strength is the same)
 
@dirtybum I know this is off topic kinda and I apologize for it but I know your the expert with these. So I finally was able to test my DBS antenna yesterday and noticed my green safe to fly would turn red weak signal for a few seconds then go back to green. It happened 3 times, and was maybe a 100ft away no change in flight still had full control. Is this normal??? Freaked me out
 
Yeah its normal, (but lets be real, I'm NO expert! There are experts among us but I'm just learning with you guys, only had the standard from the beginning of this post)
I think there are 5 control bars on the app, I notice anytime it drops down to (3) bars it turns red and displays that message, usually jumps rite back! Then when it drops to (2) it turns yellow thats when yer bout to loose it, need to increase altitude a bit or adjust aim! It can dance to weak signal for miles and be fine. Although its nice when its green[emoji41]
 
Yeah its normal, (but lets be real, I'm NO expert! There are experts among us but I'm just learning with you guys, only had the standard from the beginning of this post)
I think there are 5 control bars on the app, I notice anytime it drops down to (3) bars it turns red and displays that message, usually jumps rite back! Then when it drops to (2) it turns yellow thats when yer bout to loose it, need to increase altitude a bit or adjust aim! It can dance to weak signal for miles and be fine. Although its nice when its green[emoji41]
Ok how about most experienced with this setup on a P3S instead of expert lol. Thank you for replying back...i got worried there when it happened.
 

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