Aircraft Antenna Mod

[MacIak]

That's normal nothing to worry about. I'm glad you got it fixed. White stripe to hot right? Without the bird on you should have just a white light.

Thanks bud. Connected like this the hole in the cable connector is RED and shield black. Conform the stripe connected as red wire.
IF polarity was reversed...what would happen? I was worried for a sec that sunhans might have made the pin in the amp "black"..
Edit: im really happy with lipo as source cause it's small, reliable and lasts at least a dozen flights.

 

[sprtbkrydr]

You got it right now all you need is to turn on both the bird and the RC and make sure you have the white and blue lights working.

 

[MacIak]

You got it right now all you need is to turn on both the bird and the RC and make sure you have the white and blue lights working.

Roger that! Was just a bit worried about the spark. Did not have this with the bigger dual booster i used before. But on that one i did not have to plug in an angle.

 

[beanbubba]

Not really on topic but @sprtbkrydr maybe you can help.
Did this:
View attachment 17849

When i plug this into the amps the white lights come on (cannot fly, nighttime & TSRA) but when plugging in sometimes little spark at the connector.. is this because of 12v? Never had this with powerbanks. Need to point out that i need to plug in 1 side a bit angled cause not much space between amps.

Mine sparks too, that can't be good repeatedly over time. I got in the habit to plug in before applying power now.

 

[beanbubba]

I attempted a half dozen times to solder a U.FL connector with ZERO success (connector is too small to solder).

I finally pulled my head out of my arse and realized I could place two connectors back to back, then glue the outer edge with super glue. I measured loss through the connector and it was only 1dB !!

I am putting the bird back together now and going to test the factory antennas with the external amp's.

 

[sprtbkrydr]

Mine sparks too, that can't be good repeatedly over time. I got in the habit to plug in before applying power now.

I guess enough of it over a long long period of time may be harmful but I would not be too worried about it.

 

[sprtbkrydr]

I attempted a half dozen times to solder a U.FL connector with ZERO success (connector is too small to solder).

I finally pulled my head out of my arse and realized I could place two connectors back to back, then glue the outer edge with super glue. I measured loss through the connector and it was only 1dB !!

I am putting the bird back together now and going to test the factory antennas with the external amp's.

View attachment 17862 View attachment 17863 View attachment 17864 View attachment 17865

Cool as hell!

 

[sprtbkrydr]

Hey Bean I told you that Hobby King had the 3000mAh back in stock but I got me a pair of them on the way.

 

[beanbubba]

Hey Bean I told you that Hobby King had the 3000mAh back in stock but I got me a pair of them on the way.

I ordered from them weeks ago and I just checked my order and says they are still in transit from Hong Kong ???

 

[sprtbkrydr]

I ordered from them weeks ago and I just checked my order and says they are still in transit from Hong Kong ???

Well mine are coming from the us and are supposed to be here the 28th.

 

[sprtbkrydr]

I attempted a half dozen times to solder a U.FL connector with ZERO success (connector is too small to solder).

I finally pulled my head out of my arse and realized I could place two connectors back to back, then glue the outer edge with super glue. I measured loss through the connector and it was only 1dB !!

I am putting the bird back together now and going to test the factory antennas with the external amp's.

View attachment 17862 View attachment 17863 View attachment 17864 View attachment 17865

Please post results!

 

[sprtbkrydr]

I ordered from them weeks ago and I just checked my order and says they are still in transit from Hong Kong ???

 

[beanbubba]

Holy **** !!!

First off, I am going to strain my shoulder patting myself on the back for the successful super glue welding job that actually worked very well !!

I did not expect these results. The internal aircraft antennas slightly out performed the entire set of external's I tested. But this is actually good news and makes the mod far easier and manageable. I do not have an explanation other than DJI has obviously thought this out and delivered the best antenna for the purpose.

NOTE: when you push the radio limit to the point of RTH kicking in, you get better reception when the aircraft is moving away from the home point, it takes a couple minutes when RTH kicks in before my controller picks the signal up again. This makes perfect sense based on the internal antenna orientation and the aircraft pitch forward during sport forward flight. This is too complex to explain in this thread, but I can cover this at another time, just note this data point if you attempt this mod.

Here is the test run on the same course and variables with the internal antennas and external 3W amp's:









I have one more test left before closing this mod out, Repeat the last run with only one bird side amp.

Stay tuned...

PS- my busted gimbal was superficial. I plucked out the broken glass and it worked just fine! The outer glass is just for show and has no functional purpose.

 

[MacIak]

Holy **** !!!

First off, I am going to strain my shoulder patting myself on the back for the successful super glue welding job that actually worked very well !!

I did not expect these results. The internal aircraft antennas slightly out performed the entire set of external's I tested. But this is actually good news and makes the mod far easier and manageable. I do not have an explanation other than DJI has obviously thought this out and delivered the best antenna for the purpose.

NOTE: when you push the radio limit to the point of RTH kicking in, you get better reception when the aircraft is moving away from the home point, it takes a couple minutes when RTH kicks in before my controller picks the signal up again. This makes perfect sense based on the internal antenna orientation and the aircraft pitch forward during sport forward flight. This is too complex to explain in this thread, but I can cover this at another time, just note this data point if you attempt this mod.

Here is the test run on the same course and variables with the internal antennas and external 3W amp's:

View attachment 17888 View attachment 17889 View attachment 17890 View attachment 17891
View attachment 17894 View attachment 17897






I have one more test left before closing this mod out, Repeat the last run with only one bird side amp.

Stay tuned...

PS- my busted gimbal was superficial. I plucked out the broken glass and it worked just fine! The outer glass is just for show and has no functional purpose.


View attachment 17895 View attachment 17896

You keep adding sugar on top don't you?!
Good you have the eye back.
Question: when you ran this profile with the external antennas i remember you still had 5 bars on the HD?
Also i assume you are beaming thru trees seeing you re at 200'?

 

[beanbubba]

You keep adding sugar on top don't you?!
Good you have the eye back.
Question: when you ran this profile with the external antennas i remember you still had 5 bars on the HD?
Also i assume you are beaming thru trees seeing you re at 200'?

That is correct, looks like we lost a couple bars on the HD internal versus the 6.6 dBi external.

Yes, this test course I always run at 200' and purposely blasting through a line of trees by design.

The more I think about this, I am going to do an additional test and get rid of all those external coax cables and adapters and connect the amp's straight to the radio board. So if I did this again, I would have one tiny hole instead of those 4 RPSMA bulkhead adapters. This will shed some weight and probably give back 4 or 5 dBm of signal.

 

[MacIak]

That is correct, looks like we lost a couple bars on the HD internal versus the 6.6 dBi external.

Yes, this test course I always run at 200' and purposely blasting through a line of trees by design.

The more I think about this, I am going to do an additional test and get rid of all those external coax cables and adapters and connect the amp's straight to the radio board. So if I did this again, I would have one tiny hole instead of those 4 RPSMA bulkhead adapters. This will shed some weight and probably give back 4 or 5 dBm of signal.

Im sure lots of people are happy you did this (I am!) . Some great pioneering. Curious how the RC signal will be without amp on the bird for that.

 

[beanbubba]

OK, now that the science project is over...

This might be one of the final mod options and literally is a 15 minute job with only a tiny drill hole in the replaceable LED hood. And this only requires removing the bottom plate, and NO removal of boards/cables/etc.

This is a low risk mod (unlike the horrific mutilation I did to my bird - for science sake of course). Best part is the un-mod is a 5 minute job anyone can handle.

I will fly this later tonight and see what numbers we get.

PS - this mod also preserves your Wifi board and cables.

 

[MacIak]

OK, now that the science project is over...

This might be one of the final mod options and literally is a 15 minute job with only a tiny drill hole in the replaceable LED hood. And this only requires removing the bottom plate, and NO removal of boards/cables/etc.

This is a low risk mod (unlike the horrific mutilation I did to my bird - for science sake of course). Best part is the un-mod is a 5 minute job anyone can handle.

I will fly this later tonight and see what numbers we get.

PS - this mod also preserves your Wifi board and cables.

View attachment 17931 View attachment 17932 View attachment 17933

Just confirm the " TX" is the bird's transmitter?

 

[beanbubba]

Just confirm the " TX" is the bird's transmitter?

Yepper.

The cable needed is a "U.FL Female to RPSMA Male". These cables are notoriously mislabeled in Amazon and eBay listings. It needs to look EXACTLY like this:



And only get the length you need. I used a six inch in my last example, maybe a little longer will give you more mounting options.

 

[beanbubba]

BTW - that white antenna was the best external performance I tested. It came with those 2W off brand amp's from China we talked about earlier.