Aircraft Antenna Mod

SuperPete · Oct 1, 2018

Is there a good source of 5V power inside of the bird and the remote? To run amps off of drone/remote battery.

Thank you.

Drone_guy · Oct 2, 2018

SuperPete said:
Is there a good source of 5V power inside of the bird and the remote? To run amps off of drone/remote battery.

Thank you.

You probably know this already but if you quote the person you're asking the question to it's more likely they'll see it and then respond because the webpage alerts them to your question....as it most likely did for the comment I'm posting to you.

SuperPete · Oct 2, 2018

I know that, and I know beanbubba watching this post also.
Question is for everyone and anyone who has experience with that.
Thank you

MikeyMikeOZ · Jan 12, 2019

holy cow... these flight distances are impressive! One member has 50,000 feet! i am all stock, and lucky to ge 4,000 feet on a great day. my warranty needs to expire!.....

@beanbubba (and all other contributors) impressive work with detailed info! great job!

BobDoLe · Feb 13, 2019

beanbubba said:
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***********THIS IS THE FINAL MOD FOR THE THREAD***********
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Alrighty race fans, my final mod configuration is done!!

I had to move the amp from the topside to a sidecar configuration. No matter where I placed it on top, it would interfere with the GPS significantly. And as others have suspected, there is little to no benefit having 2 amp's on the birdside. I actually went down to 1 amp on both the remote controller and aircraft and overall performance was nearly the same.

I am in the middle of running many tests to document this with facts and numbers, but the initial results were good enough to call this mod a big success. I just did a test run out 20,000 feet at 200 feet altitude and lowered my home point mast down to 15 feet. There is a small forest in between and it blasted right through it. This was the intent for this mod, to allow more distance when you live in the woods.

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this seems like an ideal setup - is it still?
sunhans amp mounted on the side.
the dual battery clip still allows an additional battery (i'll have a 4100mah LIHV protek on top of the mavic battery).

any downside to using the stock antenna in the landing gear?

thank you for your R&D

Texas Mavic · Feb 23, 2019

beanbubba said:
IF YOU ARE A NEWBIE AND LOVE TO MODIFY AND PUSH THE LIMITS, TAKE A COUPLE HOURS AND READ THESE THREADS START TO FINISH. IT WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON AND SAVE EVERYONE A TON OF REPETITIVE QUESTIONS.

Mavic Pro Battery Mod
Mavic pro battery & antenna mod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Official Mavic Range Leaderboard
Aircraft Antenna Mod
Mavic Pro Factory Battery Controller Mod
Mavic Weight Reduction Methods
Mavic Radio Mods Primer

:::

Had some spare parts and got a hair up my *** to mod some external antenna connectors. I have a half dozen different antenna types to test and compare against the factory antennas. And I have some circular polarization antennas on order and looking forward to those tests along side the Rexuav remote antenna. All these arrive next week and I will report back my findings.

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A have a question, did you pull the original cables out? Or just leave them in? I see you removed the WiFi board, so basically disconnect the ipex cables, and install pigtails, pugged into the outside two connections, but what is done with the original cables is the only thing I need guidance on. Thanks!!!

Texas Mavic · Feb 23, 2019

TexasFlytography said:
A have a question, did you pull the original cables out? Or just leave them in? I see you removed the WiFi board, so basically disconnect the ipex cables, and install pigtails, pugged into the outside two connections, but what is done with the original cables is the only thing I need guidance on. Thanks!!!

Wait, are they the two short ipex jumpers?

Ahmet · Feb 24, 2019

I'm curious about battery mode.

beanbubba · Feb 24, 2019

BobDoLe said:
this seems like an ideal setup - is it still?
sunhans amp mounted on the side.
the dual battery clip still allows an additional battery (i'll have a 4100mah LIHV protek on top of the mavic battery).

any downside to using the stock antenna in the landing gear?

thank you for your R&D

The factory antenna is the best I have found for the job. I was able to get some higher gain units to work, but you will lose signal at distance if you stop forward flight and the antenna alignment does not maintain vertical alignment.

beanbubba · Feb 24, 2019

SuperPete said:
Is there a good source of 5V power inside of the bird and the remote? To run amps off of drone/remote battery.

Thank you.

All the amps I have ever tested had voltage ranges well within 3S on the M1. There are a couple that will fry on 4S of the M2, so check them closely when running on the M2.

I use these little step down units that are adjustable when needed.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GJ0SC2C/

beanbubba · Feb 24, 2019

TexasFlytography said:
A have a question, did you pull the original cables out? Or just leave them in? I see you removed the WiFi board, so basically disconnect the ipex cables, and install pigtails, pugged into the outside two connections, but what is done with the original cables is the only thing I need guidance on. Thanks!!!

The wifi board has its own separate set of coax cables and I just remove them. Then place your amp in between the coax to the front rotor arm and the U.FL port on the main board (that the front arm coax was originally connected).

Midnitelite Comoany · Feb 24, 2019

beanbubba said:
The wifi board has its own separate set of coax cables and I just remove them. Then place your amp in between the coax to the front rotor arm and the U.FL port on the main board (that the front arm coax was originally connected).

So, just to make sure I have followed your work on this thread correctly and this info, remove the WiFi board, and middle cables. Place an amp in between the TX and RX connection which runs to the antenna in the leg, correct?!

Midnitelite Comoany · Feb 24, 2019

So that requires the small ipex jumper that you or someone was searching for earlier in the thread I am guessing, in order to use the original cable attached to the board at the tx/rx ipex connection on the board which connects to the output of the amp. And a simple ipex to sma will connect to the in of the amp... my apologies for the ridiculous run on sentence lol

Texas Mavic · Feb 24, 2019

Midnitelite Comoany said:
So that requires the small ipex jumper that you or someone was searching for earlier in the thread I am guessing, in order to use the original cable attached to the board at the tx/rx ipex connection on the board which connects to the output of the amp. And a simple ipex to sma will connect to the in of the amp... my apologies for the ridiculous run on sentence lol

From board, into amp, out of amp, to stock antenna. On the transmission/Recieve cable, not the RX only cable. Correct?

beanbubba · Feb 24, 2019

Midnitelite Comoany said:
So that requires the small ipex jumper that you or someone was searching for earlier in the thread I am guessing, in order to use the original cable attached to the board at the tx/rx ipex connection on the board which connects to the output of the amp. And a simple ipex to sma will connect to the in of the amp... my apologies for the ridiculous run on sentence lol