Aircraft Antenna Mod

[fileophile]

I decided to go ahead and experiment with the panel antenna I have. Attached is a picture of the panel antenna mounted on a mast which will be at about 32' AGL. I turned one panel (at the bottom) sideways to try and get MIMO, but not exactly sure if that will work given the Mavic's antenna are both oriented the same way (generally vertically). I'll hook up the left side RC output to the vertically-oriented one, and the right-side to the horizontally oriented one.

I have a dragon amp also, which I am thinking of using at the base station on the left hand port. Would this be more effective near the RC, or near the antenna, or doesn't it matter?

Oh, and you may notice a multiband VHF antenna at the very top of the mast, this is just used for general voice communications.

 

[fileophile]

@beanbubba any advice/comments on the last two posts? I'd like to minimize my trips up and down the mast, thanks.

 

[mnoutdoors]

I’m not bean,or a bubba but, I have the same antennas you want the left side controller to be vertical I have not tried the right horizontal yet, as far as degree of coverage at about 12,000 feet out I can travel left or right about a mile before it starts to drop off only on the HD video
I have my amps at the bottom about 10 feet from the controller
I’m using the 8W amp on the right side and the dragon amp on the left side right now
Using LMR600 with 100 feet of cable at about 65 feet up trees are 55 feet up

 

[fileophile]

Great, thanks for the reply! Did you bother to ground these antennas?

 

[mnoutdoors]

No grounding ,but I don’t leave it up in a lightning storm or hooked up either

 

[beanbubba]

I’m not bean,or a bubba but, I have the same antennas you want the left side controller to be vertical I have not tried the right horizontal yet, as far as degree of coverage at about 12,000 feet out I can travel left or right about a mile before it starts to drop off only on the HD video
I have my amps at the bottom about 10 feet from the controller
I’m using the 8W amp on the right side and the dragon amp on the left side right now
Using LMR600 with 100 feet of cable at about 65 feet up trees are 55 feet up

@mnoutdoors has deployed what I think might be the best option we know of at the moment. Check the specs for your panel antennas, they should publish the beam width and it will vary from 20-60 degrees (which means you have to fly in that sector size).

 

[fileophile]

Thanks. So both panels (left and right channels) should be oriented vertically?

 

[beanbubba]

Thanks. So both panels (left and right channels) should be oriented vertically?

For this method with dragon on left and 8W on right, I would recommend keeping both antennas vertical.

 

[beanbubba]

I forgot to mention that you need to up tilt your panel antenna 3 to 7 degrees. Depending on maximum altitude and maximum distance you plan to fly. This extends your range significantly in some situations.

 

[beanbubba]

If you don’t know or care just up tilt 5 degrees and you will be good.

 

[beanbubba]

If anybody cares to understand, I can give a detailed explanation later tonight.

 

[fileophile]

Good to know, and just in time! I'll make the adjustments.

Attached is a photo of the installation process so far. You can see I was just about to go up the ladder to add the extra mast sections, the topmost one which I showed in reply #491. The MLR600 is just hanging there at this point. I have two other parts which I am considering:

1. A rotator of some sort -- otherwise for long distance flying I'll be limited to one direction only.
2. An extendable shelf -- in the picture you can see the window. I'd like to be able to extend a takeoff/landing shelf out of the window and launch/return from there. This is a second story so the drone would never have to touch the ground.

 

[beanbubba]

Good to know, and just in time! I'll make the adjustments.

Attached is a photo of the installation process so far. You can see I was just about to go up the ladder to add the extra mast sections, the topmost one which I showed in reply #491. The MLR600 is just hanging there at this point. I have two other parts which I am considering:

1. A rotator of some sort -- otherwise for long distance flying I'll be limited to one direction only.
2. An extendable shelf -- in the picture you can see the window. I'd like to be able to extend a takeoff/landing shelf out of the window and launch/return from there. This is a second story so the drone would never have to touch the ground.

View attachment 41785

This is the rotor I use described in the post below. If you do use a rotor, make sure and loop in plenty of slack in the LMR cable. Then tie wrap or some other method to affix the coax firmly to the mast (tape won't work, thick tie wraps at a minimum, best with some sort of clamp). If you do not, it will pull the cable from the antenna connectors after a few uses of the rotor.

Mavic Radio Mods Primer

Here is a picture of my panel antennas with the rotor and note the up tilt. The red arrow is where I double tie wrapped the coax to the mast.

Good luck on your "shelf" landing pad. I would love to see you get that working, but if I were a betting man...

 

[Will042082]

I’ve red the whole theme. Tx/rx amplified on the rc and the aircraft. No wires. Everything is hidden inside. 2 hours work.

Appears you powered the booster directly to the drone without an external battery. What has done to your battery life/flight times?

 

[Will042082]

I have a Mavic AIR and would like to add a 5.8ghz booster to the AC that I have laying around from RexUAV. Requires 12v and I’d like to wire into the drone like @milchoni has done to his Pro. Assuming my process being the same, does anyone know the pin outs for the AIR and what I need in order to connect the booster to the drone?
Pic of the Angry Bird currently:

 

[SuperPete]

I received the off-brand 2W amp's today and I bet these suckers will fit in the space between the mother boards (the one and only open space on the mavic). But it might overheat making contacts with the chips on both boards??

View attachment 17692

I did finished reading your entire post and I have not seen conclusion on the testing of this specific amp. This seems like something that can fit inside of the mavic and feed off of mavic battery.
Any words of wisdom on that?
Thank you.

 

[beanbubba]

I did finished reading your entire post and I have not seen conclusion on the testing of this specific amp. This seems like something that can fit inside of the mavic and feed off of mavic battery.
Any words of wisdom on that?
Thank you.

I remember a couple folks tried to cram an amp between the boards and something burned out (can't remember the details) and I personally gave up trying to place an amp internal on the M1.

One guy did come up with a real clean alternative:

Aircraft Antenna Mod

 

[SuperPete]

Ok, copy that, now question about this amp. Did it give you satisfying results boosting stock bird Tx antenna?

 

[beanbubba]

Ok, copy that, now question about this amp. Did it give you satisfying results boosting stock bird Tx antenna?

Affirmative.

Comparison reports can be found in the first post here:

Mavic Radio Mods Primer

 

[SuperPete]