Best antenna/range booster

[Porto]

Then probably you won't do it.
Interference wise Nanosync will not do any good. It could give you some improvement over stock but this would be in uncongested area. The FPVLR antenna designed for the 3dr Solo will increase your range on the HD part compared to stock in interference area but this one is not very forgiving in directional terms. Although (HD) beam should be 60 deg I noticed that it is more like 30-40 at longer distance. The RC part is more forgiving.
Stock the nanosync can be folded very compact with a minor DiY adjustment so you will not have to take it off. I love the design, especially the bracket. In My opinion better option than the FPVLR Yagi. You do not want to remove the cables all the time, SMA connectors are not made for this.
Some of us will test the Nanosync boosted soon. (I did do this before on the RC part and it worked quite well until it didn't. My amp became RIP). If this works out well it would be an elegant solution. @JakeMaxxUAV is working on a mount for the amps.
Just wait for what the outcome will be or try the Nanosync for yourself. Maybe you will have better luck in your area. Here (CE region) people are getting very long range with stock in some areas, also in US people have made it beyond 40.000' with stock antennae. For me boosting is the way to go and I like it!

Thanks Maclak, I think you've saved me from doing unnecessary "upgrading". I believe the solutions for my problem is boosted Nanosync.

Will be looking forward to reviews on boosted Nanosync. Hopefully it can still be folded compact!

 

[Porto]

Then probably you won't do it.
Interference wise Nanosync will not do any good. It could give you some improvement over stock but this would be in uncongested area. The FPVLR antenna designed for the 3dr Solo will increase your range on the HD part compared to stock in interference area but this one is not very forgiving in directional terms. Although (HD) beam should be 60 deg I noticed that it is more like 30-40 at longer distance. The RC part is more forgiving.
Stock the nanosync can be folded very compact with a minor DiY adjustment so you will not have to take it off. I love the design, especially the bracket. In My opinion better option than the FPVLR Yagi. You do not want to remove the cables all the time, SMA connectors are not made for this.
Some of us will test the Nanosync boosted soon. (I did do this before on the RC part and it worked quite well until it didn't. My amp became RIP). If this works out well it would be an elegant solution. @JakeMaxxUAV is working on a mount for the amps.
Just wait for what the outcome will be or try the Nanosync for yourself. Maybe you will have better luck in your area. Here (CE region) people are getting very long range with stock in some areas, also in US people have made it beyond 40.000' with stock antennae. For me boosting is the way to go and I like it!

BTW, I am in CE region too. I am in Jakarta, you wouldn't believe how many cell towers and all kind of communications antennas we have in, say about 300m/yards radius! I am quite surprised the Mavic can still reach a bit over 1.6km (1 mile) in this condition. My P4P can do about 1.4km (0.8mi) in 5.8 Ghz mode. In 2.4 Ghz mode it can only reach a few hundred meters!

 

[MacIak]

BTW, I am in CE region too. I am in Jakarta, you wouldn't believe how many cell towers and all kind of communications antennas we have in, say about 300m/yards radius! I am quite surprised the Mavic can still reach a bit over 1.6km (1 mile) in this condition. My P4P can do about 1.4km (0.8mi) in 5.8 Ghz mode. In 2.4 Ghz mode it can only reach a few hundred meters!

Boosted will never be compact. I too am curious how maxxuav will tackle the mounting. In worst case just get a slightly bigger camera bag. I got one for just over 25 dollars, it's great.

 

[Porto]

Boosted will never be compact. I too am curious how maxxuav will tackle the mounting. In worst case just get a slightly bigger camera bag. I got one for just over 25 dollars, it's great.

I'll see how Maxxuav do the mounting. Worse case? I'll just get another remote for traveling

 

[Porto]

Press the Post Reply button too soon. Of course a bigger bag is much cheaper than another remote, but if the modified remote becomes too big, it will become an inconvenience when traveling.

 

[ghostrider215]

Great thread, thx all for info

 

[GooniesNeverDie]

Once you mod the remote, you can try all those different types.

Personally I've put a Nanosync on every DJI drone I've ever owned including my Mavic. However I find myself regretting the decision. Only because I miss the ease of the stocker.

I would consider trading my modded remote for a stock one if anyone is interested. There's no doubt it works great, but now with the goggles I find it hard to aim properly with the goggles running

 

[MacIak]

Great thread, thx all for info

You'll need these threads too when modding starts:
NanoSync Antenna for DJI Mavic Coming Soon

And

Mavic Pro Battery Mod

Enjoy!

 

[vineam]

Hi,
I'm new to mavic flying. Is there any consensus on the best antenna/range booster, or so most people just stick with the stock?

I've seen some antennas and range booster threads sprinkled here and there, but nothing with hard evidence that it works

You can go with the directional antennas from aliexpress or ebay to start with (about $30), have in mind that most of the antennas support only 2.4ghz and your drone is using both 2.4 and 5 so you need dual band antenna that supports both, or if you choose to go with 2.4 antenna then you need to manually select 2.4 channel, also you need to replace the antenna cable inside the remote but you can find youtube tutorials how to do that.
I just got the mavic still unmodified and I have the phantom 3 pro with 2x2w 2.4ghz boosters using 8db directional antennas powered by small battery mounted on the remote behind the phone holder and I also have ground station with two 14db antennas mounted on a tripod powered by the same configuration.

For home user you only need to upgrade the stock antennas, you don't need the boosters to be honest.

For distance flying 2.4ghz antenna/signal is recommended, for city or place with a lot of interference 5ghz circular antenna is recommended.
Take my advice and just replace the antennas for a start, if you want more you can just keep upgrading, step one is to replace the cable and after that the sky is the limit.

And YES it works, 15-30% increase using the wind covers, 40%-60% increase with directional antennas without boosters, and +100% increase using directional antennas + boosters.
Be aware when using boosters you can go very far but only one way. If you go more then 7-8km you won't be able to fly back due to battery capacity, but you can do 11-12km one way with the boosters in controlled environment without interference.

 

[r3dbullxxx]

Amazon.com: Wifi Signal Booster 2.4Ghz 4W 802.11 Signal Extender Wifi Repeater Broadband Amplifiers for Wireless Router, with 5dBi antenna: Computers & Accessories

Regarding this, I may be completely new and not thinking but could/would you get 1 of each frequency?
Could/would you install them both at once? I'm still learning on how/when to manually set the freqyency...

What sucks...and it'll sound dumb I'm sure, is that I'm red/green colorblind so EVERYTHING that uses those color codes combinations causes me such issues...anyways...any info...TYIA.

r3d

 

[r3dbullxxx]

Any info on products such as:

https://www.amazon.com/Itelite-Rang...ic+air+range+extender+booster#customerReviews

https://www.amazon.com/4Hawks-Rapto...ie=UTF8&qid=1529414416&sr=1-1&keywords=4hawks

or the likes?

 

[FinnishIron]

After 2 day research I end up to choose between Itelite and 4Hawks... After more research I have now ordered 4 HAWKS Raptor Extreme Range. What I read is that Itelite is the predecessor from 4 hawks. But both are VERY GOOD. My interest includes strong signal in urban flights and 4 hawks has alot of reviews on that on YouTube. Looking forward to post some results [emoji4]

 

[FinnishIron]

I have recently installed the 4 HAWKS Raptor Extreme Range for my Mavic Pro. In absolutely amazed how excellent it is in also in strong interference in a suburb urban areas. My suburb is about 5 km max (as the longest length) on 120 meters hight. I fly around without any problem when it comes to the controller signal and HD strength. I stand behind trees with no problem, I can be behind a 16 floor building 850 meters away without any problem. This was impossible with stock antennas. I have not pushed it how far it can go (not my interest), but can say I would then out run my battery so the battery is my only limit. This is an absolute blow my mind experience [emoji4]

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Trees kill your signal. Especially pinetrees.
The most common mistake people make is "thinking" they have LoS because the terrain in direction of flight is clear the first 1000m...not realizing the terrain after 1000m is already 10m higher with trees on it totalling more than 25m. So when flying at 100m altitude the LoS is lost after 4km...boosting wil help penetrating through trees some when mavic is relatively nearby but as your signal gets scattered all over the place it will not serve well either.
Clear LoS..that is the trick. Then boosting works great.

Precisely... and my exact same experience. I live in a Douglas Fir forest, and I have run a lot of flight tests on tree attenuation. You have to fly higher the farther out you go. I did the Titan modification without amplification and saw sufficient improvement.

 

[Mazdaman323lx]

Stock is excellent. Boosted with 3rd party antenna is better. Perhaps 30% range increase with aftermarket antenna and about 70% range increase with boosted antenna. That's my experience anyway. One thing you'll notice is that the HD video receive link will outpace the RC transmission link. By amplifying your transmission, you fix the weak link. I see much greater stability in my connection with my amps and antenna. There are many good options which include the Nanosync, the FPVLR yagi type, and big circular polarizing ones like the FPVLR with the spiral coils. They all help and really depends on where you are flying and how portable you want your setup to be.

You wouldnt have a link to some of those ?