High-gain omnidirectional antennas on the Mavic Air RC?

[NullPointerException]

So far I'm loving my new Mavic Air except for the under-powered radio. I was filming a sunsut over a snow-covered forested area and had to turn around after only 1100 feet due to low signal strength. So I'm looking for a way to increase range. I should note that yes, it's operating in FCC mode (I live in the US).

Looking around on YouTube I see lots of people trying the silly parabolic reflectors that don't really help at all, and I see people trying the directional antennas which do help, but you have to be careful to always be pointing toward the drone.

But I haven't seen anyone try a high gain (9-16dbi) omnidirectional antenna... Anyone have some thoughts on whether they would help at all?

 

[Thomas B]

So far I'm loving my new Mavic Air except for the under-powered radio. I was filming a sunsut over a snow-covered forested area and had to turn around after only 1100 feet due to low signal strength. So I'm looking for a way to increase range. I should note that yes, it's operating in FCC mode (I live in the US).

Looking around on YouTube I see lots of people trying the silly parabolic reflectors that don't really help at all, and I see people trying the directional antennas which do help, but you have to be careful to always be pointing toward the drone.

But I haven't seen anyone try a high gain (9-16dbi) omnidirectional antenna... Anyone have some thoughts on whether they would help at all?

Does anyone make such an antenna? If so, is it reasonably portable?

 

[NullPointerException]

Does anyone make such an antenna? If so, is it reasonably portable?

Well since the Mavic Air RC is just a WiFi transceiver at heart, I figured something like this, this, or this would be electronically compatible (I understand I'd have to open up the RC to physically connect it)

 

[Thomas B]

Might work! Investment is small. BTW, if you search for one that will specifically work with DJI products you’ll get a slightly different group of antennae options.

 

[Mavicrebel123]

Not sure if anyone is still following this thread, but there are a couple of slip-on antenna options for the Air RC controller. One is a pure Yagi which is tuned to 5.8ghz, and the other is a kit that uses the black plastic/ gold foil parabolics AND yagis...but again only tuned to 5.8. However if someone could use an Oscope to test these devices and can determine if shielding one side can provide good signal gain, then it would be possible to create a 2.4ghz tuned antenna for the other stalk and retain the full capabilities of the RC controller...ie...dual band switching 2.4ghz/5.8ghz.