Marco Polo M2P placement?

[TedShred]

I bought the waterproof transmitter RC version Marco Polo.
I ordered a leg mount from Aerial Pixel but as it turns out it doesn't fit the waterproof version.
I'm thinking my only other option is 3M Dual Lock tape on the top of the drone unless there is a leg mount I don't know about?
Perhaps I should see if I can exchange the transmitter for a non-waterproof one?

 

[jaysrmc]

I put mine right on the front at the top near where the battery goes in. Havent had a problem with it but that doesnt mean it is right so please if you do it and somehting happens dont blame me. Im just giving my expierence.

 

[TedShred]

I put mine right on the front at the top near where the battery goes in. Havent had a problem with it but that doesnt mean it is right so please if you do it and somehting happens dont blame me. Im just giving my expierence.

I'm looking into swapping for a non-waterproof version.

 

[JLambert]

I put mine on the battery with 3M trulock, also made a small modification so the antenna faces up.

 

[TedShred]

Tim over at Marco Polo was good with me sending the tag and he'd swap it for me.

 

[Inspirephil]

Placed my transmitter exactly where JLambert placed his using industrial strength Velcro except I turned mine the opposite direction so it doesn’t interfere with the rear sensor. Not absolutely sure if it would or not but I didn’t want to take a chance.
I am very careful with the antenna when I am turning on the battery but it’s flexible and isn’t a problem.
I first tried on the front of the aircraft but it interfered with my WiFi signals.

 

[JLambert]

Placed my transmitter exactly where JLambert placed his using industrial strength Velcro except I turned mine the opposite direction so it doesn’t interfere with the rear sensor. Not absolutely sure if it would or not but I didn’t want to take a chance.
I am very careful with the antenna when I am turning on the battery but it’s flexible and isn’t a problem.
I first tried on the front of the aircraft but it interfered with my WiFi signals.

I haven't experienced any interference, but since it's on trulock it's easy to flip around to be front facing like yours. The only reason I went this way is I figured there would be less drag and I was concerned about the GPS receivers.

 

[Inspirephil]

I haven't experienced any interference, but since it's on trulock it's easy to flip around to be front facing like yours. The only reason I went this way is I figured there would be less drag and I was concerned about the GPS receivers.

I don’t think you have any problems with drag because the antenna is so flexible, and I agree with you about the GPS receivers. Too risky to take the chance of losing the signal.
And if there was a problem with “drag, airflow” it would be so insignificant that you wouldn’t be able to notice anyway.
But it’s a nice tracking unit, isn’t it?
It’s not NASCAR.
Just my thoughts

 

[Inspirephil]

I'm looking into swapping for a non-waterproof version.

That’s a good idea

 

[Inspirephil]

Tim over at Marco Polo was good with me sending the tag and he'd swap it for me.

Yes, they have excellent customer service!

 

[Turn11]

I'm looking into swapping for a non-waterproof version.

My 2 cents
I have 2 non waterproof Marco Polo transmitters and the logic I used was:
1. I don’t fly in the rain
2. Size
3. Cost (spend the $$ in a blink if their is a benefit)

I really love @Aerial-Pixel leg mount. I want to be as certain as possible as possible the TP stays with the AC if things go bad. I always (always) put the MP on even if I am just going up to get a sunset picture.

 

[Inspirephil]

My 2 cents
I have 2 non waterproof Marco Polo transmitters and the logic I used was:
1. I don’t fly in the rain
2. Size
3. Cost (spend the $$ in a blink if their is a benefit)

I really love @Aerial-Pixel leg mount. I want to be as certain as possible as possible the TP stays with the AC if things go bad. I always (always) put the MP on even if I am just going up to get a sunset picture.

With the additional cost being so insignificant for the waterproof version it was a logical decision for me to purchase the waterproof one. You never know where the aircraft will come down (hopefully not!!) and there’s a chance there could be some form of moisture that would effect the transmitter to malfunction. And I just want to be sure I’ll be able to track it no matter what!
And with the M2P I do fly in the rain with the Phantomorg.com wetsuit which allows me to fly in the rain confidently.
That’s why I bought it in the first place was for emergency tracking so another few dollars just made sense to me.
Plus I also have the Inspire 2 that I quite frequently fly over water of some sort. I swap the transmitter back and forth using industrial strength Velcro and that makes it very easy to put it on one or the other quickly.

 

[Inspirephil]

And I have DJI REFRESH CARE on both of my aircraft and if I can’t find my aircraft I cannot send it in for replacement or repair.

 

[Turn11]

With the additional cost being so insignificant for the waterproof version it was a logical decision for me to purchase the waterproof one. You never know where the aircraft will come down (hopefully not!!) and there’s a chance there could be some form of moisture that would effect the transmitter to malfunction. And I just want to be sure I’ll be able to track it no matter what!
And with the M2P I do fly in the rain with the Phantomorg.com wetsuit which allows me to fly in the rain confidently.
That’s why I bought it in the first place was for emergency tracking so another few dollars just made sense to me.
Plus I also have the Inspire 2 that I quite frequently fly over water of some sort. I swap the transmitter back and forth using industrial strength Velcro and that makes it very easy to put it on one or the other quickly.

I apologize, I was not meaning to be critical.
Just giving my thoughts. If it goes down in water, the waterproof won't help.
Iffin we get the AC back, that is all that matters.

 

[TR Ganey]

I placed mine on top of the batteries with velcro like others have done and face the antenna to the front. I haven't seen any negative effects so far. Good luck and drone on!

 

[Inspirephil]

I apologize, I was not meaning to be critical.
Just giving my thoughts. If it goes down in water, the waterproof won't help.
Iffin we get the AC back, that is all that matters.

No apologies needed I understand what you were getting at. But being that the transmitter is waterproof it should allow me to retrieve my aircraft if it is under water. And that’s what the goal is, to retrieve it.
And IMHO direction of the antenna won’t cause any drag whatsoever.

 

[mwardncsu]

No apologies needed I understand what you were getting at. But being that the transmitter is waterproof it should allow me to retrieve my aircraft if it is under water. And that’s what the goal is, to retrieve it.
And IMHO direction of the antenna won’t cause any drag whatsoever.

Water will highly attenuate many wireless signals..... so don't count on it in a submerged situation even if using the waterproof transponder.

 

[Inspirephil]

Water will highly attenuate many wireless signals..... so don't count on it in a submerged situation even if using the waterproof transponder.

I realize that but anything is better than nothing at all when I’m trying to find my M2P or Inspire 2, wouldn’t you agree?
And I hope it would at least put me in the general vicinity of its location and that way I can start my search with its last known location.

 

[mwardncsu]

I agree that levels of safe-guards are good things to help with recovery - I'm looking at getting a DroneKeeper 2 Mini which is basically a beeper that goes off when the drone is still, along with a Marco Polo. Just wanted to highlight that water will greatly reduce, if not totally block, any wireless transmission, so it should not be relied on at all for location over/in water - I guess a float would help there...

 

[Tim Crabtree]

We have done some testing of the Marco Polo Advanced RC Recovery Tag with submersion in water and have recorded the following results:

Loss at 6 inches freshwater depth vs free air: -24dB
Loss at 18 inches freshwater depth vs free air: -48dB
Additional loss per foot of freshwater: -24dB

To put this in perspective:

• Our system has a “link margin” (maximum end-to-end loss) of about 148 dB.
• For propagation near the ground we routinely see the signal drop off at about 10 dB for each doubling of the distance (not 6 dB as it would be in outer space).

The way this works out in air is that the signal loses is about 40dB in the first 3 meters (standard FCC test range distance), cutting the remaining link margin to 108dB. If the signal loss is 10dB for each doubling of the distance we can double the 3 meters 108/10 = 10.8 times before the signal gets too low to receive. 2^10.8 = 1783 so the max distance is 1783 x 9 feet (3 meters) = 16,047 feet or about 3 miles. If you increase the loss to just 11 dB for each doubling of the distance the range is reduced to 1.5 miles so it is very sensitive to the loss factor, wet vs dry ground, height off the ground, vegetation, etc. all make a big difference.

Using this model, which pretty closely predicts what we see in the field, we can plug in the loss numbers from the underwater tests to find the maximum distance of operation at various depths:

• At 6 inches depth I would expect the range to be: ~ 1/3 mile.
• At 18 inches depth about 400 feet.
• The approximate depth at which you would not be able to receive the signal, even if you were standing directly over the transmitter, would be about 6 feet. For what it’s worth, salt water would be worse and higher frequencies (i.e. 2.4GHz) would be worse.

You can read about the Marco Polo Advanced system here Advanced Single Drone Recovery System | Marco Polo | Tracking and Recovery Solutions

Tim Crabtree
President
Eureka Technology