Mavic2 Radio & Antenna Mods

[beanbubba]

Time for you to strap on the 2 thunderpower 4500 and see if this thing has the 58,900 foot hard limit.[emoji106]

I have 3 TP4500's over packed and ready to go! Hopefully can attempt if wind will cooperate this week.

Got my power setup done and ready for 3 externals (and an amp at some point). And kept AUW under 1600 grams!

NOTE: I could never figure out how to disable the upward vision sensor. I even removed the hardware, but Go4 won't let you take off if the upward sensor is blocked or missing. So I fashioned the power cables around the sensor and it will fly now.

EDIT: IMHO 1600 grams is the new mod benchmark for the max "safe and efficient" weight for the M2. I will keep loading an M2 all the way to failure, but my early guesstimates and the similarities to the MP gives me a gut feeling this is the target max weight (maybe some more, we will see).

 

[SkyNinja]

Check with @Pablo Chacon, he posted that he flew 37 min with a battery mod that looks to be covering the top vision sensor.

 

[beanbubba]

Check with @Pablo Chacon, he posted that he flew 37 min with a battery mod that looks to be covering the top vision sensor.

View attachment 46146

They must have found the disable button for it that has eluded me.

@Pablo Chacon

 

[beanbubba]

I did some basic range testing with the RC external antenna and got mixed results. This will take some more time to debug.

I did first flight tests with my M2Z and disconnected the black/right antenna coax from the main board. I had the RC antenna coax from the dragon amp on the RC left port and nothing worked. I swapped the coax to the right port and all worked perfectly and I flew out a couple miles and back with zero issues.

I then fired up the M2P and tried the same flight test with the same remote and dragon amp on the RC right port. I left both the left and right antenna ports connected to the bird-side main board. On the Go4 app, the RC signal stayed pegged at all bars, but the video stream and signal strength indicators would go on and offline every 5 seconds or so for the entire flight. I looked at the transmission page in the Go4 app and noticed 2.4/5 was flapping (note I only was testing with a 2.4 amp).

Anyway, a lot more testing is needed and the M2 for sure employs some new and different radio techniques and I will report back after more testing and validation on the spectrum analyzer.

NOTE: there is a Go4 setting to restrict the radio to 2.4/5/auto. This resets to "auto" every time to restart the Go4 app. It is NOT saved for the next flight.

 

[SkyNinja]

Beanbubba, which mode did you have it set in, 2.4 or auto?

 

[beanbubba]

Beanbubba, which mode did you have it set in, 2.4 or auto?

I kept resetting it to 2.4.

 

[lolo780]

I noticed both RC antennas must be up for best signal.

 

[beanbubba]

Looks good Bean! I'm planning to do something similar, but with QMA connections instead of SMA. (I just love me my QMA!)

@fileophile I see my favorite cable supplier now sells pre-made LMR195 coax with QMA connectors in case you still needed a source:

http://www.l-com.com/coaxial-195-series-qma-plug-to-qma-plug-radio-pigtails

 

[Elton Hammonds]

@fileophile I see my favorite cable supplier now sells pre-made LMR195 coax with QMA connectors in case you still needed a source:

http://www.l-com.com/coaxial-195-series-qma-plug-to-qma-plug-radio-pigtails

What would you recommend in the way of amps to make to most of my Raptor XR antenna for my M2P?

 

[beanbubba]

What would you recommend in the way of amps to make to most of my Raptor XR antenna for my M2P?

I am not in the position to make any M2 amp recommendations yet. I have several new amp's on order (2.4 only, 2.4/5 dual, and 5 only). The M2 radios behave differently than the MP and I just need time on the bench with the spectrum analyzer to figure out how this baby ticks. But as soon as I get it documented, I will post results in this thread.

 

[Elton Hammonds]

Thank you sir!

I'm more of an IT guy vs. an EE guy, so I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress/results.

 

[Torchia32]

Hey guys just got the Mavic 2. I had the atlas amplifier range extender from titan drones with the original Mavic. I was thinking of switching to the 4hawks this time with the MP2. I was wondering which one was better the atlas or the 4hawks system. Specifically looking for the range increase.

 

[SkyNinja]

I have not tested this yet, but I think using atlas to boost the 4hawks xr will probably work the best. With my MP1 I use the atlas to boost my maxxrange antenna and I could fly 58k ft with no signal loss.

 

[Torchia32]

I have not tested this yet, but I think using atlas to boost the 4hawks xr will probably work the best. With my MP1 I use the atlas to boost my maxxrange antenna and I could fly 58k ft with no signal loss.

I’m confused. When I used the atlas it was connected to the top of the controller and on top of the atlas box I had 2 atlas whip antennas. I don’t understand the type of setup you had. Could you explain it please. Thanks

 

[SkyNinja]

I mounted the maxxrange antenna on the front of the atlas using some gopro adapters and two 4 inch cables. See photo below



It’s a little heavy but if you want to fly the max distance. It works

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[Torchia32]

I mounted the maxxrange antenna on the front of the atlas using some gopro adapters and two 4 inch cables. See photo below

View attachment 46549

It’s a little heavy but if you want to fly the max distance. It works

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Wow that’s quite the setup. Thanks for sharing. And awesome flight!

 

[beanbubba]

Hey guys just got the Mavic 2. I had the atlas amplifier range extender from titan drones with the original Mavic. I was thinking of switching to the 4hawks this time with the MP2. I was wondering which one was better the atlas or the 4hawks system. Specifically looking for the range increase.

These are the only reputable devices I have found (after 2 weeks of research only) that support dual 2.4+5 gHz operation:



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073GS2QCQ

You also need to find a panel antenna that is designed to support dual band operation like this:





The Mavic2 is "qwerky" on the radio operation and I have not fully figured it out yet with its dual band support. Until that is fully figured out, you will need to use 2 dual band boosters and one dual band / dual element antenna.

You may or may not get lucky and find a situation to make your all 2.4 band amp's and antennas work with the Mavic2. I have encountered some un-savory results during this single band testing and more research is required.

 

[SkyNinja]

Believe those are the amps MaxxUAV uses on there Phantom 4p kit. when you were flying with the directional 2.4 antenna, where are you using both the left and right and antenna ports at the same time on the RC or swapping back-and-forth testing? The phantom 4 Pro and Mavic Air are duel band, I wonder if the guys flying them have experienced the same problem and came up with a solution.

I believe the 4Hawks RAPTOR XR is duel band antenna

 

[beanbubba]

These are the only reputable devices I have found (after 2 weeks of research only) that support dual 2.4+5 gHz operation:

View attachment 46570

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073GS2QCQ

You also need to find a panel antenna that is designed to support dual band operation like this:

View attachment 46571

View attachment 46572

The Mavic2 is "qwerky" on the radio operation and I have not fully figured it out yet with its dual band support. Until that is fully figured out, you will need to use 2 dual band boosters and one dual band / dual element antenna.

You may or may not get lucky and find a situation to make your all 2.4 band amp's and antennas work with the Mavic2. I have encountered some un-savory results during this single band testing and more research is required.

I am going to continue more testing but I think I figured out the M2 radio basics. What was messing me up is that the Go4 app would constantly reset the radio mode to “auto”. Now I bring up the HD config page in the go4 app and hard set the band to 2.4-only and leave that screen up while I take off. Once in the air it will stay sticky to the setting (2.4 for my last tests). I did a few several mile tests with the bird side right antenna (black coax) disconnected from the main board; I had the RC left port disconnected and the right port going to a dragon 2.4 amp booster. NOTE: the M2 RC coax ports are REVERSED from the M1.

I will continue to report testing, but wanted to get this out so you can use your old M1 radio gear on your M2.

 

[lolo780]

On yesterdays flight I just discovered the same thing. Went out looking for 11km stock. Hit rain drops at the end of flight #1 and called it a night.