Ok so I just had a thought on the range extender topic

[DrizzyDrones]

So everything I see regarding range extending is always with the controller itself. Has anyone messed with the antenna on the mini itself? As far as I know the front legs have the antennas and i was just wondering if it would be any way to improve signal from both the controller and aircraft side. Something lightweight that basically slips on the front arms. Like say cap made of whatever would work to make the signal improve even if the range was done on controller side and the tips on the drone made the target for the signal to hit bigger... i have no idea if it could work but if slipping a parabolic or Yagi ontop the controller does something wouldnt the same principle slipping over the legs do something? People say with the extenders on controller u need to be even more vigilant about pointing it right so mabye a thin metal slipper would make the target for the signal bigger?

 

[scro]

It would most likely work, but you would have to keep the drone pointing, say, away from you all the time. The range extenders work on the principle that they focus the transmission power into a more concentrated beam, which you need to keep pointed at the drone. On the receiving end a similar device makes it more sensitive to picking up signal in one direction. If you lost connection and the drone spun around to return home you may not re establish a link to it for a while as it would be relatively "deaf" with the drone-mounted range extenders facing away from you. It would probably be worse than with nothing.

 

[DrizzyDrones]

Even if it wasnt made directional on the drone side. Like say a thin thimbal type thing That slips over the feet not
On one side but completely around wouldnt that make the target your aiming the controller at bigger I dunno lol i don’t ever hear anything about it so I figured id bring it up for discussion

 

[bumper]

The short answer is no, and for the reasons scro mentioned. Slipping anything metallic over the front leg will attenuate the signal, on both receive and transmit, making the situation worse.

The drone in-the-leg antennas are omni-directional, transmitting/receiving in a pattern that looks like a doughnut, signal strength basically the same in all horizontal directions. "Gain antennas" work by focusing the the radiated energy in a narrower beam. They can do this in applications that have no need to transmit in all directions. Not good on a drone, but can work okay on a controller, so long as you keep it pointing towards the drone.

 

[scro]

Another analogy would be to think of the range extenders as being like a telescope. You can see things clearly a lot further away, but only in one very specific direction. When looking through the telescope you can't see what's happening off to your side.

If you put a "range extender" on the drone itself it would be like making the drone look thru a telescope too, to pick up its signal. Great when it is pointing at the controller, but bad when it's pointing the wrong way.

 

[DrizzyDrones]

Gotcha