Outdoor Mavic signal repeater for flying long range indoors on your big screen display

[rydfree]

Extending the antennas is a bad idea . The increase in standing waves would be extremely hard on the tx .

Maybe send a note to these guys and see if it's possible . Well it's definitely possible , see if they are willing to discuss it
Enclosed Case 2.4GHz Digital Secondary Monitoring Station and Repeater

 

[quick_dry]

If I were trying that I'd get a couple of ufl to RPSMA cables to replace the antenna. Then run a cable off each into a 2.4GHz booster (so you'd need 2 boosters) and then long cables from there to the pair of external antennas. If you already have the external antennas I think you could do that mod for under 100, ordering parts from bang good. 4W repeaters are $30 I think (I'm assuming that this is just a thought experiment and you'd have the proper permissions if doing it in real life)

 

[Pp09nlk2n]

If I were trying that I'd get a couple of ufl to RPSMA cables to replace the antenna. Then run a cable off each into a 2.4GHz booster (so you'd need 2 boosters) and then long cables from there to the pair of external antennas. If you already have the external antennas I think you could do that mod for under 100, ordering parts from bang good. 4W repeaters are $30 I think (I'm assuming that this is just a thought experiment and you'd have the proper permissions if doing it in real life)

As a thought experiment - I'm confused as to why one would even need to have a physical connection between the remote and the repeater. Isn't there such a thing as a radio repeater that would be a separate, 3rd device that sits on top of my roof and is listening. If it hears something Mavic-y, it simply says it again.

Obviously it isn't that simple. But in trying to remember the CB radio setup my Grandpa had back in the day and I could have sworn it was a similar thing - he had a repeater in a tree and then sat in the living room with his transmitter.

Also, if the repeater was at the same strength as the remote, just higher elevation, why would that take special permission / annoy the FCC?

I am sure there is answers to all of this, just curious and eager to learn.

 

[Pp09nlk2n]

And to clarify - I'm not looking to have a repeater suddenly get me 30 mile range - I don't want a power boost - just a better line of sight boost to get on the other side of trees, etc

 

[quick_dry]

I've never seen any plain wireless amplifiers for 2.4GHz - my gut thought was that even if they did work just putting an antenna on the input side too, you'd get feedback issues because you're just amping (with slight delay) what you picked up from the air. I don't think they have the filtering to remove their own broadcast.

I wasn't so much suggesting the amps for a broadcast signal boost, but to account for the longer line lengths to go from the lounge to the top of the antenna pole.

 

[Pp09nlk2n]

Well well well... Looks like DJI may be selling the signal boosting tech I need soon.

DJI Introduces New High-Performance Accessories and Service Plan To Help Professional Customers Get The Most From DJI Products

 

[Mr Spock]

now u can buy the Tracktenna

 

[geigy]

While waiting for a booster, how about the low tech solution of setting up a small platform on top of the dome to fly from. A small dumb waiter for snacks, drinks, and recharged batteries and you are in command of the entire valley.

 

[Flawless]

Tracking antenna will be for the pro grade controller, which won't work with the Mavic.

 

[Humanparody]

Just rip one of the pipes open on your wall and stick your controller in it. (page 3,582 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

 

[Pp09nlk2n]

View attachment 11885 Just rip one of the pipes open on your wall and stick your controller in it. (page 3,582 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

And end up on a Vogon ship? No thank you.

 

[Humanparody]

Take it you still haven't come up with a solution? My house sits in a "hole" so to speak so flying anywhere beyond 1000ft at or below 400 is signal death for me. I've looked into solutions and the only thing that seems like a possibility is to dive into the controller and extend the leads with a matched impedance wire, although the losses at our frequency even over just a few feet are ridiculous.

I used to know a guy that would hack CB radios and he could talk to Florida from Maryland simply by switching out a few components. Illegal....but effective. In your case, I don't see the FCC expending any amount of energy to figure out why there is occasionally some wifi interference in the middle of the wilderness. I'm not sure how many watts the transmitter runs at, I'd imagine they keep it pretty close to 5. At the end of the day, the proprietary encryption circuitry is handled upstream from the radio transmitter circuitry, which in and of itself is just a "dumb" amplifier that takes whatever you feed it and spits out an amplified version. The basic circuit layout is not too dissimilar from those old CB radios. If you could bump up the transmitter power, that would overcome the losses in the extended antenna lead, at least on the transmission side of things. The receiver on the other hand is a problem because hacking the Mavic itself may not be possible. However you could overcome this with a parabolic adjustable antenna pointed in the general direction of flight. (This is exactly what DJI just put out, unfortunately on a different communication platform)

I'm not seeing a wireless repeaters as a viable option simply because they receive encoded "packets", decode them to make sure they are actually information, re-encode them and send them back out. If they didn't do all the "smart" bit which just happens to be the major roadblock for what we want them to do, and just passed along any and all signals without knowing what they are first, they would amplify a bunch of noise and reflections of their own signals (think microphone feedback). Not only would it not work, nothing running in the 2.4-5.8ghz in your vicinity would work either. That is unless DJI comes up with a proprietary repeater for the rest of us.

 

[Starfighter]

This solution is drastic but I have personally verified it works here in FL. Sorry, but first off, the concrete done, while cool but has to go. Then simply replace it with a double wide mobile home with a shingle roof and wooden walls and side panels. Its amazingly RF transparent to our frequencies.

I put the drone on my front lawn, sit down in my living room, fire the bird up, and fly it like I was outside. I was only seeing a range of around 3,000' or so, but I'm still amazed. The visual quality was perfect. After I'm done, I land it back in the grass.

I have a feeling like you might be attached to the dome. So never mind.



This is all hypothetical possibilities if told to the FAA. There are a few windows. If you stayed on the front lawn, you could probably keep it in sight!

 

[hypmfrcp]

As told by others comments, it will suffice to take a device such as the MaxxUAV range extender, purchase some RG6 coaxial cables for two lines (any cable below 5mm diameter will attenuate too much), two SMA female connectors, two BNC male coaxial connectors (for the antennas), and two directional active antennas in your roof.

You place your drone in the range of the directional antennas, and if you are able to connect to the mavic you are done.

The encryption do not matter at all, since you are just creating an amplified channel to pass all the communication.

 

[gnirtS]

FAA won't like the "beyond line of sight". FCC won't like the ERP being over the legal limit.

 

[Sparky]

Thank you for all the great replies on this. I ended up making a little drone pad on the balcony Purchased an Nvidia K1 which has HDMI output which I feed to my wall mounted computer monitor. Of course my wife is on the balcony spotting so we don't violate any FAA regulations out here many miles from any airport. What I have found, is that the stock DJI controller antennas give a good signal for quiet a distance while I fly sitting comfortably in my office with a long USB cord to the flight controller. I was originally thinking the signal wouldn't penetrate the cement dome very far, but I was pleasantly impressed how far I could fly out with full bars. So no need for modification of stock unit it turns out. Still, in the future, if they ever come out with an occusync compatible repeater, would love to put it on top of my 40' antenna tower and go for even further extended distances. We have a security system on the land and the mavic acts like an extension of that as a flying surveillance camera to supplement the other cameras.

 

[CashCache]

If only there was a way to increase the wattage output from the controller ;-) If you are getting decent range from inside your dome with only .4 watts, think what 1.5 watts would get you.

By the way, that landing pad on your dome is just too cool.

 

[CashCache]

Off topic, but how are you charging Mavic batteries way out there? That little solar panel is of little use, no?

 

[Sparky]

Off topic, but how are you charging Mavic batteries way out there? That little solar panel is of little use, no?

Several kilowatts from the panel array charge it from the sun just fine

 

[Ping^Spike]

And I thought England had some amazing scenery.... @Sparky you live in a truly beautiful location mate

And I LOVE the purpose built landing pad, brilliant!!!