Thoughts on this range extended N1 controller?

[howardK]

I still fly an M1P and frankly i do enjoy it. Any thoughts on simple mods or different controllers I could use to increase range? I also fly out over open water or sometimes in the desert.

 

[OldGuy]

I fly over open ocean with my Mini 3 Pro in FCC mode, and am trying to get a bit more range. And sometimes I fly from inside my car and would love to get the antenna outside the car when going long distances. I've been seeing pics of N1 controllers with antenna mods, and just found one on eBay. Any idea if this is likely to get significantly better range?

DJI Mavic Mini Remote Control - Black for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for DJI Mavic Mini Remote Control - Black at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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Any other mods or built out controllers to try?

For years I have used Alientech signal boosters on my DJI drones. At the moment my RC-N1 remote is fitted with an Alientech Pro 2.4G booster for my Mini 2 and newly acquired Mini 3. This is a quality product which works very well giving excellent range etc. The downside is that it is expensive and requires an electronics specialist to fit it to the remote ALIENTECH 2.4G/5.8G Antenna Signal booster long Range extender f DJI

 

[wrybread]

put an antenna at the top of my house

That's what I'm hoping to be able to do (mount the antenna high up). if that were possible it would be worth the price of admission for me. What type of cabling did you use?

 

[moldorf]

Are you saving screenshots of the max distance during those flights? Would be interesting to see. That's a pretty amazing distance from the controller, I get a max of I think 3 miles when I tested, but I haven't tried standing on top of a hill during a range test.

On a sidenote it would be nice if the Flight Data Center showed the max distance from the controller for each flight. I wonder if that data is in the raw log files and retrievable.

yeah...those are 'amazing' distances that are kind of hard to believe. Kind of like the MPG guys claim to get on their diesel pickups

there are youtube videos of guys using those same range extenders and they generally give about a 10% boost to distance

but that is so far beyond VLOS it's kind of crazy. The most I've ever done is about 3 miles, but that was in the high eastern Oregon desert and there was nobody at all for miles around...not even campers. I wouldn't do that again, especially not with remote ID

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

Since your new at the mod/extended antennas keep in mind that most are directional, and there are some that are omni directional. The two act differently. Be careful at range with the directional as the beam off the signal will be narrower. If you turn slightly and don't have the antennas pointed at the drone, you can lose your connection.

 

[Dave P]

Short answer, no.

You need to amplify not only the controller antennas, but also the drone antennas in order to get more range.

Modifying the controller to add two antenna connectors to be able to connect any antenna would give you the possibility of relocating the antenna to a better location, but you'll get the best range just by pointing the default antenna to the drone and keeping an unobstructed line of sight between the drone and the controller.

If you are already in FCC mode, the only thing that could improve range is the 4G dongle (not available for the Mini 3) or the pro controller, which in FCC mode has a 2W output while the RCN1 has only 0.4W, but IDK if it would have any effect on the Mini 3 as the antennas and emission power of the drone are little.

So in resume for long range you want a Mavic 3 paired with the pro controller in FCC mode, so both work at 2W.

PS: As there was no hack available for my previous Autel Evo Lite+ to switch it to from CE to FCC I modified the controller, added an external amplifier and put an antenna at the top of my house... and the only benefit was that I hadn't to point the controller towards the drone anymore, but range wise was about the same because the drone was still emitting at 0.1W (CE power).

You are 1,000% correct. The main issue is the drone transmit power. I have tried everything on one of my modded controllers and have spent a considerable amount of time and money, even purchasing the alientec $500 amplified antenna. The issue becomes the drones transmission power. I am gonna install a 2.5w amp in my drone from NLD but haven't gotten around to it uet

 

[wrybread]

For years I have used Alientech signal boosters on my DJI drones. At the moment my RC-N1 remote is fitted with an Alientech Pro 2.4G booster for my Mini 2 and newly acquired Mini 3. This is a quality product which works very well giving excellent range etc. The downside is that it is expensive and requires an electronics specialist to fit it to the remote ALIENTECH 2.4G/5.8G Antenna Signal booster long Range extender f DJI

Were you using this one?

ALIENTECH 2.4G&5.8G Dual Band antenna of omnidirectional with QMA quick release for Modified DJI drones controller

The antenna is 2.4G&5.8G dual-frequency band omnidirectional, 4dBi gain, with QMA quick release.

alienth.cn

You are 1,000% correct. The main issue is the drone transmit power. I have tried everything on one of my modded controllers and have spent a considerable amount of time and money, even purchasing the alientec $500 amplified antenna. The issue becomes the drones transmission power. I am gonna install a 2.5w amp in my drone from NLD but haven't gotten around to it uet

I'm hoping if nothing else the freedom to get better antenna placement will be a big improvement. I get less reception when facing away from the drone, or if the drone is at my hips, or I'm in my car.

If external antennas help with that, fantastic. And if I can mount those antennas up on a pole, even better. I have to figure out which cabling to use though, and it probably won't be cheap.

As far as the amp, which drone are you putting that in? I wonder if it works in the mini 3 pro.

 

[Dave P]

Were you using this one?

ALIENTECH 2.4G&5.8G Dual Band antenna of omnidirectional with QMA quick release for Modified DJI drones controller

The antenna is 2.4G&5.8G dual-frequency band omnidirectional, 4dBi gain, with QMA quick release.

alienth.cn

If the only issue is drone transmit power, why does antenna placement matter when I'm flying? Why do I get less reception when facing away from the front than facing it? And less reception when the controller is at my hips than up high? And less when I'm inside my car?

If external antennas help with that, fantastic. And if I can mount those antennas up on a pole, even better.

As far as the amp, which drone are you putting that in? I wonder if it works in the mini 3 pro.

Apologies, i am not suggesting drone transmit power is the only thing that matters. What I meant to say is you can add external antennas as well as signal boosters and they will help. However, this mainly helps increasing the signal to the drone and will only go so far. Then the challenge becomes the drone signal to the controller. Amplified antennas will increase receive gain a bit but not enough

 

[Dave P]

No, this one

ALIENTECH DUO II Signal Booster Antenna of Dual band

ALIENTECH DUO 2 antenna is a 2.4G+5.8G signal booster with power amplifier, which applies to all DJI Drones, include UAV of Mavic Pro/zoom/Mini/Platinum/Enterprise, Phantom 3/4 A/Advanced/Pro, Inspire 1/2 Pro, Matrice, Smart Controller, Cendence. Parrot Anafi, Autel EVO/II/PRO, etc. Buy Now!

alienth.cn

 

[moldorf]

No, this one

ALIENTECH DUO II Signal Booster Antenna of Dual band

ALIENTECH DUO 2 antenna is a 2.4G+5.8G signal booster with power amplifier, which applies to all DJI Drones, include UAV of Mavic Pro/zoom/Mini/Platinum/Enterprise, Phantom 3/4 A/Advanced/Pro, Inspire 1/2 Pro, Matrice, Smart Controller, Cendence. Parrot Anafi, Autel EVO/II/PRO, etc. Buy Now!

alienth.cn

ok...just from discussions here, and from what I've learned, and from common sense, and I may be wrong:

that extender, and just about all of them are one way boosters. They boost output signal from the controller, and may boost reception some..

but they do nothing for the drone. The drone's power of transmission and reception remains the same. That probably explains why the consensus seems to be you'll get a 15-20% boost in range (there are always extreme claims hard to find credible). And, many of the extender reviews I've seen are for drones with Ocuysinc 2.0, not 3.0

also....isn't Alientech a Chinese company? Make sure you don't by direct otherwise good luck enforcing any warranty

 

[lolo780]

So you're only flying in one direction, and not returning to the controller?

On a sidenote, it would be nice if the Flight Data Center recorded the maximum distance from the controller for each flight.

Almost all round trips. 16.3km x 2 with the Mavic 3 is the 32.6km flight.

View attachment 164620

yeah...those are 'amazing' distances that are kind of hard to believe. Kind of like the MPG guys claim to get on their diesel pickups

there are youtube videos of guys using those same range extenders and they generally give about a 10% boost to distance

but that is so far beyond VLOS it's kind of crazy. The most I've ever done is about 3 miles, but that was in the high eastern Oregon desert and there was nobody at all for miles around...not even campers. I wouldn't do that again, especially not with remote ID

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Stock RC, stock aircraft and battery, all shown on video getting over 12km out.

 

[Dave P]

ok...just from discussions here, and from what I've learned, and from common sense, and I may be wrong:

that extender, and just about all of them are one way boosters. They boost output signal from the controller, and may boost reception some..

but they do nothing for the drone. The drone's power of transmission and reception remains the same. That probably explains why the consensus seems to be you'll get a 15-20% boost in range (there are always extreme claims hard to find credible). And, many of the extender reviews I've seen are for drones with Ocuysinc 2.0, not 3.0

also....isn't Alientech a Chinese company? Make sure you don't by direct otherwise good luck enforcing any warranty

You are exactly right. The drone needs to be boosted or you are pretty much wasting your time. Which is what I found out after trying everything and spending lots of money....unfortunately

 

[lolo780]

You are exactly right. The drone needs to be boosted or you are pretty much wasting your time. Which is what I found out after trying everything and spending lots of money....unfortunately

As long as the band is clear at the RC it will pick up the drones signal. At long ranges, ground based interference won't be picked up by the RC, and an amplified RC signal can be received by the drone.

 

[NightFlightAlright]

1) the real limiting factor for range is the drone, not the controller.

2) regardless, signal always decreases by the square of the distance. There is no free lunch.

Ants and Antennas

An antenna, being a passive device, can not add power to a signal, but it can direct the available power in a more concentrated way. The trade-off there is less Omni and more directional, which is problematic for a handheld device, or for a device that moves a lot.

As it happens, drones move a lot.

So while a nifty cool looking antenna may increase relative strength by forming a “beam”, if that beam is not pointed at the target, the result is actually lower signal than would have been had without.


Amped up…

On the receive end of an antenna, even adding things like a signal amplifier are of dubious use. Receivers already have sensitive signal amplification. Add-on “signal boosters” mostly add-in more noise to the signal, which is rarely helpful.

So, amping up the transmit side is what we sort of want… but… keep in mind that in a two-way situation, higher transmit power increases unwanted noise on the receive side…


Multi pass!

Raw signal strength is not the only issue. We want high signal to noise ratio at each receiver. Paradoxically, high signal strength can result in some forms of increased noise — multipath for example, a phenomenon where a strong signal interferes with itself as it bounces off buildings, creating “echos” that interfere with the primary signal. And guess what? Increasing the primary power also increases these.


TL;DR

In short, there’s no free lunch and the limiting physics are not going to be effectively circumvented outside of some seriously considered, full-system modification.

——
In my case, the tall buildings of DTLA are the show stopper-going behind a 300’ tall monolith of concrete and steel isn’t going to be helped much by a fancy directional antenna IMO… though I am wondering if a highly directional rig could bounce signal off a nearby building… but I’m not going to risk losing my drone to find out…

 

[moldorf]

Almost all round trips. 16.3km x 2 with the Mavic 3 is the 32.6km flight.

View attachment 164620

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Stock RC, stock aircraft and battery, all shown on video getting over 12km out.

you forgot one thing...a completely irresponsible pilot

 

[lolo780]

you forgot one thing...a completely irresponsible pilot

Thank you for getting Xenon Sky more views on YouTube.

 

[moldorf]

Thank you for getting Xenon Sky more views on YouTube.

lol...yeah right....I'm sure thousands of youtube viewers are flocking to this forum, this discussion, and this thread, to determine what video they click next over there...he's got 900 subscribers after all

 

[lolo780]

lol...yeah right....I'm sure thousands of youtube viewers are flocking to this forum, this discussion, and this thread, to determine what video they click next over there...he's got 900 subscribers after all

Keep bumping this thread, you're helping the search engines.
Keywords Mavic 3 long range record
Mini 3 Pro long range record

And a shout out to Rubens for nice flight with the Mavic 3.

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[howardK]

Any functioning clip ons for an M1P?

 

[lolo780]

Any functioning clip ons for an M1P?

Yes, M1 and M2 can use the same from what I remember. Only one side is needed.