Yagi Antenna Boosters

[Dave Phantom]

I recently purchased a pair of Yagi Antenna Boosters for my Mavic Air. Although I've not tried them yet they have very good reviews on YouTube but was disappointed in the build quality, the 'rods' are misaligned and a rough finish. Have ordered these from ebay which seem a lot better made:
'Signal Booster Antenna Range Extender For DJI Mavic Mini/Mavic Air/Mavic 2 Pro'. Signal Booster

 

[BikerBuster]

Be interested to know if they really work. Do you have a known 'patchy' area where you can try them?
Could have done with some in crete last year, I was constantly losing signal.

 

[Dave Phantom]

I've not tried them yet but as I say the reviews seem good. Have a look at this video, they fit all Mavic controllers.
DJI Mavic Mini Range Extender Test

 

[raven swe]

snake oil comes to mind, placebo effect an all that, I bought them so they work, and the internet don't lie. flying a bit higher will work just as well.

 

[Dave Phantom]

OK.

 

[slup]

snake oil comes to mind, placebo effect an all that, I bought them so they work, and the internet don't lie. flying a bit higher will work just as well.

But they do improve live feed stability & distance if they are made with the correct dimensions for the wavelength you use (either 2,4GHz or 5,8GHz).

Bought them for my MA1 just because they were cheap & I was curious ...

In the same location (open farmland), the same height (120m/400ft) & in FCC mode with 2,4GHz ...
I reached 2,6km without Yagi's ... the live feed was out there really laggy & not usable anymore & the flight ended with a disconnect and RTH.
With Yagi's I reached a tad longer than 4km, actually turned around manually as the battery didn't allow a longer flight ... the live feed was perfect & without any lag.

The Yagi's is highly directional though ... so it's more important to point your RC correctly. They will not improve going out of unobstructed LOS ... they are equal sensitive to that as using the RC without them ... so going behind things will as usual generate a disconnect. So flying in a sub-urban environment will usually mean that you have obstacles like houses & trees on a distance from you that rises the free horizon level by approx 7 degrees ... with some trigonometric calculations you end up with a distance of approx 1000m up on 120m height before the AC disappears behind a house roof.

Have also noted that with Yagi's you more easily punch through WiFi disturbance ... have a smaller industrial area close by with some taxi cab headquarters which probably have some equipment that creates a virtual wall of disturbance which I can't fly through with the plain RC in 5.8GHz ... with Yagi's attached I fly over with just a smaller hiccup in the live feed.

 

[raven swe]

post 10

Yagi - Do they Work? FCC

My Yagi's finally came, weather hasn't been so nice but I tried to get out and make a video. I've had a second chance to test off video and have had similar results and can conclude they do help but I wouldn't rush out to get them. I want to play with them a little longer, see if I can't make...

forum.dji.com

 

[BikerBuster]

post 10

Yagi - Do they Work? FCC

My Yagi's finally came, weather hasn't been so nice but I tried to get out and make a video. I've had a second chance to test off video and have had similar results and can conclude they do help but I wouldn't rush out to get them. I want to play with them a little longer, see if I can't make...

forum.dji.com

That makes sense to me.

 

[raven swe]

wasn't thinking straight

 

[Hill Top Rez]

But they do improve live feed stability & distance if they are made with the correct dimensions for the wavelength you use (either 2,4GHz or 5,8GHz).

Bought them for my MA1 just because they were cheap & I was curious ...

In the same location (open farmland), the same height (120m/400ft) & in FCC mode with 2,4GHz ...
I reached 2,6km without Yagi's ... the live feed was out there really laggy & not usable anymore & the flight ended with a disconnect and RTH.
With Yagi's I reached a tad longer than 4km, actually turned around manually as the battery didn't allow a longer flight ... the live feed was perfect & without any lag.

The Yagi's is highly directional though ... so it's more important to point your RC correctly. They will not improve going out of unobstructed LOS ... they are equal sensitive to that as using the RC without them ... so going behind things will as usual generate a disconnect. So flying in a sub-urban environment will usually mean that you have obstacles like houses & trees on a distance from you that rises the free horizon level by approx 7 degrees ... with some trigonometric calculations you end up with a distance of approx 1000m up on 120m height before the AC disappears behind a house roof.

Have also noted that with Yagi's you more easily punch through WiFi disturbance ... have a smaller industrial area close by with some taxi cab headquarters which probably have some equipment that creates a virtual wall of disturbance which I can't fly through with the plain RC in 5.8GHz ... with Yagi's attached I fly over with just a smaller hiccup in the live feed.

I would like to try a pair of the Yagi and I was looking at the ones that Dave had recommended but noticed that they do not have stops on then to make both set at the same height on each antenna. I understand that for these to work, they need to be finely tuned so to speak and wondered if different positions on the antenna would adversely affect their performance?

 

[Torcan]

But they do improve live feed stability & distance if they are made with the correct dimensions for the wavelength you use (either 2,4GHz or 5,8GHz).

Bought them for my MA1 just because they were cheap & I was curious ...

In the same location (open farmland), the same height (120m/400ft) & in FCC mode with 2,4GHz ...
I reached 2,6km without Yagi's ... the live feed was out there really laggy & not usable anymore & the flight ended with a disconnect and RTH.
With Yagi's I reached a tad longer than 4km, actually turned around manually as the battery didn't allow a longer flight ... the live feed was perfect & without any lag.

The Yagi's is highly directional though ... so it's more important to point your RC correctly. They will not improve going out of unobstructed LOS ... they are equal sensitive to that as using the RC without them ... so going behind things will as usual generate a disconnect. So flying in a sub-urban environment will usually mean that you have obstacles like houses & trees on a distance from you that rises the free horizon level by approx 7 degrees ... with some trigonometric calculations you end up with a distance of approx 1000m up on 120m height before the AC disappears behind a house roof.

Have also noted that with Yagi's you more easily punch through WiFi disturbance ... have a smaller industrial area close by with some taxi cab headquarters which probably have some equipment that creates a virtual wall of disturbance which I can't fly through with the plain RC in 5.8GHz ... with Yagi's attached I fly over with just a smaller hiccup in the live feed.

I like what I just read.. Thank you "quote: the live feed was perfect & without any lag. "
not so much for distance, but the cutting through interference etc.

my question is:
I see some made with aluminium and some with brass
is there a difference, or do they both work equally well?

 

[raven swe]

Like I said snake oil, placebo effect, this from a rf yagi antenna engineer, like I said earlier, they need a physical electrical connection to work,

A Yagi Antenna for this purpose, is just a gimmick, and nothing else. A Yagi Antenna is in it's design made, to be fully directional, as it has nearly no effect, when it turns just a little bit out of direction, where it has to receive the signal from. So to believe in, that it has effect, is nonsens. If you will boost the signal, then go for the Parabolic reflectors. And yes, I'm technician, and has been working with Yagi Antennas, for many years, and know in deep, what they can, and can't Do.

A little addition to my previous post. You have to remeber, that a Yagi Antenna is an Active Antenna. It means that the Dipol (which are the part that set the Frequency) has to be connected electrically to the Receiver/Transmitter. In the case here, there are no connection at all. IF it should have just a bit of possibility to work, the original Antennas on the Controller had to be removed, and replaced with the Yagi Antennas Dipol. And all Components on a Yagi need to be defined exactly out from the Frequency it has to go on. I will say with these mentioned here, you could replace them with a piece of wood, and get same result. If you really would gain the flight distance, then use either the parabolic reflector, or better, an active antenna construction, which replace the original Antennas. Here in this Link, are an example of such one (and they work).

 

[maelstrom]

Like I said snake oil, placebo effect, this from a rf yagi antenna engineer, like I said earlier, they need a physical electrical connection to work,

I’m not an expert but this is from an article about yagi antennas:

”The parasitic elements are not electrically connected to the transmitter or receiver, and serve as passive radiators, reradiating the radio waves to modify the radiation pattern.”

 

[raven swe]

There you go, just focusing the the beam nothing more, passive is not going to do much else, active would. And to be an active antenna the radiating part of the dipole antenna needs to be electrical connected to the transmitter With the passive elements in front of the dipole with a reflector element behind it

 

[slup]

There you go, just focusing the the beam nothing more, passive is not going to do much else, active would. And to be an active antenna the radiating part of the dipole antenna needs to be electrical connected to the transmitter With the passive elements in front of the dipole with a reflector element behind it

Have anyone claimed that the slip-on cheap Yagi's would be active ..? Think we all agree that it's a thing of focusing the beam, nothing more ... and they, at least for me, do that better than the equal cheap parabolic ones.

Can hardly call them snake oil as they with the same flight path, height & frequency make the AC fly further in meters, give a more stable live feed of all 3 options (stock antenna, with parabolic or with those Yagi's I have). 2 flights done right after each other produced 2,7km & a disconnect (stock) vs. 4km with perfect live feed & turn around due to low battery (Yagi's) aren't wishful thinking ... it's numbers.

But as with all not active they can't cope with going out of unobstructed line of sight, do that & the AC will be disconnected with following RTH.

 

[raven swe]

Didn’t say anyone said they were active, what I was trying to get across is that active antennas work, and these passive things are pretty much useless, anyway, if anyone thinks they work , well, good on ya,

 

[maelstrom]

Didn’t say anyone said they were active

In your earlier post you quoted an engineer saying:

“A little addition to my previous post. You have to remeber, that a Yagi Antenna is an Active Antenna. It means that the Dipol (which are the part that set the Frequency) has to be connected electrically to the Receiver/Transmitter.”

That certainly sounds he’s saying it’s active.

 

[SkyeHigh]

In your earlier post you quoted an engineer saying:

“A little addition to my previous post. You have to remeber, that a Yagi Antenna is an Active Antenna. It means that the Dipol (which are the part that set the Frequency) has to be connected electrically to the Receiver/Transmitter.”

That certainly sounds he’s saying it’s active.

What he’s saying is a true Yagi Antenna is an active antenna, the ones people are discussing here are passive and only re-radiate the existing signal with additional loss.

 

[Rmcolon]

I bought mine and tested right away. I see a slightly gain in connection and more distance, at least more without them and where I fly, I got a bunch of obstructions, specially tall trees. Anyway you need to keep the orientation pointing to the drone to be effective. At the end, I feel that this a personal issue and everybody has to make their own tests to make an educated opinion..

 

[raven swe]

Thanks SkyeHigh for getting my point across, been an amateur radio op for the past 30 years or so, think I know a little about antennas, SA4MDN is my call sign and can be found on QRZ.COM,