ranrick
 Core User of DJI
Philippines
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doglaboi Posted at 4-11 02:57
Exactly. I had no video on screen from 1300m onwards (a good 1000m+) and I wanted to know how far I could push my Mini. It stopped at 2322m and initiated RTH. All footage however was still captured on the card flawlessly. At least I know now that I won't be able to use mi Mini for eventual Search and Rescue anytime soon
Vegetation really does kill signal. I noticed it yesterday when I tried flying away from me behind some trees. Immediately got signal weak errors and almost lost connection, I wasn't even 50m away.
Do you think those 3rd party signal boosters might help with going the distance? Or will vegetation on the banks still have an impact on the transmission.
I've used 3rd party passive signal boosters and they do work well, at least for my case. I don't know the prices you have there but they only cost like 4-5 dollars over here actually. The 3rd party boosters I use work by shaping the signal beam so it becomes narrower but much longer so it can reach further; and it does so passively so it really won't damage the remote or drone really. Of course, the cons with using these are since the beam is focused, you need to be somewhat accurate at where you are pointing the remote at; since unlike without boosters where you get a near 360 degree equally strong signal, with boosters, you would have focused signal beam and if misaligned with the drone to a degree, you would lose signal almost instantly, depending on which type of passive booster you use.
That said the two main ones are the parabolic mirror and yagi-uda antenna extenders. The former simply works like a mirror and reflects wasted wifi signals that are pushed towards you instead of the drone, and focuses them to the direction where you are pointing at. The yagi-uda antennas works somewhat similarly just with different signal shaping concepts that is really better explained by electronics and communication videos if you want to learn more.
Long story short, on the differences, parabolic mirrors give you only a slight boost (a few hundred meters or a kilometer at best), but produces a relatively wider beam so you don't really have to be pinpoint accurate when facing the drone (about 120 degrees according to sources I've seen, which is pretty much fits in the general area where you'd be pointing at when flying anyways). The yagi-uda antenna extenders on the other hand give a much more considerable boost (personally got an 80% to nearly double increase in range), but you have to be more accurate in facing the drone RC (about within 90 degrees of the drone's position) or risk losing signal almost instantly when at very long distances. Also note that you need to make sure you get the 5.8ghz yagi-uda antennas, since these antennas tune and shape specific frequencies, and if you buy a 2.4ghz antenna, that won't work at all.
You can actually use both at the same time, with marginal results though. I personally use the latter more to fly and explore areas that are further, but note that you would almost likely need to fly straight, since if the drone veers left or right a bit, you need to turn and compensate to line up and it can be hassle especially at long distances. But I do sometimes use the former if I want to explore areas in the vicinity with more margin of error, so I can circle around areas without having to constantly line up and still have boosted range. |
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