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Yagi antennas (adapters)

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I see there's some hype about yagi antenna boosters on mavic mini and from some videos and user reports it helps in most cases. Does anyone have tried the same for inspire 1 or 2?
 
I see there's some hype about yagi antenna boosters on mavic mini and from some videos and user reports it helps in most cases. Does anyone have tried the same for inspire 1 or 2?
I use these on all my drones (Phantom, Inspire, M600P) and have for 5 years. These reflectors do redirect the emission of the RC signal . (It doesn't increase power output) Just be aware that the omnidirectional capability of your stick antennas is now affected; must keep your antennas pointed towards your drone.

They are reflectors; technically not a yagi.

I only use them for increased signal strength, not for distance/violating VLOS rules.
 
I use these on all my drones (Phantom, Inspire, M600P) and have for 5 years. These reflectors do redirect the emission of the RC signal . (It doesn't increase power output) Just be aware that the omnidirectional capability of your stick antennas is now affected; must keep your antennas pointed towards your drone.

They are reflectors; technically not a yagi.

I only use them for increased signal strength, not for distance/violating VLOS rules.
Thanks for reply! I'm asking for Yagi boosters like in the picture below [emoji2]

c79cbde18b20399b8bdb2da7882ccc7a.jpg
 
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Wind surfers work by reflection. Yagis need an actual wired connection, don't they? A 'real' yagi for 5ghz would be around 10" long and a 2.4ghz double that. I would look for a different solution if you're serious.
 
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I'll second what Licensed Pilot said and add that I ran tests and found a pretty consistent 25% boost in range. I don't know what kind of boost the yagi antenna claims, but you can count on a 25% boost with the parabolic antennas. And like LP, I use them on all my birds, including my Mavic Pro. And because they slip on quickly and easily, I only use them when I need the extra boost. So I can actually install them while I'm flying. It's awkward, but CAN be done.

If it's boost yer hankerin' for, you might look into the 32 channel hack. The 32 channel hack has saved my bacon on two jobs that were completely saturated in the microwave range allocated for DJI drones (channels 13-20).

To clarify, this particular video was with my Inspire 1. So I didn't have the option to go to 5.8GHz.


D
 
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Thanks for replies guys!

@Dave Pitman and @licensed pilot I have an idea how yagi antenna works but I'm not an expert, the C shaped (the active) element of yagi antenna is connected to the transmitter by wire but in the case of the antenna adapter I'm showing the element that is connected to the transmitter and plays the active one is the actual omni-directional antenna of the remote controller itself.

@Donnie Frank I'm using Crystal Sky monitors and can't do any of the hacks on them, unfortunatelly.

Check out this thread in mavicpilots forum: Hand-made Yagi Uda adapter antenna

I can't see any comparsion on the net between parabolic and yagi uda adapters. Probably will try to make a set of those to see myself :)
 
Oh, never seen those before. But a Yagi is an antenna, in order to work it has to be wired to the antenna emission output. Just sliding those on is pretty much useless.
Correct.

A Yagi needs a driven element to work.

The plastic and metal thing described in this thread is nothing more than scrap and will be no better than useless at improving the signal transmitted/received to/from the aircraft.

It's just a wasted exercise.
 
Correct.

A Yagi needs a driven element to work.

The plastic and metal thing described in this thread is nothing more than scrap and will be no better than useless at improving the signal transmitted/received to/from the aircraft.

It's just a wasted exercise.
How do yo explain the gain in distance that the people are getting with those?
 
Okay, I went and scanned the thread. I didn't see any real test, just lots of anecdotal opinions.
Maybe you can get a response from Alex Greve. If he says they will work, then they will. If he says they won't, then they won't.

 
How do yo explain the gain in distance that the people are getting with those?
There is no way those gizmos can affect the transmitter range, as they are not reflectors. If the "Yagi" antenna is not connected to the antenna output is just a fashion accessory. The inventor needs a basic understanding of electronics and antenna theory.
 
There is no way those gizmos can affect the transmitter range, as they are not reflectors. If the "Yagi" antenna is not connected to the antenna output is just a fashion accessory. The inventor needs a basic understanding of electronics and antenna theory.


An antenna alone cannot increase power output of a radio signal. You need... power to do that. Just attaching a larger antenna can only help with reception and possibly the quality of the outbound transmission at it's outer ranges. It won't extend the range. The reason reflectors extend the range is because they're focusing the available output power to a specific direction which WILL increase it's range. Just like speaking into a cone. Speaking the same volume into a cone will project your voice louder and further in the direction of the cone, but if you're behind the person using the cone, you'll barely hear anything.

You also have to be VERY careful when tinkering with antennas. Just making one longer doesn't mean it will broadcast better. The length of an antenna needs to match its output wavelength to be most efficient. Altering that length (whether longer or shorter) can and usually does, have a dramatic impact on performance.

Any antenna that claims it's a 'booster' and has no source of external power, is a false claim. These antennas CAN help with reception, but not transmission.
 
Today I've made myself those yagi adapters and I did a test with them.

yagi.jpg

With Mavic Pro I flew in a strait line away from me without the adapters. At 2900m I have lost connection, waited about 20 seconds hoping the RTH will bring the drone closer and will regain the signal but that didn't happened, the RC was saying "RC Signal Lost" as well Litchi. So I've put the yagi adapters and in 2-3 seconds I've got the signal back, I was surprised to see that the drone was hoovering at place and not returning to home so somehow it wasn't compete signal lost but on my side I did not had connection, the RC was saying "RC Signal Lost" and there was no picture on Litchi. That really made me nervous but I pushed forward while thinking about why the RTH did not engage (maybe Litchi doesn't show correct feedback but the RC was also showing Signal Lost?) and at 3300m I decided to enable "Smart RTH" just in any case and then continued forward, at 3800m the Smart RTH initiated by itself, the battery was at 65%, in reality I can push more to about 50% of battery when there is no wind. In airdata the singnal strength at the time of loosing the connection is shown as 6% after putting the yagi adapters the signal strength keeps at 6% but quickly went up to 60%.

yagi1.jpg

yagi2.jpg

If it's a wishful thinking, I'm wishing to get a milion of dollars from a lot of time but that isn't happening, maybe my curiosity is stronger than my wishes :)
I will definitely make a few more tests as this is looking interesting.
 
In airdata the singnal strength at the time of loosing the connection is shown as 6% after putting the yagi adapters the signal strength keeps at 6% but quickly went up to 60%.

Those DJI engineers are not looking too smart then, right? They could develop Occusync but missed the fact that they could just add a $2 gismo (mass produced price) and improve transmission range by so much. ! Or, their competitors could add them and blow dji out of the water. Why aren't they?

Hey, if it works for you then great! World class athletes do all kinds of unscientific stuff because they think it helps their performance.

 
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Those DJI engineers are not looking too smart then, right? They could develop Occusync but missed the fact that they could just add a $2 gismo (mass produced price) and improve transmission range by so much. ! Or, their competitors could add them and blow dji out of the water. Why aren't they?

Hey, if it works for you then great! World class athletes do all kinds of unscientific stuff because they think it helps their performance.

Dji engineers are doing enough for making their products compact and useful. But there are cases where this is not enough, those cases are not their marketing target.
 
Dji engineers are doing enough for making their products compact and useful. But there are cases where this is not enough, those cases are not their marketing target.

I don't know if you've noticed, but DJI LOVES to market the RANGE of their products.

Also, if it cost Autel $2 to pass DJI up in range, why would they not do it?

Like I said, if you think it improves your performance, then great. But short of actual tests with actual signal measuring equipment... Alex Greve that I mentioned above is an antenna guru with actual equipment and knowledge. Reach out to him for his opinion if you really want to know.
 
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I don't know if you've noticed, but DJI LOVES to market the RANGE of their products.

Also, if it cost Autel $2 to pass DJI up in range, why would they not do it?

Like I said, if you think it improves your performance, then great. But short of actual tests with actual signal measuring equipment... Alex Greve that I mentioned above is an antenna guru with actual equipment and knowledge. Reach out to him for his opinion if you really want to know.
I'm showing real results as many others do on that particular matter in other forums, facebook groups and youtube. I don't need RF meter to notice if the range is improved or not when testing with the real thing especially after I fly with it from more than 2 years and know very well what it's capable of.
You may have not noticed that many people have interference issues with dji's products. Why the market is full with 3rd party RC modifiers, antennas and amplifiers? Do you have mavic mini? Most people can't make more than 300m in a city environmnent with it. Inspire 1 was cut in range by firmware update and thus also brings tons of problems for the people who operate it in heavy interference environment. For Inspire 2 dji relased Cendense with interchangable antennas, why? Isn't the stock RC good enough, maybe not enough for some people. You are using words like sciense but maybe you don't know that the essence of sciense is actually doing practical experiments.
 
For Inspire 2 dji relased Cendense with interchangable antennas,

Yes they did. Do you know that the patch antenna is not just some clip-on gismo but an actual wired connection. Why? Because that's how real antennas work.

You are using words like sciense but maybe you don't know that the essence of sciense is actually doing practical experiments.

Sure. But if a clip on gismo actually does something, it can be recorded by insturments designed to measure such results. I could tell you that something is heavier than something else. But I can prove it with a scale, understand?

I"ll leave you to your experiments. Have fun!
 

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