Alfa Antennas

[jimmy65]

I have read this form all of it I was just ask is there couse I just buy them today and only been fly for a couple of day with it stock no mods to it yet

 

[Jubalr]

"All Of It?"

 

[Don H.]

The only down side with these patch antennas is the farther out you fly the narrower the beam width. the Omni antennas ( the stick type) don't do this as much but also don't have the range.
That makes it more critical to keep the antennas pointed at the solo. You can watch your signal strength on the controller as you slightly move the controller around to peak the signal.

 

[jimmy65]

The only down side with these patch antennas is the farther out you fly the narrower the beam width. the Omni antennas don't do this as much but also don't have the range.

Ty don

 

[TexasDJ]

Where do I buy these? The amazon link that was posted says "No Longer Available"

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Well it appears Amazon is out of them. Probably from all the new Solo owners gobbling them up. I just found this googling for other sources.
Antenna 2.4GHz 7dBi Directional Panel w/ RP-SMA. Signal Booster

 

[David Boulanger]

The only down side with these patch antennas is the farther out you fly the narrower the beam width. the Omni antennas ( the stick type) don't do this as much but also don't have the range.
That makes it more critical to keep the antennas pointed at the solo. You can watch your signal strength on the controller as you slightly move the controller around to peak the signal.

The beam width doesn't change with distance. Antenna's usually have a chart that shows the strength of the signal around a 360 degree sweep. Further away you are make the directional antennas more forgiving.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Illustrated here:
Basic Guide to Solo Antennas (Stock, Alfa, FPVLR)

 

[Don H.]

The beam width doesn't change with distance. Antenna's usually have a chart that shows the strength of the signal around a 360 degree sweep. Further away you are make the directional antennas more forgiving.

Hi David,
Thanks for that. Try flying with the omni then try with a patch antenna. You will definitely see a difference. Perhaps I used the wrong term. I'm calling it beam width not band width. The farther out you fly the more you need to pinpoint the antenna to keep a usable signal.
Also P2P posted a good visual representation on the differences in 3 types of antennas.
Patch antennas not unlike like yagi antennas concentrate power in the direction pointed. The farther away from the signal source the target is the less signal it will be able to receive. If you deviate from the signal path from the source the received signal will roll of quickly.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Don, he is correct. Look at the diagram in my post. The signal gets wider the further away you get from the transmitter. It's a 60ish degree beamwidth, beginning at the antenna. As such, it gets wider the further away you are.

 

[Don H.]

Well it appears Amazon is out of them. Probably from all the new Solo owners gobbling them up. I just found this googling for other sources.
Antenna 2.4GHz 7dBi Directional Panel w/ RP-SMA. Signal Booster

I think I bought mine on Ebay or bangood. I don't remember

 

[Don H.]

Yes it does..but w

Don, he is correct. Look at the diagram in my post. The signal gets wider the further away you get from the transmitter. It's a 60ish degree beamwidth, beginning at the antenna. As such, it gets wider the further away you are.

Yes it does but when you go outside of the shaded area it will roll off rapidly. The shaded area is a visual representation. There isn't a value as to how wide of an area is at the end of the shaded area.
Meaning is it 2 feet wide 100 feet wide etc.
If you are on the outside of that skirt you will see a lower signal.

 

[David Boulanger]

Some options for a home brew antenna setup. MIMO Antenna | L-com.com . Maybe even using an antenna tracker. Might be overkill with LOS rules though.[/QUOTE]

 

[Don H.]

Something I'm going to try next I'm in the desert is to attach 2 mag mount vertical wifi antennas on a pole appx. 9 feet up and have them connected to the controller to see what the omni distance will be. Being above me and the controller should give some interesting results.
Does anyone know if this has been tested yet?

 

[David Boulanger]

Something I'm going to try next I'm in the desert is to attach 2 mag mount vertical wifi antennas on a pole appx. 9 feet up and have them connected to the controller to see what the omni distance will be. Being above me and the controller should give some interesting results.
Does anyone know if this has been tested yet?

There is a certain amount of signal loss per foot of cable. Depends on cable type. You start talking about long lengths of cable and you may as well use a powered amplifier between your controller and the antenna. This thread may have gotten a little off topic now.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Yes it does..but w

Yes it does but when you go outside of the shaded area it will roll off rapidly. The shaded area is a visual representation. There isn't a value as to how wide of an area is at the end of the shaded area.
Meaning is it 2 feet wide 100 feet wide etc.
If you are on the outside of that skirt you will see a lower signal.

Yes. But that shaded area is wider the further away you go, which is what you keep saying the opposite of. It is approximately 40-60 degrees.

 

[Craig L. Johnson - USMC]

I brought my set last summer. they work great for me.
I did notice some improvement over the stock set.

 

[jimw1956]

Reading some info about alfa antennas some one said they opened them up resoldered & rerouted wire from in front of the face to back and got even better signal with reg.,wifi any one else opened their's up to see how they are put together.
Not telling anyone to do it but sounds like many people have them laying around after upgrading further.

That would make sense...you don't need anything running in front of the antenna for sure.

 

[3drHighMileFlyer]

For those of us that don't know much about alpha antennas, did it lengthen your range on the wifi signal too?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello just to let you know how exactly you communicate back and forth with your drone so you can better understand and help others out in the furor when you are asked to same this. So in laymens terms, when you turn you controller on it looks for your solo drone, at the same time it sends off a wifi signal that you connect to off your phone or tablet that gives you the ability to see first person view, if you have a camera and to chang she drones setting. When you turn on your drone it sends out a signal that connects to your remote. I don't believe this is wifi that goes from your drone and controller. If I remember right the controller and drone simply connect to each other once successfully paired. Wifi signal is not strong enough to go as far as 1,000 feet away, even 500 feet is pushing it. The only wifi that is being sent out is from your remote control so your phone or tablet can connect. Which is turned into a connection to your remote to your drone and back and forth. I hope that clears up any confusion.

 

[David Boulanger]

Hello just to let you know how exactly you communicate back and forth with your drone so you can better understand and help others out in the furor when you are asked to same this. So in laymens terms, when you turn you controller on it looks for your solo drone, at the same time it sends off a wifi signal that you connect to off your phone or tablet that gives you the ability to see first person view, if you have a camera and to chang she drones setting. When you turn on your drone it sends out a signal that connects to your remote. I don't believe this is wifi that goes from your drone and controller. If I remember right the controller and drone simply connect to each other once successfully paired. Wifi signal is not strong enough to go as far as 1,000 feet away, even 500 feet is pushing it. The only wifi that is being sent out is from your remote control so your phone or tablet can connect. Which is turned into a connection to your remote to your drone and back and forth. I hope that clears up any confusion.

I think this is wrong.