It's a good thing I'm already married...

[Ed Beck]

cause this would make me undatable.


and yes, it does look just as ridiculous when I'm wearing it.

So why did I do this... ridiculous thing? When I bought my Solo it kept lock on my controller with no problem. Over time it has slowly gotten worse to the point where I've tried the FPLV antenna, and installed the MicroTik WiFi cards. I've now sent the thing off to Drones Plus in Las Vegas for a tear-down.

My biggest problem is when operating in a WiFi rich environment. With all the proper deference to people who say that flying in populated areas is dangerous (and I agree) I have to, that's where I'm paid to get video and stills. So I recently went to Fry's and picked up two TRENDnet TEW-AO12O 12dBi Outdoor Omni Directional Antennas and the TEW-L202 Reverse SMA to N Tyt cables I needed to connect them to the controller. I'm having much better success keeping a lock.

I thought of a few solutions, like mounting the antennas on a board, but settled on this one because at times I have to move around. I attached the antennas to the backpack using Velcro. The two loops at the top are additional connections to keep the antennas vertical. Not because it looks really cool that way, but because it keeps the antennas oriented so they don't peel away from the Velcro.

It also has the advantage of parents keeping their kids away from "the strange man" when I'm working.

One other thing, my wife is an engineer, so she at least understands why her husband looks like a complete idiot.

 

[LAK-USA]

Ed,

I like it! & my girl's fine with my geekdom too. lol

 

[Rusty Jones]

Where do you find these geekdom accepting ladies???

 

[Ed Beck]

Where do you find these geekdom accepting ladies???

I found mine in the Air Force, we were both navigators. Me in the B-52 and her in the KC-135. She was the nav in the tanker on my checkride. Kinda cool but on the other hand if it hadn't been my checkride I could have gone up to the cockpit and blown her a kiss.

 

[prowler9]

Wow! What kind of range you get with that?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Ed Beck]

Wow! What kind of range you get with that?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

I haven't pushed it out yet. I should be surveying a fee queries this month and get a better idea. So far I've only had it out a few hundred feet.

 

[Norval]

a new superhero on the making?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

That's pretty awesome. It might be totally deaf in the cone of silence above you though. How big that dead spot above you ends up being depends on how high you are. You should probably also get a set of WiFi amplifiers (and attenuators if needed) to compensate for the feed line loss.

 

[Ed Beck]

That's pretty awesome. It might be totally deaf in the cone of silence above you though. How big that dead spot above you ends up being depends on how high you are. You should probably also get a set of WiFi amplifiers (and attenuators if needed) to compensate for the feed line loss.

Yeah! And I'll hook it up to my generator!

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

The amplifiers run on a small 3S LiPo. They're very common, and people usually attach the amp and battery to the Solo controller. You could even put it all in the backpack.

 

[Ed Beck]

The amplifiers run on a small 3S LiPo. They're very common, and people usually attach the amp and battery to the Solo controller. You could even put it all in the backpack.

Sorry, I forgot the sarcasm tags.

 

[Ed Beck]

The amplifiers run on a small 3S LiPo. They're very common, and people usually attach the amp and battery to the Solo controller. You could even put it all in the backpack.

I didn't mean that sarcasm tags as a dig on you. I was carrying the idea even further.

Thanks, I'll test out the cone.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Maybe some marine batteries strapped to your hips?

 

[Ed Beck]

Maybe some marine batteries strapped to your hips?

You know, I think with all that EM I should wear foil under my hat. What do you think?

 

[sam]

You know, I think with all that EM I should wear foil under my hat. What do you think?

Definitely the safe option

 

[John Wood]

Love it, thou I would try to get em up above ya head. Your right in the field path, and that much RF cant be good for ya.
My old Man was a Radio Engineer, and tuning radios with 25 watts plus hitting him in the face all day, has really affected his memory.

 

[Ed Beck]

It might be totally deaf in the cone of silence above you though. How big that dead spot above you ends up being depends on how high you are.

I had it about 100' directly above me with no loss of signal.

Does this mean anything to you?