Basic Guide to Solo Antennas (Stock, Alfa, FPVLR)

[Joe Horn]

... If you ever lose signal throttle up to a higher altitude to let the quad reestablish connection ...

So the way to reestablish connection is by throttling up, which can't be done when there is no connection?

 

[EZL]

So the way to reestablish connection is by throttling up, which can't be done when there is no connection?

You have FPV if you start losing FPV connection there is no time to wait, throttle up for more altitude and hopefully you will regain communication to
the quad. Waiting can cause the quad to go into RTH and the worse senatorial, the quad is lower than the RTH setting which means it could crash into
a obstruction. The best solution is to fly responsibly and know the flight path and never fly behind a obstruction even a mountain! Signals can be
blocked by obstructions and WiFi interference and is no exception. Fly responsibly, know where you are flying and and try to stay in sight of the
quad. Flying FPV is actually safer than flying line of sight since you are in the pilots seat. RTH can give you a sense of false security since the
Solo on the stock bird flies back to RTH backwards and a obstruction could be in it's flight path. Turn the quad 180 degrees on RTH and watch the
flight path and don't rely on the RTH to get you home safely always monitor altitude and visual flight home.

 

[Tboz]

so lets say i live in a rural area, in the mountains 6200 feet, and my 3dr is completely stock getting 2000-2500 feet, what would be the best antenna to try and double or triple that distance using only an antenna?

 

[EZL]

so lets say i live in a rural area, in the mountains 6200 feet, and my 3dr is completely stock getting 2000-2500 feet, what would be the best antenna to try and double or triple that distance using only an antenna?

Try a set of Alpha antennas but remember, if a mountain or anything is between the controller and Solo you will have problems since the signal is
line of sight. The Alphas are cheap in price for the performance.

 

[EZL]

No... the whole reason I have a solo is that it's a one man device.
I've got a small arsenal of 2.4GHz antennas in my garage... but 90% of the time I fly with the stock antennas... you cant beat the forgiving 'fat lobe' of a basic 3dB dipole antenna. (although I am using the microtik cards)

As pedals said above, solo isnt really the right platform of ultra long range stuff... Dont get me wrong, I love the Sololink concept... for it's intended purpose it's still the best thing out there, but 802.11 wifi is just way too fragile at range.

As for cloverleafs, the theory kinda works... circ polarisation effectively has 3dB loss regardless of the antenna polarisation at the other end. cross polarisation however (ie horiz to vert) will result in up to 20dB loss. So you could make the argument that a low gain cloverleaf with 3dB polarisation loss is better than a 5dB panel antenna with 'possibly' 20dB polarisation loss.
Downside: gain is very low
Upside: lobes are fat and forgiving

I've got a bunch of 5.8 ghz. cloverleaf antennas I tested on my X380 and they definitely outperform the standard dipole antenna for FPV reception and since
the X380 has dual receive 2.4 ghz. antennas it's range is real good. The problem with the higher frequencies, highly directional and polarization can affect
the video reception. Turning the quad can cause dropout of the video so the more power from the 5.8 ghz transmitter can be used but that can drain the
quad's battery. I am licensed to go way over the hobbyist limits but 600 mw. transmitters are more than enough to get out over 2 miles. Running 600 mw.
can mess up WiFi reception of other quads with interference and getting out beyond line of sight can also get you in trouble. Dustin Dunnill has ran a x380
out to 4 miles with modifications. I don't know what the stock controller runs as far as wattage but it must be high? Here is his review on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3kGK9h4SiE
The Solo can get out to some fantastic range and you can also see some of the postings on YouTube. Running high range distances can get you in
trouble since there are too many things that can go wrong. I've had the X380 out 2.5 Km. over farm ground, no WiFi in the area and no dropout of
video. I figured that this was way over what I would ever fly it and so I turned the quad towards home. The battery was still over 60% and altitude
was about 200 ft. when it got home. I wouldn't even fly over a road or near a city doing this since anything could go wrong like a cell dropout.
Happy Flying!

 

[overdriver999]

I'm hoping this post can be stickied to the top. Lots of newbs, and apparently everyone wants to know about antenna options. So rather than answering the same question 57 times per week, perhaps this will be a good place for those answers to be found. I put together these infographics to explain the difference between the stock antennas, the popular alfa paddles, and the popular FPVLR type system. Some of images in these graphics are my own. Some of them I stole from the internet. Sue me later. Some of my spelling may be wrong too. I generally don't care

Very easy to understand for a noob like myself..my solo hasn't arrived yet but I have ordered a set of the Alfa's ...I think I may be just fine with stock ones for back yard and open field flying..line of site flying until I get really good with this particular bird.

 

[overdriver999]

I forgot to add... it's worth having a simple wifi scanning tool on you phone tablet (eg WifiAnalyser) which will give you an idea of how much wifi is around (at ground level at least).
First thing I do before I fly is check that, which gives me a confidence factor on what my likely max range might be

Do you know the name of the Android app for the wifi?..I just looked and it's several named wifi analyzer and a few other variations of that name..I just wanna get the one that guys are having reliable success with...shouldn't even be much wifi in my area though...I only have wifi because I pay for satellite internet...no other is available out my way.

 

[brianuc4]

Do you know the name of the Android app for the wifi?..I just looked and it's several named wifi analyzer and a few other variations of that name..I just wanna get the one that guys are having reliable success with...shouldn't even be much wifi in my area though...I only have wifi because I pay for satellite internet...no other is available out my way.

I believe it's the one by "farproc" it's the one I use and it's good.

 

[DJMc]

I've found this one pretty good too....

WiFiAnalyzer

Open source and ad free.

 

[overdriver999]

I believe it's the one by "farproc" it's the one I use and it's good.

Cool,thanks man

 

[overdriver999]

I've found this one pretty good too....

WiFiAnalyzer

Open source and ad free.

Sounds good..I'll try one of these out..thank you.

 

[TimCar]

I was watching a few of the long range Solo flights on YouTube.

On one of the longest flights, the guy had one Alfa paddle and one stock "stick".

I was under the impression that one side of the controller is send and the other receive.
If so, wouldn't he have achieved the same 13,000+ foot range using both stock?

(He shows the antenna setup at 10:50)

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[David Boulanger]

Both send and receive.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

That antenna setup is wrong. The Solo uses MiMo WiFi which requires both antennas to be the same to work properly. Using two different antennas will hurt your range, not help.

 

[David Boulanger]

That does seem like uncommonly long range for some reason.

 

[EZL]

I was watching a few of the long range Solo flights on YouTube.

On one of the longest flights, the guy had one Alfa paddle and one stock "stick".

I was under the impression that one side of the controller is send and the other receive.
If so, wouldn't he have achieved the same 13,000+ foot range using both stock?

(He shows the antenna setup at 10:50)

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It's a fake, out of curiosity I tested the same setup with a lot of skepticism and it does not work matter of fact, it will lower the range of the Solo.
There are so many fake videos on YouTube and so it's a good idea not to believe a lot of what you see on there.

 

[David Boulanger]

Maybe he was following in the car?

 

[wildcanuc]

Right on I've seen this before and was wondering if it really worked.. Thanks for sharing!

 

[EZL]

Maybe he was following in the car?

Yer probably right! The bad thing is, you might give some other RASCALS IDEAS!

 

[hydrocynus]

anyone here did the wifi card upgrade? What has been your experience?