New Long Range antenna for SOLO

[edh]

So I was half holding the antenna panel. Took off and cranked the elevation to around 400' as I pulled away. Ran it out to a little more than 12,000 feet and hit RTH. Probably due to the way I was half ass holding the thing. I thought about hitting fly and continuing on but I had a pile of cedar calling me so back to fence building.

I was really impressed. Did not seem nearly as finicky as the stock antennas.

So DBS in Florida. Nice job man. Cant wait to try the Phantom setup as well.

Well, that did it for me, Ordered. Thanks for posting your results.

 

[tesmithp]

Going to tag on to buddy Davids thread instead of starting another. I received my DBS antenna(s) today. One for Phantom 3 and one for Solo. I have not touched the Phantom yet as you need to open the controller.

However I did "rig" the solo with the antenna to fly. It comes with a P3 mount which looks like it will take minimal work to adapt to the Solo. However I am in the middle of a fence project in the backyard and dedicating time to the Solo would have been irresponsible. OK, the Mrs would have yelled at me..... Everyone already knows I am irresponsible

So I was half holding the antenna panel. Took off and cranked the elevation to around 400' as I pulled away. Ran it out to a little more than 12,000 feet and hit RTH. Probably due to the way I was half ass holding the thing. I thought about hitting fly and continuing on but I had a pile of cedar calling me so back to fence building.

I was really impressed. Did not seem nearly as finicky as the stock antennas.

So DBS in Florida. Nice job man. Cant wait to try the Phantom setup as well.

I'm curious as to the the area you were flying... mainly how many houses nearby (assuming pretty much everyone has wifi these days).

In a rural area (with no houses for miles) I'm able to get out to ~2,700' with stock antenna but at home, there is a LOT of interference and I'm lucky to get 400' before RTH. Playing with a (admittedly crude) panel I threw together, I was able to get at least twice that at home even though there's a lot of wifi competition nearby. Haven't tested in a rural area yet.

 

[rrmccabe]

Pretty rural. Homes with 2-4 acres are common. To the south is lot of corn/bean fields and the direction I am flying is a lake.

4400" stock is my best number from home.

 

[Adimuzio513]

Yea I'd say either the DNS or fpvlr is your best bet rather than hoping for the best with boosting or testing other things that may or may not work out. It's not the greatest news to hear since it's a hundred to hundred and fifty bucks but that's not that bad when you think of what you already have invested, and honestly feels like a deal once you get your antenna and get back in the air. Both options look and perform great and are already proven to help solo in every way possible.

If your running on a very limited budget may be worth trying other options if you got the extra hundred and some bucks around save yourself the time and headache.

Sounds great McCabe glad to see you guys having great results with the DBS setup too. I was too impatient to wait but may grab one in the future if I find out those get better distance. So far I'm real happy with fpvlr since as I've said I fly LOS for now and haven't near maxed it out but who knows down the road.

So did either of you guys happen to look at your Rssi when you got out far how was it looking,was your video still smooth too?

 

[rrmccabe]

My video was really good. But I was busy holding the antenna and was only looking at the distance. So really was paying attention to little else.

 

[Raybro]

Going to tag on to buddy Davids thread instead of starting another. I received my DBS antenna(s) today. One for Phantom 3 and one for Solo. I have not touched the Phantom yet as you need to open the controller.

However I did "rig" the solo with the antenna to fly. It comes with a P3 mount which looks like it will take minimal work to adapt to the Solo. However I am in the middle of a fence project in the backyard and dedicating time to the Solo would have been irresponsible. OK, the Mrs would have yelled at me..... Everyone already knows I am irresponsible

So I was half holding the antenna panel. Took off and cranked the elevation to around 400' as I pulled away. Ran it out to a little more than 12,000 feet and hit RTH. Probably due to the way I was half ass holding the thing. I thought about hitting fly and continuing on but I had a pile of cedar calling me so back to fence building.

I was really impressed. Did not seem nearly as finicky as the stock antennas.

So DBS in Florida. Nice job man. Cant wait to try the Phantom setup as well.

Wow! Awesome. Gotta get mine on order. That is excellent. That would work for those long distance Tower Missions.

 

[Raybro]

I've already solved the issue of WiFi reception....

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....and not having a Gimbal...

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And now finishing up on the GPS issues....

Steve,
I may try this mod out.

 

[Raybro]

My video was really good. But I was busy holding the antenna and was only looking at the distance. So really was paying attention to little else.

Rich,
Do you have a mount bracket?
Wonder if we could give somebody a picture and have them made on a 3d printer?

 

[SkyDoctor]

I can't speak for replacing the WiFi card but I will say the most efficient way to improve distance is antenna. Takes a tremendous amount of power to overcome a directional antenna.[/QUOTE
From whom did you purchase this antenna mod?

 

[Raybro]

Pretty rural. Homes with 2-4 acres are common. To the south is lot of corn/bean fields and the direction I am flying is a lake.

4400" stock is my best number from home.

Couldn't take it any longer.....just ordered mine. I don't know many you just sold tonight Rich but you should get a cut of the profit!

 

[marena]

I was going to wait as well, but the stock antennas have been giving me issues the last couple of times out, so I ordered one too.

 

[UAS]

Hi yall,
New solo owner here. Enjoying the Solo very much. I have been reading the posts.
Hopefully I don't repeat anything. Was wondering if anyone has thoughts on using an been fpv 5.8ghz polarized clover leaf antenna high gain?
the design is similar to Fpvlr without the mounting bracket.

 

[rrmccabe]

Rich,
Do you have a mount bracket?
Wonder if we could give somebody a picture and have them made on a 3d printer?

I am going to do mine today. Fence projects is off because of Rain.

I dont think I need any material at all. I think a little cutting and filing on the bracket that it comes with and it will be awesome.

 

[Dirby]

I am going to do mine today. Fence projects is off because of Rain.

I dont think I need any material at all. I think a little cutting and filing on the bracket that it comes with and it will be awesome.

please post pic of what you done to it to make it fit.
thx D

 

[Raybro]

I am going to do mine today. Fence projects is off because of Rain.

I dont think I need any material at all. I think a little cutting and filing on the bracket that it comes with and it will be awesome.

He emailed me back earlier after I ordered and for an extra $30 he will make it black and provide a bracket for mounting to the controller.
EDIT: $31

https://shop.trycelery.com/page/itelite_dbs_phantom_plus.

We do not make a model specifically for the Solo... if you would like this one in black with a bar mount attached so you can mount to your controller with zip ties , we can do that for an additional $31 (making your total payout $140).

Just order from the link above and put in the notes "I would like the blackout treatment"
You will be sent a PayPal invoice for the additional $31 before your item ships... allow 2 to 3 business days for the blackout paint job to cure before shipping.

Or you could easily do this yourself... there are tips and tricks on mounting this at the Solo pilots forum.

DBS

 

[David Weston]

I haven't had the cohones yet to try anywhere close to 12K but what I have been able to do is fly where I didn't have a prayer of getting to with the stock but easily blow past my previous mark by at least 1200' out to 2700' in poor flying conditions and was at -61db which with the stocks was about 500-700'. Also, seen Rich's fence project. Beware of Iowan's fishing for cheap labor.

 

[rrmccabe]

David, I just need to hire that one Ipad holder we discussed to do the fence

 

[GoodnNuff]

Ok, not sure which to buy - the FPVLR or the DBS antenna?
Rich and others, how do they compare?

 

[Dirby]

i am leaning toward the DBS one

 

[rrmccabe]

I think both would work fine. Tony FPVLR has a good reputation for distance right long with DBS. I have read a few bad reports on the FPVLR. @ATx RC Addicts did not give it a very glowing report and @Jubalr does not seem to be getting much distance improvement either.

It's really too early to tell on the DBS panel. I flew it 12,000 in no wind conditions last night and today I could not get it further than about 5,800' with a little wind rocking it around.

I like the clean closed panel of the DBS antenna and wanted to try it for a change. I have ran Tony's stuff on my Vision plus in the past with great results.

What I liked about the DBS is how far you could fly even off the side. I have no way to know if the FPVLR is better or worse.

So far happy with the DBS.