Gaining more range and signal so camera doesn’t pixel out

[Propwash79]

I’ve done some searching for range extender and I ordered the BlueProton DJI Phantom 4 & 3 Advanced/Professional WiFi Signal Range Extender Antenna Kit by argtek and I installed them on my p3p and I took it out for a test run and I could only get 200ft line of sight and the camera started glitching. Well I packed up and went to a clear field and took flight again to the same luck.. so went back home and installed the factory antennas and I’m getting about 500ft then it glitches and comes and goes. I haven’t done any firmware upgrades as I have heard before keep what you have as the new updates aren’t the best. The question I have is can someone recommend a good antenna and a WiFi booster for the p3p. I’m not looking at going 2 miles out I’m just looking for a good solid video feed back to my iPad and be able to take it to 500ft and maybe 1200ft distance.
Thanks for your help and with the way it’s going now I might be flying a lot more.
Thanks Steven.

 

[Drone Freedom27]

Why change antenna when you have lightbridge you should be able to go over 2miles easily with good video transmission the reason you get glitchy video is the wifi interference around homes and businesses .

 

[Drone Freedom27]

Do you live in a city? You would have bad transmission can you supply more information what was your previous range before you messed with the antennas.

I’ve done some searching for range extender and I ordered the BlueProton DJI Phantom 4 & 3 Advanced/Professional WiFi Signal Range Extender Antenna Kit by argtek and I installed them on my p3p and I took it out for a test run and I could only get 200ft line of sight and the camera started glitching. Well I packed up and went to a clear field and took flight again to the same luck.. so went back home and installed the factory antennas and I’m getting about 500ft then it glitches and comes and goes. I haven’t done any firmware upgrades as I have heard before keep what you have as the new updates aren’t the best. The question I have is can someone recommend a good antenna and a WiFi booster for the p3p. I’m not looking at going 2 miles out I’m just looking for a good solid video feed back to my iPad and be able to take it to 500ft and maybe 1200ft distance.
Thanks for your help and with the way it’s going now I might be flying a lot more.
Thanks Steven.

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Could try a panel..these are awsome....good for better range and image free problems,,got one on the p4 and swear by it,,I'm not one to fly into sunset but do like to have trouble free flights,,,,my p3s has triple argtec anttennas but they pretty sad ,,bit like proton..this pic is just the panel but can get the full kit

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Why change antenna when you have lightbridge you should be able to go over 2miles easily with good video transmission the reason you get glitchy video is the wifi interference around homes and businesses .

Ha its luck of the draw I think,,some are sweet and some have issues

 

[JeffreyS]

1200' is nothing, should be able to go much further even with stock unit.

 

[Propwash79]

I live in Jacksonville fla and I didn't know the wifi from homes would screw up the signal. The odd thing is I just switched out my 10yr cable modem/ router to a new cable modem/router that has 2.4ghost and 5ghz. That wouldn't effect it?? Is there any amplifier I could add on to the remote to boost the signal? I have seen the square flat panel antenna that's used on the remote but is that worth it and add 2 maps to boost the signal. I'm just looking to have a stable video feed and go out to about 1000 ft or so. Thanks for the feedback

 

[Propwash79]

My previous range was about 300ft and 300ft high before I switched out the antennas. It really doesn't matter if I'm out in the country or close to a housing development. I'm willing to try several things and I really dont want to update the firmware and it's worse than before.

 

[Meta4]

My previous range was about 300ft and 300ft high before I switched out the antennas. It really doesn't matter if I'm out in the country or close to a housing development. I'm willing to try several things and I really dont want to update the firmware and it's worse than before.

There's something not right about your hardware if you are only getting 300 ft.
Fancy antennas aren't the solution and firmware isn't either.

 

[John Locke]

I'm guessing there is something seriously wrong with your drone or RC. Did you buy this used from someone? I suggest you start with linking another GL300A RC with your drone to see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn't, then something is wrong with the craft, not the RC. Try to find someone local to you to work with (using this forum, meetups), or use a local shop to pair another RC with the craft.

That craft should easily do 2 miles with a simple windsurfer parabolic dish installed, and over 1 mile no dish, if you have LOS connection. I recommend you get away from town to have a good environment to fly with no interference.

Check your channel for interference. Try using a CUSTOM CHANNEL and when that's enabled, choose a channel with the least interference AND..... under the TRANSMISSION QUALITY turn it down to 4mbps instead of using 10mbps, which enables more range. Using a parabolic dish on the twin antennas will shield you from interference from behind you, virtually cutting out 50% of rogue signals that may interfere.

If these suggestions don't help, you have something else wrong, drastically wrong. The twin antenna P3P is a great craft, good solid signal for over a mile, and usually 2+ miles.

Tell us the history of this craft, and your experience so we can help. If you need to gain knowledge of P3P and app software, just search this forum on a range subjects. There tons of threads from the 2015 era for P3P that will help you understand the RC and craft better. There are tricks to enable more channels to get channels 1 through 32. Use the higher channels which consistently have less interference.

 

[KachemakDiver]

If it’s pixelation problems, there’s a good chance that it isn’t with the P3P or remote. It’s quite possibly your iPad doesn’t have enough RAM or there is to many apps running in the background. I’ve seen it before!

 

[KachemakDiver]

I'm guessing there is something seriously wrong with your drone or RC. Did you buy this used from someone? I suggest you start with linking another GL300A RC with your drone to see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn't, then something is wrong with the craft, not the RC. Try to find someone local to you to work with (using this forum, meetups), or use a local shop to pair another RC with the craft.

That craft should easily do 2 miles with a simple windsurfer parabolic dish installed, and over 1 mile no dish, if you have LOS connection. I recommend you get away from town to have a good environment to fly with no interference.

Check your channel for interference. Try using a CUSTOM CHANNEL and when that's enabled, choose a channel with the least interference AND..... under the TRANSMISSION QUALITY turn it down to 4mbps instead of using 10mbps, which enables more range. Using a parabolic dish on the twin antennas will shield you from interference from behind you, virtually cutting out 50% of rogue signals that may interfere.

If these suggestions don't help, you have something else wrong, drastically wrong. The twin antenna P3P is a great craft, good solid signal for over a mile, and usually 2+ miles.

Tell us the history of this craft, and your experience so we can help. If you need to gain knowledge of P3P and app software, just search this forum on a range subjects. There tons of threads from the 2015 era for P3P that will help you understand the RC and craft better. There are tricks to enable more channels to get channels 1 through 32. Use the higher channels which consistently have less interference.

I just finished running through 2 batteries, and I stopped after I lost sight with binoculars, at over 2600 feet. Still had excellent signal strength. And I have many trees and mountainous terrain I’m flying in. The GL300A is the best controller to have for the P3P. Back in the day of being cocky, I would go out over 10,000 feet with it.

 

[John Locke]

One thing to remember, if you have wifi turned on your ipad, or cellphone, and it's NOT connected to an access point, your device will constantly hunt all wifi channels to connect to one, over and over and over when you are out of range of a viable access point. If that's the case, this hunting wifi can interfere with your craft video reception BIGTIME. This doesn't happen if the wifi is connected to an access point channel. So it's best to simply turn off all wifi signals on your phone and ipad or tablet, to eliminate that possibility. That might be your problem.

If you can modify your RC to enable channel 30 or 31, this issue goes away, because those channels aren't close in frequency to normal wifi frequencies.

 

[Jim Canada]

Could try a panel..these are awsome....good for better range and image free problems,,got one on the p4 and swear by it,,I'm not one to fly into sunset but do like to have trouble free flights,,,,my p3s has triple argtec anttennas but they pretty sad ,,bit like proton..this pic is just the panel but can get the full kitView attachment 117790

I have 1of these on my remote for my Inspire 1, I got 3miles away last weekend. They work great

 

[John Locke]

I have 1of these on my remote for my Inspire 1, I got 3miles away last weekend. They work great

I have a hunch an antenna upgrade isn't going to fix his root problem. That has to be solved first. That craft should easily have a range of 8000' in stock form, and 15,000' in rural areas using a windsurfer, easy.

 

[Jim Canada]

Sorry for saying anything.

 

[John Locke]

Sorry for saying anything.

No, don't be sorry. Antenna upgrades are a good thing usually. But in this case that's not going to help resolve the root problem. Something else is going on that needs solved. Once that's solved, then an antenna upgrade is a viable option, and that often helps to extend range more, at the price of the inconvenience of not having folding antennas for easy storage, but often worth it.

 

[Drone Freedom27]

Sounds like your transmission DBm might be low somehow? Usually the phantoms are set at 20DBm now I used a program and increased my wifi signal cause I own a phantom 3 standard so my signal was 20DBm but now its 27DBm and I have no issues with range and video transmission I go over 1 mile with my phantom standard and I still have good video so maybe your transmission signal strength has gotten messed up.

Antennas produce a stronger signal output so I'm confused why the signal is bad maybe check connections in the controller and just make sure everything is correctly placed.

 

[Propwash79]

I got the p3p for my 40th birthday brand new in he box from amazon and it did great flying down in key west. What I mean by pixel out is the picture will turn blocky and only half will show and I still have control. It will still fly and respond to control inputs but I don’t feel easy flying blind. I will try in once I get home by turning off the WiFi on my iPad and fly it again. Thanks again for you r help.

 

[John Locke]

I got the p3p for my 40th birthday brand new in he box from amazon and it did great flying down in key west. What I mean by pixel out is the picture will turn blocky and only half will show and I still have control. It will still fly and respond to control inputs but I don’t feel easy flying blind. I will try in once I get home by turning off the WiFi on my iPad and fly it again. Thanks again for you r help.

What you describe is the exact symptom I've seen with Wifi interference from phones or ipad/tablet. Since this is a new development on a formerly perfect craft, that's very likely the problem.