What is inside a dipole 2.4/5.8 ghz antenna

phxbird57 · May 24, 2016

Hello I bought 3 of these antennas off of ebay. Thought was I can use it on both the range extender and or the controller.

I first tried it on the range extender ( after doing a mod to the range extender). I did not see any thing great to read about so I left the antennas seat. then I thought I would try it on the controller side with a wind surfer on it. I was able to get out to about 900 ft. Seeing I was able to get over 5000 ft with the stock antenna with a wind surfer nothing great.
Will then I went wild and setup a stainless steel bowl as a wind surfer using one of these antennas (stop laughing)

First I was able to push it out 2000ft with a full signal only came back because of low battery and weather. Then
I was able to push the drone out to 3300ft. I'm sure I can do better with this setup.
willis west
But after getting home and checking the antenna I seen that it had heated up.

The first time I set it up it was not insulated. The bowl was part of the ground. I chanced that around and insulated the bowl. I put on a new antenna and then flow it around for about 6 minutes. I then checked the antenna again.

you can see that there is a heat mark there.
So I wanted to know that was inside the antenna that was heating up.

You can see the part that was heating was the coax cable and where it's soldered to the board. Interesting setup. I thought some people would find this interesting too.

bernek · May 24, 2016

Wasn't the sun rays focused somehow on the antenna in that spot ? I don't believe it can be anything else since the power you are using is extremely low compared to the energy required to melt that plastic.

They look like omni directional antennas with a gain between 5-7 dB why would use those instead of a directional antenna for range ?

Or even any directional antenna setup that wont require that plate/dish thingy. You also need to make sure the distance from the antenna itself to your dish is related to the beam lenght. (google is your friend here I don't know how to calculate it since it can be half lenght or full lenght).

bernek · May 24, 2016

May I ask why don't go the ITELITE or FPVLR way ?

The last topic where we talked I've posted that I've got an ITELITE DBS-01 installed and the range boost is great. Also for you it shouldn't be expensive at all. With the RE500 I got close to 4000 feet today and I still haven't received my RE700 that could possibly go to 6000-7000 feet. *maybe with some minor boost on the camera wifi strenght* or with some minor camera antenna mods.

phxbird57 · May 24, 2016

bernek said:
May I ask why don't go the ITELITE or FPVLR way ? The last topic where we talked I've posted that I've got an ITELITE DBS-01 installed and the range boost is great. Also for you it shouldn't be expensive at all. With the RE500 I got close to 4000 feet today and I still haven't received my RE700 that could possibly go to 6000-7000 feet. *maybe with some minor boost on the camera wifi strenght* or with some minor camera antenna mods.

I had this lying around and all ways looking for something different.
I had bought these just before I was able to use the DBS-01. I just wanted to see what kind of range I could get. I had not update yet but found out the the ground side of the antenna was not correct and that what caused it to heat up. I re solder it and tested and was able to get out to 1600 ft

phxbird57 · May 24, 2016

I did not have very good luck with the DBS antenna setup. Best I was able to do was 3500ft. I was getting that with the stock controller antenna and a wind surfer, and one dipole external antenna on in the range extender.

bernek · May 24, 2016

phxbird57 said:
I did not have very good luck with the DBS antenna setup. Best I was able to do was 3500ft. I was getting that with the stock controller antenna and a wind surfer, and one dipole external antenna on in the range extender.

You were getting 3500ft with RE500 or RE700 ? With RE500 I only get 3500-4000 feet depending on WiFi interference. I still haven't received my RE700 from Ebay so I can't test.

With 3500ft from RE500 I'm really happy since it was ~1200 ft maximum before.

phxbird57 · May 24, 2016

it was with RE700. The best I've done with just a stock antenna and wind surfer on controller and one dipole on the range extender with a wind surfer was 7000ft. I have not been able to match that again. a lot times over 5000ft.
Willis West 7k

phxbird57 · May 26, 2016

bernek said:
Wasn't the sun rays focused somehow on the antenna in that spot ? I don't believe it can be anything else since the power you are using is extremely low compared to the energy required to melt that plastic.

They look like omni directional antennas with a gain between 5-7 dB why would use those instead of a directional antenna for range ?

Or even any directional antenna setup that wont require that plate/dish thing. You also need to make sure the distance from the antenna itself to your dish is related to the beam lenght. (google is your friend here I don't know how to calculate it since it can be half lenght or full lenght).

I did title this wrong because it not a dipole. your correct it is a omni directional 5db. Now I was not sure as the correct way to face it as in the picture I have it side ways which is incorrect. you what the flat side facing in the direction of the drone. as I had said about 900ft sideways but after turning it I get 1600ft with out any extra's. with the bowl i was able to get 2000ft but the antenna was not setting correct in the bowl. I had to bend the bowl at contact point to get the antenna to set correctly and have not had a change to retest it.
One note I had one of these antennas on my range extender (RE700) still had one of the internal antennas hooked up and the stock antenna on the controller with a wind surfer yesterday and got out to 5200ft. I would loss video for a second and it would come back and even at 5200 I had video just lost controller.