PatR
Premium Pilot
Not really. Early in the history with the H a few experienced fly away's. They have not been completely eliminated yet. Some of them occurred at a distance, some happened when close, some occurred as the gear was raised or lowered. There was a theory that the wire antenna's proximity to the landing gear motors might have been contributory to a fly away. It's never been fully proven but there's are strong suspicions the actual cause has been a component failure within the compass and/or GPS units. Such an issue is nothing new as they have been experienced by every major consumer drone manufacturer. One (not Yuneec) more than others. So a few of us tried the installation of dipole antennas to determine if the fly away situation improved. The problem with going this direction is that you really don't know if you corrected anything. If you never experienced another fly away were the antennas the fix? There's really no way to know.
Has range been improved? That's really hard to say. If you operate within LOS I don't see the dipoles as being better than even the exposed antenna wire installations. Having installed many 2.4gHz RC systems in RC planes I'm absolutely positive that an exposed wire antenna is not range limiting when they are oriented correctly and not shielded by other parts of the aircraft. Thin carbon structures can block radio signals. You can't know if signal has been blocked after a new installation so you range test on the ground from different angles to establish what might happen either way. Small diameter nylon tubes are often used to retain antenna wire positions and/or route them outside of a fuselage, similar but smaller to what has been used on the H pro model. If you operate well beyond line of sight you would first need to establish how far you can consistently operate with exposed wire antennas and perform the same tests with dipole antennas to make a determination.
I have not operated much further out than 2500-3000' or so (as a recreational user) but I haven't seen any differences in control response with either antenna. Bear in mind the wire/dipole antennas are the primary RC control system antennas. Bear in mind I do all I can to assure the ST-16 can always "see" the H when in flight. I don't put my body, structures, or heavy foliage in a position that would inhibit the signal link between the two devices. If flying further out I fly the H with more elevation to avoid signal distortion from "ground clutter. Over water I try to stay at least 20' above the water. A clear signal path is everything.
After market 2.4 H antenna below.
Has range been improved? That's really hard to say. If you operate within LOS I don't see the dipoles as being better than even the exposed antenna wire installations. Having installed many 2.4gHz RC systems in RC planes I'm absolutely positive that an exposed wire antenna is not range limiting when they are oriented correctly and not shielded by other parts of the aircraft. Thin carbon structures can block radio signals. You can't know if signal has been blocked after a new installation so you range test on the ground from different angles to establish what might happen either way. Small diameter nylon tubes are often used to retain antenna wire positions and/or route them outside of a fuselage, similar but smaller to what has been used on the H pro model. If you operate well beyond line of sight you would first need to establish how far you can consistently operate with exposed wire antennas and perform the same tests with dipole antennas to make a determination.
I have not operated much further out than 2500-3000' or so (as a recreational user) but I haven't seen any differences in control response with either antenna. Bear in mind the wire/dipole antennas are the primary RC control system antennas. Bear in mind I do all I can to assure the ST-16 can always "see" the H when in flight. I don't put my body, structures, or heavy foliage in a position that would inhibit the signal link between the two devices. If flying further out I fly the H with more elevation to avoid signal distortion from "ground clutter. Over water I try to stay at least 20' above the water. A clear signal path is everything.
After market 2.4 H antenna below.
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