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Antenna Mod Assitance?

Joined
Oct 3, 2016
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Hi everyone first off let me ask that anyone that posts to this thread PLEASE stay on topic as well as do not fill this thread up with posts stating rules or asking why I'm wanting to do these mods, I'm just trying to obtain information strictly based on the thread topic! Thank You

I'm wanting to do these mods not for bragging rights, or even to fly out to far distances but instead just to improve all my signal to the best that I can possibly get because frankly I haven't experienced a fly away as of yet & I really do not want to ever. I've seen all the youtube videos where people have flown their H's to absurd long distances to prove whatever points they are trying to prove but I'll leave the long range flying up to them because I don't have the desire or confidence to want to fly out far & possibly loose all contact with my H & have to shell out the money to buy a new one or even repair it!

Does anyone of you know the specific lengths of Antenna wires that are required to do the following Mods: replace all the internal Antenna wires in the ST16 & the H to the highest quality possible/practical, also the 3rd antenna mod on the ST16 what length of wire do i need their? Other than the lengths that I need do you know what specific Cable i need to use or IE the best /highest quality that I can use that will still obvious bend & contort around everything they need to so to not stress any end points, IE RG-178 or RG-402 or what cables.

The reason I'm asking these questions is because I've already tried obtaining this same info by watching the various YouTube videos of people doing them but I have yet to find a video where the person specifies what length they use or even what particular type they use & I'm sure that I'm not the only person around that would love to know the answer to these question so we can avoid ordering incorrect parts & wiring to just find out that we need to order longer/shorter or different type wires or different ends etc. Please do not simply direct me to another youtube video unless you know that they in fact do specify any of this info in them. Thanks

I think that it would be mutually beneficial to all of us if there was a thread that remained permanently stuck at the top of the forum that contained each Mod along with anything that is required to complete them etc. that way anyone wanting this info can go to a single place to find it all out because the YT videos do provide the knowledge base for completing each of the mods they fail to inform you of what is needed or required in tools or parts to do them! Unless I'm missing something.
 
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Have a look here:
Rf Cable Guide
The shorter the cable run the better. @2.4 and 5.8 Ghz the line loss is very high on thin cables.
LMR400 would be the best low loss cable, but it is the thickness of your thumb and you could never get a connector to fit the cable for the RF boards.
 
I just received the antenna mod kits from Carlos (also sold through Carolina Dronz) and did both the upgrades yesterday (ST16 and the YTH). Everything I needed (including new cables) was in the kit. I now have the ST16 with three external antenna fittings attached to the Itelite DBS and my YTH has the two external antenna fitted just behind the landing gear. Both of these upgrades were pretty straight forward to do with the YouTube assistance of Richard Gilmore (ST16 upgrade) and Bo Lorentzen (YTH upgrade).

Hope this info may help you out.

Like you, I have no wish to fly a long way, but wanted to ensure that I can have as much confidence as possible in my RC connections at all times.
 
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Thank you all that provided the information that you did. "SteveCarr" While I appreciated that you provided me with a link to that antenna cable, I believe that is the exact opposite antenna cable that is needed for any of the mods because if you look on your ST16 you'll notice that the antenna SMA connections that are installed on it are in fact "RP-SMA" & not just "SMA" IE they are Male Reverse polarity so that is the thread outsides WITH a pin. Oh & "Bobw55" the specific cables that I mentioned in my post was only to try & explain what I was wanting to be included in any info as in please tell me (if known) what grade/version/class or whatever it may be called, I was not intending on anyone to pay much attention to what EXACT Class that I wrote in the thread so sorry for the confusion. Oh & "ArnhemAnt" I wish you the best with your new mods I hope you enjoy them, I've been thinking of a way to modify the 5.8ghz band on the H to get better signal & thinking of possibly boosting the signal as well, & yes in thinking of doing this mod it will still allow for our H cams to still have their full 360 degree unlimited rotational ability, full tilt ability & still be able to self-balance itself so their always flat horizontally. After I finish up my mod I plan to make it available to anyone else wanting to do the mod & if it does turn out that my proposed mod works out to all my expectations than it will effectively be the first & only signal boosting mod that is installed onto the H for the 5.8gHz band which is our Video signal meaning it could give all of us a drastically further/better video signal before it starts to stutter or skip or fully stop the video stream to our ST16's, I'm not wanting to purchase any premade/preprepared antenna mod kits for either my H or my ST16 other than I did buy a IteLite 05.6B which is the newest Long distance signal improving antenna. My reasoning for that is that I figure that if I'm going to make all the effort to disassemble & then reassemble both my ST16 & my H then I want to be 100% positive that I have the absolute BEST possible components, wires, etc. to replace the stock versions even if it only means that I'm only slightly improving on the quality of the antenna.

I'll deff look at that chart you provided the link to "BobW55" so I can at the least figure out what exact class of antenna wiring that I will be needing for each of my mods (the best possible while also still remaining pliable enough as to contour around any corners & not put any of the ends or connections points under any kind of stress or pressure). But Unfortunately I still find myself needing for someone to please tell me what the LENGTH of each of the antenna wires need to be for each particular mod that I'll be doing, because as I stated in my previous post while the YT videos are great & full of info as to the fact of how to install the various mods I have yet to find one that mentions what length or even what class the wires are supposed to be or the ones they may be using to do the mods (which I find particularly odd to leave out both the class of each antenna wire & the length of them) Especially with them being specifically made to be tutorial videos they should actually be called "Partial Information Videos". When I do my mods I'm going to setup all my recording gear to film new tutorials that will include ALL of the necessary information in them. Thanks Tom C
 
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Hi Tom C,
Sounds exciting. In regards to getting clarification on lengths, etc for the antenna wires, I would suggest contacting Carlos at Yuneec Typhoon EU (Facebook) and send him a message. He is very helpful and I am sure he can give you all the specific info you need so you can do your mods.

Keep us posted on the developments.
 
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"Ian Diboll" thank you for the link to an antenna extension (KIT) but as I have expressed in my previous posts I DO NOT want to buy a PRE-MADE KIT for any of these mods. The reason I'm wanting to do all these mods 100% custom is just like "BobW55" says to keep all coax runs as short as possible (because the shorter they are the less RF loss you'll have) Plus I have NO plans on soldering any of the RF Cables or ends at all. I'm trying to get my lengths & exact wire Classes as close to perfect as possible & I'm saying if I can get away with using 6" cables rather than 6 1/2" cables than to me that is improvement because its just as the old saying goes; "Every Penny Counts". I'm having all my cables custom built for me by a company in the USA & that is all they do is build custom wifi antennas & they have an on-site RF range testing area that tests all losses & gains from their cables so they do not just slap some random gain number on their cables like many other sellers. I'll try contacting Carlos to see if he is willing to share exactly what lengths of cables he uses in his kits but I'm just not to sure that people that are trying to sell these kits, will be that willing to share this kind of info being as that is basically like asking for a trade secret in a way. Thanks everyone Tom C..
 
Why not open up the 16 and use something similar in diameter to route from point A to point B and then measure the length?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
"PatR" That would definitely be the best, easiest, most precise way to do all of this by taking my ST16 all the way apart & measuring each & every wire & noting their routing & potential possible routing but that is kind of at the bottom of my list just because after taking it all apart I then wouldn't be able to fly my H until I purchased the cables, waiting for them to ship, then installing them then finally getting it all back together. But the more I keep asking for the info & not getting exactly what I'm wanting I'm also starting to realize that during this entire time I could have just done all of that & been done with it by now. So Instead of asking anymore, that is exactly what I'm going to do is go & take my ST16 apart & removing everything off & out of it because while I wait for the cables to be delivered I'm going to send my ST16 & the Extra H body that I bought from Carolina Dronz & the even have the extra body for the camera & gimbal mount to have them all "Hydro-Dipped" for those that are unfamiliar with that it used to only be considered for use on hunting rifles & was much much more expensive, but its basically like having something professionally airbrushed but instead of anyone airbrushing the items needing the painted designs on them are dipped into a water-like solution that they first have floated out whatever design you've chosen onto the surface of that water & after your item has been dipped it comes out looking perfectly like as if a professional of 30 years airbrushed the whole thing it is very cool. Thanks I'll let you all know how everything goes & I'm going to make absolutely positive that I make a full and comprehensive YouTube video for each Mod that will detail each one & each item will be listed in their entirety to show each detail like lengths of cables, types etc. Thanks Tom C
 
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Only question that remains is how will you test the effectiveness of your mods?
Yes you can use the before I could go X distance before I lost video, now I can go farther. But the one thing you can not test against is the environment. You could fly at the same place every day and depending on the atmospheric conditions each day could be better or worse for flying. Only other thing to take into account is connectors. Every time you have a connection in your antenna set up you will have some loss. This is why Yuneec has the control (receiver)and the telemetry antenna with NO connection at the end of the cable. Personally I think the could have lead it out a bit further from the shell than it is. Those external antennas you see in some of the videos have connectors at the ends, and your antenna is screwed into them. Some of them that are listed for sale have no more gain that the stock ones.
 
Happy New Year All!

Ant, can you please confirm that the DBS antenna kit includes the coax cable assembly needed to add the 3rd external antenna port on the ST16.

Im considering doing both the 16 and the H while the weather is less than favorable in the NE. I've only had issues with the video freezing or lagging and that's what im most concerned about. All within LOS, i have a visual observer to keep eyes on the H at all times as I need to use the video to maintain framing of the clip. Would it make more sense to just pick up a better 5.8 antenna and let the rest stay as is? or does the DBS also provide the same improved level of video reception? I don't mind doing the mods or spending the money, but im really only after a more stable video link and the DBS needs to be removed for transport or a case mod or new case invested in too...

Sorry for the rambling, my morning coffee hasn't become effective yet; so my thoughts are loosely stacked...


Peace
Ant
 
Happy New Year All!

Ant, can you please confirm that the DBS antenna kit includes the coax cable assembly needed to add the 3rd external antenna port on the ST16.

Yes, the DBS upgrade kit for the ST16 comes with everything you need, including the additional cable. Upgrading both the radio and airframe at the same time is a good idea. I did both of them one morning while enjoying a few coffee's. Both were relatively simple to do and I would say that the upgrade to the H was the 'trickiest' as you really have to pay attention to how you route the new antenna cables. While the YT videos from both Bo and Richard are useful to watch, I would also strongly recommend visiting Carlos' FB page (Yuneec Typhoon EU) and use his pictures and text as a reference. I think his posts were made back on the 5th of December on his page.
Like you, I wanted the upgrade for a more reliable signal, not for distance and so far, so good. I also opted to keep the DBS attached to the ST16 as I couldn't be bothered reattaching it each time I want to fly. I purchased another smaller case which is now the new home for my ST16.
I'm more than happy to help if you have further questions. PM is probably best so we don't 'clutter' the forum.
Now.....back to my morning coffee......
 
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