In the H Pro RS just purchased at Costco it comes with a second GPS antenna. There is one mounted on the ST-16 and another in a box marked Free! (see photos) one is marked omni directional and one marked directional control - which do I use when please? Nothing in the enclosed documentation mentions either one.
GPS Patch Antenna
- Thread starter Koala
- Start date
Use either. I like the square ones, but remember to keep them aimed in the direction of the craft.
Neither of those are GPS antennas. The GPS antenna is internal to the drone under the square patch on top of the drone.
Both the square patch antenna and the mushroom antenna are for the video down link. The square patch antenna should be pointed toward the craft and may have a better video signal range. The strongest part of the signal from the square patch antenna is from the top, which is why you should point it at the craft.
The mushroom antenna is an omni directional antenna and should be perpendicular to the craft for the strongest signal.
If I'm flying overhead I prefer the square patch antenna.
The weakest signal from the omni directional antenna is at the top of the mushroom, the strongest part radiates from the sides of the mushroom.
Both the square patch antenna and the mushroom antenna are for the video down link. The square patch antenna should be pointed toward the craft and may have a better video signal range. The strongest part of the signal from the square patch antenna is from the top, which is why you should point it at the craft.
The mushroom antenna is an omni directional antenna and should be perpendicular to the craft for the strongest signal.
If I'm flying overhead I prefer the square patch antenna.
The weakest signal from the omni directional antenna is at the top of the mushroom, the strongest part radiates from the sides of the mushroom.
Wow this is important information - not surprised but it would have been nice for Yuneec to provide some documentation on it - but got it from you instead so all good! Thanks much!
I was also confused by the wording thinking that it was a GPS antenna, since that's what Yuneec's nearly non-existent documentation about this antenna implied. It most certainly isn't. I verified that the ST16 gets the same GPS strength with or without this antenna attached, whereas the video link from the H will disappear at a very short range without this antenna, verifying it is indeed the 5.8GHz WiFi antenna.
Edit:
I plan on hooking this to a network analyzer just to see what this antenna is tuned for, since indeed it's about the exact size of a patch antenna tuned for 1.6GHz (GPS).
Wouldn't surprise me if someone at Yuneec was told that the port this hooks to is a GPS port by some intermediate person at Yuneec, so they thought it would be a good idea to supply a different antenna with higher gain. Often times things are lost between design engineer and marketing department with someone that knows just enough about technical things to be dangerous.
I'll report my findings here.
Edit:
I plan on hooking this to a network analyzer just to see what this antenna is tuned for, since indeed it's about the exact size of a patch antenna tuned for 1.6GHz (GPS).
Wouldn't surprise me if someone at Yuneec was told that the port this hooks to is a GPS port by some intermediate person at Yuneec, so they thought it would be a good idea to supply a different antenna with higher gain. Often times things are lost between design engineer and marketing department with someone that knows just enough about technical things to be dangerous.
I'll report my findings here.
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ST16 GPS antenna is internal. I overlooked the original ref to GPS, but my answer was valid.
I really think Yuneec, all of Yuneec, knows what the antennas are.
I really think Yuneec, all of Yuneec, knows what the antennas are.
Holy Moly! Indeed. That's so bad it's funny. Maybe GPS in Chinese means...no, never mind.
Haaaa!
Now you understand my confusion as to whether this is truly a 5.8GHz patch antenna or a 1.6GHz patch antenna. It's certainly the right size for a 1.6GHz patch...Internal GPS Passive Ceramic Patch Antennaspagesepsitename%%
And a 5.8GHz patch antenna is usually much smaller...
TEAM BLACKSHEEP 5.8 GHz Patch Antenna (5 dBi) A-ANTA-PA05 B&H
I guess it could always be a multi-patch phased array at 5.8GHz though. Would be nice to know the gain of the antenna to know for sure.
Plugging in the 8753D on the bench now...
Edit: Nevermind. I'm a mo-ron. Looks like the 5.8GHz models use about the same size ground plane behind the patch. I also realized I don't have the antenna and adaptors with me at work right now, so I'll wait until tomorrow to check this out on the VNA.
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Just a heads up. I've heard you can fry the antenna board in the ST16 if you run it without the antennas attached so make sure they are attached before turning on the ST16.
I would take that with a grain of salt. The particular WiFi transceiver for the 5.8GHz board will not be damaged from high VSWR. By it's very nature, it will have a circulator in the RF output used as a duplexer that will protect the transmitter from damage. It will also have high VSWR foldback protection circuitry. In fact, so does the 2.4GHz WiFi transceiver. Now, if the actual 2.4GHz telemetry and control transmitter is built to obey FCC rules, it's limited to even less power than higher bandwidth WiFi devices. Regardless, we're talking about such a low power level with all of these transmitters that I can't imagine anything on the RF side being able to be damaged by high VSWR.
In the US, 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz band part 15 WiFi devices are limited to a maximum of 1 watt TPO with at a minimum, a 6dBi antenna. Higher gain antennas require lower TPO transmitters. That patch antenna certainly has more than 6dBi of gain, and as such, the TPO will be even less than 1 watt. 1 watt of reflected power isn't likely to cause any problems to the radios on the ST16, even if there was no VSWR foldback circuitry and circulators to protect it all. We're talking far less RF power than even a cell phone has.
Not to mention that removing the antenna had no adverse effects, and my ST16 works just great, fine, and dandy after testing that.
Thanks for the concern though.
In the US, 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz band part 15 WiFi devices are limited to a maximum of 1 watt TPO with at a minimum, a 6dBi antenna. Higher gain antennas require lower TPO transmitters. That patch antenna certainly has more than 6dBi of gain, and as such, the TPO will be even less than 1 watt. 1 watt of reflected power isn't likely to cause any problems to the radios on the ST16, even if there was no VSWR foldback circuitry and circulators to protect it all. We're talking far less RF power than even a cell phone has.
Not to mention that removing the antenna had no adverse effects, and my ST16 works just great, fine, and dandy after testing that.
Thanks for the concern though.
