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Trying to measure signal power or atleast the differences in gain.

Joined
Oct 3, 2016
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Hi everyone,
I'm curious to know how many of you may have either used or own an RF Power Meter like for instance the Immersion RF Power meter that measure the power of whatever antenna you have connected to it or ie signal strength? I just would like to know some honest opinions on a few things regarding it like 1st can it be considered a reliable source for measuring the RF Power/Signal Strength of both the 2.4gHz band antenna's & the 5.8gHz band antennas of our ST16's or not? Then 2nd: given the following situation would it be a reliable source for me to first take measurements of my existing stock antenna setup on my ST16 & then take the same measurements again after I replace all the internal antenna cables & do the 3rd Antenna Mod along with possibly adding on a signal booster & then took all those figures & compared them together, would I be able to devise an kind of accurate Information pertaining to the approx. amount of signal strength increase that I'll be able to expect out of it when flying my H??

Now that I've asked about that specific device, I've also seen some really cheap so-called RF Power Meters that also advertise to be able to measure the RF Power up to 8gHz & these I just found on Ebay after typing in the search for the immersion RF Meter & they look like what they are is just a PCB board & a small OLED screen that will display the data on & then has the antenna connections to be able to connect them so you'll be able to test them, has anyone else seen these same things that I'm referring to? Even though like I said before they are extremely cheap, I really do not see a reason why they would not work in the same way as the Immersion RF Meter does because really the only technical difference that is extremely evident is the fact that the Immersion one is nicely finished in a red ABS plastic body & the other is not but as for the main ingredients ie the hardware, I can not see much of a difference at all because both have a PCB board assembly along with a screen to be able to display the tested data onto & then just the SMA Antenna connections to connect the to be tested antenna cable to. In thinking about the differences or similarities between the 2 devices, please do not take into account anything else other than the bare hardware itself so do not even take into account what one is manufactured by what company or anything similar to that because I'm not try to learn about whether Immersion has a good or bad reputation & same for the other device but instead just about the devices themselves & how effective or not each of them would be to perform the actions that Im wanting to perform, because yes we all know that in an ideal world if I had millions that the correct way to do all of this would to be buy all the high-end equipment & perform the tests in an entirely controlled space with absolutely 0 interference from any other source but I'm unfortunately just like the rest of you & not a millionaire & this is not a perfect world so we just have to use what works the best.

Thank you to all that provide good, ON TOPIC information I really appreciate it. Oh & I just had one last question, Other than try fly my H to any maximum distance before I start getting video glitches etc. how would I or is there a way to be able to test the signal strength of my ST16 that it is giving out or is recieving because I'm just not sure how to go about testing my IteLite DBS05.6B antenna to see approx how much gain over stock it will give me & I know that now matter what even if I fly in the exact same spot ever time my over signal strength etc. will never be the same. But at the same time the 2.4gHz band along with the 5.8Ghz band both have many different channels on our ST16's just like a normal router & one channel will give you better signal performance then the other & so this is why I'm curious to know of a way to test the signal strength wirelessly & then if possible change the channels of both bands to the strongest channels! I can almost say this with confidence but not until I fully test it out, but when I popped open my ST16 I noticed that the PCB board that 2 of the 4 antennas are connected onto inside of it also had a Micro Usb port on it, so I've been thinking about it & if I just unscrew that board so that I can access that Micro Usb port & plug it into my laptop I'd be curious to know if I may be able to view different parameters of the ST16 like for instance the different channels along with each one of there assignments & even better if possible change a few of the assignments around to different channels as to customize exactly where you'd want whatever control & then see if at all possible to add on additional empty/free channels because if that is even remotely possible I already know that on the H itself I know of a way to be able to add on an additional 8 empty/free channels to the already 16 or whatever that exist which would give us the ability to multily the amount of different diverse mods we'd all be able to do with them, for instance like once thing that I've been wanting to do is add on a spot light that is sld on hobbyking that comes premounted & ready to be plugged in on a full pan/tilt platform so we'd be able to change to area that the spotlight is hitting while it is flying in the are straight from our ST16's, then who knows we could add on Web take down net cannons to play a kind of capture the other drone which would be awesome.

thanks TomC
 
TomC, i have read your story three times to understand what exactly you supposed to say. Its very indepth about modding your st16 controller with new antenna and the best channel for the best signal. I wonder why you s take so much effort as till now my experience is that the signals for legal distance are quite good. Never experienced problems.. So why modding this ?


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Hi "Ruud Hogenberg" yes you are correct the way that my post reads is in a way that anyone would come to the conclusion that I want to have the ability to fly my H out to a theoretical distance around "8 miles". You most likely had to re-read it multiple times to comprehend it because as of late when I've written my posts it has been quite late. Therefore, my spelling & grammar are quite impaired by that!
Honestly, the entire reason I wrote this post was only to see if anyone else on here either owned or had experience using the "Immersion RC RF Power Meter" because I'm trying to compile as much information as possible from as many different sources as possible so that I can make a truly informed educated decision on whether or not to buy it, only for the purpose of being able to have some kind of true correct measurement of what my current ST16 transmitter is sending out to my H & then to see again the same measurements, but after I've done my various upgrades to both my H & my ST16 so I can know that if for example, I calculate that I'm supposed to be getting (however much gain) that I am getting that gain or somewhere close, therefore I'll know that 1; I haven't wasted all my money & time, 2; what has worked well vs only worked slightly.

While my reasoning for doing all of this is to gain RF signal power & to give me a bit more flight distance as well as a much more important aspect to me which is so that when I fly I won't have any doubts of possible flyaways because of signal loss etc. Because that has been & is one of my biggest fears is the possibility of losing my H because of lost or low signal & I'd much rather test out my signal power while I'm on the ground than while I'm flying & finding out the hard way when it either flies away or drops from the sky. All of that as well as I've always been the same with anything I first get whatever it may be, most of the time I buy everything that is available aftermarket for my item & when I do I make sure that when I do buy after market parts I don't like to go part way on anything so I buy the best of the best which is why especially because of the fact that I'll be investing the amount of time I will be I don't want to do anything but the absolute best available.
So if you or anyone else may know anything for or against the "Immersion RC RF Power Meter" please share it with me.
Thanks Tom C
 
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