Spark range test ...Fpvlr antenna vs stock with reflector

[Dave Canada]

I make a pest out of myself by regularly pointing out that likely most of the boosted antennas are snake oil.
My minor was electronic engineering and I've been trained in radio and microwave.
Not one of these outfits publishes even a minimum of information to be taken seriously.
One even proudly told me they don't need to publish any stinkin specs - they rely on word of mouth from their customers.
Now - explain to me how you DON'T have any gain figures if you're claiming to improve on stock?
They don't even have antenna patterns.
So how do you know that their claims are valid? You don't.
Truth is most of their success I suspect is simple cognitive dissonance on the buyers part - I spent $250 so of course my distance must be greater - right?
Here's some facts:
By law they can't sell anything that violates FCC regs.
In the US all Dji products are at the max according to FCC specs.
Best they can hope for is to improve directionality.
Most claim to have planar panels but absolutely no way to adjust or test matching impedance.
Impedance matching is crucial to antenna performance and each of those connectors and extended pigtails connecting the antennas represent losses. There's a reason those feeds are short and to the point in the controllers.
Some units have boosters and batteries in them.
The highest power you can get legally is 4 watts. If the controller only put out 1 watt this would represent only a 3 dbi gain - assuming that the power in was sufficient to drive it to full power (remember those losses above?)
I have repeatedly asked for these folks to provide test measurements and I've been ignored.
I maintain that if you make claims you should have data to back it up.
At least the parabolic reflectors have some science to back them up.
If anyone would like to experiment with directional antennas I would suggest you look up making your own biquad antennas.
Here's a simple 2.4 ghz biquad. You can make two side by side for the Dji controllers.
I've seen plans and you should get around 10 dbi improvement from the directionality of the antenna. Of course this also means you have to be careful in positioniWHAT IS YOUR POSITION ON 4HAWKS

 

[NRRTRAINS]

now for the big question ? . are they all the same or are the $40 the same as the $3.99 antenna reflectors ? .
thank you

 

[IanSR]

ATM I have cheap £3 DYS Cloverleafs on my controller, I'm not overly interested in distance, just good reception, i went out a k over the sea last week without a glitch, this was after installing one of these long range kits and finding them useless.

 

[webvan]

Are there $40 reflectors?!

Talking of data sheets, I did see something for the one I recently got on Amazon.com. Not sure of their value though.

Here : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072HFCC2S

 

[pmshop]

Are there $40 reflectors?!

Talking of data sheets, I did see something for the one I recently got on Amazon.com. Not sure of their value though.

Here : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072HFCC2S

That is the clone of the clones floating around and got me +5,000ft more than without.

 

[Spark 317]

 

[SPARKY@63]

I order one from Droneworld in South Africa when I receive it I shall test it and give proper result with my Spark drone

 

[DSLeach]

I got 2.2km from the reflectors twice but so far only 750M from the stock ant. I am not willing to physically mod my tx quite yet.