Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to sign up today.
Sign up

Beboop 1 Antenna upgrade

Phil Ralph

Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2021
Messages
18
Reaction score
1
Not sure if anyone will be interested, but I'm reading up and looking into an antenna upgrade, to give a little more distance/connection. I might even do a how too....if anyone is interested?

I have already learned the following.... the smaller the dBi number, the wider the coverage but lesser the distance. The examples given are 2dBi gives 360 degrees, and 7dBi gives 30 degrees and almost double the distance (as the drone is always a directional, a 6dBi looks set I believe)

1631875417971.png

Have a second hand Bebop 1 and antenna's on order, and have watched how several others have done it (and will be doing a "easy installation" if possible)

Let me know if you want to see this?
 
To be honest guys (although no one wanted to know how to do it) this is quite an easy mod!

The difficult part is getting the correct main board connectors (these are MAF3) the smaller ones will fit put might well come out in flight!
  • If you remove the base plate, which is four screws (and sits over the base sensor) you have access to the antenna connections on the main board at the front!
  • Remove connections carefully with either long nose pliers or in my case strong long nose tweezers
  • Drill holes for the antenna (as close to centre for C of G) in my case 6mm hole
  • Attach antenna, and connections to main board
I have also removed the leg antenna and cables as these will just be extra weight

You may well be able to just cut the existing leads leaving the connections on the main board and make your own connection to the antenna's......but these parts are small!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2870.JPG
    IMG_2870.JPG
    1.3 MB · Views: 16
  • IMG_2871.JPG
    IMG_2871.JPG
    1.4 MB · Views: 12
  • IMG_2872.JPG
    IMG_2872.JPG
    1.4 MB · Views: 16
  • IMG_2871a.jpg
    IMG_2871a.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 16
Last edited:
OK, maiden was this morning, however........less than impressed. Range was the same or less than the actual antenna supplied on the legs.

I have flown a third today and again have gone further distance than both previous flights.....around 538m at 80m hight.......and very weak signal

Any suggestions most welcome!
 
Are you flying with your phone?

.. and you have added that much more weight......

The battery run time needs to be improved for a mod like this to be efficient.

PS range shouldn't be the same, with those db antennas on. It's about video clarity as well.
 
Thanks for reply! Flying with sky controller, and iPad video….sorry should have said
The weight is hardly noticeable, and the video reception is a little poorer than previous……battery and flight time the same
 
To be honest guys (although no one wanted to know how to do it) this is quite an easy mod!

The difficult part is getting the correct main board connectors (these are MAF3) the smaller ones will fit put might well come out in flight!
  • If you remove the base plate, which is four screws (and sits over the base sensor) you have access to the antenna connections on the main board at the front!
  • Remove connections carefully with either long nose pliers or in my case strong long nose tweezers
  • Drill holes for the antenna (as close to centre for C of G) in my case 6mm hole
  • Attach antenna, and connections to main board
I have also removed the leg antenna and cables as these will just be extra weight

You may well be able to just cut the existing leads leaving the connections on the main board and make your own connection to the antenna's......but these parts are small!
Hello Phil,

You did everything almost correct, you just forgot one thing:
using linear polarisation you need also to Mach the polarisation linearity (way). The original parrot antennas are vertical and yours are almost horizontal. Try to fly again keeping your controller rotated 90 degrees (no joke) and you will achieve much longer distances. Another solution is change the position of the antennas pointing downwards, in this way you will achieve the maximum distance.
2.4g signals are better than 5.8g in terms of signal degradation in the atmosphere

sorry for the late reply, just saw your message now

Good luck

/Rafael
 

New Posts

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
5,294
Messages
45,048
Members
7,964
Latest member
edamame