Bebop onboard antennas and controller mods

[Frelanz]

hey everyone!
So I've modded the hell out of my Skycontroller 2, what can I do to the on-board antenna? I know they are seated in the front feet and they are little printed patch style antenna but what are their specs? Does anyone know? And also has anyone added more? Split signal cables or anything? What about an on-board amplifier? Is there any benefit? Or just the controller?

Currently running on the controller:
2 x 4 watt 2.4Ghz amplifiers
3 6db omni directional antenna

Powered by:
3 x 18650 3.7v lithium ion batteries
Running a DC Buck/Boost voltage regulator outputting 12v @ 2.5 amps

I'm already running an externally powered lighting system on the Bobop with some lithium ion batteries so I CAN have extra power if an amp will work.... BUT WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK! HELP ME OUT HERE!

 

[Frelanz]

I can get 1 Km out of this setup, probably further but didn't push it on a low battery.... I want to go further!

 

[mikeexplorer]

I went with the Skyshit2 booster mod kit which not only boosts the signal in the skycontroller but a booster is also installed in the drone. Comparing a stock controller with the boosted one flying at the same location almost doubled the distance. The booster kit for the skycontroller all fits inside so it looks clean

 

[Frelanz]

Thats pretty impressive! Yeah mine is a bit of an eye sore looks like some military hardware or something lol.... do you have a picture of the skyshit hardware before you installed it? Just curious. Also what are you using to get the clean HUD in your image you showed? I like the clean stats in the screen...

 

[mikeexplorer]

This link describes how you can add the data to the video:

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I bought the kit here

Bebop 2 Booster Hull Mod 2021 + SkyShit Booster Mod 2021 Bundle Pack

This bundle package contains the following sub-packages: Bebop 2 Booster Mod Kit version 2021 (Limited Edition) w/1.4W pre-tuned booster x 1 (Nose) SkyController 2 Booster Mod Kit version 2021 (Limited Edition) w/1.9W Dual Edition pre-tuned booster x 2 A software license of SkyShit FPV Suite for...

droneboost.myshopify.com

 

[Frelanz]

Awesome! Thanks for the info! I always see people with those videos, overlaying flight info, now I know how! Lol... thats great. Thank you for all your insight! Has anyone ever used an amplifier like this onboard their bebop?

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I never see any like the one you have in the skyshit mod package with those mini sma connectors they are all full size.... I wonder if there are any out there that are not those? Just out of curiosity..

 

[Frelanz]

Update: I have added a 2-watt onboard amplifier to the Bebop. That has gotten me a pretty decent amount further. I can almost get 1700 yards now in relatively low interference areas! I am currently using the antenna that came with the amplifier it is a 6dbi omnidirectional whip. I want to upgrade to some onboard patch antennas like the ones that originally came on the Bebop. Does anybody have any suggestions as far as a good patch antenna? Or some onboard antenna that would give good reception obviously without the massive size. Sucks every time you add something to the top or bottom of them if they get wobbly they start whipping around like a pendulum and fall out of the sky LOL... don't mind the giant battery box on top! That is totally ugly but it carries my onboard power for my amplifier and for a set of lights that I have installed on it I have 4 COB LED bars that flash or can be on solid I get about 5 or 6 good flights out of a charged with everything turned on full.... during my last major tear down I also rewired all of the lighting and ran it through the body drill tiny holes in most of the structure to run them out to the arms and through the body out of the way of the sensors..

 

[Frelanz]

I found out thru trial and error that like some other drones on the market there is an antenna for control and an antenna for fpv I found this out while flying in an area with large interference where my fpv cutout and my drone was hung about five hundred yards away out of my sight. I kept waiting for it to come back and take him to GPS return home mode but it never did however my controller still had a green light on it. So I had put the amplifier on the on board drone the control side. So it looks like I need a second amplifier on board the Drone as well. I'm guessing then my numbers will bump up to somewhere similar to Solaris and sky$hit mods. Unfortunately while rewiring some stuff yesterday I messed up my onboard amplifier so I'll be out of here for a while while I order a new one

 

[Swordfish]

This link describes how you can add the data to the video:

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I bought the kit here

Bebop 2 Booster Hull Mod 2021 + SkyShit Booster Mod 2021 Bundle Pack

This bundle package contains the following sub-packages: Bebop 2 Booster Mod Kit version 2021 (Limited Edition) w/1.4W pre-tuned booster x 1 (Nose) SkyController 2 Booster Mod Kit version 2021 (Limited Edition) w/1.9W Dual Edition pre-tuned booster x 2 A software license of SkyShit FPV Suite for...

droneboost.myshopify.com

please help sr

One of the cables go for the antenna 0 port, but the other antena wire where it goes? it says to pcb antenna fett, but there are two antenna feet...and also, if ai connect to antenna fet that leave one free antenna port on the motherboard of bebop 2...i dont understand please help..

Have a nice day

 

[Frelanz]

@ frelanz. It's 100mw output limit on those boosters from regular radio and already puts out more than 100mw, you will burn your radio soon.

Are you talking about the onboard radios? On drone? Or you talking the aftermarket amplifier receiving too much from the Drone and frying the amp? I flew it almost daily sometimes 2-4 batteries worth but at LEAST 1 full batteries worth of flight for about 2 months.... the failure was on me, bad soder joint cracked shorted and fried unit. Anyways... is that what the onboard unit (stock drone) outputs? See i have a hella hard time finding any real "whitepaper" high detail information on the Bebop 2 i would love to know a TON more about it... here's another question, what are the stock antenna capable of? Could I hook 2 watts to stock antenna? If not could I run 2 stock antenna, splitting the signal? I split my signal and ran a second set of stock antennas with the old ones and got an additional 200 yards with only using amps on my controller (2 x 4w units) one off each controller antenna... also am I correct in my assumptions that one antenna is "FPV" or video and the second "telemetry" or control? Anyways.... THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT! Hope to keep up the convo and get some more questions answered! This is my latest photo of the drone... (minus amp and antenna now) also retooling my battery pack (runs lights system and amp(s) onboard drone only.... don't want to kill my flight time with that stuff (dunno what the weight gain is causing but hey LOL)

 

[Frelanz]

I watched a video on attenuators and I'm confused. If I use an attenuators won't that remove some power from the overall transmission? Wouldnt you be able to get more power without it? I mean it will fry stuff but.....Being it knocks down the overall voltage... can you clarify that for me? I have heard you can run amplifiers in series with one another, like one on the input end of another and get more power, is that possible? Or would you need to get a (bias tee?) Or something that decrease the DC voltage (i don't know if that is what its called, I'm super new to RF) What exactly does it do ? I had never heard of one before you told me! Lol!

 

[Frelanz]

please help sr

One of the cables go for the antenna 0 port, but the other antena wire where it goes? it says to pcb antenna fett, but there are two antenna feet...and also, if ai connect to antenna fet that leave one free antenna port on the motherboard of bebop 2...i dont understand please help..

Have a nice day

The other anttena port is mirrored on the opposite side of the bebop main board (left or right side not top or bottom) so they repeated the layout like the motors wires one on each side... its kind of hidden under a cross member if you have just taken the black plastic piece off the bottom and not removed the Drone body from the lower frame. I got some 8db gain PCB style antennas with the IPEX connector off banggood so I'm going to scrap the ones in the foot frame and mount them under the arms instead... hopefully get some better reception!! Being my amp fried (on board the bebop, my fault) I'm going to strip it down again and swap out my antenna so when I get my new amps I will be all set to go! When I get it torn down ill post a picture of where the 2 antenna ports are for you...

 

[Frelanz]

^ Yes I mean you will fry the parrot sky controller 2 with boosters because I believe the radio has to be out putting below 100mw (sc2 is way more) before even entering the boosters or you will fry sc2 overtime. It goes for all radios unless you add an in line attenuater which knocks it down before going to boosters.

Do you know of any smaller attenuators? All are pretty big SMA connector style... checked amazon... wouldn't a resistor in line work? Or would that muck up things? I guess things are supposed to be kept around 50 ohm so that wouldn't be good I guess, adding more resistance...

 

[Frelanz]

please help sr

One of the cables go for the antenna 0 port, but the other antena wire where it goes? it says to pcb antenna fett, but there are two antenna feet...and also, if ai connect to antenna fet that leave one free antenna port on the motherboard of bebop 2...i dont understand please help..

Have a nice day

Here is the pictures of my teardow Tonight.. here are the antennas im installing they are supposedly 8dbi and omnidirectional... haven't figured out where I am going to put them yet! Lol but they are attached... so I am cutting out the onboard amplifier and upgrading the antennas, we will see what the difference is on distance.... the stock antennas. can't be more tan 3dbi? I wouldn't assume something that small cant have much pickup capability.... the leads on these things are WAY to long not too happy about that... hope the distance increase will make up for it!

 

[Frelanz]

Update. Got my Sunhans 2.5w amp in the mail the other day. Pulled of the 8dbi antenna I have listed in the previous post (was not pleased with performance just FYI...) installed some IPEX to SMA cables i got off amazon (nice thick shielding and insulation) and have hooked it to the board in the bebop. I was able to cannibalize an old amplifier housing and replace the stock sunhans unit (saved over 25 grams of weight and still get the adiquate heat dissipation) only problem is its still pretty large and takes up some awkward space... using a disposable cell charger from home depot (3.7v 2600mah) battery and a DC buck boost chip to bring it up to the needed 12v (luckly the draw is only required to be about 400ma for it to operate) not sure how long it can sustain the correct voltage... we will find out!! Need to work on securing my mounting rack better.... Also after much research and testing I have determined that a lower DBI antenna with my high wattage system should give me a better range.... without the amp on board yesterday I got an EASY 750 METERS! with the pictured antenna... running my controller amplifiers with a similar cloverleaf and 5dbi omnidirectional. I tried today with my amp hooked up on the bebop and was getting 150 feet away and it would lose connection! Was VERY FRUSTRATING! I think I narrowed it down to lose SMA couplings ( had both channels lose! WTF?!) ANYWAYS trying again in the AM... WISH ME LUCK AND SOME HUGE NUMBERS!

 

[hunterz]

Is it easy to upgrade the controller as I'm only getting around 200meters with stock setup

 

[Frelanz]

Is it easy to upgrade the controller as I'm only getting around 200meters with stock setup

Yeah its as easy as unplugging one of the existing cables that runs from the controller/amp card to the antenna array and plugging in a new cable that goes to an external or aftermarket amp you can mount it externally for ease if you want or you can make it all seamless like the Solaris mod internal with a heatsink... the whole project should take you maybe 2-3 hours if your not too experienced....I think I am going to change out my onboard one on the bebop (yes the one I just installed) because I found a 2watt card on banggood that allows you to plug in IPEX plugs in and out of the card its small so I'm sure I can hide it in the nose cone or something this one is still to heavy even after my case swap it causes bad wobble on decent.... that and the battery im using is quite heavy... I got a go pro battery today nice and small so I'm gonna try it with that instead I've gotten at least 10 flights out of a 2600mah lithium ion battery with my existing amp (I even accidently left it plugged in power on no signal for like 2 hours) and its still giving me power! So pretty happy with the power usage. Maybe I'll just wire into the bebop power if its really that light of a sipper and eliminate the 2nd battery all together...