You did a great job explaining that this is an extension of COAXIAL cable. After watching several other videos of similar mods, I found myself asking the computer screen, "hey, what about the shield?" as most of those people found the shield not connected from the factory. In fact, lots of people complained that the remote would simply beep when turned on. The factory cheaped out when they used coaxial cable as a single conductor by simply not connecting the outer shield (or the center conductor...not sure). I like that you mentioned, several times, that the matched part of this mod is the center conductor that sticks out 3.5 cm! My quad is coming in the mail tomorrow...can't wait to give this a go! I probably should fly it as is first so I can see the difference--hopefully without losing the quad.
Hey thanks. Good to know how stuff works when doing mods like these. Seems like most of these quads don't have a shield at all to ground. Just have a single wire close to the proper wavelength soldered directly to radio on board. Which sometimes works but it doesn't allow the wire to get away from the board and is usually I'm a weird orientation and gets covered up by the hands. You should definitely fly it before you mod mainly so you can make sure it all works and also get a baseline for range it has. Just don't let it fly away out of range and lose it before the mod done :)
Thanks Dustin! I just finished the mod! Had more trouble getting my old router open than soldering the antenna. I decided to do this after loosing control and the wind blew it into a pine tree, luckily it came down, hitting limbs all the way but no damage just lost the battery. So while waiting batts to come in I decided to try it. I was worried about which part of the antenna went where on the board but it's pretty easy to see when you desolder it. I do recommend that anyone trying just go a step further than you did after unscrewing the board and also unplugging it from the other half by the white plug on the bottom of the board. Also investing in the helping had holders with the Magnifying attachment (Harbor Freight) was a big help as well when it came to soldering in the new one. Now on to the quad. BTW Gearbest blows! Still waiting! US warehouse my ass! Got my other shipment from Tinydeal already and it came from China!
+wild300zx i know it off topic but i hear you on gearbest i bought something from them almost month ago and still waiting but i did find another place just thought i share have not ordered from them yet but look good www.banggood.com/
Also modified my transmitter antenna as described here, result was that my Syma X5C-1 gained more altitude range than i could handle. It flew out of sight.
Super informative. You're awesome. I was chuckling for a sec... thinking that you'd gone that far and forgot the power switch... but nah, you knew what you were doing :) Thank you so very much!
Thanks for the video!! It was by far the one I was most comfortable with. That was my 1st soldering experience. I almost assumed my wire didn't have ground because mine looked different and tiny as far as width. You should make a video of you splicing that with the ground and all. Just tested and noticed a huge difference in range. Thanks!
You have answered so many of my questions in this video and in comments below, thanks so much for sharing..... I have a JJRC H11D Quad and the range is very poor at just 25 to 35 mtr and the FPV at least 100 mtr so frustrating that the quad loses control before the video crashes. The TX has the same short arial inside the case and others have said a possible fix is to install an external antenna as you have. So I will be giving that a try in the next few days.... Me being no expert in electronics I even doubted I could use my old 2.4 router arial but you answered that in the video, also you have explained about the length of the aerial in a way that I fully understand.......... Thanks again, I will report back on how I get on, Regards, Steve
Thanks Dustin, I did what you taught in the video. What I hate so much with Syma x5c is that why can't the Syma company do a better job in extending the range so we don't have to tinker with the controller.
Did this mod and have tested good up to 406 feet so far. (124meters)Will take to a larger field some day and test. Only had about 80ft range originally
just in case anyone didn't know,to get better performance/higher tilt angle click the top left corner button on the transmitter to change performance, three separate performances.this helps to be able to fly in some strong wind!
Jenna Quinn That would work if you either took the bottom apart and soldered it in how I showed in video or use that and solder on a male adapter for that antenna to screw into.
I HAD to do this mod since I have a lot of interference where I fly usually, but it does work. I ended up cannibalizing an old NETGEAR router for it's antennas ;) I did the same for the antenna on the mainboard.
Danke, Gracias, Thank you. Your video provided EXACTLY what I wanted to know ( and even some things I didn't know I didn't know ). Great job, if your goal was to provide really useful information to folks you were successful.
First a couple of points that may or may not of been said but are extremely important.. I have an X5C-1 controller ..the antenna on it is already a 1/4 wave antenna and if replaced by a similar one (even if its a swivel and longer extension) would result in a good working unit but exactly the same range... whats needed is a 3dbi GAIN antenna (or higher) for the 2.4Ghz Wifi band.. many are sold as range extender antennas for your WiFi router ... also these antennas are actually 'co-linear' in design and have longer radiators 5/8 wave length or longer.. they are designed to match a 50 ohm load ..as does the standard 1/4 wave antenna like the one that comes with the controller... my experience ( I was a radio technician) is that you will add range but probably more like 50 to 100 ft..which IS WORTH the effort on these very cool quad copters... the same thing could be done 'inside' the copter (but no videos have I seen for this mod) if you did the transmitter and the copter with high gain antennas the really range would double or better...
Norie M Yes that would be possible. Look for a battery case on eBay or something, solder on the applicable plug to the batter leads from said case and just make sure you charge with proper battery chemistry mode and amperage according to the MAH.
Just a couple of nits to pick. You mention that the length of the antenna is a "wavelength" at 2.4ghz. Actually, it is 1/4 wavelength (3.12cm or 31.2mm). A full wavelength would be 4 times that length, but would present the wrong impedance to the antenna circuit. A quarter-wavelength antenna exhibits an impedance of approx. 30 to 50 ohms. It is possible to use 1/2 wavelength, 3/4 wavelength or even a full wavelength, but then the impedance matching circuitry would have to be modified. Another (simpler) option for increasing the range would be to just add a 1/4 wavelength piece of wire to the ground terminal. Tape the two quarter-wavelength piece of wire to the PCB at 180° to each other (along the top edge say), and you will, in effect, have a center fed 1/2 wavelength dipole antenna, which offers about 3db gain over an 1/4 wavelength vertical (or horizontal) antenna. I've been a 'ham radio' operator for 40+ years, and work as a senior electronic technician, so I'm pretty familiar with RF circuitry. Cheers!
I was a CB nut in my day and I am wondering just how much extra range this mod will give you, as the antenna is still the same length, 31 mm app, no matter how much longer the thing looks like, connecting the ground plain will help stop interference and boos the range a little by pulling down the antennas radiated transmissions holding more of it nearer the ground after all their is no point in transmitting a signal into space if the drone cant get up their you wont it to go outwards not up and that is what the ground plane dose mostly plus it balances the antenna to 50 ohms
Nice video very detailed explaining all the things that don't need explaining. Please just tell me what the transmitter antenna was before you replaced it with the router antenna. It didn't have an antenna or what???
+Dustin Dunnill I tried this after watching your video and can confirm. The range easily doubled. I will be doing some trials when the weather clears up. Before the mod, I got about 120' horizontally from my location. I'd say about 100' vertically. After I did this mod, I did a test and got at least 200'. The X5C is so light that the wind was a real problem so I brought it back down until I can conduct a safer test. Clearly, this is the easiest modification to perform for this aircraft. Thanks for the great video!
No old router antenna, no problem. Amazon carries 2.4 antennas, just search 2.4 antenna on Amazon and there are several choices. Go for about $7 to $8. bucks for two and comes with two connecting wires to hook up to the controller.
i did a mod on mine i just soldered a wire on and ran it through the handle on top use scotch tape to hold it in place till you get it in place till you get it togeather
Hi There Dustin, Very nicely presented and technically perfect. You even schooled this old man once! (Ok, maybe twice.) I really like the fast forward timing and Music. Any credit to anyone there? I have one question. Did you say "Sod Her"? I can't sod her. I don't even know her. @Mike Running: The two biggest mistakes that I make when doing things like this is break one of those overly delicate wires like the battery lines or melt adjacent components when using the soldering iron. For some reason, this is more common after a couple of home brewed IPAs. Once again, Very well done Dustin. Rich G. (First TH-cam post, Ever!)
Hey Rich, you make it sound like I've got a Country Western accent...lol. Tomato/Tomaato ...you know the saying. Anyway welcome to TH-cam.. just sharing what worked for me. wish I could join you with a beer. Sure could use one right about now :)
Just to clarify have you extended the wave length of the original antenna. My understanding is that only the short portion at the end of the antenna has any effect, no matter how long the wire is to the active portion.
correct, they installed shortest possible on this model. it was not even a 1/4 wave length so increasing it and bringing it out of the controller drastically increases range. A full wavelength of 2.4GHZ is 12.5 cm. A 1/2 wavelength is 6.25 cm A 1/4 wavelenght is 3.12 cm This should be the portion above the decoupler
Great Video... got a couple of questions. I bought a 2.4ghz antenna from Banggood (or one of those Chinese RC sites) and a small coax connecting wire that screws into the bottom of the antenna. There isn't any coupler on that piece of wire, so I'm assuming the coupler is inside the plastic antenna casing along with the correct length of wire for 2.4ghz, correct? Since the wire from the PCB to the coupler has no length restrictions or requirements, couldn't I simply cut the existing wire that is already soldered properly to the PCB (before the coupler) and the splice and solder that wire to the wire before the coupler/antenna and save myself some tricky detailed soldering to the PCB that could cause problems with the PCB or components if not done VERY CAREFULLY (getting a solder point too hot, burning the board, or not getting the coax parts soldered correctly without any shorts or bad connections - inner wire to antenna point on PCB and the outer layer of the coax wire to ground). The insides of my controller is slightly different, because it's a Holy Stone M68 (X5C Clone) and both parts of the coax are soldered to their respective proper points (wire to antenna connection and outer wiring to ground). I actually hosed one controller when attempting this mod. I was WAY out of practice with my soldering skills (it had been years since I'd done any soldering) and I ended up dropping a small piece of solder onto the PCB where it needed to be removed and I inadvertently unsoldered a VERY TINY component (some kind of capacitor), which I did manage to get soldered back into place, but I think all the heating of the board and/or components ended up frying something. Now $12 later I have a new controller and I've still got the 2.4ghz antenna and coax connector AND I was thinking this could be a LOT easier and a lot less problematic if I just cut, spliced, and soldered the two wires together as mentioned above. If I heat shrink some rubber shielding around the bare wires where they're connected, then I should be okay, right?
The existing antenna has no shielding so it will screw up wave length of you splice the shielded portion onto stock. You have to unsolderd old one first. The shielding is not the rubber but a braided wrap around the insulation where the center conductor wire is. You may want to carefully take the antenna you bought to see what's inside if it can easily come apart. Sorry about your first attempt. Practice and magnifying glass (depending on your eyes) makes perfect.
Nice tutorial will be trying this out very shortly.. just a quick question,, i have spare rechargeable batteries laying around that i was planning to use in the controller, but im now looking to buy a SKY RC Imax B6 charger for the 750mah batts i bought, so the question is, do you know if theres some sort of case or similar i can pop 4 x AA batteries into that i can then use to charge on the new charger ? as this charger has quite a few different connectors, but the AA i plan to charge on it,, need some sort of case that can then connect to the charger if you follow my meaning.. Just thought you may know what im talking about.. cheers in advance !
Hi, I ruined the antenna from my old router, I tried to strip the end, and cut it off. in the end I just soldered the whole end of the antenna to the original point of solder for the antenna. It appears to work ok still, what Is the difference in what I have done ? thank you.
The length of the wire below the decoupler doesn't matter so you can cut and try again if you want. What you have done is just made the entire antenna the unshielded transmitter portion which will not be the proper 2.4ghz wave length. So you range will suffer and may not be any better than stock. Maybe do a range test to check.
Dustin Dunnill Wow never expected a reply that quickly if at all, Top Man!!! My antenna has no decoupler portion in the middle, just a single piece from the plastic antenna stalk?? If I strip the wire I cant seem to single the inner wire with transparent cover from the outer, shield/earth ? Thanks again for the reply
No prob Bill. the decoupler acts as a shield between the shielded ground and the center conductor. if yours does not have one it will still work just not as well. You just need to make sure the top end has the right amount of shielding stripped away and is the proper length. As far as the end you solder...all i can say is good luck and practice makes perfect. Try a magnifying glass to help with stripping.
I'm still looking into doing this. Just seems like the factory default coaxial cable and antenna look the same as the one in the router ( but without the pretty little case to hold it), to me.
Tried this modification yesterday, and wasn't able to see any dramatic change in range. I used an antenna from an old 3com Officeconnect router. I tested the Syma on a football-field yesterday with the original antenna, when Syma was on the ground. I had range enough to could start Syma from a little less distance than from the middle of the football-field (40 meters?). Tried again to day with the antenna from the 3com router, and the range was about the same. Don't know much about the router-antenna (dbi, etc.), but from what I found, it's a 2.4 Ghz antenna. From what I've read and seen here, it is important that the the decoupler is in the right place (the end of the decoupler should be 3,12 cm from the tip of the unstripped wire, when it's a 1/4 wavelenght)??? I might have slided the decoupler on the wire, so it's then not where it should be (maybe not exactly 3,12 cm from the wiretip anymore). In addition, the wire is "locked" in the antenna-housing, so I can't bring it out to measure it. What would you suggest for trying make my range better? PS! Have you by the way tried the "easier" method described by Bill Somrak 2 months ago?
Hey, yah if you don't have the right wave length it will hinder your range dramatically. The range is very sensitive in that manner. Haven't tried another method yet.
Dustin Dunnill Thanks for your answer. I might try another antenna from another old router with thread adapter, so that I would be more certain that the wave length is correct. I'm also tempted to try the method described by Bill Somrak, and I will "in effect, have a center fed 1/2 wavelength dipole antenna, which offers about 3db gain over an 1/4 wavelength vertical (or horizontal) antenna".
Dustin thank you for your great video. I have a question for you. I have a Syma X5C upgraded version about two weeks. After seeing your video I got a router off eBay opened my controller and saw the antenna connection but there was no connection for the ground can I hook up the new antenna with out using the ground or do you have any other suggestions.
He homie I just went to do this to my syma x5sw and there is no grounding pad I can see its just one spot that says 2.4 ghz on it where the other one is. there isn't another spot on it like the x5c. what do I do with the ground part of the wire. please help I'll make a video so you can see after I'm done with it
Yo Dylan, I'd leave shielding on as close as possible without touching and just solder center. Glob some hot glue after so shielding doesn't short on center or anything else.
when you go to solder it on, do you need to solder the inner and outer part of the router wire? or just one giant solder? I've never done anything like this before lol
I cut my old original antenna to about an eighth of an inch. .then soldered a router antenna to that... No ground soldered at all and it works fine. Any opinions on that?
Hi mate, cheers for the video, very clear instructions, but im wondering what the purpose of the antenna housing from the router is? As it seems the exposed antenna wire above the 'decoupler' (I think you called it) is only a few centimetres long, which is of course determined by the wavelength, but the antenna wire then barely went into the router's antenna housing. Does that part affect the range of the signal compared to the plastic standard antenna cover? Which looks on mine like its probably long enough to accept the important bit of the antenna wire? Thanks
You could possibly squeeze it into the stock nub casing. The idea with the flexible housing is you can then adjust orientation of the antenna for better range. ideally you want the antenna in transmitter to always be parallel with quad antenna. This way allow you to turn it 90° to mimic quads.
Dustin Dunnill Cheers for the reply, but im still not sure, I guess what im getting at is that it didnt look like the actual antenna wire was directly connected to the antenna housing but just shoved in a little, therefore does it actually affect the signal? As it looked like the antenna wire only went into the cover a centimetre or 2, but not into the upper part of the housing that bends through 90 degrees, maybe im missing something obvious but I dont really have any experience with radio signals (incl antennas etc) So in short, does the aerial cover from the router directly connect to the antenna wire? And if not (which is my assumption from what I see), will bending the cover through 90 degrees affect the signal given that the antenna does not actually go up past the hinge? Thanks again
Different router antennas may have different lengths that go up into the casing. The one I install in this video goes about half way up into the plastic tip. The portion that transmits the signal is the very end tip of wire. The further it is away from the controller the less interference and better signal you have. If you match the orientation of the way the receiving antenna is in the quad you will get best signal also. Hence the reason you want to be able to hinge the end in all directions. Don't know any other way to explain this to you ...sorry. Hope you figure it out.
Dustin Dunnill One more thing here :P ( see, i try to "correct" you all the time ) - the orientation of the antenna doesn't have much to do with the orientation of the rx. the simple idea is that the full signal is emitted on the sides of the antenna, and not as commonly believed through the tip
vermushca You sure do but that's ok. I think I clearly stated the latter Parr of your statement in the video and you seem to be just repeating it here sounding like you are correcting me for some reason...not sure why. I will have to disagree with you however on your statement saying "RX antenna orientation does not matter" it does! The more precisely the RX antenna mimics the TX antenna the most optimal signal range will be. This is common fact in RF..no speculation here.
a few questions if you could.(furibee f36 transmitter) would you be able to scratch off a piece of the green board to reveal the copper sheet and ground to that? depending on where you would find ground on the pcb. and, would you be able to add a length of wire to the ground of the coax ribbin and attach that to a known ground on the pcb? or would that alter the wavelength of the 2.4ghz?
Hi, great video, Quick question, have u tried or heard of someone modifying quad by adding in new antenna to the existing? do you think it would work if i have soldered the wires according to the old wires actually attached/extended the stock antenna wire with the additional wifi antenna and attached/ extended the stock ground wire as well with the antenna's ground wire. Thanks
A full wavelength of 2.4GHZ is 12.5 cm. A 1/2 wavelength is 6.25 cm A 1/4 wavelenght is 3.12 cm This should be the portion of antenna without shielding above the decoupler
I know you said the bottom length doesn't matter but should i trim it?? If its shorter would it be better? I used the same D-Link router you did, unsoldered it from the router but didn't trim it out.
Dustin Dunnill I completed it but wasn't sure if it really made a difference, I should have bench tested before. I will have to test more. Just wasn't sure if trimming that piece would help extend it more since there is less wire. BUT Great write up!!!
Hey there. Great video, super helpful. However, in following your instructions, now my Syma controller doesn't sync with the quad copter. Thought it may be the new antenna, so reinstalled the old one and still the same issue. I did not use magnetic drivers in disassembling the controller, but am concerned that the chip somehow got affected. Not sure how though. Any thoughts as to what may have happened? Thanks!
Hey Mike, sorry to hear that. are you sure you soldered precisely both times? are you sure you used an antenna from a 2.4ghz router? Are you sure you did not have batteries in or power on when doing the mod? I am finding also that if you try and power on sensitive wireless transmitters like this without antennas in place you may burn out the transmit capabilities.
Dustin Dunnill Thanks very much Dustin. Though I haven't done much soldering, it sure appeared that things were solid. Though, if there wasn't a good connection with the antenna when I powered it on, and your finding of burning out the transmitter when there's no antenna attached, then that may explain things. Bummer if that is true. I'm going to try again and see if anything changes. Thanks again! Super helpful.
Dustin Dunnill Thanks again for the help. Just redid the whole thing, and reinstalled the original antenna. Still not pairing with the copter though. You think somehow the transmit abilities got fried? Not sure what may have done that, but everything else seems to be working well other than the transmitter not communicating with the copter. Any other thoughts? Thanks Dustin...
Mike Running Hey Mike, sorry your having a tuff time. It works for me and others by following the instruction. If you are sure you used a 2.4ghz antenna and everything was done correctly, maybe you did fry something. Happens to the best of us and that's the risk involved with this sort of mod. New controllers are cheap at least.
Hi Dustin, My Remote doesn't have a little plate as yours, the antenna is soldered on the big board. ` I've got a 16db 2.4GHZ 15cm long antena. How do I ground it??? If I scratch the board and solder on it would work?
hello, great video! I disassembled an old dlink router, and found the antenna mod is different from your video, it's soldered on the PCB directly, w/o any cable, so I find another coaxial cable, cut it with length 125mm (full length of 2.4Ghz), and solder it with the antenna . But I doubt if the cable length (125mm) is correct.
Dustin Dunnill Noted with thanks! The coaxial cable is 125mm, and the antenna is also 125mm, as I measured. So the total length will be double wavelength. I hope it won't cause any tx power loss.
Dustin Dunnill one note here - the coax cable can be ANY length - it doesn't matter, as long as the unshielded part is 1/4 ; 1/2 or 1:1 12.5cm. The antenna is the unshielded part, as long as there is shielding on it, connected to the ground it will not act as an antenna. My point is that if you take only the antenna from a router ( without the cable, if there is no cable or whatever other reason ) and you just want to install the antenna + a coax cable and connector for it the coax length doesn't matter, use what fits best P.S.: my x5C-1 is in the mail, and as soon as it gets here i'm going to make the mod even before starting it up - saw alot of people losing them due to short range; the above though is from some electronics experience :)
Can you tell me what the range was and what is it now .i would like to know what 2 + is?will it also help to make the antenna on the quad 2 + times the length also? I have one on the way this will be a big help to me thanks
I know nothing about radio so this is asked out of pure ignorance, but would it be of any advantage to mount both antennae from the router onto the transmitter into a "T" configuration?
Hi:)) nice video ang very informative! thanks a lot. I have a question because I'm having problem with my hizhan i8h. very short range. is it okay if I use the same antina you use here or its different one. can you recomend something?:))) thanks a lot:)) cheers...
the reason why the ground has nothing on it is because that is the ground and the actual atenna was the little wire.. the same as the end of your wifi atenna dont get me wrong it is a improvement, the original atenna is just crappy
You can always learn with practice Richie. As I get older I notice I'm a bit more shaky in the detailed work so it helps to brace everything ... hands included..lol
ok,I havent sodered again,but I measured 6.50 cm of the original transmitter Antenna,combined with another rc transmitter Antenna,so it makes half wave lenght right?.I soldered it (because I go the original Antenna out too),directly to the little Board with the transistor with the hot glue on.It does work,but didnt got the chance to try if it increased the range,do you think it did?
Hi again! Tonight I measured the length of the original antenna wire in the remote which I desoldered when trying you range mod. I found that this antenna wire had a total length of 2,95 cm, including ca. 3 mm stripped wire for soldering to the PCB. That leaves ca. 2,65 cm of antenna wire, which is far from the correct length of 3,12 cm. I guess this could cause a range problem because the frequency becomes wrong? Has anyone else measured the original antenna wire? Edit: When trying to calculate the frequency in in a wavelenght/frequency calculator i got the following results: 2,65 cm antenna length - 2,65x4=10,6 cm - gives a frequency of 2,83 GHz 2,95 cm antenna length - 2,95x4=11,8 cm - gives a frequency of 2,54 GHz I don't know the frequency tolerance for 2,4 GHz, but I hope someone could comment on that.
Tune it as close to the correct measurements as you possibly can and you will have the best results. Also get it as far out of controller and hands as possible.
hi, the tx board on my quad only has the main antenna, no place for the ground to solder. can I still use your method? my quad is a jumpbo q6 fpv wifi, same size and looks of the syma h8w. I'm only getting 60-70 meters range.
Hey man I tried this and it decreased my range to about 10 ft. I am an amateur at soldering and I did barely scorch the top of the board. Any suggestions? I need help!
Also it did only have 1 solder point. I think it is a more updated version. So I soldered both the outer cover and the core to the one point. I tried just the core and it went 10 feet.
+Chris Althausen - There *are* two solder points. You probably had a controller with that part flipped upside down. Look at the underside of the mini board where the antenna is... I just noticed it myself!
If your in a pinch you could just solder an extra length onto tip of stock antenna to increase wavelength. Just be very careful with total wire length from where its soldered to the board: A full wavelength of 2.4GHZ is 12.5 cm. A 1/2 wavelength is 6.25 cm A 1/4 wavelenght is 3.12 cm The longer the wavelength the better range you should get.
Dustin Dunnill wow..your good.. Type of wire / size to use? And one other thing..is it possible to get brushless motors to replace the stock ones on the x5c...? TY
Any wire of the same guage will do. No brushless motors made this small yet. Tonxhangebto brushless you would have to gut the electronics and replace. Better off just buying a brushless mini if you want to go that route.
I don't get it... you said that only the tip of the antenna matters and it seems to be the same length as the original one, just without all that long cable that allows it to stick out of the controller. So what is the deal here?
To be perfectly honest with such a low powered transmitter what kind of Advantage is it going to have. any extra amount of coax going from the board to the Antenna is going to result in small losses, plus the Antenna length is the same size in the router as it is in the original Antenna..
I just had a few questions, I was wondering if someone could answer. 1. What is the dBi of the stock antenna in the transmitter? 2. Doesn't the new antenna need to be omni-directional, especially if it has a high dBi? I was just wondering because it wasn't mentioned in the video. 3. What kind of range increase would I see with a 6dBi, 9dBi, 12dBi, and 16dBi antenna? Does anyone have any numbers?
Thanks for this video, I will try this mod today and hopefully it will extend the range of my quad, as the one it has right now is extremely disappointing. Question: The "stub-antenna" that was originally soldered on the controller was extremely small... have you checked the receiving antenna inside the quad?. Maybe they did the same thing and we could get even more range by replacing that one as well. Thanks again for your help ;)
Your welcome. you will notice a huge difference after the controller mod. Just be careful with soldering and it will work great. I have not yet checked the antenna inside the quad but it would increase range definitely if there is a small stub antenna similar to what the controller has. After I did the controller range mod there was enough range and I did not see a need to extend it further. But if you decided to do antenna mod to X5C itself it should increase range even more :)
Dustin Dunnill Wow!, thanks for the super fast reply and for actually taking the time to reply, I appreciate it. Hopefully this mod will help me correct the only thing that annoys me from this quad (the lack of range is disappointing but not annoying). What it does bother me though, is that when the quad is a little bit away from me, there is about a 1/2 to 1 second lag between the orders that I give from the remote to when it receives it. I will post an update with the results :) Thank you once again!.
sttroner No problem. The mod may help with the delay your getting. That is a know problem when signal is weak so the range mod should help to solve it.
hey Dustin, what might cause a quad to wobble during flight and lose altitude also? Mini drone is not flying 100%. Hovers fine tho. thought u might know
I just dont get the whole length of the actual antenne thing. how long is your new antenne now compared to the old one that had no shield? Because you said that only the end above the koppler matters and the length of the cable under the koppler doenst matter. but you didnt show the new length. cheers. :D
the length above the coupler on installed router antenna was about twice as long as the little crappy stub that was directly soldered with no coupler stock. the wire before the the coupler is purely for extension to get the tip ( coupler and top antenna) out away from circuit board and your hands which length does not matter. The tip (above coupler) is the wavelength specific to 2.4ghz so it has to be a certain length.
Allright. Thanks! Clear now. There are more videos on how to extend range on this device. But they all just solder a piece of antenne same length as the old one to the old one. This works for them and is easier. Why not do that?
I tried extending to double length of stock wire first like you describe and it didn't seem to work for me at all. So I figured an actual 2.4ghz router antenna would have to work and it did better than expected.
I bought an old 2.4ghz router from ebay for $10. Installed the antenna on my Syma x5c-1 remote last night. Works great! thanks for the video.
Great to hear! Glad it helped you out :)
You did a great job explaining that this is an extension of COAXIAL cable. After watching several other videos of similar mods, I found myself asking the computer screen, "hey, what about the shield?" as most of those people found the shield not connected from the factory. In fact, lots of people complained that the remote would simply beep when turned on.
The factory cheaped out when they used coaxial cable as a single conductor by simply not connecting the outer shield (or the center conductor...not sure). I like that you mentioned, several times, that the matched part of this mod is the center conductor that sticks out 3.5 cm!
My quad is coming in the mail tomorrow...can't wait to give this a go! I probably should fly it as is first so I can see the difference--hopefully without losing the quad.
Hey thanks. Good to know how stuff works when doing mods like these. Seems like most of these quads don't have a shield at all to ground. Just have a single wire close to the proper wavelength soldered directly to radio on board. Which sometimes works but it doesn't allow the wire to get away from the board and is usually I'm a weird orientation and gets covered up by the hands.
You should definitely fly it before you mod mainly so you can make sure it all works and also get a baseline for range it has. Just don't let it fly away out of range and lose it before the mod done :)
I'm for using a magnet with my workspace from now on. Sooo simple yet genius. Thanks for taking the time to make a very helpful video.
Thanks. Glad it was helpful.
Thanks Dustin! I just finished the mod! Had more trouble getting my old router open than soldering the antenna. I decided to do this after loosing control and the wind blew it into a pine tree, luckily it came down, hitting limbs all the way but no damage just lost the battery. So while waiting batts to come in I decided to try it. I was worried about which part of the antenna went where on the board but it's pretty easy to see when you desolder it. I do recommend that anyone trying just go a step further than you did after unscrewing the board and also unplugging it from the other half by the white plug on the bottom of the board. Also investing in the helping had holders with the Magnifying attachment (Harbor Freight) was a big help as well when it came to soldering in the new one. Now on to the quad.
BTW Gearbest blows! Still waiting! US warehouse my ass! Got my other shipment from Tinydeal already and it came from China!
+wild300zx i know it off topic but i hear you on gearbest i bought something from them almost month ago and still waiting but i did find another place just thought i share have not ordered from them yet but look good www.banggood.com/
Randy Whatley please
Did you change the antenna on the drone too ? Did you follow a guide ?
nice of you to take time to help new rc people most don't care thank you
Also modified my transmitter antenna as described here, result was that my Syma X5C-1 gained more altitude range than i could handle. It flew out of sight.
Super informative. You're awesome. I was chuckling for a sec... thinking that you'd gone that far and forgot the power switch... but nah, you knew what you were doing :) Thank you so very much!
Thanks. Hope it helped you out.
Thanks for the video!! It was by far the one I was most comfortable with. That was my 1st soldering experience. I almost assumed my wire didn't have ground because mine looked different and tiny as far as width. You should make a video of you splicing that with the ground and all. Just tested and noticed a huge difference in range. Thanks!
Glad you got it done successfully. I may make a video detailing the splice to make it a bit easier for everyone. Thanks for the suggestion.
You have answered so many of my questions in this video and in comments below, thanks so much for sharing..... I have a JJRC H11D Quad and the range is very poor at just 25 to 35 mtr and the FPV at least 100 mtr so frustrating that the quad loses control before the video crashes. The TX has the same short arial inside the case and others have said a possible fix is to install an external antenna as you have. So I will be giving that a try in the next few days.... Me being no expert in electronics I even doubted I could use my old 2.4 router arial but you answered that in the video, also you have explained about the length of the aerial in a way that I fully understand.......... Thanks again, I will report back on how I get on,
Regards,
Steve
the most detailed video for this MOD. thx!
Thanks Dustin, I did what you taught in the video. What I hate so much with Syma x5c is that why can't the Syma company do a better job in extending the range so we don't have to tinker with the controller.
I second that.
I installed an old ant. from a radio that died, much better range than before, thanks!
You bet. Glad it helped you out. :)
Did this mod and have tested good up to 406 feet so far. (124meters)Will take to a larger field some day and test. Only had about 80ft range originally
;)
Just did this mod. Those solder spots are a lot smaller than they look on the video. But got it done. Thanks for posting.
Right on.
Thanks for your quick reply. This helps a lot. I'm new in the hobby.
just in case anyone didn't know,to get better performance/higher tilt angle click the top left corner button on the transmitter to change performance, three separate performances.this helps to be able to fly in some strong wind!
I can verify this works wonders I've done it. Doubled my range easy.
Jenna Quinn That would work if you either took the bottom apart and soldered it in how I showed in video or use that and solder on a male adapter for that antenna to screw into.
I HAD to do this mod since I have a lot of interference where I fly usually, but it does work. I ended up cannibalizing an old NETGEAR router for it's antennas ;) I did the same for the antenna on the mainboard.
Danke, Gracias, Thank you. Your video provided EXACTLY what I wanted to know ( and even some things I didn't know I didn't know ). Great job, if your goal was to provide really useful information to folks you were successful.
Thanks Henry. I'm glad it helped you out. "Mission complete". :)
Awesome! Thanks again for all the help Dustin. Really appreciate it. Can't wait to get my controller in do the mod and finally start flying!
Glad to hear it. Fpv kit just came in so I'm gonna start having some fun with it a posting up some vids soon.
Wow, awesome!
Just completed this mod. Everything turned out great. Thanks Dustin!!
Right on! Glad to hear it! let us know what your range is like.
Will do! :)
just done the antenna mod, works great thanks!
Glad it helped MICKEY!
First a couple of points that may or may not of been said but are extremely important.. I have an X5C-1 controller ..the antenna on it is already a 1/4 wave antenna and if replaced by a similar one (even if its a swivel and longer extension) would result in a good working unit but exactly the same range... whats needed is a 3dbi GAIN antenna (or higher) for the 2.4Ghz Wifi band.. many are sold as range extender antennas for your WiFi router ... also these antennas are actually 'co-linear' in design and have longer radiators 5/8 wave length or longer.. they are designed to match a 50 ohm load ..as does the standard 1/4 wave antenna like the one that comes with the controller... my experience ( I was a radio technician) is that you will add range but probably more like 50 to 100 ft..which IS WORTH the effort on these very cool quad copters... the same thing could be done 'inside' the copter (but no videos have I seen for this mod) if you did the transmitter and the copter with high gain antennas the really range would double or better...
Do you know where I can find a guide on how to pick antennas for this?
Norie M Yes that would be possible. Look for a battery case on eBay or something, solder on the applicable plug to the batter leads from said case and just make sure you charge with proper battery chemistry mode and amperage according to the MAH.
It was a great idea, my copter can fly much further than before range extension.
F'n'X Thanks, glad it helped you out.
Just a couple of nits to pick. You mention that the length of the antenna is a "wavelength" at 2.4ghz. Actually, it is 1/4 wavelength (3.12cm or 31.2mm). A full wavelength would be 4 times that length, but would present the wrong impedance to the antenna circuit. A quarter-wavelength antenna exhibits an impedance of approx. 30 to 50 ohms. It is possible to use 1/2 wavelength, 3/4 wavelength or even a full wavelength, but then the impedance matching circuitry would have to be modified. Another (simpler) option for increasing the range would be to just add a 1/4 wavelength piece of wire to the ground terminal. Tape the two quarter-wavelength piece of wire to the PCB at 180° to each other (along the top edge say), and you will, in effect, have a center fed 1/2 wavelength dipole antenna, which offers about 3db gain over an 1/4 wavelength vertical (or horizontal) antenna. I've been a 'ham radio' operator for 40+ years, and work as a senior electronic technician, so I'm pretty familiar with RF circuitry. Cheers!
wow bill. Thanks for the tips! I may have to try tour recommendation mod on another range extension soon
Can you make a diagram of what this would look like? I would like to modify my RC controller for increased range.
I was a CB nut in my day and I am wondering just how much extra range this mod will give you, as the antenna is still the same length, 31 mm app, no matter how much longer the thing looks like, connecting the ground plain will help stop interference and boos the range a little by pulling down the antennas radiated transmissions holding more of it nearer the ground after all their is no point in transmitting a signal into space if the drone cant get up their you wont it to go outwards not up and that is what the ground plane dose mostly plus it balances the antenna to 50 ohms
Nice job did it and works fine thanks for mentioning the shield as that was tricky thanks
Very detailed and well put together thanks dustin.
Thank you for the info I will be working on my controller can't wait.
Thank you for all your help.
You bet
nice. Very well done at explaining how to. Thanks for sharing us your time.
+Randy Combs thanks Randy and your welcome.
Nice video very detailed explaining all the things that don't need explaining. Please just tell me what the transmitter antenna was before you replaced it with the router antenna. It didn't have an antenna or what???
+Richard Wells Hmm... did you watch the video? Or should I explain it all again...lol
Nice 3m trailer building sticky tape. I got a big roll from the factory garbage dumpster. one foot diameter, yea... thanks for the vid.
I had a dual antenna 2.4ghz router so I also changed out the antenna on the quad-copter.
Mist have great range with the combo :)
Nice Work Mr Dunnill
Thanks. Hope it helped you out.
I'm doing this in the morning. BTW sweet candy cane pen! lol
+Christopher Keech Good luck and thanks..lol
+Don Maierhoffer Yes as long as it is a 2.4ghz antenna you should be fine no matter what wavelength. But larger the better for range.
thanks Dustin,
great help.
Don Maierhoffer etv
+Josh Ya The mod will give you double to triple stock range depending on your surroundings.
+Dustin Dunnill I tried this after watching your video and can confirm. The range easily doubled. I will be doing some trials when the weather clears up.
Before the mod, I got about 120' horizontally from my location. I'd say about 100' vertically. After I did this mod, I did a test and got at least 200'. The X5C is so light that the wind was a real problem so I brought it back down until I can conduct a safer test.
Clearly, this is the easiest modification to perform for this aircraft. Thanks for the great video!
Great video Dustin!! Is there a difference between a 2.4gig and a 2.4gig Broadband antena?? will the latter work??
What kind of range increase did you get Dustin? Looks like a fairly easy mod. Thanks
Hello, you said that the antenna is a 2.4ghz. Can you tell me what the dBi is?
No old router antenna, no problem. Amazon carries 2.4 antennas, just search 2.4 antenna on Amazon and there are several choices. Go for about $7 to $8. bucks for two and comes with two connecting wires to hook up to the controller.
i did a mod on mine i just soldered a wire on and ran it through the handle on top use scotch tape to hold it in place till you get it in place till you get it togeather
Hi There Dustin,
Very nicely presented and technically perfect. You even schooled this old man once! (Ok, maybe twice.) I really like the fast forward timing and Music. Any credit to anyone there?
I have one question. Did you say "Sod Her"?
I can't sod her. I don't even know her.
@Mike Running:
The two biggest mistakes that I make when doing things like this is break one of those overly delicate wires like the battery lines or melt adjacent components when using the soldering iron.
For some reason, this is more common after a couple of home brewed IPAs.
Once again,
Very well done Dustin.
Rich G. (First TH-cam post, Ever!)
Hey Rich, you make it sound like I've got a Country Western accent...lol. Tomato/Tomaato ...you know the saying.
Anyway welcome to TH-cam.. just sharing what worked for me. wish I could join you with a beer. Sure could use one right about now :)
So basically i have to solder the conducting wire at the top spot and its insulation ( after rolling) at the bottom one?
Great video, I just subscribed!
Thank you! Hope the video helped you out.
Ok,, just tried it on my syma x5c-1 thanks for the tip,, i might be getting the phantom 3 Standard in the beginning of May??
+james henrikson Cool :)
Just to clarify have you extended the wave length of the original antenna. My understanding is that only the short portion at the end of the antenna has any effect, no matter how long the wire is to the active portion.
correct, they installed shortest possible on this model. it was not even a 1/4 wave length so increasing it and bringing it out of the controller drastically increases range.
A full wavelength of 2.4GHZ is 12.5 cm.
A 1/2 wavelength is 6.25 cm
A 1/4 wavelenght is 3.12 cm
This should be the portion above the decoupler
Great Video... got a couple of questions. I bought a 2.4ghz antenna from Banggood (or one of those Chinese RC sites) and a small coax connecting wire that screws into the bottom of the antenna. There isn't any coupler on that piece of wire, so I'm assuming the coupler is inside the plastic antenna casing along with the correct length of wire for 2.4ghz, correct? Since the wire from the PCB to the coupler has no length restrictions or requirements, couldn't I simply cut the existing wire that is already soldered properly to the PCB (before the coupler) and the splice and solder that wire to the wire before the coupler/antenna and save myself some tricky detailed soldering to the PCB that could cause problems with the PCB or components if not done VERY CAREFULLY (getting a solder point too hot, burning the board, or not getting the coax parts soldered correctly without any shorts or bad connections - inner wire to antenna point on PCB and the outer layer of the coax wire to ground). The insides of my controller is slightly different, because it's a Holy Stone M68 (X5C Clone) and both parts of the coax are soldered to their respective proper points (wire to antenna connection and outer wiring to ground).
I actually hosed one controller when attempting this mod. I was WAY out of practice with my soldering skills (it had been years since I'd done any soldering) and I ended up dropping a small piece of solder onto the PCB where it needed to be removed and I inadvertently unsoldered a VERY TINY component (some kind of capacitor), which I did manage to get soldered back into place, but I think all the heating of the board and/or components ended up frying something. Now $12 later I have a new controller and I've still got the 2.4ghz antenna and coax connector AND I was thinking this could be a LOT easier and a lot less problematic if I just cut, spliced, and soldered the two wires together as mentioned above. If I heat shrink some rubber shielding around the bare wires where they're connected, then I should be okay, right?
The existing antenna has no shielding so it will screw up wave length of you splice the shielded portion onto stock. You have to unsolderd old one first. The shielding is not the rubber but a braided wrap around the insulation where the center conductor wire is.
You may want to carefully take the antenna you bought to see what's inside if it can easily come apart.
Sorry about your first attempt. Practice and magnifying glass (depending on your eyes) makes perfect.
Nice tutorial will be trying this out very shortly.. just a quick question,, i have spare rechargeable batteries laying around that i was planning to use in the controller, but im now looking to buy a SKY RC Imax B6 charger for the 750mah batts i bought, so the question is, do you know if theres some sort of case or similar i can pop 4 x AA batteries into that i can then use to charge on the new charger ? as this charger has quite a few different connectors, but the AA i plan to charge on it,, need some sort of case that can then connect to the charger if you follow my meaning..
Just thought you may know what im talking about.. cheers in advance !
Hi, I ruined the antenna from my old router, I tried to strip the end, and cut it off. in the end I just soldered the whole end of the antenna to the original point of solder for the antenna.
It appears to work ok still, what Is the difference in what I have done ? thank you.
The length of the wire below the decoupler doesn't matter so you can cut and try again if you want. What you have done is just made the entire antenna the unshielded transmitter portion which will not be the proper 2.4ghz wave length. So you range will suffer and may not be any better than stock. Maybe do a range test to check.
Dustin Dunnill Wow never expected a reply that quickly if at all, Top Man!!!
My antenna has no decoupler portion in the middle, just a single piece from the plastic antenna stalk??
If I strip the wire I cant seem to single the inner wire with transparent cover from the outer, shield/earth ? Thanks again for the reply
No prob Bill. the decoupler acts as a shield between the shielded ground and the center conductor. if yours does not have one it will still work just not as well. You just need to make sure the top end has the right amount of shielding stripped away and is the proper length. As far as the end you solder...all i can say is good luck and practice makes perfect. Try a magnifying glass to help with stripping.
Dustin Dunnill Thanks again mate, been a great help. good tip with the magnifying glass, ill give it ago. Cheers Dustin!!
Hey Dustin Dunnill i'm new to your channel and i want to know that would this work with syma x5hw fpv quadcopter.. Hope you reply!
I'm still looking into doing this. Just seems like the factory default coaxial cable and antenna look the same as the one in the router ( but without the pretty little case to hold it), to me.
Tried this modification yesterday, and wasn't able to see any dramatic change in range.
I used an antenna from an old 3com Officeconnect router. I tested the Syma on a football-field yesterday with the original antenna, when Syma was on the ground. I had range enough to could start Syma from a little less distance than from the middle of the football-field (40 meters?).
Tried again to day with the antenna from the 3com router, and the range was about the same. Don't know much about the router-antenna (dbi, etc.), but from what I found, it's a 2.4 Ghz antenna.
From what I've read and seen here, it is important that the the decoupler is in the right place (the end of the decoupler should be 3,12 cm from the tip of the unstripped wire, when it's a 1/4 wavelenght)???
I might have slided the decoupler on the wire, so it's then not where it should be (maybe not exactly 3,12 cm from the wiretip anymore). In addition, the wire is "locked" in the antenna-housing, so I can't bring it out to measure it.
What would you suggest for trying make my range better?
PS! Have you by the way tried the "easier" method described by Bill Somrak 2 months ago?
Hey, yah if you don't have the right wave length it will hinder your range dramatically. The range is very sensitive in that manner. Haven't tried another method yet.
Dustin Dunnill Thanks for your answer. I might try another antenna from another old router with thread adapter, so that I would be more certain that the wave length is correct. I'm also tempted to try the method described by Bill Somrak, and I will "in effect, have a center fed 1/2 wavelength dipole antenna, which offers about 3db gain over an 1/4 wavelength vertical (or horizontal) antenna".
Dustin What was the range before and after?
Dustin thank you for your great video. I have a question for you. I have a Syma X5C upgraded version about two weeks. After seeing your video I got a router off eBay opened my controller and saw the antenna connection but there was no connection for the ground can I hook up the new antenna with out using the ground or do you have any other suggestions.
Yes, just make sure the shielding is not touching anything and is down as close as possible to where you solder without touching anything.
what is the best multi charger(4 or more at once) for the Syma batteries??
He homie I just went to do this to my syma x5sw and there is no grounding pad I can see its just one spot that says 2.4 ghz on it where the other one is. there isn't another spot on it like the x5c. what do I do with the ground part of the wire. please help I'll make a video so you can see after I'm done with it
Yo Dylan, I'd leave shielding on as close as possible without touching and just solder center. Glob some hot glue after so shielding doesn't short on center or anything else.
That's man appreciate your input
+Dylan Kowalski did it work?
How hard is it to strip back the ground/insulation(protecting the core) without breaking it or whatever re strippers
+matthew dumicich I used my teeth and it was fine. Just be gentile.
when you go to solder it on, do you need to solder the inner and outer part of the router wire? or just one giant solder? I've never done anything like this before lol
Must be separate.
Dustin Dunnill shit, hope I have steady hands!
Ha-ha..good luck man practice on something junk first maybe.
I cut my old original antenna to about an eighth of an inch. .then soldered a router antenna to that... No ground soldered at all and it works fine. Any opinions on that?
It will work but until you test range you may not know how much it increased.
Hi mate, cheers for the video, very clear instructions, but im wondering what the purpose of the antenna housing from the router is? As it seems the exposed antenna wire above the 'decoupler' (I think you called it) is only a few centimetres long, which is of course determined by the wavelength, but the antenna wire then barely went into the router's antenna housing. Does that part affect the range of the signal compared to the plastic standard antenna cover? Which looks on mine like its probably long enough to accept the important bit of the antenna wire? Thanks
You could possibly squeeze it into the stock nub casing. The idea with the flexible housing is you can then adjust orientation of the antenna for better range. ideally you want the antenna in transmitter to always be parallel with quad antenna. This way allow you to turn it 90° to mimic quads.
Dustin Dunnill Cheers for the reply, but im still not sure, I guess what im getting at is that it didnt look like the actual antenna wire was directly connected to the antenna housing but just shoved in a little, therefore does it actually affect the signal? As it looked like the antenna wire only went into the cover a centimetre or 2, but not into the upper part of the housing that bends through 90 degrees, maybe im missing something obvious but I dont really have any experience with radio signals (incl antennas etc)
So in short, does the aerial cover from the router directly connect to the antenna wire? And if not (which is my assumption from what I see), will bending the cover through 90 degrees affect the signal given that the antenna does not actually go up past the hinge? Thanks again
Different router antennas may have different lengths that go up into the casing. The one I install in this video goes about half way up into the plastic tip. The portion that transmits the signal is the very end tip of wire. The further it is away from the controller the less interference and better signal you have. If you match the orientation of the way the receiving antenna is in the quad you will get best signal also. Hence the reason you want to be able to hinge the end in all directions. Don't know any other way to explain this to you ...sorry. Hope you figure it out.
Dustin Dunnill
One more thing here :P ( see, i try to "correct" you all the time ) - the orientation of the antenna doesn't have much to do with the orientation of the rx. the simple idea is that the full signal is emitted on the sides of the antenna, and not as commonly believed through the tip
vermushca You sure do but that's ok. I think I clearly stated the latter Parr of your statement in the video and you seem to be just repeating it here sounding like you are correcting me for some reason...not sure why. I will have to disagree with you however on your statement saying "RX antenna orientation does not matter" it does! The more precisely the RX antenna mimics the TX antenna the most optimal signal range will be. This is common fact in RF..no speculation here.
What kind of signal sends the remote control? I need to know that in order to build a big repeater of signal to increase the range more than 10 times
No idea sorry. I only know it's 2.4ghz
thank you so much for being clear in your video. how do I know if a router has 2.4ghz wire? or how do I know if any device has it in it?
+Nick check the specs on the router or look up the model online to see if its 2.4ghz
a few questions if you could.(furibee f36 transmitter) would you be able to scratch off a piece of the green board to reveal the copper sheet and ground to that? depending on where you would find ground on the pcb. and, would you be able to add a length of wire to the ground of the coax ribbin and attach that to a known ground on the pcb? or would that alter the wavelength of the 2.4ghz?
how far can the tx control after doing these steps
+Anh Duy about double range
I just used a plain old wire. It seems to work fine. Is it really that important to use 2.4 ghz wire?
Hi, great video,
Quick question, have u tried or heard of someone modifying quad by adding in new antenna to the existing? do you think it would work if i have soldered the wires according to the old wires actually attached/extended the stock antenna wire with the additional wifi antenna and attached/ extended the stock ground wire as well with the antenna's ground wire.
Thanks
I was actually hoping for a flight demonstration,to prove that it does work.
jus sayin
Hi Dustin
How do I know if it is a 2.4ghz antenna? Are all routers 2.4ghz? Thanks for video
A full wavelength of 2.4GHZ is 12.5 cm.
A 1/2 wavelength is 6.25 cm
A 1/4 wavelenght is 3.12 cm
This should be the portion of antenna without shielding above the decoupler
Is it best to remove the shield from the coax cable first, or leave it as it is
Would this mod also work on the Syma X8 series quads too? They also seem to be short on distance flying.
Yes 👍
I know you said the bottom length doesn't matter but should i trim it?? If its shorter would it be better? I used the same D-Link router you did, unsoldered it from the router but didn't trim it out.
honestly, just trim to whatever fits best. Hope it works out :)
Dustin Dunnill I completed it but wasn't sure if it really made a difference, I should have bench tested before. I will have to test more. Just wasn't sure if trimming that piece would help extend it more since there is less wire. BUT Great write up!!!
Everyone who's done it correctly can attest a dramatic range increase
Hey there. Great video, super helpful. However, in following your instructions, now my Syma controller doesn't sync with the quad copter. Thought it may be the new antenna, so reinstalled the old one and still the same issue. I did not use magnetic drivers in disassembling the controller, but am concerned that the chip somehow got affected. Not sure how though. Any thoughts as to what may have happened? Thanks!
Hey Mike, sorry to hear that. are you sure you soldered precisely both times? are you sure you used an antenna from a 2.4ghz router? Are you sure you did not have batteries in or power on when doing the mod? I am finding also that if you try and power on sensitive wireless transmitters like this without antennas in place you may burn out the transmit capabilities.
Dustin Dunnill Thanks very much Dustin. Though I haven't done much soldering, it sure appeared that things were solid. Though, if there wasn't a good connection with the antenna when I powered it on, and your finding of burning out the transmitter when there's no antenna attached, then that may explain things. Bummer if that is true. I'm going to try again and see if anything changes. Thanks again! Super helpful.
Dustin Dunnill Thanks again for the help. Just redid the whole thing, and reinstalled the original antenna. Still not pairing with the copter though. You think somehow the transmit abilities got fried? Not sure what may have done that, but everything else seems to be working well other than the transmitter not communicating with the copter. Any other thoughts? Thanks Dustin...
Mike Running Hey Mike, sorry your having a tuff time. It works for me and others by following the instruction. If you are sure you used a 2.4ghz antenna and everything was done correctly, maybe you did fry something. Happens to the best of us and that's the risk involved with this sort of mod. New controllers are cheap at least.
Mike Running e9tv
Hi Dustin,
My Remote doesn't have a little plate as yours, the antenna is soldered on the big board. ` I've got a 16db 2.4GHZ 15cm long antena. How do I ground it??? If I scratch the board and solder on it would work?
hello,
great video!
I disassembled an old dlink router, and found the antenna mod is different from your video, it's soldered on the PCB directly, w/o any cable, so I find another coaxial cable, cut it with length 125mm (full length of 2.4Ghz), and solder it with the antenna . But I doubt if the cable length (125mm) is correct.
A full wavelength of 2.4GHZ is 12.5 cm.
A 1/2 wavelength is 6.25 cm
A 1/4 wavelenght is 3.12 cm
This should be the portion above the decoupler
Dustin Dunnill Noted with thanks!
The coaxial cable is 125mm, and the antenna is also 125mm, as I measured. So the total length will be double wavelength.
I hope it won't cause any tx power loss.
should be fine if the end is correct length after de coupler.
Dustin Dunnill Many thanks!
Dustin Dunnill
one note here - the coax cable can be ANY length - it doesn't matter, as long as the unshielded part is 1/4 ; 1/2 or 1:1 12.5cm. The antenna is the unshielded part, as long as there is shielding on it, connected to the ground it will not act as an antenna. My point is that if you take only the antenna from a router ( without the cable, if there is no cable or whatever other reason ) and you just want to install the antenna + a coax cable and connector for it the coax length doesn't matter, use what fits best
P.S.: my x5C-1 is in the mail, and as soon as it gets here i'm going to make the mod even before starting it up - saw alot of people losing them due to short range; the above though is from some electronics experience :)
Can you tell me what the range was and what is it now .i would like to know what 2 + is?will it also help to make the antenna on the quad 2 + times the length also? I have one on the way this will be a big help to me thanks
I know nothing about radio so this is asked out of pure ignorance, but would it be of any advantage to mount both antennae from the router onto the transmitter into a "T" configuration?
Hi:)) nice video ang very informative! thanks a lot.
I have a question because I'm having problem with my hizhan i8h. very short range. is it okay if I use the same antina you use here or its different one. can you recomend something?:))) thanks a lot:)) cheers...
the reason why the ground has nothing on it is because that is the ground and the actual atenna was the little wire.. the same as the end of your wifi atenna
dont get me wrong it is a improvement, the original atenna is just crappy
Roger roger :). Good point.
I do have an old router in my bottom desk drawer. But alas, I stink at soldering!
You can always learn with practice Richie. As I get older I notice I'm a bit more shaky in the detailed work so it helps to brace everything ... hands included..lol
ok,I havent sodered again,but I measured 6.50 cm of the original transmitter Antenna,combined with another rc transmitter Antenna,so it makes half wave lenght right?.I soldered it (because I go the original Antenna out too),directly to the little Board with the transistor with the hot glue on.It does work,but didnt got the chance to try if it increased the range,do you think it did?
how many percent of the original range thus your x5c reach after yuo test it??
At least 200% If you are in an open area like a park it will be more.
Also, there are no wires on the back accept for those that run from the battery housing.
I havnt got a old router so if I buy a antenna it doesn't cm with the wire no?? if not what wire do I need and does it have to be a certain length ?
Does it matter if the antenna is longer? The one I have is 2 parts and I can't get the bit in the antenna part out.
Hi again! Tonight I measured the length of the original antenna wire in the remote which I desoldered when trying you range mod.
I found that this antenna wire had a total length of 2,95 cm, including ca. 3 mm stripped wire for soldering to the PCB. That leaves ca. 2,65 cm of antenna wire, which is far from the correct length of 3,12 cm.
I guess this could cause a range problem because the frequency becomes wrong? Has anyone else measured the original antenna wire?
Edit: When trying to calculate the frequency in in a wavelenght/frequency calculator i got the following results:
2,65 cm antenna length - 2,65x4=10,6 cm - gives a frequency of 2,83 GHz
2,95 cm antenna length - 2,95x4=11,8 cm - gives a frequency of 2,54 GHz
I don't know the frequency tolerance for 2,4 GHz, but I hope someone could comment on that.
Tune it as close to the correct measurements as you possibly can and you will have the best results. Also get it as far out of controller and hands as possible.
hi, the tx board on my quad only has the main antenna, no place for the ground to solder. can I still use your method? my quad is a jumpbo q6 fpv wifi, same size and looks of the syma h8w. I'm only getting 60-70 meters range.
Yes. Just don't solder the shielding to anything.
Dustin Dunnill ok thanks a lot.
+JinRei - Look under the mini board where the antenna is. The manufacturer flipped the board upside-down for some reason.
+Dustin Dunnill Awesome Video! Can I do this on a RC Car transmitter?
Hey man I tried this and it decreased my range to about 10 ft. I am an amateur at soldering and I did barely scorch the top of the board. Any suggestions? I need help!
Also it did only have 1 solder point. I think it is a more updated version. So I soldered both the outer cover and the core to the one point. I tried just the core and it went 10 feet.
+Chris Althausen - There *are* two solder points. You probably had a controller with that part flipped upside down. Look at the underside of the mini board where the antenna is... I just noticed it myself!
Hello... I cant find my old router. Is there anything besides an antenna wire that can be used and work?
If your in a pinch you could just solder an extra length onto tip of stock antenna to increase wavelength. Just be very careful with total wire length from where its soldered to the board:
A full wavelength of 2.4GHZ is 12.5 cm.
A 1/2 wavelength is 6.25 cm
A 1/4 wavelenght is 3.12 cm
The longer the wavelength the better range you should get.
Dustin Dunnill wow..your good.. Type of wire / size to use? And one other thing..is it possible to get brushless motors to replace the stock ones on the x5c...?
TY
Any wire of the same guage will do. No brushless motors made this small yet. Tonxhangebto brushless you would have to gut the electronics and replace. Better off just buying a brushless mini if you want to go that route.
Hello do this works for my holy stone 700d drone as well bro? So tell me what do I need to buy what kind of parts?
so how important is the length of wire going to the wifi antenna?
Shielded length doesn't matter.
Dustin Dunnill thanks
I don't get it... you said that only the tip of the antenna matters and it seems to be the same length as the original one, just without all that long cable that allows it to stick out of the controller. So what is the deal here?
To be perfectly honest with such a low powered transmitter what kind of Advantage is it going to have.
any extra amount of coax going from the board to the Antenna is going to result in small losses, plus the Antenna length is the same size in the router as it is in the original Antenna..
Any videos showing new range?
I'll make one once the weather gets better.
I just had a few questions, I was wondering if someone could answer.
1. What is the dBi of the stock antenna in the transmitter?
2. Doesn't the new antenna need to be omni-directional, especially if it has a high dBi? I was just wondering because it wasn't mentioned in the video.
3. What kind of range increase would I see with a 6dBi, 9dBi, 12dBi, and 16dBi antenna? Does anyone have any numbers?
Thanks for this video, I will try this mod today and hopefully it will extend the range of my quad, as the one it has right now is extremely disappointing.
Question: The "stub-antenna" that was originally soldered on the controller was extremely small... have you checked the receiving antenna inside the quad?. Maybe they did the same thing and we could get even more range by replacing that one as well.
Thanks again for your help ;)
Your welcome. you will notice a huge difference after the controller mod. Just be careful with soldering and it will work great. I have not yet checked the antenna inside the quad but it would increase range definitely if there is a small stub antenna similar to what the controller has. After I did the controller range mod there was enough range and I did not see a need to extend it further. But if you decided to do antenna mod to X5C itself it should increase range even more :)
Dustin Dunnill Wow!, thanks for the super fast reply and for actually taking the time to reply, I appreciate it.
Hopefully this mod will help me correct the only thing that annoys me from this quad (the lack of range is disappointing but not annoying).
What it does bother me though, is that when the quad is a little bit away from me, there is about a 1/2 to 1 second lag between the orders that I give from the remote to when it receives it. I will post an update with the results :)
Thank you once again!.
sttroner No problem. The mod may help with the delay your getting. That is a know problem when signal is weak so the range mod should help to solve it.
hey Dustin, what might cause a quad to wobble during flight and lose altitude also? Mini drone is not flying 100%. Hovers fine tho. thought u might know
Interferences, out of range, winds.
I just dont get the whole length of the actual antenne thing. how long is your new antenne now compared to the old one that had no shield? Because you said that only the end above the koppler matters and the length of the cable under the koppler doenst matter. but you didnt show the new length. cheers. :D
the length above the coupler on installed router antenna was about twice as long as the little crappy stub that was directly soldered with no coupler stock. the wire before the the coupler is purely for extension to get the tip ( coupler and top antenna) out away from circuit board and your hands which length does not matter. The tip (above coupler) is the wavelength specific to 2.4ghz so it has to be a certain length.
Allright. Thanks! Clear now. There are more videos on how to extend range on this device. But they all just solder a piece of antenne same length as the old one to the old one. This works for them and is easier. Why not do that?
I tried extending to double length of stock wire first like you describe and it didn't seem to work for me at all. So I figured an actual 2.4ghz router antenna would have to work and it did better than expected.