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4hawks vs antenna mod range

there are some videos on youtube of guys flying 3 miles out with stock controller, but i could barely replicate a mile before loosing connection.. and this was in wide open desert. so not sure how people accomplish 3 miles with stock antennas.

what kind of terrain do you fly in with 4 hawks to get 3 miles range?
Stock antenna in open line of site between remote and EVO can do 4+ miles with 4-5 bars of signal strength (nearly full signal) and no display breakup (battery limits range - not signal). I could see the advantage of 4 hawks if flying below treeline or where obstacle is between remote and the drone.
 
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Stock antenna in open line of site between remote and EVO can do 4+ miles with 4-5 bars of signal strength (nearly full signal) and no display breakup (battery limits range - not signal). I could see the advantage of 4 hawks if flying below treeline or where obstacle is between remote and the drone.

i have open line of site pretty much everywhere around here (open desert) and i couldn't even get a mile out of my evo with stock antennas :(
 
i have open line of site pretty much everywhere around here (open desert) and i couldn't even get a mile out of my evo with stock antennas :(
Sounds very strange, maybe defective antennas or something. I can go over a mile with heavy wi-fi interference. I'm sure you tried this - but you want to point the antennas down and make sure to point the long flat part of antenna at the direction and angle of the drone. I actually put my remote on top of tripod and point to drone at correct angle and leave it. I even rigged something to hold throttle to full so I can just watch and make sure pointed correctly whole time.
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Sounds very strange, maybe defective antennas or something. I can go over a mile with heavy wi-fi interference. I'm sure you tried this - but you want to point the antennas down and make sure to point the long flat part of antenna at the direction and angle of the drone. I actually put my remote on top of tripod and point to drone at correct angle and leave it. I even rigged something to hold throttle to full so I can just watch and make sure pinted correctly whole time.
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yeah that's how i have my antennas pointed, to the ground and then remote facing the drone whichever direction the drone goes. i was doing some flying downtown this past weekend and i was on top of a parking structure and had the drone maybe about a quarter mile or maybe more in distance and it lost contact with it. like, it got disconnected. and i could see the drone, although far but still i could see it. then after about 20 seconds it reconnected while in the go home mode. couldn't believe it.
 
In town, I am not surprised that there is little range, with all the interference and pollution Wi-FI and other that there can be, we can largely divide by two, see by four the range of the radio control.
On the beach, far from the station, I made a round trip of 2.8 kilometers without loss of signal.
 
They have the SR and XR 4 Hawks antenna. The XR suppose to pick up better. I was debating about buying that, but I may sell my EVO or trade it in for the EVO2
If by the "SR" you mean the amplified box that the 4Hawks attaches to, then I ave done that mod. I never fly my drone beyond line of sight, but sometimes it goes behind something. I feel better knowing that my signal is strong in such situations.
 
there are some videos on youtube of guys flying 3 miles out with stock controller, but i could barely replicate a mile before loosing connection.. and this was in wide open desert. so not sure how people accomplish 3 miles with stock antennas.

what kind of terrain do you fly in with 4 hawks to get 3 miles range?
There is something called the KP Index. Check out the link to explain it at Planetary K-index | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center
Believe it or not, this will greatly affect range and transmission quality. You can check it before you fly, and if you want to be very sure you won't have issues, do so! Its worth not losing a bird if you know in advance.
 
There is something called the KP Index. Check out the link to explain it at Planetary K-index | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center
Believe it or not, this will greatly affect range and transmission quality. You can check it before you fly, and if you want to be very sure you won't have issues, do so! Its worth not losing a bird if you know in advance.

Maybe three or four years ago you would have to worry about the KP but tech has improved so much the KP index really has no effect on drones these days.

A little primer on geomagnetic storms and GPS.

A geomagnetic storm is when a shock wave from a solar flare smacks into the earth's magnetic field, which triggers a lot of disturbances in our ionosphere due to a wiggling magnetic field and increasing the electron density. Huge geomagnetic storms (K index 8-9) are rare. The triggering flare has to be huge (an M or X class flare), located near the center of the sun to directly strike the earth, and one that produces a strong coronal mass ejection (CME) - or the shock wave. The CME usually takes about 3 days to strike the earth following the flare. If conditions are right, it can trigger a major geomagnetic storm which usually has a duration of several hours.

During a major geomagnetic storm, GPS signals from the satellite to our UAV's GPS receivers gets bent by the increased electron density, which increases the path length and introduces position errors. The disturbed ionosphere can also cause degraded signal-to-noise problems, meaning your receiver may loose lock on one or more birds. Also, the bending of signals can also cause "phase slips, which can also cause the receiver to temporarily loose lock on the GPS, taking a few seconds to tens of seconds to relock on the dropped satellite.

Scientific experiments done during strong geomagnetic storms shows the bending of the path length can cause up to about 30M (100 foot) errors in position at mid-latitudes (like the US/Europe and Australia), and slightly worse near the equator. Again, this is during a MAJOR geomagnetic storm of K=8 or 9. Thus, I would expect no effects to a UAV below K=7.I have flown in K7 with no ill effects.

With K=8 or 9, I would expect the following effects to a UAV:
A position error of around 100 feet would not normally be catastrophic. The position error is not going to make your UAV fly a mile away; just 100 feet or so. This would only affect your RTH position and landing point. It might skew the onboard compass off a few degrees, but probably not noticeable. If you're still tracking 6+ satellites, just bring it home (assuming you even notice anything).

With poor signal-to-noise or phase slips, the UAV GPS receiver will loose lock and drop into the manual mode. Bring it home in manual mode.

Again, I wouldn't expect any effects until a MAJOR K=8 or 9 geomagnetic storm, and nothing that is going to cause the UAV to not know where it is more than a 100 feet in error (not a fly away). Go here to see what the K index and general space weather is:
Homepage | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center These are the guys that measure things every hour.
Do not listen to warnings issued by the major news media. Every flare lately seems to be an end-of-the-world news story, and furthermore, a solar flare means a POSSIBLE geomagnetic storm 3 days later, not right after the flare.

We have enough to worry about to keep our UAV's flying safe from proper calibration, good batteries, pre-flight check-out, and the various things that can go wrong (a weak ESC, smacking into a tree, loosing LOS, etc.). The geomagnetic storm concern doesn't even make the top 10, in my opinion. Let's focus our worries and concern elsewhere.
 
Well, you might not be worried about it, but there are many instances of flyaways for no apparent reason. I have personally had three drones fly away without any control, and this was when they were close to me! I can only chalk it up to electromagnetic interference.
 
Well, you might not be worried about it, but there are many instances of flyaways for no apparent reason. I have personally had three drones fly away without any control, and this was when they were close to me! I can only chalk it up to electromagnetic interference.

Most fly a ways are pilot errors wheather they want to admit it or not. I been doing this going on 6 years and I have seen a lot and had a lot of things happen to my drones over the years. Most of my bad days have been my fault after I sat down and looked at what really happened. Things do happen but this KP index thing is way over inflated.
 
I'm interested in getting the 4hawks but not for distance. I'm more interested in the penetration. I live in a wooded area and only get out to 1600 ft before I lose stuff. I flew about a mile over a lake no problem.
 
I'm interested in getting the 4hawks but not for distance. I'm more interested in the penetration. I live in a wooded area and only get out to 1600 ft before I lose stuff. I flew about a mile over a lake no problem.

That's the reason I did the Mod. It does help in wooded areas where I commonly fly from. I'm estimating it would increase penetration by about 1/3rd. Your 1,600 feet wold probably extend to about 2,100 feet. Keep in mind that altitude does add distance but with the extended range antenna it may help you get above the treeline and go further.
 
That's the reason I did the Mod. It does help in wooded areas where I commonly fly from. I'm estimating it would increase penetration by about 1/3rd. Your 1,600 feet wold probably extend to about 2,100 feet. Keep in mind that altitude does add distance but with the extended range antenna it may help you get above the treeline and go further.


Thanks for the reply, You answered what I was wondering about. I do know about the altitude. When I was out 1600ft, I was 300ft up. When I lost connection I panicked . What I forgot about was when it loses connection, it comes home.
I thought for a moment I would have to go for a hike in the woods to get it back, but it came home and landed at my feet like a good lil drone. lol.
 

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