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Karma Range Extender

mitchmilo

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Hi Guy's.
not to sure about the go-pro karma range extender. seems a little dodgy. there is no actual website to buy them of.
and also what happens if drone loses signal with this extender. will it still come back?

just found this one. has any one used it before. RangePro for the GoPro Karma Drone!
 
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Well I am still using it. The extender is just 2 bigger patch antennas than the ones in the controller. Two extra connections are added to each feed. Have to be careful with connections but not that difficult. Interference varies from location to location but our flying field is near a lot of interference and playing with Karma there showed very positive improvement. I have never tried to fly Karma long range, it is not capable of it in reality. I want solid performance for picture taking platform and there is a real improvement there with much less video interference and fewer erroneous warnings. I can see slightly more power off the controller antenna with signal strength meter. ImmersionRC RF Power Meter V2 - www.readymaderc.com Crude but gives idea of improvement.


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any one know if the police helicopters have blockers in. i was flying my drone today and a helicopter flew past. my controls where delayed really badly and then dropped out. however the video wasn't affected. has any one had the same issue and if so would a bigger antenna boost the signal so the blocker wont affect it as much.
i was bringing my drone to the ground because the battery was getting low. when the helicopter went passed my battery was on about 1 minute 50 seconds. the helicopter then affected the signal. (blocker or not i don't know) my drone got stuck in the air for a good 1m and a half. when the helicopter passed i was able to regain control of my drone and land it with only 20s of battery left.

- the drone didn't land automatically because it thought i was controlling the drone even when i had know
 
Just a guess, I don't think the PoPo are running an ECM or "jammer," for 2.4GHZ as that would interfere with a lot of stuff. They are loaded for bear with a bunch of other RF equipment and may have inadvertently, unknowingly disrupted your connection. Being as you are just running off the stock antennas you are already weak. I have been testing my Karma totally stock and have the IELITE kit ready for testing. I have another antenna and battery powered amps ready for testing as well. One thing at a time. Speaking of Jamming, 3 EA6-B Prowlers full on jam can / could take out everything in North America strategically doing donughts in WA, NY & FL. Prowlers and Growlers can turn the lights off so to speak.
 
Just a guess, I don't think the PoPo are running an ECM or "jammer," for 2.4GHZ as that would interfere with a lot of stuff. They are loaded for bear with a bunch of other RF equipment and may have inadvertently, unknowingly disrupted your connection. Being as you are just running off the stock antennas you are already weak. I have been testing my Karma totally stock and have the IELITE kit ready for testing. I have another antenna and battery powered amps ready for testing as well. One thing at a time. Speaking of Jamming, 3 EA6-B Prowlers full on jam can / could take out everything in North America strategically doing donughts in WA, NY & FL. Prowlers and Growlers can turn the lights off so to speak.
the drone was about 5 meters away when it stopped working. and dosent the karma run on a 5GHZ Band?
 
From what I understand, the karma works on 2.4GHZ only
just googled it. your right. i just saw the settings on he go-pro witch lets you choose from 5GHZ or 2.4GHZ. 417
dose any actuality agree with this. my karma runs out of signal at around 700m max. and it also weighs 1.95 kilos with the camera and battery.
 
I think what they (GoPro) mean is that you can use 2.4 or 5ghz for connection to your phone but, the Karma controller operates on 2.4ghz only which I believe has broader range than 5ghz. 5ghz direct line of site works better for connecting my phone to my home router while inside but, when I go out around the house I get better signal to my phone on the 2.4ghz signal.

Don't have any scientific means to measure the improvement the ITELITE upgrade gave me today other than I had much more responsive control of the Karma today. So far I have not gone beyond my suburban neighborhood that is an ocean of WIFI. Just getting used to piloting control of the aircraft at this point close to home. Highest elevation I have gone was about 300ft straight above me, clear sky, no wind. Had good control. Will post more when I get time.
 
I think what they (GoPro) mean is that you can use 2.4 or 5ghz for connection to your phone but, the Karma controller operates on 2.4ghz only which I believe has broader range than 5ghz. 5ghz direct line of site works better for connecting my phone to my home router while inside but, when I go out around the house I get better signal to my phone on the 2.4ghz signal.

Don't have any scientific means to measure the improvement the ITELITE upgrade gave me today other than I had much more responsive control of the Karma today. So far I have not gone beyond my suburban neighborhood that is an ocean of WIFI. Just getting used to piloting control of the aircraft at this point close to home. Highest elevation I have gone was about 300ft straight above me, clear sky, no wind. Had good control. Will post more when I get time.
i think what the 4.5km high is the maximum altitude before the air gets to thin and the karma wont go any higher. but for this to happen you would need to be at least 4.3 km above see level before you start flying.
and the main difference between 5GHZ and 2.4GHZ is 5Ghz is a faster bandwidth but wont go as far, so if the karma was to run on it the picture streaming back to the controller will be a lot clearer but it wont go as far. meanwhile 2.4GHZ. can go further but the picture isn't as clear.
 
Efialchemy

I can tell you for sure that the WiFi booster, if it really does as it says, is illegal at least in the USA. To keep from needing a FCC license to fly DJI, GOPRO and others using WiFi. That use is strictly limited in power. I do not know but believe GOPRO designed Karma with maximum legal power levels. Any booster that goes over these levels is illegal. Doubling power does not double range. Sorry it just doesn’t work that way.

I am an EE still trying to figure out what real difference using pure silver has in an antenna design.

Lot of BS out there.



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Where there is a will there is a way.

The bracket(s) that came with the ITELITE kit is installed and works. To stow in the Karma case you have to remove the antenna from the bracket which is easy enough with the thumbscrews provided. The SMA wires that came with the REXUAV antenna are much better quality and probably have less loss. They are the blue lines in the pics. They are flexible but stiff enough to support the really light weight REX antenna. Didn't have time to play with that antenna today. I plan on mounting the bracket as pictured upside down underneath the Karma Controller chassis. Already looking at Pelican cases to accommodate all of the gear and use it as a take off and landing spot.

www.mycasebuilder.com is a pretty cool site. They let you tailor a pelican case of your choice and laser cut the foam for you. Neat software design tool on their site.

Iv'e stuffed a GM LS V-8 into a Mazda Miata. This might be what some might equate modifying a Karma Drone. Why not? Smiles.
 
do you find them much different in terms of range. im in Australia so it doesn't matter because they will both take about 2-4 weeks.
 
The conical boosted antenna setup will surely out pace the IELITE kit but the whole range limit factor has got to be directly related to the battery life. Next flight I take will be with just the REX conical antenna non boosted to compare. Have to get back with you on those results. The way I have my controller setup now I can swap out antennas at will.

I guess you have to ask yourself "What are my ultimate goals?" I did try the karma in sport mode today for a while it was a blast. I think best part of the Karma setup is when paired with a Hero7 you get really good smooth video for the price of admission.

There are a lot of drones out there now that have the power, video quality but come at a considerable greater cost. This whole experiment for me started with using my Hero7 to video Dyno pulls for customers.
 

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