Excellent Range Test of some DIY Projects!

[GiantAntCowboy]

Hey guys, been building, testing, and tuning my drone for mid/long-range (gotta explore these mountains) and had some success with a couple DIY projects.

Specifically a 5 Turn Helical Antenna and 2600mAh Li-Ion battery; as a bonus, the coastal footage came out really nice.

If you have any questions about the setup or suggestions, let me know!

I've also put together a simple How to DIY Li-Ion battery build video and I'm working on a Helical antenna DIY video if anyone is curious.

 

[GiantAntCowboy]

Here's the DIY Li-Ion build video for quick reference. If you're doing any sort of long-range or just want to increase flight times these are really great.

Ex: I recently built and tested a 4200mAh Li-Ion last weekend and flew over 12km (7.5 miles) roundtrip.

Again, questions(?) feel free! Cheers!

 

[GiantAntCowboy]

OK, replying to my own thread here, but just had some great results with my new 4200mAh battery and another 7-turn helical antenna I built (out of trash) last night.
- Total Range was 6.27km
- Total Flight of 13.3km
- Total Flight Time of 13:40
and still had signal and battery to spare! I think this drone is ready to explore some distant mountains!

*Check out my YouTube if you want to follow my progress and next flights, it's been quite a journey from the days of losing signal at 500m to now flying over 6km!

 

[GiantAntCowboy]

Lost video and Failsafed huge in the mountains recently… Accidentally flew behind part of the mountain. Got some great footage though, pretty neat flights.

Cheers!

 

[Dugdog47]

Very cool flight bro! Yeah flying through the mountains looks risky but no risk no reward lol. Thanx for posting!

 

[GiantAntCowboy]

Very cool flight bro! Yeah flying through the mountains looks risky but no risk no reward lol. Thanx for posting!

Exactly, pushing the limits is the only way to grow, learn and get better footage. The adrenaline is part of the thrill and fun! Discovered some incredible mountain spots recently, stay tuned for that footage, just gotta finish editing, the hardest part…

 

[Dugdog47]

If the adrenaline isn't flowing you're doing it wrong lol!

 

[GiantAntCowboy]

Here's my latest video, not the longest range, but an incredible valley to test the equipment out in!

Notes:
- Check out that cabin(!) I'll definitely spend a night there someday soon.
- The video is divided into 3 parts, if you like relaxing cinematic footage, definitely check out the last run.
- Please watch in 2k or 4k, if on desktop use Chrome instead of Safari; Safari only streams 1080p on YouTube which looks chunky... very disappointing.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, let me know. Cheers!
-Pete

 

[GiantAntCowboy]

Here a quick video showing how cheap and easy long-range antennas can be:

Using the HDZero digital fpv system, but this setup works just as well on analog.

 

[GiantAntCowboy]

And adding to the Cheap Range tests, here’s a Li-Ion comparison using several configurations on my 7” Chimera.

Li Ion Battery Comparison for Long Range FPV Quads, Wings, and Planes. Chimera 7 with HDZero VTX

Let me know if you have questions here or in the YT comments, cheers!