4Hawks Raptor Range Extender Reviews And Questions

[Normex]

Btw they had a strap support where a couple of straps goes behind your back and with a tray in front. You can lay the RC on the tray and it puts the weight on your back instead of the neck region like lanyards.

 

[Normex]

On the note from the drone expert guy at the store he gave me this link which I'm not sure if it has been discussed on this site but it sounded interesting as he said our controller should be able to use its features. Let me know please

Mission Planner Overview — Mission Planner documentation

 

[Jagerbomb52]

It will be when Autel releases the SDK file to 3rd party developers.

 

[Hilander]

Glad to hear the install went great Normex. Now the exciting part of testing to see how far you can now go without losing any signal, video or otherwise. Everything I read though tells me you will not have any issues and I am in fact close to ordering one myself. Please keep us updated with your flying experiences with this.

 

[Normex]

Thanks Hilander, in previous flights I was flying close to 250ft alt and had many video interference at close of a mile at the edge of a town, today I will attempt same then lower as much as I can and see if I get a better experience then I plan to fly further in town which will be a mile and 3/4 to take pics of a friends house. All one step at a time.

 

[Normex]

Just wondering Agustine or Intrepid with the narrow directional antenna, say I intentionally veer my Rc outside of the antenna direction to the drone, what will happen disconnect and RTH ? or what else

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Depending on how far out you are and the signal strength it should be fine. Worst case would be it will go into RTH but I have found it reconnects very fast and you have the option to cancel it.

 

[Normex]

Many thanks Agustine and its better than I thought, its 52 deg here and almost tempted to go give it a try.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Just make sure your RTH height is set high enough to clear anything that might get in the way if it starts to come home.

 

[intrepidusa]

Great to hear Normex...i haven't had any issues with beam width yet even when making quick adjustments that take remote or drone outside the stated beam width...mine is doing great and getting awesome distance and not one RC or Video disconnect since install. I have yet to get out to the real country...next weekend is first camping trip so I will be able to get some distance out there.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Just got back in from a flight, 2+ miles out with zero interference. What a rush. Cool crisp fall morning @ 43°F I could hear the X-Star through the morning breeze almost 1 mile out. First time I ever heard that. They say sound carries when it is cold out.

 

[Normex]

Just got back as well and it was a disappointing run, I barely got 800 ft. beyond my farthest distance so 1..30 or so mile. It simply disconnects and RTH
I am situated in flat land with rows of trees that line the edge of farm fields, on the second battery I climbed to 700 ft and no difference.
Is there any settings I can verify its performance?

Btw video was ok

 

[intrepidusa]

@Normex - do you have a second location you can go to and test the same distances? I have had one direction from my backyard that I just cannot fly through, so I have been staying away from it. There isn't anything notable in that area like Air Traffic corridor where radar would be located...it just must be that hunk of kryptonite under the housing complex three streets over from me...who knows. I also do not fly anywhere near the highway that is about a half mile from my house...they have WiFi and microwave all over that thing like its the information superhighway. Plus the fact that there are cell towers and high power lines around it too.

 

[Normex]

I have a cell tower about 4 miles from my place, ok I'll try opposite direction and see how it reacts, would you think trees might hamper its performance?

 

[Normex]

If you want to see the area I fly in take a peek from this video

I live in the country a couple miles from the town

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Trees will hamper the performance for sure. It does take a bit to get used to pointing the antenna. Try not to point straight out but more about at a 45 degree angle upwards. If you are trying for long distance you will need at least 300-400 foot elevation.

 

[intrepidusa]

Absolutely agree, trees will affect distance, and not just trying to shoot through them, most of the signal will get "absorbed" by the trees even when you can see your drone above the treeline. I usually go to 350-390 ft elevation when flying out further...and I always set my RTH height to 395 ft no matter where I am.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

What really impressed me today was I felt 2 miles was far enough for what I wanted to do so when I started to turn around to come back I usually would lose video for a moment or to. This time not one single drop. Of course being that far out the last thing I thought about was looking at the RC controller for how many bars it was showing for video strenght

 

[Normex]

Well after another run in opposite direction, I went only slightly further like before but one thing I noticed is beeps three times then lose connection but it still shows SAFE TO FLY so normally I can
cancel the RTH sometimes and sometimes not.

 

[intrepidusa]

It is really a nice area buddy. Is that an old strip mine by chance?