Multi Module Antenna Set Ups

I'm looking to do a Multi Module upgrade but I really want a professional factory look. I'm very excited about the Single Board Universal Project because of this concern.

I'd like to see all your antenna mods. Links, pictures, whatever. I'm a visual person and can learn a lot this way. I saw a great 50+minute tutorial on a Multi Module upgrade and it had about 3 different styles of antennas and I was thinking he wanted to show diversity or just liked the custom modification look.

It's interesting how the RC hobby has also crossed into another hobby that I like as well. RC Porn if you will...

Thanks,

I'm currently using internally mounted sleeve dipoles with my A7015, NRF24L01 and CC2500 modules. There is enough room at the top of the Devo10 and Devo12 cases for them to be relatively unobstructed. Range will be less than external antennas, but all of the protocols I use with these modules are small toy type models, which you can't see past 100m or so anyways. I've never had any range issues with these:

bit.ly/1xXV6oY


Make sure you get the ones with the sleeve. The straight stripped coax monopoles (like these: bit.ly/18qQT3j ) don't perform nearly as well.

Along the same lines, I'm using A7105 & NF24L01 modules with the on-the-pcb style antenna in my 6S. I pretty much only use it indoors, and the range is seldom more than 10 meters.

I range tested the A7105 module (it's an rf module from an Xeida 9958 RTF Tx) out to ~100 meters with a V911. As MMW says, at that point I can't really see the model at all, and can tell it's responding more by hearing the blades spin when I give it a little throttle than by seeing things move.

I recall seeing a 3d-printed replacement for one of the Devo Tx's that had holes for three of the stock antenna mounts in it as well as the existing antenna mount. Can't seem to find it again, though. rcgroups.com, maybe?

Maybe this? www.thingiverse.com/thing:641114

Giving me more reasons to buy a 3D printer. Or I have to wait for the single board universal module project!

robca wrote: Maybe this? www.thingiverse.com/thing:641114

Nope, that wasn't what I was recalling. It used the stock antenna hole, and then spread out to have multiple duck antennas coming out of it. No extra holes in the Tx at all.

And yeah, a 3d printer is a great tool for rc stuff. There are replacement parts, upgrades and complete aircraft on thingiverse. I think rc stuff is the #3 most popular category, behind 3d printer parts and miniatures of various kinds.

I think, you are meaning this one...

Since it's all 2.4ghz can't all the antennas be the same? I like this concept a little better. Where did you find this and is there more detail on how it's done?

Jasenk wrote: Since it's all 2.4ghz can't all the antennas be the same? I like this concept a little better. Where did you find this and is there more detail on how it's done?

Yes and no... if all modules shared a single PA (and the necessary switch), then you could use a single antenna.

But you can't simply connect one antenna to three separate PAs

I was a bit misunderstood I think. What I meant was that I see multi module mods done but they they've had different antennas i.e. different color, different shape. I understand the electronic difficulty of using 1 antenna for multiple modules. I was thinking that maybe I didn't understand why all the different antennas if they are all 2.4 Ghz. I wasn't sure if there where certain antenna load requirements per module or something like that.

I hope this clears up my question.

Yeah, they can all be identical as long as there is one per module. The reason I use the sleeve dipoles with my current multimod setup is because of physical space. Having 4 antennas externally mounted looks weird too.

Just keep in mind that multiple parallel antennas very close to each other can impact the radiation pattern. 4 external antennas are indeed weird looking, but give you the best radiation patterns

One day all radios will have 4 antennas for MIMO-like, diversity purposes (look at a modern Wifi router; they all went from one to multiple antennas), so you can actually be ahead of times if you do it now