Did range mod - now have only 3 ft range!

Hello all,

I've been enjoying my Devo7E for the last month or so flying my Nano QX and a frankenquad using a spare QX board. This fast quad would sometimes drop out around 75' so I decided to do the range mod documented on hackmods. I used 1 drop of the Radio Shack conductive ink over the specified diode. I did a quick bind check with the quad close by before soldering the RF shield back on but now find the transmitter now has a range of only a few feet. Tried multiple rebinds and even opened the TX again to remove the ink from the diode.The antenna is intact, never touched it's connections. I never modified the .ini file, I beleive the default setting should provide decent range??? I'm hoping something didn't get fried, perhaps someone has an idea - thanks

Thanks for the quick reply. Actually I never enabled the PA. I guess you are saying that if the PA is enabled with no mod then range will be low (diode not bridged). I'm not sure of the behavior of the TX with the diode shorted and no changing the .ini, I assume it would work in the same way as before the mod transmitting with the default power level.
The TX now is making a faint noise something like a small motor running slowly???

It's possible as the adjoining components are very close and even a small drop of compound is larger than the component. I used a razor knife to try to clean between them and used acetone and a small brush to remove any remaining compound but the problem still exist. Some circuits don't like shorts with power applied but I don't know if it would permanently affect this circuit.

In retrospect, I think the component should have been removed and the pad bridged with the ink. It's just too tight to have enough ink over and around the diode and not get it anywhere else. Actually it would be much easier and more reliable to get a Devo8 upgrade module and solder it in but they are backorded everywhere. Removing the tiny diode takes something allot smaller than the 15W iron I own.

Ztech, I have a spare 8s module. PM me if you can't find one.

Thanks for all the help. I had some more time to mess with the transmitter. Once I replaced the shield the range went to basically 0(won't bind)which was what I suspected that the antenna was not radiating anything, the QX was binding on the RF from the module itself. Maybe with a circuit diagram and a lot of time one could figure out what went wrong. I did solder in a NRF/PA module and now have a great TX for my WLtoys V222, way way better control verses the supplied junk TX.

Instead of throwing more money and time with my present TX trying to fix it I just ordered another 7E and will live with the low power DSMX, I mainly fly the QX indoors and can't see the FQNQX orientation by the time it drops out anyway, I'd probably brick the whole thing soldering in the 8E module.