Taranis Upgrades

HilldaFlyer April 2017

Don't get too excited yet... these modifications have been performed by others previously, so they're not new. But I have added a few little tips to my modifications that may be of interest.

Update - Join the conversation in the Forum here:

 Taranis 5 dbi Antenna Modification

If you have comments - If you have done this and had a good/bad experience... everyone would like to know.

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I love my Taranis X9D… and I love it even more after five Modifications.

The best ever is the Wireless Buddy Box, what a great way to share the radio with a buddy without being tethered by a cord..

The next best modification is the DIY DMSX module: Spektrofy your Taranis. Getting a Taranis doesn’t mean you have to give up all your Spektrum receivers.

In the past year I have added three more modifications that I would like to share.  These are not cutting edge since many have done it before. Here is what I’ve done:

• Installed a Larger Speaker.
• Lined the Taranis case with speaker shielding.
• Installed SMA connector for the antenna.

Speaker Upgrade

I put in a larger speaker to give the sound some more kick… I saw this on youtube: How to Upgrade Your Taranis Speaker.

The speaker was purchased from  Amazon. In the photo I show that I used some thin plasticstripping to wrap around the speaker and hot glued it into place with hot glue. The YouTube reference shows using a plastic part… so if you have a 3D printer, that might be an option because people have designed and shared some adapters you can print that do a nice job of holding the speaker in place.

Speaker Shielding

After installing the speaker, not only is the sound more clear and loud, so is the stuff I couldn’t hear before… like an audible buzzing. I noticed that what sounded like RF buzzing would go away if I put my hand between the antenna and the Taranis body. I decided to shield the speaker from the radio frequencies being emitted from the antenna. Truth be told, I didn’t know what would work, so I laid some aluminum foil between the antenna and the Taranis body and the buzzing went away. However, it isn’t cool to wrap your transmitter in aluminum foil… so I decided to hide it inside.

I lined the inside of the Taranis body with aluminum foil. You probably can’t see this but the aluminum foil was coated with clear packing tape to give it a bit of body. It was glue into place on both the front and back half of the Taranis case. The buzzing was completely eliminated.

SMA Connector Upgrade

Before we get into the modification, I’d like to point out that the real modification is the installation of a SMA or RP-SMA connector to the transmitter. With the SMA connector, any number of antennas can be interchanged. Along with this modification, I provide measurements of the bell shields and antenna length for the stock Taranis and replacement 5 dbi WiFi antenna.

I have two warnings:

Don’t turn on the transmitter without an antenna connected.

Be sure to use SMA with SMA and not SMA with RP-SMA or the center pole will not be connected, which is the same as having no antenna.

There are many resources sources and I’ve only listed a few below. There are comments that indicate the modification is harmful to the Taranis radio. Others have been using this for years without trouble. That being said, you’ll have to dig for yourself and make a decision if this modification is worth it to you. I did the modification and have flown for a year without any trouble or apparent diminished range. However, I’m not as particular as others, so I don’t have data to share with regarding RSSI strength or distance. It has worked for what I use it for.

Here are the resources:

RC Groups: boltrc, Taranis Antenna Upgrade (Part 1)

IBCrazy:Taranis Antenna Mod

Mr. Steele: The MUST HAVE FRsky Taranis Mods

Joshua Bardwell

Both IBCrazy and Mr. Steele modified their Taranis with a SMA connector so that the antenna attached could be changed out. Mr. Steele mounted a 5 dbi WiFi whip antnenna and demonstrated that his range was increased by walking down the street. The 5 dbi antenna allowed Mr. Steele to get a lot further away from his receiver before losing RSSI than with the stock Taranis antenna.

The modification the IBCrazy performed was topped with a clover leaf antenna in the video, which was going to be replaced with a VAS Dipole. I did some digging and didn’t find any data regarding the range on IBCrazy’s dibpole. If anyone has that info, post a comment and I’ll add it here.

Lastly, Joshua Bardwell modified his Taranis and sometime after the modificaiton, it stopped working. Joshua recommens not performing the modification in his follow up video.

I like and follow all three of these guys, so I’m not going discuss the risks and possible reasons why. Read the comments in the resources and do some digging in order to decide for yourself if you want to proceed. I’m a tinkerer, so it seemed like the thing to do.

Proceed at your own risk…

Split the case of the Taranis by removing the screws and loosening the toggle switches that span the covers.

I place my face down on a pad.

I soldered a piece of RG178 to a RP-SMA connector and following their instructions it was cut a length of 84 mm (see information from Mr. Steele and IBCrazy: 3.3 inches or 84 mm RG178 or RG316

Distance from solder point to the base of the SMA connector 3.33”. The end to be soldered to the Taranis transmitter module I made a “T” of the ground so it can be soldered on both sides.

The hot glue covering the stock antenna connection was removed with a small dab of alcohol.

It just peeled off.

The stock antenna was unsoldered and the whip was released from the turret by squeezing the expanding clips and pulled from the Taranis body.

Solder the RG178 to the Taranis transmitter module, and epoxy the RP-SMA connector into the place where the stock antenna was removed. You can see tin foil that I put inside the case to prevent speaker buzz, a modification I made when I upgraded the speaker.

The replacement antenna for me was

5dBi RP-SMA 2.4G Wi-Fi Booster Wireless Folding Antenna For Router IP PC Camera (Amazon)

Sold by UmikoDirect and Fulfilled by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Features: Boost your wireless coverage with this 5 dBi omni-directional Wi-Fi flexible antenna. Work with any wireless IEEE 802.11b/g router/AP/PCI/PCMCIA adapter with reverse SMA connector, improve signal strength and signal quality. Add more power and distance for your wireless network, help to clear up dead spots in your network!
Specification: Antenna type: omni-directional Frequency: 2400-2483 MHz Gain: 5 dBi Impedance: 50 Ohm VSWR: < 1.5 Length: 170mm Finish: matte black Connector: RPSMA (female) Polarization: vertical
Compliant with IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g wireless LANs 2.4 GHz wireless coverage range: 980 -1148 ft (300 - 500 M) Weighted Magnetic mounting Increase wireless coverage Antenna directions adjustment in base Operate with AP/Router with RP SMA connector
Package Included: 1 x 5dBi Wi-Fi Wireless Folding Antenna
5dBi RP-SMA 2.4G Wi-Fi Booster Wireless Folding Antenna For Router IP PC Camera.

I ordered a couple of them… so I just had to tear one apart. Here is what I found. I wasn’t surprised to find that only ⅓ of the antenna casing was actually protecting the antenna - from a marketing perspective, you can’t have a better antenna that is shorter, right? The rest other ⅔ of its length was just for show.

Just for reference, the stock Taranis antenna had 24.6 mm of transmitter. This picture was taken after bell the ground shield was removed. I unwittingly got excited about this project and tore apart the stock antenna before the new ones that I had ordered arrived. When the time came to go Mini Whoop racing, I had to put something together quickly. I removed the bell ground shield and soldered it to a piece of RG178 cut to the same length as the stock Taranis antenna.

Then the transmitter center pole was trimmed to 24.5 mm.

The ground shield of the stock Taranis antenna was 26 mm long. Note, this is my DIY replacement antenna made from RG178, fed through the leftover parts of a 5.6 GHz antenna. The base was RP-SMA connector from ebay.

Turned out that the bell ground shield of the stock Taranis was a bit longer (1.9 mm) than the ground shield from the 5 dbi WiFi antenna which was 24.1 mm long. Someone with more knowledge about this will have to answer the particulars of how this affects range.

The 5 dbi antenna I purchased had 26.2 mm of transmitter compared to 24.6 of the stock antenna. I know that there is a lot of discussion on the tunning of antenna to the wavelength they are to be used at. I need to do some digging around to see what wavelength this is tunned for. Maybe I’ll trim it a bit to bring it down to the 24.6 mm. The nice thing about themodificaiton is I can just screw on another antenna if I kill this one by trimming it shorter.

Here is where my modification deviates from Mr. Steele’s. Who needs more plastic anyway?

Non-functional stuff doesn’t impress me, so I just chopped it off at a length that would protect the functional antenna. I don’t need a whip getting in the way of things.

To make the end more aesthetically pleasing, I needed a way to cover the hole. I’m sure there are a hundred other ways to do this, but I turned to the incredible expanding Gorilla glue.

Put a couple of drops in a container, mist it with water, stir and it will start turning white with bubbles.

Smear it where you want it to go, let it expand. After a few minutes, like 15, it will stop expanding and start to get a little body.

Wet your fingers and mold it into the shape you want it.

A touch of paint and it doesn’t look like such a hack job.

There you have it, a removable antenna that isn’t longer than the Taranis is wide and it fits into the carrying case. One caution if you perform this modification.

Remember - Don’t turn on the radio without an antenna mounted.

There - I’ve provided the warning.

Post Publishing Notes:

Here are a couple more references:

NJ Teck

Expressive Imagery changed the length of a previous modification that improved his SWR. 

http://boltrc.com/blog/taranis-antenna-upgrade-part-3-initial-results/

http://openrcforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8563


EDIT May 10, 2017

Joshua Bardwell found out that he didn't break his Taranis... the 5 dbi antenna was bad. Good news for him.