Quick question - what sort of range would you expect from 433 MHz telemetry system. I have 3 quads and have just fitted telemetry module to each. With each one the max range I get is 150 ft. At 150 ft I just get a message to say the data link is lost. Comes back when I get back within 150 ft.
Could it be a power issue? Happens with my laptop (mission planner), nexus 7 tablet and my samsung galaxy s3 'phone (both running droid planner).
thx
Hi gdp2802,
Please check the Tx Power value in mission planner, initial setup, optional hardware 3dr radio is 20 in both radios.
Also you can try to upload firmware in both of them.
Also check that you have the correct antennas. If I recall correctly these are sma connectors. Make sure you didn’t screw in an rp-sma and there is no center pin connecting the antenna to the radio. Since all these antennas look the same it is really easy to do. This happens a lot. I would also look at getting better antennas anyway.
Thanks guys.
I will check both those things out and report back.
Any suggestions for improved antennas?
Thanks again
Well, I changed the config as suggested and went for a flight this morning. Not much improvement, if any. I’ll try a firmware upgrade at the weekend but I am not sure how changing firmware would improve radio range.
Just so it’s not missed out: tx and rx antennae are orientated the same way? If not, range decrease a lot, the same if you are flying right overhead a vertically orientated rx/tx set.
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I’m not getting a great range either with the standard 3DR telemetry module. Maybe 200-300 meters away and 30 meters up before I start getting warning messages.
Is there a way to change the ground station antenna, without entering a page long discussion on theory of HAM radios ? 
All I’d like is a simple plug and play solution to replace the antennas on the ground station and/or on my 3DR IRIS so the telemetry range (433Mhz) is extended.
I have just ordered the 3DR 433Mhz radios as well and started to research how to improve the range, since with the standard configuration it’s only a few hundred meters max.
I assume everyone has read this: http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-3dr-radio-version-2/#What_Range_can_I_expect_and_how_can_I_improve_this
So I started to look for directional antennas, but it seems to be really hard to find them for the 433Mhz version. Even the wiki above only links to 900Mhz antennas. I’m going to keep looking, but if anyone finds them, please share!
With the 433MHz you can get the range upto 2.5 kms without any distortion in the datalink you have to follow the some steps in it …
step 1- connect your modem in the laptop
step 2- load your 3dr settings into the mission planner
step 3- after loading the settings go to the baud rate and select instead of 57 select "9"
step 4- save the settings and go ahead
step 5- Happy Flying 
Yuvraj