DragonLink Alternatives

The title says it all. I cannot seem to find a Dragonlink telemetry module anywhere. Does anyone know where I can buy one which is in stock / an alternative with a similar range + capabilities?

If the alternative telemetry cannot handle remote control commands (pitch/yaw/roll/thr for manual flying), Ill use ELRS because I already have a receiver and transmitter capable of decent range from previous planes

RFD TXModV2 is a good alternative.

I have both Dragonlink and RFD (and Crossfire) and would no longer recommend either system.

Dragonlink primarily because there have been no updates for 3 years and the availability is very modest.

The RFD is rather old hardware and very complicated to configure. Compared to Crossfire on the same frequency, it’s almost like a museum.

Crossfire has suffered from organizational changes over the last few years, and availability has become worse in some cases.

You can continue to use all of these systems, but if you are buying a new one, I would definitely recommend ExpressLRS. The availability is very good, the selection is large and the performance of the system is very good.

As a direct replacement for a Dragonlink system, I would (and have) used a Radiomaster Bandit and am very satisfied.

IMHO there is currently no way around the ELRS system, at least not if you fly with a flight controller, which is to be expected here.

ELRS doesn’t do telemetry unless it is via ELRS airport. I wish it did do telemetry. Maybe I will try Airport for once: ELRS compared to the alternatives is fairly cheap 4 me.

I guess you put a Radiomaster Bandit on your RC; what do you use on the plane side? I guess if you are using ELRS airport you are using a second Bandit for mission control-side telemetry.

EDIT: I am stupid. Just found the ELRS Bandit receiver

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With ExpressLRS Mavlink works via branch “mavlink-rc”. I don’t use Airport, which is not good for Mavlink.

Exactly, there are also Bandit receivers.

The Bandit can also be used in relay mode in combination with 2G4 ELRS. Although this is still being tested and not yet a release, it is very promising.

Anyone who is involved with Dragonlink, RFD and/or Crossfire should order a Bandit system to test and compare for themselves …

The Bandit can also be used in relay mode in combination with 2G4 ELRS. Although this is still being tested and not yet a release, it is very promising.

What does that mean?

Bandit TX on a tripod, controlled by a 2G4 ELRS RX

So you use the tripod to either get the advantage of a directional antenna or/and more height.

Could you give me a link to that branch? Struggling to find it

The branch can be found in the ELRS Configurator (Git-Branch → mavlink-rc)

Help in the ExpressLRS Discord.

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Mlrs is mavlink LRS, it runs on frsky R9 and gives a bidirectional telemety link with CSF telemetry

Yes, mLRS is also worth a test … It’s best to wait until mLRS is running on the latest ELRS hardware so that you have more choice.

Somehow I don’t think mLRS will support ELRS anytime soon.

Will be using MAVlink RC because there is all the reasons to use it and no reasons to not to. (EDIT: To me)

Makes sense from my point of view. I flew with the branch mavlink-rc today. I had no problems. It is currently a dev / test version, so not yet a release. You should keep an eye on it and use it with a certain amount of caution.

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OK. Thanks everyone for answering my questions

I’m completely new to this space and making a shopping list at the moment. Would something like a RadioMaster boxer work here?

yes they even have a version of the boxer with built-in elrs which if you do buy a radio just get built-in elrs its the future no need for a multi-protocol anymore.

I believe if you want to use mavlink-rc with USB to the ground station you need an external ELRS TX module.

Alternatively you can use additional RX/TX pair if your module has them or backpack.

ouch on calling the RFD museum pieces.
Sometimes museums have excellent things in them.
RFD900x works well for me for telemetry with RC going over the same rf link. 1w power where i live.
difficult to configure ? pretty straight forward i’d say.

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Yes the so easy to config and you get full 16 channels[quote=“kiwiPaul, post:19, topic:114071, full:true”]
ouch on calling the RFD museum pieces.
Sometimes museums have excellent things in them.
RFD900x works well for me for telemetry with RC going over the same rf link. 1w power where i live.
difficult to configure ? pretty straight forward i’d say.
[/quote]

Yes the so easy to config and you get full 16 channels