epic antenna upgrade DOES NOT WORK

[Matt Gerard]

PCB boards don't make good antennas, apparently. Antenna design is one of the most obscure and odd facets of current tech that people don't give enough credit to. I'm just happy that RED made it availble to replace ourselves, instead of having to send the brain in. Simpler for everyone.

Matt

[Kennan Ward]

Thank you Red Upgrade Team, the antenae upgrade works great and simple to install, even at 9,300 feet elevation and at night here in the mountains.

Karen and I are filming time lapse and the Redmote is working beyond the 50 feet perscription!

I paced out the distance and I would say closer to 70 feet for on/off and record / stop!

Thank you, all we need now is pre-record and time lapse and we will be over the top!

Best,

Kennan & Karen Ward

This is the expected performance ... so if you have a unit that does not deliver at least that after performing the antennae upgrade, then connect RED tech support.

[morpheusfilm]

Have exact experience- did antenna upgrade and firmware upgrade for epic and redmote and now the remote functions only on camera- does not carry a wireless connect even inches away. I've slightly adjusted the tiny jack connecting new antenna to brain by just reconecting and nudging it to see if it's really connecting. Re-boot, rediscover hardware re-boot and nothing. Tried hooking up the old antenna too to see if it still works and it is not working now either. So now I don't know if this is an antenna issue or a firmware issue. sending request to red tech support.

[Russ Fill]

I have to say that I ordered the antenna upgrade and opened my epic and found that it had the same antenna. It was all ready updated. I thought it was kind of strange as I thought that my camera and Redmote worked just as explained and really was wondering what more range my upgrade could do.
You might have or maybe it was that way when you opened your camera but the antenna cable might be frayed or not connected as well as it should be at the other end from the antenna.

[Mick van Rossum, NSC]

One thing I found out that the Apollo topplate from Actionproducts caused connection loss with the new antenna. So you might check and take off all the accesories of your camera and see if it is a shielding problem or not.... The guys are aware of the shielding problem, but apaaratntly not all apollo topplates cause this connection loss.

[Andreas Mendritzki]

Just to chime in: We recently did the upgrade here and it was painless, and, successful. An easy 50 feet of reliable range if not more. Its the reliability of the signal that is important for me. I'd be happy with 20 feet if there were fewer dropouts than I was having before - so 50 without dropouts is excellent news!

[Michael Hardwick]

One thing I found out that the Apollo topplate from Actionproducts caused connection loss with the new antenna. So you might check and take off all the accesories of your camera and see if it is a shielding problem or not.... The guys are aware of the shielding problem, but apaaratntly not all apollo topplates cause this connection loss.

Oh yes. I have noticed this also on at least 6 different Epic bodies outfitted with The Action Products Apollo top plate.

Something about the wiring of the HD -SDI port creates a EM field that severely attenuates the antenna signal of the Epic to the Redmote.

If you reach under and disconnect the the HD-SDI from the camera body you will see your Redmote instantly reconnect.

Innocinema, Action Products and Red are aware of the problem, and I have dealt with all of them in trying to source a solution. Innocinema said that they are working on a fix to the top plates but most likely would involve sending them to Switzerland to be fixed. In the meantime the temporary fix for this has been to carefully cut out a tinfoil gasket to fit in between the top plate and the camera body to help with signal interference. Yes - a tinfoil hat... sorry. Also I found that in the menus under SETUP/REDMOTE try selecting Channel and setting it to channel 15 instead of the default - the thought being that there is so much WiFi signal flying around at 2.5 Ghz that selecting a channel at the outside edge of the spectrum may help with connectivity issues.

And in an experiment I actually soldered a lead onto the Epic antenna plate and then to a little external WiFi antenna I stole from a Wireless LAN card. Whaddaya know...it connects.

If you don't want to do any of these, then here are two suggestions that were offered to me, and they look like good ideas.
#1

http://www.plcelectronicsolutions.co...%28tm%29-.html

#2

http://www.kramerelectronics.com/pro...el.asp?pid=539

Just plug this into the Epic body, velcro to the side and forget about the Apollo top plate connection entirely while you use your wireless connected Redmote without interference issues.