I'm looking for some RC equipment for my next UAV. My question is what kind of range will I get out of a basic $100 2.4Ghz system? The Xbee modules work up to 6 miles. Can I get that kind of range with an amplifier or some other solution? Or could I control my plane with the Xbee's?
For my long range 2-way serial system I used some 433mhz radio modems. Operation is the same as with Xbee's giving your a two-way serial communications pipe over radio. But range is much better.
link: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/long-range-rc-control-and
you can use the XBEEs in both variants: 2G4 for testing RC-like "in sight" and the longrange 900 or 868XBEE for telemetry and waypointsetting.. works for me up to 5mi but some nasty 10% dutycycle...
or control when in sight the UAV with classic RCgear or 2G4 XBEE and communicate with a GSMmodem on mission. you can live-track with leonardo, send MMS and SMStelemetry. for me the best way of longrange-UAV. but beware of the LAG ;-) and use a data-flatrate on your mobile!!!