Foil Drive adds passive external antenna for carbon boards' signal issues

Carbon boards and foil tracks have turned clean controller links into a real headache for some Foil Drive riders, and the company’s new External Antenna is built to blunt that problem. Priced at $400.00 AUD, the accessory gives Gen 2 Assist MAX, Assist Slim and Gen 2.5 Fusion users a secondary passive antenna mounted on the top surface of the board to strengthen the connection between rider and unit.

Foil Drive says the antenna is aimed primarily at boards with full carbon foil tracks laminated into a full carbon board, where 2.4 GHz signal transmission can be harder to maintain because of carbon fibre and water. The setup uses a thin plate installed between the electronics box and the board, with a cable routed to a small antenna pad on the deck. Riders can choose 130 cm or 180 cm cable lengths, and the company says the system stays completely passive, with no power source or direct connection to the electronics box.

That matters because the accessory is being positioned less like a quick patch and more like a semi-permanent hardware change. Foil Drive says the antenna can remain on the board even when the assist system is not in use, which should appeal to riders who want reliability without adding another powered component to manage. The company also warns that some boards may need longer mast plate bolts depending on track depth and overall setup, and it is not compatible with Gen 1 Assist or Assist PLUS.

The update sits on top of a longer effort to solve carbon-board signal problems. On February 7, 2024, founder Paul Martin said Foil Drive had tested more than 100 boards over two years before the Gen2 release and had not run into the specific full carbon track and full carbon board failure mode during that testing. The company later said it learned some carbon-tracked boards had limitations it had not anticipated, and its help pages say the External Antenna followed continued intermittent connection issues even after riders had gone through the controller-signal masterclass.

Foil Drive’s own product guidance now reflects that shift. Its Assist MAX page notes that boards with carbon tracks may require an External Antenna, and the Armstrong bundle recommends one for all Armstrong boards. For riders building around carbon, Fusion kits and board-specific hardware choices, the message is clear: signal reliability is now part of the performance equation, not an afterthought.