Hello folks

So you probably know that this question will come up sometime and here it is:

Does anyone know for certain what the FCC & CE limiations will be? In particular, what range can i expect with a CE Compliant (I live in Europe, Austria[AT])?
It says <20 dBm for the Remote (CE) and <26 dBm (FCC)

So judging by that, Phantom 4's and lower, had a rating for CE about 16-17 dBm and people still reached 4.5km-5.0km with optimal conditions.

So logically with 20 dBm (Again, it says that on the Mavic Specs on the DJI Site, it never said that for the other models like P4,P3 etc.) it should be easy to achieve 7km even in CE, because it's 20 dBm now.
(Not that it's illegal in EU anyway, 20 is the Maximum, i never understood why in the P4,P3... they never maxed it out at 20.)


Cheers and happy flying!

It's a good question, because the P3 Standard is restricted to 17 dmb in CE mode, despite the legal limit being 20. Seems they deliberately reduce the range, beyond what is legally necessary?

The Mavic however is claiming 20 dbm, so perhaps not the "Cut the range in half" drop from FCC to CE we see with the Phantoms?

bigglyguy Posted at 2016-10-17 00:00
It's a good question, because the P3 Standard is restricted to 17 dmb in CE mode, despite the legal  ...

Yep i hope so!

In case you're curious what these dBm ratings mean electrically.

Power Level     Power

17 dBm           50mW        Phantom CE
20 dBm           100mW      Mavic CE
23 dBm           200mW      Phantom FCC
26 dBm           400 mW     Mavic FCC

sierahotel@me.c Posted at 2016-10-18 03:58
In case you're curious what these dBm ratings mean electrically.

Power Level     Power

Daamn 400mW for the Mavic FCC, i'm just sitting here and wondering, why is >100mW harmful to the Environment(<--HAHA) for the Europeans, while in the USA it's perfectly fine? If someone can reliably answer that, i will gift you an icecream.

But oh well, the Phantoms 4 CE have made it over 4.5 kilometers (my friend tested it) and that is 50 mW, now a Mavic CE with 100mW i bet should reach 6km at least and hopefully 7km!

Ange1walk Posted at 2016-10-18 05:36
Daamn 400mW for the Mavic FCC, i'm just sitting here and wondering, why is >100mW harmful to the E ...

Yu will have no range issues at all with the Mavic as also with the P4.
Just make sure you are flying in an interference free area.

Ange1walk Posted at 2016-10-17 22:36
Daamn 400mW for the Mavic FCC, i'm just sitting here and wondering, why is >100mW harmful to the E ...

Where has your friend obtain that range in Austria??? I thought that Austria has one of the worst laws anti-drone with hugh penalties...anyway the country is very mountainous so is difficault to achieve it! Well done

@Jorge D  I had to giggle just now, because you are absolutely right, we probably have the worst laws for drones, BUT! They changed it a bit in a good Manner:
-You can now use FPV, you can always use your smartphone/tablet to view the live Feed.

-You can also Record legally, but it's not allowed to post it on any site (hrhr we'll see about that )

-150m Max Heigt

-500m Max Radius and drone needs to always be in line of sight (a friend broke this rule like hell,  but only as necessary testing, he swears!)

Do we know what kind of antenna configuration is used by DJI? meander pair?
Is it omnidirection or is there any sideways gain or direction?

Also I like this idea.

This design could be adapted to turn one of the Mavic controllers omnidirectional antenna into the driven element of a yagi antenna. Could easily double or tripple range.




http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:19548

Ange1walk Posted at 2016-10-18 01:23
@Jorge D  I had to giggle just now, because you are absolutely right, we probably have the worst law ...

Wow surprising! Your laws are better than in Spain :-(  I couldn't  imagine this! It could be a dream to fly in Austria above those charming landscapes in Tyrol, Styria,Vorlaberg,...beautiful lakes, incredible mountains....you are lucky