Had a job this weekend, was flying from a small island out in the fjord, non popluated area with little or no installations, free of interference so to speak.
Then halfway out here i kept losing signal and craft went in to rth mode repeatedly run after run, only at 400m.
Elevation angle between craft and controller about 45 degr, and both antennas in vertical position.
Of all the Phantoms ive had, the P4P is def the most unstable and unpredicatable of them, simply stressfull on every job, and this is also my second P4P.

Any evil rumors about a P5 in the nearest future, or did Dji take a break from new models, now that there are no other competitors out there?

Not sure what you mean by elevation angle was 45 degrees.  If it was 45 degrees, the height and distance would be equal.  Like a right triangle.  So if you were 400 meters out, you were 400 meters high.  Is that right?  

Also, what is the photo?  It looks like a heavily populated area.  

I do a lot of flying over water with a P4 pro and have no problem with signal strength.
Have you tried swapping between frequencies 2.4 & 5.8 GHz ?

Nope, never had a problem with range over water. I have done a lot of flying over water. I cannot imagine why that might present a problem, the biggest danger I perceive is wind and making sure you can get back.

If I read the OP correctly, he is flying FROM an island back towards the scene in the photo. If that is the case, then he is flying towards a heavy interference area, and the aircraft will have a lot of difficulty seperating the RC signal from other signals in that populated area.

I had the same problem just tonight. i was out 4000ft and lost signal to both transmitter and video. this stinks!!!

Labroides Posted at 2017-11-12 16:10
I do a lot of flying over water with a P4 pro and have no problem with signal strength.
Have you tried swapping between frequencies 2.4 & 5.8 GHz ?

Can you swap while in flight??

hdlou94 Posted at 2017-11-12 17:02
I had the same problem just tonight. i was out 4000ft and lost signal to both transmitter and video. this stinks!!!

' this stinks!!!'

In what way? It is part of the art of flying radio control models, you get out of range or you get interference. Why does it 'stink'?

because your told you will have limited range due to terrain, buildings ect. not in open areas!!  over water where there is nothing but line of site!!

Lets go over this one more time,

Im standing on an island where theres no population, only a ferry that takes tourists out in the summer. So again, im NOT taking off from the city you see in the picture, cause its not allowed, hence why we are out on the island flying this mission, far from the site, so dont spend more energy on trying to arrest me for something, as i can read perfectly between the lines some of you do, as everything is done by the book.

That island is about 1km from the town you see in the picture, i flew 400m out, up to an altitude of 120m, a that elevation/angle it should not be any problem with signals. Climbout was not straight up, but evenly, out and up to 120m.
At 400m out, i still got 600-700m left to the town in the picture, so theres no interference from there, if it was, then nobody would ever be able to fly even in small populated areas with these things.

Changing between 2.4 and 5.8 did not make any change.
It is only the video signal that drops out, i can still control the craft.
The Lightbridge, according to the specs, has the same range as the controller itself, almost 10 times longer under obstructionfree and optimal conditions, so we are way within theoretical limits here, and possibly some of the best conditions for an optimal range. That leads me to believe that LB is the issue here, unstable signals, maybe the range specs on the LB is completely wrong, for all i know, i actually find it strange that its a strong as the controller, considering the type and amount of data transmitted, latency etc. 3.5km is far.
Its not likely the signals would get jammed 600-700m in front of a populated area, where theres no interference on the other sides.
Temps was +5c, no wind.

I do often get these gps dropouts during takeoff now and then thou, which has nothing to do with poor gps signals, just random disconnections, had the same issues with both P4P.
I power up the craft, wait for the lovely lady to confirm gps pos have been stored, 16-20 sats, takeoff,  then 5-10 secs after takeoff, gps drops out, and after floating around in the air for 30-60 secs, it comes back at full signal strength again, and no, there is no magnetic trash on the ground or other sources for disturbance, if it was, i would get that error on the ground, not 10m up in air, an it happens anywhere, regardless of location and environment, populated areas, or on the top of a mountain where thers not a single house for miles away, not everytime, but maybe every 3-4 time.
(This didnt happen on this flight, just mentioning it)

Impossible to trace down the real problems here, in my opinion, its the components in the craft that doesnt perform as well as previous models. Had 5 of these models now, never an issue before.

As Dockater confirmed, and what i already expected, is, that flying over open water should not affect signals, rather the opposite.

For me, im only hoping for a new improved, and hopefully better Phantom to be released...

If you want to fly over water, you have to be cautious about the message from your app and I would not recommend you fly too close to the water. Since the downward vision system will be affected, the drone will have trouble in flight performance.

hdlou94 Posted at 2017-11-12 17:03
Can you swap while in flight??

You can change any settings at any time, including the frequency

DJI Elektra Posted at 2017-11-13 03:30
If you want to fly over water, you have to be cautious about the message from your app and I would not recommend you fly too close to the water. Since the downward vision system will be affected, the drone will have trouble in flight performance.

I never used the VPS, and i never will, due to the same reasons youre mentioning.

Nope, never an issue for me...yet. I've flown as close to 15 feet above water.

Never had an issue while flying over water and I did it at least 20 times