I don't have any proof of the 13,500, but did get a screen picture at over 10,700 ft.

jbrazda Posted at 2015-5-9 04:03
I don't have any proof of the 13,500, but did get a screen picture at over 10,700 ft.

Looks like your transmitter and video signals are full bars! Any special settings you would share or is this straight up stock? Thanks

just stock.  Went to 13,500, still had signal, but battery was down in to 55%, went into rth on its own.  Came right back.  

jbrazda Posted at 2015-5-9 05:02
just stock.  Went to 13,500, still had signal, but battery was down in to 55%, went into rth on its  ...

did the controller have a direct line of sight? this is impressive.

Reading all the different posts, the best way to increase distance is clear line of sight and frequency used?  

This thread makes me want a P3 even more. Extra range = extra safety. I don't really need to fly miles away but sometimes I fly near the limit of the range of the P2 where a lost signal could mean a lost drone. The longer the maximum range, the more confident I feel. There may be a time and a place for a really long distance flight where this feature would be handy. There are mountains I want to fly around and the nearest access road is a couple of miles from the summit. Even staying 400 feet AGL I should be able to stay in line of sight the whole way.

Daninho Posted at 2015-5-8 07:51
6000feet is only 1800m, the specs say 2000m in FCC mode. I would say its normal, there are videos  ...

Thats only 200M less than the advertised 2000M so whats your point????   I did 7177 Feet yesterday over the ocean and had full FPV  and radio control signal the whole way.....

jbrazda Posted at 2015-5-9 04:03
I don't have any proof of the 13,500, but did get a screen picture at over 10,700 ft.

If true you should have proof in the flight log/record part of the App....

LOL saw this on another forum and had a good laugh.

Had 1500 m     today in CE mode

Yesterday 1950 m with the P3 Professional (Europe)  - Clear environment  

Did 1000m and could go more (europe)
And for those who have difficulties maybe just check the position of the antenna on your rc...
I realised mine were not pointing up and not on the flat side, it was much better after

ronnydsosa@gmai Posted at 2015-5-10 01:20
Thats only 200M less than the advertised 2000M so whats your point????   I did 7177 Feet yesterday ...

I think you know my point very well. the official specs say 2000m max. range in FCC mode, so 1800m range is not surprising at all.

klaasjan@haitsm Posted at 2015-5-11 15:25
Yesterday 1950 m with the P3 Professional (Europe)  - Clear environment

Very nice to heer klaasjan

tchavalas@panos Posted at 2015-5-9 03:57
Did you try looking at the channel scan to see how much traffic there is on the spectrum?  Did you ...

can you describe how to do this? is it dangerous to start messing with the channels?

I think if you want to do a proper range test you ought to find the highest point on the map and climb that hill.   
Avoid any areas where there might be wifi, or large antennas, or big power lines.  
Keep a good altitude.   
Switch your phone and tablet's wifi off.  
Point your antennas so they are both vertical , and flat side towards the phantom.

I got 2.5km and chose to turn around at that point.  Perhaps some are answering the survey stating what they have dared to do so far - rather than stating at what distance they actually lost signal.  Even next to my house, surrounded by trees I get 2km.  I can also control the craft with full signal 1m above the ground, 500m away from me, with my house positioned between me and it.  The signal power is excellent, even in EC mode.

As I've been mentioning in a different feed. (I should have used this one) I flew in perfect conditions today in the UK but started getting video signal issues at between 700-730metres. Less than 1km. Very disappointed...

rmh2003@gmail.c Posted at 2015-5-7 22:04
Here is the youtube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EYS0X39UPM&feature=youtu.be

@rmh2003 - That's pretty impressive!!  Even moreso those houses!!!!  Whereabouts is this?  I can't believe how huge the houses are and how nice everyone's yards are kept, beautifully manicured and green!!  I want to live there!  :-)

6800 feet this afternoon.  Could of gone further as signal was full bars but had flown too much earlier. .   This was from a park with open areas.  Before in a neighborhood with trees and houses, limited to 2800 feet

Jon.hopkins.1@o Posted at 2015-5-12 06:44
As I've been mentioning in a different feed. (I should have used this one) I flew in perfect conditi ...

That is strange.  I can only think it is either some massive interference in the area (which you can't see obviously) or the hardware is somehow defective.  Have you tried it in a completely different area - perhaps drive 10 miles away from where you tested and try again?

I think there is an area in the app where you can view levels of interference on different channels - does it shed any light?  Mine rarely registers anything on that graph, so if you are seeing a lot of activity that could be the cause.

Tested mine in stock configuration and on my farthest run I got 9080ft … the battery has enough to go at least twice that distance in good conditions... so I added an antenna

tchavalas@panos Posted at 2015-5-9 03:57
Did you try looking at the channel scan to see how much traffic there is on the spectrum?  Did you ...

you could upgrade your transmitter with twin helical antennas and even add a couple 2.4ghz 2 watt boosters, its a bit of work but will give you all the range you could ever want.

DBS Posted at 2015-5-14 18:21
Tested mine in stock configuration and on my farthest run I got 9080ft … the battery has enough to  ...

Very nice!    It would be great to know how those custom antennas compare to the stock ones on two flights in the same location.  

Some are getting 6km on stock alone, so battery is the main issue.  However in EC zones with reduced power, or in areas with interference, I'd like to know how much difference the various types of replacement antennas make.

droneking Posted at 2015-5-9 03:52
I am not happy with the range. Over 50% of the people including me are getting less than half of the ...

I was able to get over 3 km over a lake. I had to get it back home as it was running out of battery.
I will have to next try a huge area with no trees and see if I can get the same range.

The furthest so far for me is 1.53 km or .95 mile (5033 feet)  The first 1600 feet was flat with no trees/houses and then the rest of the flight was over tall trees, power lines and single family homes. I had it about 340 feet high with image transmission setting on auto.  I'm holding off on voting until I can test it in an open field away from tall trees, power lines and houses. I've only had about 15 flights and what I have experienced so far I can definitely say the 2km spec is more than reasonable.

Has anyone had issues with range? I flew today and got no more than 500-600 ft away before I completely lost signal for video and radio. Luckily the P3 entered FS. Ideas on what happened? Any tips on antenna position etc for some achieving some of the distances you guys are posting?

Scottd825 Posted at 2015-5-29 01:52
Has anyone had issues with range? I flew today and got no more than 500-600 ft away before I complet ...

A little more detail would be helpful. Was it in an urban area with tall buildings or tall trees nearby? I keep both antennas vertical and slightly bent out. In the same area that I flew 5000 feet if I fly in the opposite direction where I am closer to tall trees and over a large power line and over a shopping plaza I start getting weak connection around 2800 feet. Try to get on the highest ground possible away from powelines and heavily populated urban areas with wi-fi connections. Get the bird up high with no tall trees or buildings close to you while pointing the controller towards the phantom. (Post #49 is the Dummies guide for Phantom Distance but so very true. )

With my P3A....   If I shoot HDR stills, there is a loss of video-feed while the file is being saved.  If you watch the Photo button within the app, you can see that it is busy saving the file.  After the file has been saved the video feed immediately returns.  Not really a big problem for me.  This does not happen shooting normal single or multiple burst photos, nor motion video.  Taking a HDR photo will delay video feed back from my P3 100% of the time during file save.

Did you see what this guy did! 9.1 miles total. Out and Back. Unreal.

http://forum.dji.com/thread-16440-1-1.html

Jerry

Okay I went 6520 feet or 1.23 miles/ 1.98 km yesterday. I still had decent connection although weak transmission signal would occasionally pop up. Im pretty sure I could have went over the 2km mark as i only needed an additional 100 feet. I'm going for it later today. I'm.still holding off voting but looks like I'll be going over the 2km spec

10,022 feet/ 3,054 meters or 1.89 miles/ 3.05 km on my 23rd flight. new personal best distance and return to home never initiated so maybe I could have gone a bit further although signal was weak.  I had custom channel 20 selected and the video rate at 4mb. Even at the lowest setting the video quality was good and much more stable and clearer compared to  my p2v+. My p2v+ video is very laggy and control and video connection frequently breaks around 1600 feet and sometimes even less. The P3 is just so much better than the p2v+...I'm loving this quad!! I think I can now vote in the 3-4 km rAnge. I don't think I'll ever get over 4 km although in the right area I might try it one day.

Who the hell would want to fly their P3 at 2-5km distance away?

To me it's a risky and potentially stupid thing to do, and you most definitely lose your line of sight. In my opinion it's too expensive a machine to risk losing because you've flown it too far, too high, and that's one of the reasons I keep mine within a reasonable distance.

I can achieve everything I want to with my phantom three professional without flying it  extreme distances, so no offence to everyone but these YouTube videos and this subject is nonsense.

Cheers,

Nick

Different locations mean different distances in my experience.

My furthest so far is 3.9km still had strong signal again was over water.

4.8 miles easy and could have done lots more 25433 feet or 7.724KM

jbrazda Posted at 2015-5-9 05:02
just stock.  Went to 13,500, still had signal, but battery was down in to 55%, went into rth on its  ...

I've also gone out 13,500 (4.1km) and used RTH to bring it back. It was an adrenaline rush. I was always keeping an eye on the battery level. I think I could have gone out further, but chickened out... for now.

I am sorry. How do I vote if you discriminate me? Lol. I use it as a flying camera and keep it close to me, I have 88 flights (50km) but never sent it further than a couple hundred meters away from me.

My farthest distance flight to date was 13,820 feet (4.2 km, 2.6 miles) in Illinois last week over farmland.  Several other flights in excess of 12,000 feet max distance the same week.  Completely stock P3 Pro with SummitLink quick-connect prop protectors installed and PolarPro ND 8 filter on camera lens.  Screen grab below shows P3 at turnaround point.  Still had full transmitter signal bars and smooth live video at that distance and throughout flight.  HD Link set to Custom, channel 20, 4 mbps video transmission rate, iPad Air 2 as mobile device, antennae parallel to one another, pointing straight up with wide flat sides pointed at P3, P-GPS mode under operator control both directions.  You can see outbound flight path was not perfectly straight, but return flight was.  Landed P3 on same Welcome mat it took off from with 12% battery left.  Total flight distance flown was 28,363 feet.

I can go a few miles over water and at least a mile over "land". You must understand Fresnel zones entirely... wave propagation and sheath type wave bounces. moisture is not your friend.. unless you are bouncing off a solid surface full of it... kinda of like cladding inside a fiber cable. with a cheap to make parabola type tin foil behind your antennas, you can easily go a few miles keeping in mind your Fresnel boundaries... you can cut into them about 30% or so and still have good signal.

Jim.young04@gma Posted at 2015-5-6 05:18
i too would like to know how to increase range. I have flown 3 or 4 times never being able to surpas ...

Mount passive antenna booster!  It's a DIY project. Not far from you kitchen, bathroom you have some bottle with form as a tube. Device this in two part, from the center. Inside of these two part as pipe, use some glue and fixed some metal foil (likely you using to compact y new Year chicken).

Use some plastic parts that you attach to plastic pores inside, which is trodden through antennas. Extremely cheap, gives you a distance increase approximately 30-40%. Not to mention, you have now endowed your controller directional, so you must keep your position in the direction where the Phantom is. Good luck!