Hello All,

I recently purchased a P4P, I have absolutely no experience with Phantom's at all, but I was wondering what kind of range you guys are getting, or what I should expect. I am flying in a residential area between 150-300 ft and I am having signal issues at ranges of 1500-2000 Ft away when it was new. I have since then had the firebridge 2 system added to the controller, and it is better, but still having issues less than half mile. I am sandwiched in between two military bases and int'l airport, could these be killing my range? or I expecting too much?

Thank You.

Sure...lots of RF interference bouncing around.  Are you referring to the video transmission range or the actual control of the drone?  I think there are lots of threads about usable range on here and it seems to vary quite a bit depending the environment.

Before the controller upgrade it was both, now mostly just video. Once I start to loose video, I come back.

Are you sure you're aiming correctly?

Are you sure the fly safe geo system isn't stopping your drone at a certain point?

No on the first yes on the second. I am pointing the controller toward the drone.

I believe he is running into NO FLY Zones.

I just did a job in San Diego.....I got LAANC Authorization and DJI UNLOCK for this job.  I was inbetween a Military airport, Civilian Int'l A/P and an Amphib Base.

I ran into HARD NFZ in 3 of 4 quadrants........There are NO FLY ZONES that you CAN'T unlock for security reasons.

Randy

It is not NFZ when the controller says aircraft disconnected and video freezes.

I think what you need to do is drive out to a rural area and give it a fair test so you know the problem isn't interference.  Be sure you know how to aim the antennas before you go.  Good luck

I am thinking the same.....is there any way to have the aircraft checked out? If I take it to the DJI repair center I have here, could they determine it is or is not working correctly, or would that be a waste? It seems to fly fine with the exception of the range issue.

Are you in northern VA?  I am across the river...

Hello there. Thanks for reaching out DJI Forum. I highly recommend you to try to fly your drone into a field with no military base around. Please keep us posted so we can help you out. Thank you.

Thank you Natalia, I will.

I am in Norfolk near Norfolk Int'l. How far are we apart?

Oh.  I thought NorVA might mean Northern Virginia.  I guess it means Norfolk, Va.  We're about four hours apart.  Haha  

Good luck

Read your manual and you'll get information what you need. There's a lot of interference in residential area like wifi signals from routers, cell towers, tv towers and ... as you said bases and airports.  

P4PNorVa Posted at 2018-7-22 05:56
Thank you Natalia, I will.

I am in Norfolk near Norfolk Int'l. How far are we apart?

Hello there. I appreciate your time bringing this query to us. You might want to check the GeoZone Map: https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map

I have the B4 you fly app, I know where the NFZ are. thanks.

P4PNorVa Posted at 2018-7-22 06:39
I have the B4 you fly app, I know where the NFZ are. thanks.

Actually, B4UFly does not show DJI NFZs.  It shows FAA restricted zones and other such zones.  FAA doesn't use the acronym "NFZ."  In fact, I don't think DJI uses it anymore either.  It's kind of left over from the P2 days...

To see DJI's geo map zones, look here:  https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map

These two things are completely independent of each other.  Some people get confused by this.  

Good luck

I was unaware of that....

Actually the flysafe does not show the naval or the amphib base which is strange..., and B4ufly shows me in a warning area, the DJI app does not.

I tried to get out of the B4ufly zone and get some stick time, but the weather is not playing well today...... so I will try as soon as I can.


Thank you all for the help.

I have the same issue, I have gotten to 2200ft before I got a black screen but can still control my P4P. This done with line of sight, standing on top of my vehicle. You do have to switch the frequency from 5 to 2 if you are in a residential area. Also move your antena, I think the signal comes and receives from the tip, like a magic wand If you are in an urban area, this is what you will get used to. I have watched videos of people getting close to 3 miles! pff . You can buy extenders but Im not sure they are worth the money. I have has mine for a year and have accepted it. Not sure I could see mine if it went further anyway.

indykurt Posted at 2018-7-22 17:30
I think the signal comes and receives from the tip, like a magic wand  ... You can buy extenders but Im not sure they are worth the money.

No... the energy of the signal moves up and down the vertical stick antenna and therefore makes vertical waves in the atmosphere, as in a sine wave.  You want your antenna to be pointing correctly relative to the aircraft, which means you want the top and the bottom (and the middle) of the antenna to be the same precise distance to the aircraft.  For example, if the aircraft is exactly in front of you at some distance on the horizon and hovering, you want your antennas to be perfectly perpendicular to the horizon and vertical so that they are parallel or as close to parallel as possible with the legs of the aircraft.  In other words, you want the stick to be pointing straight up.  But... you will find you get better distance if the aircraft is elevated above the horizon, so you would want to tilt your antennas accordingly.  

There are many mods you can do to improve distance and/or signal strength, but you shouldn't bother with that until you have a sound understanding on how to maximize your distance with the stock setup.  

Good luck

I am not running stock antennas, I have the firebridge 2 system....and yes the $10 extenders do work, it is just not enough.

P4PNorVa Posted at 2018-7-23 16:31
I am not running stock antennas, I have the firebridge 2 system....and yes the $10 extenders do work, it is just not enough.

I suggest you read through these two threads.  Sorry.

https://phantompilots.com/threads/extender-firebridge.90494/

https://phantompilots.com/thread ... -leaderboard.72554/

I have seen some of it......

I have purchased quite a few things from them, I have no issue with them......yet. So far they are being helpful and have offered a refund if I choose to go that way. We will see what happens.........