I had a downlink data connection lost for 70 seconds and the drone never entered rth. Should it have? The settings are to rth at 30 meters and it just hovered until I could walk closer to it. Is the downlink data the picture coming back to the controller?

Was it just the video feed that lost connection or the control signal? If it is the video feed which usually is lost before the control signal then no it will not enter RTH mode. Only when control signal is lost or the smart battery says it only has enough battery to get back home, then it will kick into RTH mode.

RTH will initiate after 3 seconds of control signal loss.
You only lost the downlink which is the video and telemetry from the Phantom and would have still had control.
Your Phantom was just hovering there waiting for you to do something.

It's common to lose downlink before control signal, particularly when you aren't flying fast.

Thanks. That clears things up a bit

Was the LED on the controller green (= control signal is ok - no RTH is initiated) or was it red (= control signal is not ok and RTH should be initiated - provided this function was selected in the setting menu)

oldhasbeen Posted at 2018-9-30 02:37
Was the LED on the controller green (= control signal is ok - no RTH is initiated) or was it red (= control signal is not ok and RTH should be initiated - provided this function was selected in the setting menu)

Dang!! I forgot to even look at it. I was busy running closer to the better connection. I will check that for sure if there's a next time.