Hi all,

I bought a Spark recently to do some filming on my holidays. Currently i'm trying to fly as much as possible to gain some experience. But I noticed a couple of issues. When I connect the drone with the controller and my phone the connection is most of the time 5G. However sometimes when the phone/controller are next to the drone the connection is already medium... Very strange, because there insight of each other.

Yesterday I did some flight with my spark in the open field together with a Mavic Air 2 but I wasn't able to go further then about 70 meters, I already received messages about a poor connection. The mavic air was able to fly around 5 times my distance without any connection issues at all. How can I fix this issue? All software is already at the latest version, I switched of my Bluetooth and airplane mode is active.

I saw some youtube videos suggesting to use an OTG cable to solve this issue, however this is not supporting as far as I read... I just want to make sure that my connection is as stable as possible. Any suggestion would be great.

My setup:
Spark (latest version)
Spark controller (latest version)
Galaxy S8 (latest version)

Thanks in advance

Hi Frank,

There are some factors to consider here. First you should turn off mobile network on your phone. Since the mobile network can output high energy pulses, it can disrupt Wifi connections. Thats also why you should stay well away from cell towers too :-)
Second point is interference. You didn't write where you have flown your Spark, if you have been in a park or in a residential area, there are lots of Wifi networks, other people wearing Bluetooth stuff and phones.
Find a nice, empty spot (field etc) to test.
Third point is OTG cable. Why are you saying it is not supported?  I'm pretty sure a S8 supports it. I'd recommend to use one, since that means that the R/Cs Wifi network is no longer needed and saves interference too. Additional benefit are way lower video lagging.
Forth point is CE. Since you are in Europe, only very small energy radiation is allowed (25mW). FCC people (usually the Americas) can output up to 1.6W IIRC. That gives them way more distance and way more stable connections. If you want to go that route, you can use the MOD 2.0 app instead of the stock Go4 app (use google) to get FCC power even in Europe. Of course you have to pay more attention where you fly to not disturb any other services on that frequency band.
Fifth point is antennas. In the Spark, its antenna is inside the body which not ideal. The larger DJI drones have there antenna in the landing feet, which is way better.

Cheers,
Wolferl

Wolferl Posted at 2-18 01:06
Hi Frank,

There are some factors to consider here. First you should turn off mobile network on your phone. Since the mobile network can output high energy pulses, it can disrupt Wifi connections. Thats also why you should stay well away from cell towers too :-)

Thanks for the info Wolferl. I switched off the Mobile network, but I didn't notice any different. Of course I switched everything of during the flight.

It's was an open field, just grass, no houses  around, just nothing. Also no concrete or steel buildings in the neighbourhood.

I did multiple flight, but other flight were in other sceneries sometimes with some buildings or trees, the connection was a bit better, but still lost track at some point. Really not to far away.

Can I just buy any OTG cable or are there specific ounces you recommend?

Frank11ert Posted at 2-18 02:10
Thanks for the info Wolferl. I switched off the Mobile network, but I didn't notice any different. Of course I switched everything of during the flight.

It's was an open field, just grass, no houses  around, just nothing. Also no concrete or steel buildings in the neighbourhood.

Hi Frank,

Ah ok, then, well, its CE after all.
I bought this OTG cable for my Galaxy S4 mini and am happy with it:
Amazon link

Cheers,
Wolferl

Thanks, I will look for a OTG cable. Just to be sure, I default mini usb cable won't fit into the controller right? I don't seem to fit?

Frank11ert Posted at 2-18 04:41
Thanks, I will look for a OTG cable. Just to be sure, I default mini usb cable won't fit into the controller right? I don't seem to fit?

Default mini USB does have the same mini USB plug....(well afaik, but a normal mini USB to USB-C does not work)

Frank11ert Posted at 2-18 02:10
Thanks for the info Wolferl. I switched off the Mobile network, but I didn't notice any different. Of course I switched everything of during the flight.

It's was an open field, just grass, no houses  around, just nothing. Also no concrete or steel buildings in the neighbourhood.

do you mean you have the cellular network (ex. AT&T, verizon) on during flight? during the flight, i have my phone in airplane mode with wifi on to connect to spark RC wifi. and no bluetooth as you stated

i had the exact same problem with my spark. For me, OTG cable done the trick and only cost me a couple pounds from ebay

Frank11ert Posted at 2-18 04:41
Thanks, I will look for a OTG cable. Just to be sure, I default mini usb cable won't fit into the controller right? I don't seem to fit?

Micro-USB port in the controller, not Mini. You don't want to damage your RC's port by cramming a Mini-USB plug into it.

Thank you all for the suggestions... I will try it with an OTG cable and also I will try it with an "old" iPhone 5, curious if this solves the issue as a work around.

Just another strange question, for some reason the micro-usb cable won't fit into the DJI controller, it seems micro but it isn't... I already lost the orginal cable, somebody has some suggestion how to make it fit with an micro usb cable?

"I already received messages about a poor connection."

You receive the message, or do you HaVE a poor feed?
And the RC is still stabil green, the bird is doing, what you want it to?

S-e-ven Posted at 2-20 00:24
"I already received messages about a poor connection."

You receive the message, or do you HaVE a poor feed?

The feed stopped, the video was interrupted.
The video lagged visable on my phone and I received messages about the poor connection.

The spark was still flyable with the controller, probably because the controller didn't lost connection with the spark.

Get a cable and switch back to 4.2.21, I'd say

Try this:
https://sparkpilots.com/threads/ ... for-fcc-mode.12459/

Thank you all for the information and suggestions. Last week I received my OTG cable, this resolved all my signal issues
I was now able to fly twice the distance and the connection was still better than before

I won't fly the Spark without the OTG cable anymore with the Samsung S8 combination unless I have to ;)