While making a video for our channel, I noticed that our 2.4 Ghz range was very limited, even losing the connection at one point.  Other than being windy, we had a very nice direct line of sight.  While reviewing the video and putting it together for publishing, the obvious reason was right in front of me.  I was standing next to a very large electrical box!  No wonder!  The landing area was nice, but the electrical interference wasn't.  Lesson learned.

If it's electrical box shown as drone lands, it appears to be a utility's power distribution box being used with underground power lines.  Majority of time, boxes are made of metal and well grounded (both power ground and earth ground).  

There should be no interference caused by electrical box.  The normal power line frequencies are 60Hz (U.S.), far below 2.4GHz.  The metal box being grounded would act as shield to block any internal to external radio transmissions.

Perhaps the metal of box was reflecting signal from RC to drone and causing problems for incoming drone to RC transmission.

Excellent hedge!
You been there
You done that

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 5-17 17:30
If it's electrical box shown as drone lands, it appears to be a utility's power distribution box being used with underground power lines.  Majority of time, boxes are made of metal and well grounded (both power ground and earth ground).  

There should be no interference caused by electrical box.  The normal power line frequencies are 60Hz (U.S.), far below 2.4GHz.  The metal box being grounded would act as shield to block any internal to external radio transmissions.

Could very well be; for the life of me I couldn't figure out why the 2.4 GHz performance was so poor, but in retrospect we had not flown this particular area before and could have been other factors as well.

Flying_Nevada Posted at 5-17 20:39
Could very well be; for the life of me I couldn't figure out why the 2.4 GHz performance was so poor, but in retrospect we had not flown this particular area before and could have been other factors as well.

My local (Australian small town) power distribution box has a small antenna which (possibly) transmits updates to the power company. Apart from that, it could be enough electrical energy to mess with your compass.

Boffin Posted at 5-17 21:03
My local (Australian small town) power distribution box has a small antenna which (possibly) transmits updates to the power company. Apart from that, it could be enough electrical energy to mess with your compass.

A possibility.  Haven't seen any power distribution boxes here in U.S. with small antennas.  Still there are numerous utility companies doing their own thing.  

Power companies are moving from human meter readers to remotely read meters, and they may be installing systems to aggregate readings from meters then wireless transmit.

Flying_Nevada Posted at 5-17 20:39
Could very well be; for the life of me I couldn't figure out why the 2.4 GHz performance was so poor, but in retrospect we had not flown this particular area before and could have been other factors as well.

Something drone pilots will start encountering more and more of.  Mobile WiFi hot spots.

There has been for sometime small portable Cellular modems that interface with WiFi or Bluetooth.  I used to own one.  Vehicle manufactures have been offering cars with factory WiFi hot spots for several years.  Tapping Into In-Car WiFi

Techie types are installing WiFi systems in their own cars and trucks, which then couple to Cellular modem.

Hello and good day. Thank you for  sharing this video that you have created and for sharing your experience as well in creating it. Have a safe and happy flying always.

excellent video! Thanks for the share