As the title says, i can't fly my drone any futher than 70 meters away. So here is my story.

I have one set of dji fpv system, remote control, google, and air unit installed on my drone. i realized i can't fly the drone in long distance, to be exact, i can't pass 70 meters. it gets into focus mode in about 50-60 meters away and then lose signal on both goggle and remote control in about 60-70 meters. i did some digging online for the problem, and i found some suggestions which most of them are about the antena. they say it could be the antena being broken, having dirt inside, not clicking all the way in, etc. I checked that, tested, and still failed. So, i decided to build a new drone, and this time i bought a new air unit, lazer hd frame that dji recommended, and even the f55a pro II flight controller and ESC. However, I still get disappointed because both drones fly about the same distance, exactly the same issue with the distance.

Now I'm so frustrated because no matter what i do, nothing seems to improve my problem. almost 2k invested in these two drones, and i can't get excitement on the fly distance. No matter i'm in FCC or CE, no matter 25mV or 1200mV, no matter "auto temp control" on or off, no matter in normal protocol or sub baud fast protocol, or no matter i fly in a very large field with no obstacle or whatsoever, not even one tree, both drones can't pass 60-70 meters.

if anyone can help or point to where i can get help, it'd be very very much appreciated. only hope for me here is to find a way to reach dji support from my country. but i heard they might not be much help beside telling me to buy a whole system LOL.
Thank you

You are not the first to complain of this problem.

If you have had two quads/air units with the same problem, my guess is the problem lies with your controller or goggles.

Have you tried re-flashing the firmware on the goggles, controller, and air unit all at the same time?

I'm not sure if you have any other DJI FPV fliers in your area but seems like you need someone with a known working setup to help trouble shoot. You could meet up and bind to each-others air units and quickly see if the problem is something like bad goggles or poor antenna placement etc.

Care to post how you have your antennas mounted? Have you flown in a different place and had the same problem? Wondering if you just found a field with strong 5.8ghz interference.

Edit: and like the previous reply said, you didn't mention firmware updates. Are you on latest?

Another thought, are you definitely not in spectator / audience mode? Have you tried switching channels?

⬆️Yes, switching channels can make a big difference.

mc54 Posted at 6-29 06:25
You are not the first to complain of this problem.

If you have had two quads/air units with the same problem, my guess is the problem lies with your controller or goggles.

I have no new remote control or new goggle to test. But for the firmware, I checked that. I downgraded the firmware on all and test. Failed. Then I upgraded to the newest firmware again and test, still failed.

TechnoCore Posted at 6-29 07:32
I'm not sure if you have any other DJI FPV fliers in your area but seems like you need someone with a known working setup to help trouble shoot. You could meet up and bind to each-others air units and quickly see if the problem is something like bad goggles or poor antenna placement etc.

Care to post how you have your antennas mounted? Have you flown in a different place and had the same problem? Wondering if you just found a field with strong 5.8ghz interference.

Firmware updating is the first we all should do right? So I left it out of the story. And yes, I did downgraded the firmware to test and updated to the latest one, but it is still the same. And yes I tested in city and outside city at a few different places, in a large field, and the result is the same. Check The attachment photos.

TechnoCore Posted at 6-29 07:40
Another thought, are you definitely not in spectator / audience mode? Have you tried switching channels?

Yes I did. All 7 of them.

TechnoCore Posted at 6-29 07:32
I'm not sure if you have any other DJI FPV fliers in your area but seems like you need someone with a known working setup to help trouble shoot. You could meet up and bind to each-others air units and quickly see if the problem is something like bad goggles or poor antenna placement etc.

Care to post how you have your antennas mounted? Have you flown in a different place and had the same problem? Wondering if you just found a field with strong 5.8ghz interference.

Forgot to mention, there is no other DJI fpv flier in my country that I know of. Most of them are marvic fliers. I heard there was one before me but he was kinda new to fpv and lost his drone in the sea. I have no contact with that person. If I had to test the remote and goggle, I would have to buy a new ones. Beside I really don’t think it’s the goggle and remote control. They were all brand new sealed box when I bought them. Unless DJI sells defective products straight out of box. That’s most unlikely right?

I'm looking at the pics and what's with the wierd loose shrink wrap around the mmcx connector? I suspect some connection problem with the antennas.

mc54 Posted at 7-2 07:33
I'm looking at the pics and what's with the wierd loose shrink wrap around the mmcx connector? I suspect some connection problem with the antennas.

Hi mc54! the shrink wrap loosen up because i replaced the antenna a few times to test. anyway, let me get another brand new antenna and test.
however, i have a few questions hoping you might able to answer. So, i'm in Cambodia and by default it's in CE mode (HK mode). and i hacked it to use FCC mode. i got 8 CH. will this also affect on the distance as well? (FCC=4km, CE=0.7km). by changing to FCC, would i able to gain fly distance to 4km?

That should HELP your range, not HINDER it. So if you haven't done that already, I would do it.

mc54 Posted at 7-5 15:54
That should HELP your range, not HINDER it. So if you haven't done that already, I would do it.

You didn't read my post and answer the question? I did change it to FCC mode, but no help. I got 8 CH on my goggle, but range is no different

My mmcx connectors seem to be sensitive to side pressure. I used to zip tie around the air unit for stress relief in a crash, but the zip ties would eventually start exerting some perpendicular force on the connectors and I'd notice it with reception. Your antenna setup looks far too tense with that perpendicular pressure. I recommend a nice loose mmcx pigtail up to that 3d print mount, anchor the pigtail and then connect some lhcp rp-sma or sma antennas. DJI's own rp-sma antennas are cheap and good as far as i can tell.

As a test you could just ditch the antenna mount and leave them loose our of the top plate.
Edit: it's too bad dji forms don't send an email about replies, i'd get back to you sooner if they did

Try switching the air unit antennas between the two in air unit, they might fail internally due to bends... try other antennas...

i suspect its depends to the country/region that allow FCC mode. those country doesn't allowed either hack the FCC mode still get limit distance.mine limit is 200mw in my country.so i flew only this range weather i set to 700mw or 1200mw.

fansd40f2415 Posted at 7-8 16:23
i suspect its depends to the country/region that allow FCC mode. those country doesn't allowed either hack the FCC mode still get limit distance.mine limit is 200mw in my country.so i flew only this range weather i set to 700mw or 1200mw.

Yes, i'm also blaming that too after a whole 2 weeks of finding the problem. i think even though we hacked to use FCC mode and 1200mV max power, the range is still the same for the version 1.0500. I have emailed the support team with this question to verify too but no answer until today. Now i'm wondering if i order the system from USA and activated it there, and then fly it in my country, will it give me long range?
my country has no rules on drone much, and mostly i fly it in my farm which is far away from the city, but by default it's CE mode.

that's my only personal think and experience dont get me wrong. i want also long range as many user want. hope dji address the issues !

fansd40f2415 Posted at 7-8 19:59
that's my only personal think and experience dont get me wrong. i want also long range as many user want. hope dji address the issues !

they just released the version .600 let's try that.

a pilot at getfpv suggested that we should register it, using VPN, and he said the drone wouldn't know where we are exactly, then we'll be able to use FCC Mode. wondering if that's true, will try that

fans18992d4c Posted at 6-29 19:06
Firmware updating is the first we all should do right? So I left it out of the story. And yes, I did downgraded the firmware to test and updated to the latest one, but it is still the same. And yes I tested in city and outside city at a few different places, in a large field, and the result is the same. Check The attachment photos.[Image]

Hey I’ve been testing antenna positions,and the picture of yours is the worst, dji website recommends 4 inch separation, plus when you turn back to yourself the battery blocks signal, try putting them up like rabbit ears, 4 inches apart

Hey, I've fix the issue the mater is how you are horiented your head if you look down like if you loking at  your controler you will have poor conexion just look staight or rise a bit your head and you will have a much stonger signal.

Hello. Have you fixed your range problem ? I am having the same issue with one of my quads, I have 4 total and the other 3 work great but the holybro Kopis HD has terrible range

I'm having this issue as well. Range limited to about 200-300 feet. I bought my set up used so i didn't register the goggles. I'm in the US and bought goggles from another person in the US as well.

I don't know if you guys ever found solutions but one of my quads was getting terrible range with the air unit as well. The only thing that I found is that with the DJI antennae that have the 90 degree elbow, you have to make sure that when the antennae are in the position that you want them to be in, the elbow/shielding of the connector isn't bumping up against the top part of air unit housing and pulling the connector out. From the pictures that you posted, the connectors look to be in the worst orientation for making good contact with the air unit ports.

Try flipping your antenna mount over and running the antenna wires through the bottom. This would eliminate the issue with the elbows of the antenna connectors trying to push them out