Hello. I took my DJI FPV drone (bought the combo package) for its maiden flight and i realized that at around 300 meters from the controller, the HD signal on OSD turns orange, goes down to 2 bars and I start to get pixellation in the picture. At 350 meters, it gets worse and at around 400 meters, the pixellation is so bad that I can't even make out the picture anymore and the drone comes out of cruise mode. All the while the RC signal on the OSD is full bars and there are no problems with controlling the drone. I made sure of the following during the flight:

- goggle antennas were tightly in place.
- flew the drone in the city but in a wide open area and there was literally nothing but thin air between the drone and the goggles & controller.
- the controller antenna was in proper position.
- all the components (drone, controller, goggles) were using the latest firmware.
- started the flight at 100% battery power (drone, controller and goggles)
- this was the drone's first flight - bought it brand new, so no history of accidents / damage to any of the compnents.

Can someone help? Is there something I am doing wrong or did i end up getting a faulty unit?

You want to check the internet for the FCC Hack.
Many areas have the transmission power limited. Apparently it's possible to change this with an app or some other hack.
I believe this is an issue with local laws regulating the amount of power these devices can transmit at the frequencies used by the video transmitter.

Duane Degn Posted at 4-19 08:12
You want to check the internet for the FCC Hack.
Many areas have the transmission power limited. Apparently it's possible to change this with an app or some other hack.
I believe this is an issue with local laws regulating the amount of power these devices can transmit at the frequencies used by the video transmitter.

It really should work better, even in CE mode.
I flew 1300m before I really got bad reception.
At 300m it should be perfect.
You might want to check for Wifi from surrounding houses or so. But if you are not in an residential area, it should work just fine.

@thread creator:
Make sure you are in auto mode on the googles and not on a fixed channel.

MoppelMat Posted at 4-19 08:38
It really should work better, even in CE mode.
I flew 1300m before I really got bad reception.
At 300m it should be perfect.

I admire you certainty about CE FW. I have one as well and find the video link very unpredictable on it. It is perfectly flyable but it depends what type of flying yo udo and also very much where you fly. Personally I would not trust 25mW video to go further than 300 meters LOS. Especially if you want to flip and roll and... your quad. Just consider the FCC hack to be safe instead of sorry ...

It can happen.  I've had it happen at times even 100m away but cut outs at full bars.   Depends where you are.  Some areas I can go 1000m with full bars and clean feed.

In ‘city’ areas try changing the Transmission parameters from auto to 2.4Ghz and reduce the bit rate. Doing this will give you more range. In Auto the system selects a band before take off then it doesn’t seem to channel hop once flying. Maybe a bug??

Doing this in a CE country gave me almost 2.5km in a test.

I will be doing a test this week as I am not convinced some of these ‘hacks’ actually do anything!

I carried out a test today, two drones one with an FCC hack, the other without, so running CE limitations.

The same controller & goggles were used and each aircraft was flown along the same route at the same height to the same location.

The flight was over open countryside away from habitation. Both flights lost communication and initiated RTH at 2500m while not 10,000m it shows that the environment has the biggest effect on range.

Buzzyone Posted at 4-20 12:13
I carried out a test today, two drones one with an FCC hack, the other without, so running CE limitations.

The same controller & goggles were used and each aircraft was flown along the same route at the same height to the same location.

So the fcc hack doesn't work then?

djiuser_g6NvgUtBHmov Posted at 4-20 12:24
So the fcc hack doesn't work then?

FCC hack most certainly does work. I have measured it with my power meter and have flown it in the real world. On CE FW my video was very clearly glitching at 300 meters in the neighborhood of some trees with LOS and 600 meters clear LOS, while executing some flips. After applying (and testing it with power meter) of the FCC hack I can reliably fly, where previously was not able to. So if somebody says this hack doesn't work - to me it says he did not apply it properly (which can easily happen if you don't have the power meter)...

djiuser_g6NvgUtBHmov Posted at 4-20 12:24
So the fcc hack doesn't work then?

I'm not saying it doesnt work, but, power is not the answer to everything, I fly in open countryside, with no buildings or large inhabitations, without all this compeating traffic I can fly with good video feed and good control.

The bands that the drone uses are shared with many other devices, if they are fully used more power will help to cut through the weak or noisy signals. The more buildings and people that are around will result in more bandwidth usage.

I have tested two of the available hacks and used two drones flown to the same locations using the same parameters. The output power is higher with the hack enabled, confirmed with an ImmersionRC meter. For me it made very little diffrence no more that 20 or 30 mtrs. Both drones one FCC & one CE lost communications and initiated RTH at the same location.

Setting the CE drone to use 2.4Ghz only and reducing the bitrate, may give as good results as applying a hack. You basically just have to try and see what works for you.

tomekyo Posted at 4-19 14:03
I admire you certainty about CE FW. I have one as well and find the video link very unpredictable on it. It is perfectly flyable but it depends what type of flying yo udo and also very much where you fly. Personally I would not trust 25mW video to go further than 300 meters LOS. Especially if you want to flip and roll and... your quad. Just consider the FCC hack to be safe instead of sorry ...

1.3km the 2nd day I had her. People just don't think about local interference at all a lot of the time and just bump their gums straight away.