Raf_IZ0QWM Posted at 5-24 11:53
Hi, I have read all your comments.
I can not understand. If a radio system (transmitter / receiver) has a problem, it becomes evident when put under pressure and when compared to other radio systems.
I've been trying to find obvious problems in the DJI MINI 3 and DJI RC system for a week by comparing it to the Mavic Air 2 and RC-N1 system.

i am going to agree with you because i feel the same way.  disclaimer i dont have the mini3 yet but i have a bunch of other drones.  doesn't matter where i fly, i don't have "interference" problems.  obviously it's present but it has never ever adversely affected me.  i have never ever said "wow, that's a fair bit of interference going on there."  obviously it exists in the world but it hasn't been a problem for any of my drones for any apparent or obvious reason.  i don't know about you but whenever someone talks to me about power antenna, cellphone towers, bluetooth, concrete, people watching netflix in their homes, etc....well, you get the idea.  bah!  so when i start flying the mini3 and it comes up tits and somebody tells me oh it's probably interference.....

The Saint Posted at 5-24 12:50
i am going to agree with you because i feel the same way.  disclaimer i dont have the mini3 yet but i have a bunch of other drones.  doesn't matter where i fly, i don't have "interference" problems.  obviously it's present but it has never ever adversely affected me.  i have never ever said "wow, that's a fair bit of interference going on there."  obviously it exists in the world but it hasn't been a problem for any of my drones for any apparent or obvious reason.  i don't know about you but whenever someone talks to me about power antenna, cellphone towers, bluetooth, concrete, people watching netflix in their homes, etc....well, you get the idea.  bah!  so when i start flying the mini3 and it comes up tits and somebody tells me oh it's probably interference.....

I don’t think the poster found “no” interference. He found no drone worse than any other when he put them through their paces.

bxq Posted at 5-23 23:40
All manufacturers use reference results from lab conditions in their manuals and adds :-)

A word of advice: don't write "DJI said " in public forum and use some random data. mini 3 pro manual pdf is just few click away in google ;-)

Good point.  
Words of caution, we have a few FanBoyz who reject DJI's linked to manuals in favor of their own photo-chopped manuals to backup their claim.

Raf_IZ0QWM Posted at 5-24 11:53
Hi, I have read all your comments.
I can not understand. If a radio system (transmitter / receiver) has a problem, it becomes evident when put under pressure and when compared to other radio systems.
I've been trying to find obvious problems in the DJI MINI 3 and DJI RC system for a week by comparing it to the Mavic Air 2 and RC-N1 system.

"I tried to make them pass and stay near radio repeaters, in the open countryside, behind trees, behind houses but I couldn't find a time when the DJI MINI 3 performed worse than the other."

Perhaps I am misunderstanding reported communication problems, but where and what you describe in testing is not where people are having problems with mini-3.
Behind trees and houses would cause weakened signal, but not interference in form of surpuplous radio signals from other transmitters.  Open countryside would be almost optimal place for reliable communications between Drone & RC.  


In regards to radio repeaters, whether those would cause interference would depend upon their operating frequncy bandwidths.  With added possibility of harmonic interference (double/tripple frequency) at much lower power level than intended band.

Whereas, in urban enviornment, there will be host of radio signals above, below, and on same band as Drone and RC.  Scan 2.4 Ghz & 5 Ghz bands in urban area, and you will find practically every channel is used.  Along with one or two WiFi routers (base units) changing channels to find a better channel to use.  Believe in U.S. 5 Ghz WiFi band has 19 non-overlapping channels.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 5-24 15:44
"I tried to make them pass and stay near radio repeaters, in the open countryside, behind trees, behind houses but I couldn't find a time when the DJI MINI 3 performed worse than the other."

Perhaps I am misunderstanding reported communication problems, but where and what you describe in testing is not where people are having problems with mini-3.

So, you say that the only problem with this drone is with Wi-Fi occupied frequencies?
The Drone for some reason should not be able to switch to a free frequency?  Or, what else: the power EIRP is not strong enough to bypass the occupied channel?

Ok in this case I can do test also in laboratory. I can generate a sweep for all the WiFi band and verify.

I tested with not so much occupied channels you're right and if I fly over a city I cannot be sure how many channels are occupied.

At the moment I don't have permission to fly over Rome and try. I should wait until June 2nd to go to Pescara where I can do it.
Now I can pass over the villages but I have not encountered any problems.

I'll let you know. I will do further test on this direction. Thank you.

Oh, about radio repeaters, I know what frequencies they are using, I can see the antennas and be pretty sure, the problem is that they often use directional antennas and not very many frequencies, so yes there is noise, but very localized in space and freq.
I passed and stayed in front, but it is not the same as an almost total occupation of the useful bandwidth.

Raf_IZ0QWM Posted at 5-24 19:45
So, you say that the only problem with this drone is with Wi-Fi occupied frequencies?
The Drone for some reason should not be able to switch to a free frequency?  Or, what else: the power EIRP is not strong enough to bypass the occupied channel?

"The Drone for some reason should not be able to switch to a free frequency?"

I see possible problem with drone being able to find a free frequency (unused channel) in urban enviroment.  Not unusual to sit in a public place and see a dozen different WiFi routers.  Which could be worse in heavily populated areas.  

Imagine drone trying to fly thru such areas.  Drone may be able to find an open channel, then it may not be able too.  But channel it does find has intermittent interference from a WiFi router.  Signal interference is intermittent due to drone moving passing obstructions (row of trees) between it and WiFi router.

Raf_IZ0QWM Posted at 5-24 19:45
So, you say that the only problem with this drone is with Wi-Fi occupied frequencies?
The Drone for some reason should not be able to switch to a free frequency?  Or, what else: the power EIRP is not strong enough to bypass the occupied channel?

Your tests are good, many are complaining trying to fly distance over forest and woodlands. Flying in urban areas has also shown that Mini 2 is almost the same as Mini 3 they’re  almost identical in all testing both here and tests seen on you tube. It seems there is almost no difference and both drones see interference at exact same locations, not as advertised but caused by high rate of interference.

bxq Posted at 5-23 23:40
All manufacturers use reference results from lab conditions in their manuals and adds :-)

A word of advice: don't write "DJI said " in public forum and use some random data. mini 3 pro manual pdf is just few click away in google ;-)

These can always be taken with a pinch of salt. But they really help trolls who come here never with any intention of owning or buying a drone, but who love nothing better to spread conspiracies and whine about something they will never own.

I think we already see longer distances achieved than advertised IE 12km so creating conditions will always be possible as well as not achieving as per manual.

hallmark007 Posted at 5-24 22:46
Your tests are good, many are complaining trying to fly distance over forest and woodlands. Flying in urban areas has also shown that Mini 2 is almost the same as Mini 3 they’re  almost identical in all testing both here and tests seen on you tube. It seems there is almost no difference and both drones see interference at exact same locations, not as advertised but caused by high rate of interference.
https://youtu.be/lYvC9iZ1c78

Thanks for all your videos you posted.
Great proof that indeed, "there is no problem with the DJI MINI 3" but that those encountered by some are occasional issues and not even compared to other drones.

When it comes to radio communication issues, one cannot live in memory: here I remember that last year everything was fine.
Each day can be different from the other for various reasons.

hallmark007 Posted at 5-24 22:53
These can always be taken with a pinch of salt. But they really help trolls who come here never with any intention of owning or buying a drone, but who love nothing better to spread conspiracies and whine about something they will never own.

I think we already see longer distances achieved than advertised IE 12km so creating conditions will always be possible as well as not achieving as per manual.

Great video "Hallmark" interesting

I have placed my order this morning

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 5-24 20:54
"The Drone for some reason should not be able to switch to a free frequency?"

I see possible problem with drone being able to find a free frequency (unused channel) in urban enviroment.  Not unusual to sit in a public place and see a dozen different WiFi routers.  Which could be worse in heavily populated areas.  

This could be a problem with all drones.
In any case, it is replicable in the laboratory.

If it is truly ascertained that the drone is not fast enough to move from one frequency to another, it will show up pretty soon.

Or, you can try to make a comparative test with another drone directly in the field, trying to make the same road run as much as possible.

Watch the video posted by hallmark007, the context is the same, we don't know how many radio frequency disturbances there are in that area but the mini2 and mini3 behaved more or less in the same way.
If there was indeed a "problem" with the mini3, perhaps the test would not have had that result.

Exib Posted at 5-24 23:21
Great video "Hallmark" interesting

I have placed my order this morning

Good job, looking forward to my own arriving tomorrow. Good luck..

hallmark007 Posted at 5-24 23:30
Good job, looking forward to my own arriving tomorrow. Good luck..

They have given me a date of 01.07.22

hallmark007 Posted at 5-24 22:46
Your tests are good, many are complaining trying to fly distance over forest and woodlands. Flying in urban areas has also shown that Mini 2 is almost the same as Mini 3 they’re  almost identical in all testing both here and tests seen on you tube. It seems there is almost no difference and both drones see interference at exact same locations, not as advertised but caused by high rate of interference.
https://youtu.be/lYvC9iZ1c78

eek, whats with that screen

I did notice though that even though the controller indicator on the Attitude radar is off by about 45º the indicator still turns green when its actually aligned. So as i suspected in the other videos, they were not aligned as the indicator stayed blue, at least horizontally. There are a lot of poor range tests out there and i think they have given this new drone a bad name when its perhaps not called for.

hallmark007 Posted at 5-24 00:23
“Antenna design and receiver design can also cause perfectly good signals to be corrupted at the receiving end.”

This would almost certainly affect all mini3 drones and its not the case.

Maybe I should have clarified what I meant by "I can get the Mini 3 to disconnect or lose video feed every time".  I am doing all I know how to ensure that it doesn't.  ie, keeping it absolutely within VLOS, so not behind trees or buildings or any other object, keeping the transmitter pointing towards it, forcing it to 2.4GHz, or 5.8GHz, or letting it sort itself out in Dual, airplane mode, turning off wifi/cordless phones etc...

Compared to the Mini 2 (that I tend to keep in 2.4GHz all the time), no matter what I do, I can't get it to disconnect as long as its in my VLOS and closer than about 600m, even if I'm pointing the transmitter behind me.


If mine is due to a fault, then I think its fair to say, going by feedback here from real owners, that a huge number of them are faulty.

I'm fairly certain the Mini 2 got a firmware early on to improve signal integrity, so we can hope its a F/W issue (but then, why are some Mini 3's fine, if you believe those that say they are).


I haven't had many DJI drones (about 5, I think), preferring self build instead, hence only racking up about 3000km in the past 2 and a bit years, as I bought them for the lockdown periods, as they are easier to fly from my garden than self builds (which always need maiden flights or first flights after major work done in the big open spaces that were not available during lockdowns)

hallmark007 Posted at 5-22 09:10
From what I’ve seen and heard, it sounds like its more likely your environment thats causing the problem. I’ve seen tests one day 500m next day 3000m this is a real clue that interference is causing the problem “not the drone” or RC.

Show us a video comparing nano in the same location. There are many videos around showing complete failure of video transmission on nano so comparing this drone is no good. O3 is excellent in M3 so no reason it wouldn’t be any different in mini 3.

This test shows both the mini 2 and mini 3 signal fail at the same point where as the autel nano plus just carries on

What’s your explanation for this then ?

https://youtu.be/i0w05TcOQvk

djiuser_el8ZrMJKGxvK Posted at 6-5 17:23
This test shows both the mini 2 and mini 3 signal fail at the same point where as the autel nano plus just carries on

What’s your explanation for this then ?

Ive seen this test, and it confirms exactly what I’ve been saying its interference thats causing the signal to fail and its the same in both. With regards to the nano it’s obviously on a different system but you will see many tests out there showing its lack of performance particularly in any wind.

There is sommat about his location that just kills both drones, not sure what it could be, wonder if the Nano was in 2.4?
My Mini 2 does not struggle in my urban environment but i am at 60m to help get past the trees and houses behind me and its in line with this guy's mini 2 until he takes it higher to reach the 1km

Just got my M3P this weekend.  Mine suffers from poor range.  I have clear line of site, but at around 300-600m the signal nearly drops to zero.  They claim 12km!  I knwo 12km is theoretical, but I would expect at least 3-5km in real world scenario.  I'm getting 1/10th of that.  Not impressed.

PhotoShip One Posted at 6-6 09:16
Just got my M3P this weekend.  Mine suffers from poor range.  I have clear line of site, but at around 300-600m the signal nearly drops to zero.  They claim 12km!  I knwo 12km is theoretical, but I would expect at least 3-5km in real world scenario.  I'm getting 1/10th of that.  Not impressed.

This really concerns me, could you post a video from the controller showing when the video drops

Same Here ! The connection is worst with my M3P with the new controller.. My mini 2 was a lot better

Second unit (dji mini 3 pro) being returned uk the signal is bad this drone is like the dji mini 1 in the UK completely loses signal at 2000 meters in open area bad drone and a vug disappointment I'm in the middle of returning my second unit as I thought the 1st unit was just a faulty drone dji have lowered the power range of this drone and pilots what love it are pilots what fly it above thier head  £850 for this unit is daylight robbery sorry if anyone disagrees there is something very wrong with this drone transmission and the cpu speed of the rc controller is terrible waiting for operation to start says it all before booting the dji fly app

Runningman Posted at 7-2 07:40
Second unit (dji mini 3 pro) being returned uk the signal is bad this drone is like the dji mini 1 in the UK completely loses signal at 2000 meters in open area bad drone and a vug disappointment I'm in the middle of returning my second unit as I thought the 1st unit was just a faulty drone dji have lowered the power range of this drone and pilots what love it are pilots what fly it above thier head  £850 for this unit is daylight robbery sorry if anyone disagrees there is something very wrong with this drone transmission and the cpu speed of the rc controller is terrible waiting for operation to start says it all before booting the dji fly app

Hi, you are not alone. Same here in Sweden.
I was hope a firmware should fix it, but I doubts.

Still no improvement sign after .0201 update. Tested in non-urban area LV(EU), on same track, where dji mini2 flew 2.5km with ease, but dji mini 3 pro at 360m and 60m height got yellow poor RC signal, getting drone up to 120m returns white sticks in RC signal, but only for about 100m and drops comletely with frozen transmission at about 700m Look at the pictures attached

nixuspix Posted at 7-2 10:42
Still no improvement sign after .0201 update. Tested in non-urban area LV(EU), on same track, where dji mini2 flew 2.5km with ease, but dji mini 3 pro at 360m and 60m height got yellow poor RC signal, getting drone up to 120m returns white sticks in RC signal, but only for about 100m and drops comletely with frozen transmission at about 700m Look at the pictures attached[view_image][view_image][view_image]

Same here. Not acceptable

What's up with your direction indicator? It should be green if you are properly aimed at the drone. Plus there is no drone icon there. There should be drone(arrow) and controller(dot) bothe there. The dot turns completely green. You need to check it that way.

Mobilehomer Posted at 7-2 11:05
What's up with your direction indicator? It should be green if you are properly aimed at the drone. Plus there is no drone icon there. There should be drone(arrow) and controller(dot) bothe there. The dot turns completely green. You need to check it that way.

My compass finally worked properly after the update, and I was so glad.
But only for the first few minutes.  It then stopped working and cannot get it to turn green no matter where I point the RC.

nosnoop Posted at 7-2 11:14
My compass finally worked properly after the update, and I was so glad.
But only for the first few minutes.  It then stopped working and cannot get it to turn green no matter where I point the RC.

I would try a refresh of the RC using Assistant 2. For some reason, in some cases multiple tries are required before the update finally takes completely.

nixuspix Posted at 7-2 10:42
Still no improvement sign after .0201 update. Tested in non-urban area LV(EU), on same track, where dji mini2 flew 2.5km with ease, but dji mini 3 pro at 360m and 60m height got yellow poor RC signal, getting drone up to 120m returns white sticks in RC signal, but only for about 100m and drops comletely with frozen transmission at about 700m Look at the pictures attached[view_image][view_image][view_image]

From the looks of that, the RC isn't even pointing at the drone, if it is then the firstly, the compass issue has not been fixed yet and secondly, the RC indicator should be green when aligned, yours is white, should be blue mind so not sure whats going on there
disregard that, i see that someone also picked up on it and you've answered them... like whats been suggested, refresh of the FW may help, failing that, DJI support needs to know about it

I really don't have any issues for now, except for a green bar glitch in photo mode (only in preview, not in the picture) on my S22 Ultra.
I'm using a FMC with the RC-N1 in Argentina. Great range, full bars, impressive stability in the air for the weight, vertical mode, the image quality it's impressive (I have an Air2S and it's difficult to see diferences).
I bought this drone to gain portability, but with little faith to image quality and flight stability. Now i'm really impressed, it's a real little beast.
I'm surprissed when I saw this complaints, really it's the opposite to my experience. Maybe I had luck with my unit...

Got my Mini 3 Pro today and am seeing similar results to nixuspix. I tested in a rural area in the US. I took off from a back yard and was only able to fly about 600M in a straight line. Tried in two directions on two different flights. Tried switching between 2.4 and 5.8ghz but it made no difference in performance. I am using the DJI RC controller. I have been a long time Phantom 3 Professional owner and have range tested 3KM at the same location. It's a major downgrade and it's hard not to be disappointed considering the cost. Best Buy only gives me 15 days to return so I will probably just do that rather than wait on a response from DJI.

Mobilehomer Posted at 7-2 11:05
What's up with your direction indicator? It should be green if you are properly aimed at the drone. Plus there is no drone icon there. There should be drone(arrow) and controller(dot) bothe there. The dot turns completely green. You need to check it that way.

Hi Captains Mobilehomer & Bashy!
Maybe here is a clue - in no way i can get reliable visual contact between RC and drone (Green color i mean) Have tried at 10-12 m between them and can't catch it. Sure that i refreshed RC firmware before this test. Some intermittent color changes out of my control. Here is a link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/ ... Xj/view?usp=sharing

nixuspix Posted at 7-3 00:51
Hi Captains Mobilehomer & Bashy!
Maybe here is a clue - in no way i can get reliable visual contact between RC and drone (Green color i mean) Have tried at 10-12 m between them and can't catch it. Sure that i refreshed RC firmware before this test. Some intermittent color changes out of my control. Here is a link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/ ... Xj/view?usp=sharing

Seems as though your link is broken.

Mobilehomer Posted at 7-3 05:18
Seems as though your link is broken.

OOps... maybe You've been too early and Google still was checking it. Looks alive link from here.
Please recheck if You wish to

you need a little more distance. Try 50 or more then see if it works better. I find it easier to  align wioth the arrow in center.

Mobilehomer Posted at 7-3 18:04
you need a little more distance. Try 50 or more then see if it works better. I find it easier to  align wioth the arrow in center.

Thank  You, will try

Epic fail in massive open countryside....bye bye drone lost!!!!!!!!!!!

Staffydog33 Posted at 12-2 18:18
[view_image]

Epic fail in massive open countryside....bye bye drone lost!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,

So what really happend?  at 854 meters away from HP, it should fly back towards home when disconnected.
Failsave RTH does always performs great!  (if you fly within drone wind limitations)

If you like upload your flightlog, use this > https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Post the upload link on here

cheers
JJB