Hi everyone
There's been a fair bit mentioned about surprisingly poor signal strength for the Mini 3 Pro, so I went about showing how it's trees that are possibly your worst enemy when flying.  
As a few have mentioned, the moisture in leaves will absorb your signal like a sponge, unlike buildings that will usually bounce and reflect signals.
This video shows just how quickly trees and leaves can affect your tramsmission range, so the moral is, stay away from trees for better signal strength.....

You know two of those complaints  here on the forum started off with “I was just flying over the forest” trees do play a real factor with signal interference. So thanks for doing the video, certain it will help many.

Been testing Mini 3 pro and have found that it gets interference in all the same areas as Air2s and I consider that drone rock steady as fat as signal goes. But I don’t believe any dji consumer drone can avoid interference. Flying at higher altitudes keeping RC in line of sight of the drone will help and experience will tell you that.

I don’t think there is real difference in O2 to O3, maybe they can do slight updates that might help with downlink video. I have found in rural areas signal on Mini 3 is rock solid.

Good job as per usual...

God review Ian.    Im guessing its the water in the trees that suck up the radio waves.

All this I cant do a range check because of UK law....... Do you honestly think good old Ian has not done one or indeed flown any of his drones beyond line of site or flown his DJI Fpv without a spotter. Why dont people just tell the truth

Ok, this is an interesting topic. Professionally, I am a communications engineer. I work with a variety of comms from line of sight, HF and Satellite comms. Radio waves especially at the frequency range of the drones 2.4 and 5.8ghz dont get absorbed. Plants and tree's (their canopy) all contain high levels of moisture. Whats happening is that the signal is being reflected and as such a vast majority of it is not passing through the tree's canopy. The tree's don't absorb radio signals, if they could they would be known as ' Stealth Trees ' LOL   

This issue is obvious in city areas where the signal is being reflected away from its intended direction of propagation. When we communicate with overseas stations on HF (High Frequency) we actually rely on the oceans water so our signals reflect off the oceans surface and bounce up into the ionosphere in space and refract back to the other side of the earth giving us global communications.

Thanks Ian really good to know and very comforting hearing even the Mavic 3 does the same! Someone in one of the forums suggested turning the drone on and getting a mate to go for a bike or drive in the car with the drone (or controller) to see how much range you get. Not a bad idea I thought unless being that close to the ground causes reflection issues with the signal?

Bigplumbs Posted at 5-28 02:32
All this I cant do a range check because of UK law....... Do you honestly think good old Ian has not done one or indeed flown any of his drones beyond line of site or flown his DJI Fpv without a spotter. Why dont people just tell the truth

There's one thing to break the law but another to actually mention it on a public forum or worse, youtube

That was just hard to watch. I can't understand why you're struggling at 300m and with the Mini 2 no less, I can fly over my village with my Mini 2 in CE mode and with trees, literally one about 20-30m away from me plus more trees further ahead and still get much farther than you did, to the other end of a densely populated village at 65m in height.

Very good review Ian.    It was quite windy on your test day.  

Thanks for sharing Ian! It's a shame you never got to test the Nano+ in the same area as that would be an interesting comparison

I don't have mini3 yet but we have the same "lovely" dog :-)

Bashy Posted at 5-28 03:44
There's one thing to break the law but another to actually mention it on a public forum or worse, youtube

Yes perhaps but isn't that just telling lies on camera......... We all know that no one will stick to LOS all the time so why claim differently.

I wish people would just tell it like it is.....

Bashy Posted at 5-28 03:53
That was just hard to watch. I can't understand why you're struggling at 300m and with the Mini 2 no less, I can fly over my village with my Mini 2 in CE mode and with trees, literally one about 20-30m away from me plus more trees further ahead and still get much farther than you did, to the other end of a densely populated village at 65m in height.

Is your drone still in VLOS When you do that............   Now is your chance to tell the truth..... Drum roll

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 5-28 03:20
Ok, this is an interesting topic. Professionally, I am a communications engineer. I work with a variety of comms from line of sight, HF and Satellite comms. Radio waves especially at the frequency range of the drones 2.4 and 5.8ghz dont get absorbed. Plants and tree's (their canopy) all contain high levels of moisture. Whats happening is that the signal is being reflected and as such a vast majority of it is not passing through the tree's canopy. The tree's don't absorb radio signals, if they could they would be known as ' Stealth Trees ' LOL   

This issue is obvious in city areas where the signal is being reflected away from its intended direction of propagation. When we communicate with overseas stations on HF (High Frequency) we actually rely on the oceans water so our signals reflect off the oceans surface and bounce up into the ionosphere in space and refract back to the other side of the earth giving us global communications.

Hi Global Hawk,
Thank you very much for your professional explanation of how radio waves of certain frequencies work. I am also a communications engineer and have worked with various radio communications from short waves and VHF, UHF and up to 5 Ghz. I would have loved the see Ian do a test, but avoiding the trees, in order to see what if any the distance would have been. Like a completely open field.
Thanks again.

Hi Ian, Thanks for doing this test. I would love to see the same test, but over the fields and no trees, just to see what distances you get.

Bigplumbs Posted at 5-28 06:33
Is your drone still in VLOS When you do that............   Now is your chance to tell the truth..... Drum roll

Like I said earlier, there is one thing to break the law and another to advertise to the world about it.
Take from my reply what you may, I admit nor deny anything, speak to my lawyer.

Bashy Posted at 5-28 20:28
Like I said earlier, there is one thing to break the law and another to advertise to the world about it.
Take from my reply what you may, I admit nor deny anything, speak to my lawyer.

Let me have his contact details and I will if you wish.

Bigplumbs Posted at 5-28 22:20
Let me have his contact details and I will if you wish.

Craig Hodgson at Mills & Reeve

Bashy Posted at 5-28 22:25
Craig Hodgson at Mills & Reeve

Thanks…………. I am sure they are quality like most Lawers and charge reasonable fees

Bigplumbs Posted at 5-28 22:30
Thanks…………. I am sure they are quality like most Lawers and charge reasonable fees

Middle of the range I suppose, but rest assured though, you will need to go through yours too because first thing tomorrow, I will instruct mine to ignore any correspondence with regards to this otherwise, after all, if it's going to cost me, then I will not be alone ;)

DJI must have been testing the maximum range in Iceland to get 12km.

Bashy Posted at 5-28 22:41
Middle of the range I suppose, but rest assured though, you will need to go through yours too because first thing tomorrow, I will instruct mine to ignore any correspondence with regards to this otherwise, after all, if it's going to cost me, then I will not be alone ;)

I get all my legal services for free and I don't need to wait till Monday they work weekends as well

kyalami Posted at 5-28 11:11
Hi Global Hawk,
Thank you very much for your professional explanation of how radio waves of certain frequencies work. I am also a communications engineer and have worked with various radio communications from short waves and VHF, UHF and up to 5 Ghz. I would have loved the see Ian do a test, but avoiding the trees, in order to see what if any the distance would have been. Like a completely open field.
Thanks again.

Thanks all for the input and thoughts.  The only time I flew very long distances was in Iceland, either up to and over an erupting volcano, or over a glacier.  Both times I had good signal far beyond what was being tested here or what I fly usually.  With direct unobstructed line of sight, far greater distances are possible of course.   
When I do my usual flight routes over the open fields around my house, I have zero transmission issues; it is literally that blind spot in the other direction that causes issues hence my choice to fly low in that direction to make it as hard as possible for the drone; that was the whole point of my test here; to show how flying anywhere near trees will mess up your signal; this is an everyday scenario that many will face so I wanted to show how bad trees are for your flying...

Ian in London Posted at 5-28 23:52
Thanks all for the input and thoughts.  The only time I flew very long distances was in Iceland, either up to and over an erupting volcano, or over a glacier.  Both times I had good signal far beyond what was being tested here or what I fly usually.  With direct unobstructed line of sight, far greater distances are possible of course.   
When I do my usual flight routes over the open fields around my house, I have zero transmission issues; it is literally that blind spot in the other direction that causes issues hence my choice to fly low in that direction to make it as hard as possible for the drone; that was the whole point of my test here; to show how flying anywhere near trees will mess up your signal; this is an everyday scenario that many will face so I wanted to show how bad trees are for your flying...

Thanks for your reply Ian,
Had a look at your video again and see that you were at a height of 26 m, which was not over or on the side or behind the tree height. The signal dropped at 200 m and you had not yet reached the tree. It was still in front of the drone. So, should the signal from the RC not be completely unobstructed and free from any interference then? I am still very confused about the flight distance for the Mini 2 Pro from what I read here in the forum. So, yes, as you say, it could have been that blind spot that you are talking about. This is why i asked what would happen if you fly with the same drone in a completely open on that filed. As you had good distance in Iceland, the RC and drone must be good. I am very close to purchase this drone, so I read everything I can lay my eyes on and learn as much as possible first. Thanks again for all your professional test that you do. Much appreciated.

kyalami Posted at 5-29 01:37
Thanks for your reply Ian,
Had a look at your video again and see that you were at a height of 26 m, which was not over or on the side or behind the tree height. The signal dropped at 200 m and you had not yet reached the tree. It was still in front of the drone. So, should the signal from the RC not be completely unobstructed and free from any interference then? I am still very confused about the flight distance for the Mini 2 Pro from what I read here in the forum. So, yes, as you say, it could have been that blind spot that you are talking about. This is why i asked what would happen if you fly with the same drone in a completely open on that filed. As you had good distance in Iceland, the RC and drone must be good. I am very close to purchase this drone, so I read everything I can lay my eyes on and learn as much as possible first. Thanks again for all your professional test that you do. Much appreciated.

When I took off, the drone went beyond the clump of trees and bushes that you see just after take off of the Mini 2 (first part of vid).  Through cracks in the trees and bushes, I can see the drone but there is no doubt the signal is having to pass directly through the bushes and trees, hence the interference.
Obviously if I had flown higher, I would have got better results.   And likewise if I had flown out directly over the fields like most of my other videos on my channel, there is no interference at all.  
Don't let this test worry you about this particular drone.  I get the same interference on the Mini 2 and the Mavic 3 at this precise spot.  This video was about showing how trees and bushes will stop your signal in its tracks.   Maybe I didn't make that clear enough in the video; apologies.  
I have flown the Mini 3 Pro the other direction at a good few hundred metres (but genuinely not beyond 600 metres so far) and so far it's always performed fine.  It's only trees (and water apparently) that mess the signal up.

Ian in London Posted at 5-29 01:59
When I took off, the drone went beyond the clump of trees and bushes that you see just after take off of the Mini 2 (first part of vid).  Through cracks in the trees and bushes, I can see the drone but there is no doubt the signal is having to pass directly through the bushes and trees, hence the interference.
Obviously if I had flown higher, I would have got better results.   And likewise if I had flown out directly over the fields like most of my other videos on my channel, there is no interference at all.  
Don't let this test worry you about this particular drone.  I get the same interference on the Mini 2 and the Mavic 3 at this precise spot.  This video was about showing how trees and bushes will stop your signal in its tracks.   Maybe I didn't make that clear enough in the video; apologies.  

Aha, now I understand Ian. You already had trees/bushes in the way. That explains it. I must have missed this or did not think of it when you started. Yes, higher would have avoided this and gotten better range. Now I also fully understand about the test that you wanted to show what green things can do. I am aware of this that it can dampen the signal. So it was me that did not get it first and apologize. Yes now I feel much better and thanks again for your kind explanation Ian. It wont take long now until I will purchase the Mini 2 pro although I am very happy with the Mavic 2 pro, but limited of where I can legally fly and film.
Cheers.

This is good additional Information I an has provided. Sadly many people have taken the video to add weight to their belief that the Mini 3 Pro with RC Controller suffers from range issues more than the other drones

Bigplumbs Posted at 5-29 05:43
This is good additional Information I an has provided. Sadly many people have taken the video to add weight to their belief that the Mini 3 Pro with RC Controller suffers from range issues more than the other drones

Right; I've amended the video title and pinned a comment outlining this is about trees and how the Mini 3 is no better than the Mini 2 with obstacles that many will encounter on day to day flying; that was the point of this video.  I'll be honest though, I'm still a bit disappointed with its performance but ultimately I guess you can't argue with physics and how radio waves work....

GLOBAL HAWK Posted at 5-28 03:20
Ok, this is an interesting topic. Professionally, I am a communications engineer. I work with a variety of comms from line of sight, HF and Satellite comms. Radio waves especially at the frequency range of the drones 2.4 and 5.8ghz dont get absorbed. Plants and tree's (their canopy) all contain high levels of moisture. Whats happening is that the signal is being reflected and as such a vast majority of it is not passing through the tree's canopy. The tree's don't absorb radio signals, if they could they would be known as ' Stealth Trees ' LOL   

This issue is obvious in city areas where the signal is being reflected away from its intended direction of propagation. When we communicate with overseas stations on HF (High Frequency) we actually rely on the oceans water so our signals reflect off the oceans surface and bounce up into the ionosphere in space and refract back to the other side of the earth giving us global communications.

Good reply. You should have also mentioned that the propagation at 2.4 and 5.8Mhz transmits as Space Waves, lower frequencies propagate as Ground Waves. Hugging the ground and rolling along with it even behind hills. I have a FrSky Tandem 20S transmitter that simultaneously transmits at 2.4Ghz and 900Mhz utilising both. The effective range is 50+Klm at 900mhz..

kyalami Posted at 5-28 11:11
Hi Global Hawk,
Thank you very much for your professional explanation of how radio waves of certain frequencies work. I am also a communications engineer and have worked with various radio communications from short waves and VHF, UHF and up to 5 Ghz. I would have loved the see Ian do a test, but avoiding the trees, in order to see what if any the distance would have been. Like a completely open field.
Thanks again.

From my experiences, if you want to fly close into or down amongst trees,  you best chance of success is after trees have lost their leaves.  Of course some tress keep their leaves all year round.  

well, i guess this drone mini 3 pro has caused the conversation about trees and leaves to come up again.  why hasn't anyone said anything about it when flying their m3 or m2p?

The Saint Posted at 5-29 13:10
well, i guess this drone mini 3 pro has caused the conversation about trees and leaves to come up again.  why hasn't anyone said anything about it when flying their m3 or m2p?

As long as I’ve been flying drones the subject of trees and interference has come up with every drone. I have to say the best thing about these threads is they make people aware of where they fly and what they should expect in the way of interference.

One can reduce treenterference by chopping down trees in your area.

TiberiusMars Posted at 5-29 15:29
One can reduce treenterference by chopping down trees in your area.

this is my point.  yes there is interference but it hasn't been a problem, nobody talked about it.  i get some interference on my mobile phone, we all do.  nobody talks about it because the 5G phone doesn't put up with any nonsense.  the mini 3 pro seems to act like a 3G phone.  yeah you can make calls on it and hear every word being spoken and you can text and call emergency when you need it.  but it's 2022 and these are 2022 prices.  if the wireless carrier told you oh that clicking noise you hear while you are driving is the cellphone handing off the call from tower to tower as you move around, the iphone 15 does that, it's normal because all cellphones hand off, that's the way they work.  the iphone 15 would tank.

disclaimer:  i don't have my mini 3 pro yet so i hope mine is ok but i'm speaking up for those who are dissatisfied now and i'm letting folks know that in the future, i won't be putting up with a mini 3G pro, not for $900.  i shouldn't be talking about chopping down trees when along comes the mini 3.  i know you were /s but nobody had to address this before the way we are addressing it now.  im not saying interference hasn't always been around because it has but the mini 3 might be letting interference eat it's lunch.  my autel nano rejects interference. /s

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 5-29 13:07
From my experiences, if you want to fly close into or down amongst trees,  you best chance of success is after trees have lost their leaves.  Of course some tress keep their leaves all year round.

Correct, once they lose their leaves the moisture in the leaves also is gone allowing for better propagation of signal.

Good video!

Great video... thank you.... I'm in the USA (Central Florida) and can't quite break 1km...   Tons of trees as you suggest in this video, so I think Ill take it to a more "concrete" area for testing but I was hoping for at least 2km in my area.

I am in USA and same boat as @FSH in that I can’t break a distance of 3,000 feet even at a height of 380 feet. Rural area with only trees. The highest being about 80 foot trees. I think it is a LOS issue in that, I suspect, at a height of 380’ and a distance of 3,000’ that the 80’ trees still block signal. But I am not good at math to figure out the angles. Something like, RC at 4.5’ above ground, 80’ trees 500’ down range. On Father’s Day I will be traveling to a more rural area that has a much, much larger open area. I will see then if the range is farther.

In terms of absorption its water as opposed to trees but leaves and foliage contain a lot of moisture.

Another problem i see a lot is also people not using the compass indicator to make sure they're pointed *exactly* at the drone and making sure the vertical beam also does the same (there is no indicator for this).
A few degrees can make a huge difference to signal.