My team and I went out with mini 3 pro, mini 2, mavic 3 cine and the a phantom, but dont recall which one.  We were all around florida the past 2 weeks and columbus and chicago.  Droned all over the place.  Mini 3 pro max was 1,000 fr away, but liked to lose connection many times around 600 - 750 feet.

Before the karens pipe up, we use binoculars of we go out of natural eye sight, as no law in the US yet prevents that.

All firmware updated, forced compass and IMU calibration.  Tried different tricks and techniques with no success.

Surely there is a fix.  Any thoughts or better yet, anyone with this experience and got it resolved?

Sorry about the snarky "karen" comment.  I just see people assume things and try to show how much they know and I just want to get this resolved.

Thanks everyone! I do Appreciate the help.

Karen here, using binoculars IS against the rules!!! § 107.31 Visual line of sight aircraft operation.  (a) With vision that is unaided by any device other than corrective lenses, the remote pilot in command, the visual observer (if one is used), and the person manipulating the flight control of the small unmanned aircraft system must be able to see the unmanned aircraft throughout the entire flight in order to:   (1) Know the unmanned aircraft's location;   (2) Determine the unmanned aircraft's attitude, altitude, and direction of flight;   (3) Observe the airspace for other air traffic or hazards; and   (4) Determine that the unmanned aircraft does not endanger the life or property of another.   (b) Throughout the entire flight of the small unmanned aircraft, the ability described in paragraph (a) of this section must be exercised by either:   (1) The remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small unmanned aircraft system; or   (2) A visual observer.

Mobilehomer Posted at 11-19 13:17
Karen here, using binoculars IS against the rules!!! § 107.31 Visual line of sight aircraft operation.  (a) With vision that is unaided by any device other than corrective lenses, the remote pilot in command, the visual observer (if one is used), and the person manipulating the flight control of the small unmanned aircraft system must be able to see the unmanned aircraft throughout the entire flight in order to:   (1) Know the unmanned aircraft's location;   (2) Determine the unmanned aircraft's attitude, altitude, and direction of flight;   (3) Observe the airspace for other air traffic or hazards; and   (4) Determine that the unmanned aircraft does not endanger the life or property of another.   (b) Throughout the entire flight of the small unmanned aircraft, the ability described in paragraph (a) of this section must be exercised by either:   (1) The remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small unmanned aircraft system; or   (2) A visual observer.

And what does this have to do with the post and question?

iAmChrisStone Posted at 11-19 13:19
And what does this have to do with the post and question?

Reread your post. Then delete the part about binoculars being "legal" Then, get your Trust certificate and learn the rules!!!

Mobilehomer Posted at 11-19 13:21
Reread your post. Then delete the part about binoculars being "legal" Then, get your Trust certificate and learn the rules!!!

Again.  Missing the point. Im not deleting anything.

The point is, you stated something that is patently WRONG. I corrected you.
And, if you bothered to read any of the many posts on this subject, you will find the Mini 3 Pro does have great range. You just need to keep the tiny internal antenna pointed as best as you can at the drone. Make sure the arrow on the dot in the ATTI indicator is green and pointing at the drone.

I think your pre Karen comments weren’t necessary, very few judge others in the distant races. It only ever happens when others are accused before they even have a chance to comment on the substance of your post.

If your drone requests IMU calibration you have to do it and it has to be done correctly as per instructions in your manual. To get it right its always best to carry out on a level surface and you really should use a sprit level to insure its carried out correctly. There are no short cuts and the reasons why it can happen why it needs to be correctly done explained below.
So in answer to your question NO there is no quick and easy way around calibration.

IMU "Inertial measurement unit" .

As far as I see it, IMU calibration on a level surf as a reference for a level stationary hover. From there the craft responds predictably to flight commands.  It also likely measures any sensor noise and thermal drift so that these technical imperfections are accounted for when using IMU sensor data in flight. - this is likely why there must be no vibrations during the calibration process.


Bad IMU calibration could cause drift and attitude issues as the flight controller fights to hold the craft in what it thinks is the correct attitude as opposed to the correct physical attitude.


The IMU usually has 2 types of sensors – angle and acceleration and in turn 3 sensors of each type measuring in the X,Y and Z axis. These sensors can, through vibration, aging, impact etc, drift in their response over time and thus an IMU calibration will establish a new reference for the IMU’s level/stationary state that the flight controller can work with to restore stable flight.


Think of calibration as the bringing back into line the measured craft attitude with the true physical craft attitude.


As to how often an IMU calibration is needed, Refer to your manual ;

hallmark007 Posted at 11-19 14:29
I think your pre Karen comments weren’t necessary, very few judge others in the distant races. It only ever happens when others are accused before they even have a chance to comment on the substance of your post.

If your drone requests IMU calibration you have to do it and it has to be done correctly as per instructions in your manual. To get it right its always best to carry out on a level surface and you really should use a sprit level to insure its carried out correctly. There are no short cuts and the reasons why it can happen why it needs to be correctly done explained below.

We did all of this.  And properly.

iAmChrisStone Posted at 11-19 14:40
We did all of this.  And properly.

Id start by posting screen grabs of exactly what warnings or messages are popping up. Just not enough information to give you any help. Maybe its a thing with your drone, try factory reset unfortunately you cannot go back on new Firmware.

Before you put too much faith in a 'fix', you should be aware that variation in range has not much to do with the aircraft and/or RC, but more to do with the area in which you are flying. If you are flying in suburban or city areas,your range will be limited by the surrounding RF interference, primarily from WiFi.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-19 14:54
Id start by posting screen grabs of exactly what warnings or messages are popping up. Just not enough information to give you any help. Maybe its a thing with your drone, try factory reset unfortunately you cannot go back on new Firmware.

Did that.  No warnings.  Just doesnt go far.  Starts loosing connection much earlier than any other drone we have.

Geebax Posted at 11-19 15:02
Before you put too much faith in a 'fix', you should be aware that variation in range has not much to do with the aircraft and/or RC, but more to do with the area in which you are flying. If you are flying in suburban or city areas,your range will be limited by the surrounding RF interference, primarily from WiFi.

Yeah that why i wanted everyone to know we flew all over the place through florida, columbus ohio and chicago.   Some city some country and fields some mountains a lot of beaches etc.  about every terrain and environment i could think of.

iAmChrisStone Posted at 11-19 15:11
Did that.  No warnings.  Just doesnt go far.  Starts loosing connection much earlier than any other drone we have.

Its getting confusing, you say its asking for a IMU calibration if this is right it won’t let you fly until you complete this calibration. It sounds like you decided to do this without any warning because if you did get a warning you would have to complete the calibration to fly.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-19 15:23
Its getting confusing, you say its asking for a IMU calibration if this is right it won’t let you fly until you complete this calibration. It sounds like you decided to do this without any warning because if you did get a warning you would have to complete the calibration to fly.

No i apologize.  It never asked for the calibrations. We forced the calibrations just in case it needed it or would help.

Sadly, there is no fix. I am waiting for someone with multiple Mini 3 units to do a comparison test. Then we will know if this is a production quality issue or a design flaw.

iAmChrisStone Posted at 11-19 15:29
No i apologize.  It never asked for the calibrations. We forced the calibrations just in case it needed it or would help.

Well as I said above you should only calibrate when asked or Manual expressed it. There is no real relation to connection and IMU . Good luck.

Tuxtard Posted at 11-19 15:36
Sadly, there is no fix. I am waiting for someone with multiple Mini 3 units to do a comparison test. Then we will know if this is a production quality issue or a design flaw.

That old production quality issue gets thrown up all the time, but its not the problem here. If you have a faulty drone return it. If you are losing connection its more than likely its the environment you’re flying in and how you set up to fly .

I am in a CE country with a fraction of the power that the US has and done a few range tests, rural 5.5km @29m height, urban 1.2km. I've also found that you cannot compare this with other DJI drones until you get a few things straight.

For the vertical alignment...
A little trivia to start,  at 1500m and at 120m high, the angle of the drone is only about 4 degrees off the horizon.
The top of the RC has to be spot on with the drone, imagine there's a laser dot coming out of the top of the RC, that has to be on the drone.
Once you start to get further away, you need to be lowering the angle of the RC to keep that dot on the drone, at 1.5km your RC should be pretty much horizontal, its not comfortable to view the screen like that i know and worse if the sun is out, sadly thats the way it is for this setup, if you want distance, you have to make concessions.

For the horizontal alignment...
Take off and fly 20m, (keep it a few meters off the ground) point the top of the RC 100% spot on at the drone, using the flight attitude radar and make sure the RC indicator is green and that the arrow is 100% spot on at the drone.

If the RC indicator is not spot on then you need to calibrate the RC compass or the device you're using (i don't mean the drone compass).
If it says it doesn't need calibrating then you need to force this by running a weak magnet over the bottom middle back of the RC, it will then change and allow you to calibrate it, do it quick in each direction, if you're not fast enough, repeat until its done properly.

Then try the 20m test again. You may also notice that the RC indicators change from blue to green is sooner one side than the other, this means the compass still isn't right, for distance, this has to be spot on else you can be off by a few degrees and thats all it takes with this Mini 3 Pro.

Another thing of note is that the pitch of the drone hampers the signal too, but this is only an issue if you're right on the edge of the limit, if you hit the limit, stop, signal should come back, then you can crawl another few hundred meters, and i mean crawl or fly backwards at speed, your choice lol.

Like i said, ya cant compare this drone with others as it has different characteristics, get the alignment 100% spot on using the "FAR" and you will achieve the best results.
FYI, i have gone further with the Mini 3 Pro than i managed with the Mini 2, that was only at 4.8km and at 120m, both were flew from the same spot in the exact same direction.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-19 15:47
That old production quality issue gets thrown up all the time, but its not the problem here. If you have a faulty drone return it. If you are losing connection its more than likely its the environment you’re flying in and how you set up to fly .

It's not the environment if you are able to fly other DJI drones that use same technology at the same location with much better results.

Pretty sure its the antenna of the drone not being as strong, or might be more sensitive to the RC pointing to it more closely.
Only got 1km/3000ft before I lost signal in an open area in the US. Haven't done a distance test when I was in Europe.

Tuxtard Posted at 11-22 09:25
It's not the environment if you are able to fly other DJI drones that use same technology at the same location with much better results.

Maybe no but your set up could be wrong or your drone is faulty.

Beta5K Posted at 11-22 09:50
Pretty sure its the antenna of the drone not being as strong, or might be more sensitive to the RC pointing to it more closely.
Only got 1km/3000ft before I lost signal in an open area in the US. Haven't done a distance test when I was in Europe.

If it was the antennas how do you explain others getting excellent signal.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-22 10:01
If it was the antennas how do you explain others getting excellent signal.

The mini 2, mavic 3 cine, phantom probably has better or larger antennas that are placed better on the drone itself. I just don't think its the RC.

Beta5K Posted at 11-22 13:38
The mini 2, mavic 3 cine, phantom probably has better or larger antennas that are placed better on the drone itself. I just don't think its the RC.

Its not the RC or the antennas, if it was then everyone would be having a problem.

Try manually setting your frequency to 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz. You might be experiencing the same issue in the video below. The video explains (albeit a bit long-winded) how the Mini 3 Pro with the DJI RC can have issues auto selecting the "proper" channel in certain situations. I think most of these issues have been resolved in recent firmware updates (which you stated you were on the latest), but might be worth a try to see if it helps.
  
It might also be possible your channels are being interfered with with all the other drones nearby, assuming you are flying all these drones at the same time. Have you had these same issues when you are the only craft in the air?

hallmark007 Posted at 11-22 10:01
If it was the antennas how do you explain others getting excellent signal.

Whilst its a decent signal and I achieved 5.48km, more than half of that was done with only 2 bars, I also stated previously that it was done at 29m, i was wrong it was 30/31m...

Starting at only 16m high

• 1.7km it drops to 4 bars
• 2.1km 3 bars
• 2.3km 2 bars
  
  At 3.1km I ascended to 30m, the signal fluctuated between 2 and 3 bars for a few hundred meters and then stayed, so
• 3.7km 2 bars
• 4.1km it ascended on its own to 31m, don't ask, I don't know why.
• 5.3km i noticed the 1st video signal issue, not a break, more of a blocky glitch
• 5.48km the 1st Video transmission warning was shown.
  

It was at that point the battery was down to 65% and I knew if I forced the range it would have initiated RTH within 3 seconds or so thus losing valuable time and power waiting for the signal to return, then having to go back over lost ground etc, so I cut my loses and came home and yeah, I could have ascended as it was still only at 30m but I wanted to keep it as low as possible. btw I still had 2 bars at that point, I reckon it could have done 6km with a little more height because it got home at 14%, also bare in mind that I didn't set off till 96%, too busy faffing about lol My point is, finally, whilst the signal drops to orange, 2 bars, its still got a long way to go, i think its this that throws some people, they see orange and 2 bars and think thats about it...

With the Mini 2 in CE mode, it only managed 4.17km, I actually thought it was 4.8km but that was the P4P in FCC.
The Mini 2 and Mini 3 were on separate days but both during summer season though and done at the exact same spot, flat farmland.
In contrast, in FCC the Mini 2 did 4.7km at 17m high, I then ascended to 27m high I then stopped it at 5.5km with 4 bars still due to the battery at 67%, landed at 11% all done in thick fog, hence the low height that time.


I am yet to see what the Mini 3 Pro can do in FCC, need the bigger battery else there's no point.

Beta5K Posted at 11-22 13:38
The mini 2, mavic 3 cine, phantom probably has better or larger antennas that are placed better on the drone itself. I just don't think its the RC.

The placement of the antennas in the drone is somewhat of a hindrance for sure, this is proven and easily seen when you're on the edge of the signal. With the drone stopped, the signal improves slightly, when its tilted it loses it, go backwards and it improves again. Im not talking miles mind, you can achieve a further 2/300m if you crawl at 4kph max or fly backwards at full speed.

When I flew very far, during the turn of the drone, I could see how the level of the radio signal changed.

Bashy Posted at 11-22 20:22
Whilst its a decent signal and I achieved 5.48km, more than half of that was done with only 2 bars, I also stated previously that it was done at 29m, i was wrong it was 30/31m...

Starting at only 16m high

There is not much to show that there is a problem with signal in Mini Pro, this is born out of the fact that signal using RC Pro Dji RC and RCN1 there is almost no difference, in fact I see slightly better results using DJI RC but its so small that it’s likely more a placebo than anything else. And all 3 RCs have totally different antenna configuration. But one thing I will say signal with Mini 3 pro in CE is very good.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-23 07:50
There is not much to show that there is a problem with signal in Mini Pro, this is born out of the fact that signal using RC Pro Dji RC and RCN1 there is almost no difference, in fact I see slightly better results using DJI RC but its so small that it’s likely more a placebo than anything else. And all 3 RCs have totally different antenna configuration. But one thing I will say signal with Mini 3 pro in CE is very good.

Yeah, its certainly better than the Mini 2 thats for sure but only if the alignment is spot on and this is where folks are coming unstuck, just thinking its aligned but not actually using the tools and the knowledge to make certain it is, they have no chance...

I will add that the antenna placement in the drone is partly to blame...

Bashy Posted at 11-23 08:52
Yeah, its certainly better than the Mini 2 thats for sure but only if the alignment is spot on and this is where folks are coming unstuck, just thinking its aligned but not actually using the tools and the knowledge to make certain it is, they have no chance...

I will add that the antenna placement in the drone is partly to blame...

Yes so it’s basically set up thats causing the problems. Might help if dji put up some proper instructions for best results in the manual.

hallmark007 Posted at 11-23 09:42
Yes so it’s basically set up thats causing the problems. Might help if dji put up some proper instructions for best results in the manual.

They do have limited instructions but thats just a general idea so to speak. So yeah, to be able to get the best signal possible, we need clear instructions on how to obtain this, i.e. including making sure that the RC compass is accurate and using the Flight Attitude Radar. Is the RC indicator on the map view also? I don't use the map that often hence my asking.

Bashy Posted at 11-19 23:59
I am in a CE country with a fraction of the power that the US has and done a few range tests, rural 5.5km @29m height, urban 1.2km. I've also found that you cannot compare this with other DJI drones until you get a few things straight.

For the vertical alignment...

That's unreal range fair play! Most I have been getting in a few CE countries now (rural environments) is about 1.5 km before signal loss. It is annoying there seems to be such variance in peoples experience with this drone, perhaps it comes down to just how demanding it is on perfect alignment compared to others.

FlyBoo Posted at 11-26 08:09
That's unreal range fair play! Most I have been getting in a few CE countries now (rural environments) is about 1.5 km before signal loss. It is annoying there seems to be such variance in peoples experience with this drone, perhaps it comes down to just how demanding it is on perfect alignment compared to others.

That is the exact issue in my opinion, it is 100% down to the alignment.

Heck, i can do a fraction more than 1.2km from my garden in CE and i am surrounded by 2 storey houses, the direction i go, the nearest house is about 30-40m , there are also trees too, i can take this mini 3 pro just past the end of the very populated village, granted, i am at 120m but my point here is that the drone loses LOS to the RC because of the houses, then there's the wifi interference. I can do 1.7km when in FCC, its the loss of LOS thats the issue.

And like I've already mentioned, the RC signal meter, when it gets down to only 2 bars, it can still go much further, e.g. on the 5.5km, it hit 2 bars at 2774m, the rest of the way was at 2 bars and in my opinion here is that the signal indicator is calibrated poorly, it drops far too quickly, no way should it have done nearly twice the distance at only 2 bars. I think though that many get thrown by the low signal reading and assume they are on the limit or close to it.

oo one more, baring it mind that the 5.5km was at a low height. Ive never gone back to test it at 120m as I'm and sure it would easily exceed that distance but there's been no point as i only had the standard batteries, i say had, i now have 1 Plus battery so i will be testing both FCC and CE in due time

Mobilehomer Posted at 11-19 13:17
Karen here, using binoculars IS against the rules!!! § 107.31 Visual line of sight aircraft operation.  (a) With vision that is unaided by any device other than corrective lenses, the remote pilot in command, the visual observer (if one is used), and the person manipulating the flight control of the small unmanned aircraft system must be able to see the unmanned aircraft throughout the entire flight in order to:   (1) Know the unmanned aircraft's location;   (2) Determine the unmanned aircraft's attitude, altitude, and direction of flight;   (3) Observe the airspace for other air traffic or hazards; and   (4) Determine that the unmanned aircraft does not endanger the life or property of another.   (b) Throughout the entire flight of the small unmanned aircraft, the ability described in paragraph (a) of this section must be exercised by either:   (1) The remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small unmanned aircraft system; or   (2) A visual observer.

Another sheriff