Why won't my Phantom 3 advanced fly up to a distance of 5kms? After flying to a few hundred feet aproximately 800 feet, the controller gets weak signal. What are the factors affecting the signal? Does trees affect the gps signal? I fly my drone near a covered basketball with metal roofing, do covered courts bounce the gps signal?

You are in an urban area so range will be less than optimum because of the crowded radio environment.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-4-15 19:18
You are in an urban area so range will be less than optimum because of the crowded radio environment ...

Oh i see. But is it true that Phantom 3 advanced could reach up to a max range of 5kms in an optimum condition?

anything can disturb the connection, trees, buildings, houses, fences, wifi, satellite dishes....many factors....when I fly around my home I find i get a better connection when I stay 400 feet up.  I can usually get close to a mile away before loosing a signal.

francisjosephga Posted at 2016-4-15 21:26
Oh i see.  But is it true that Phantom 3 advanced could reach up to a max range of 5kms in an op ...

Yes the P3 Advanced can go a long way in an ideal environment and quite a bit less flying around cities.

In ideal conditions, you can get a little over 2kms.

dkruseski Posted at 2016-4-16 07:20
In ideal conditions, you can get a little over 2kms.

In ideal conditions, you can get a lot more than 2kms

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-4-16 06:02
In ideal conditions, you can get a lot more than 2kms

With video feed?

I have had mine over 2 miles with full video and rc. Got a little nervous and turned back at that point.  It was a nice open area. But not without obstructions and flew over a collage campus with what I am sure is a lot of radio activity going on.   

I'm not real good with km so my apologies but I have flown my P3A about 6,000 feet or a little over 1.0 mile and had great video and radio control. It will start to break up a little depending where I am when I get close to 8,000 feet or about 1.5 miles. I usually just pull back, turn it around and bring her back home before my RTH kicks in. :-)

dkruseski Posted at 2016-4-16 08:07
With video feed?

Yes ... with video.
The advertised specs are achievable if you fly somewhere quiet like over the ocean, farmland or desert.

Yeah, urban obstructions definitely cause a weaker signal.  I flew my P3A at the beach to almost 2 miles over the ocean (350 ceiling) compared to when I fly it at home from my balcony at 400ft ceiling and getting only 1300ft before weak transmission.

When flying in urban areas there is every chance that a strong 5.8 or 2.4 signal can mask your RC signal. You are operating on shared radio bands and the same problem can occur even with home WiFi units. The encoding on the RC signal protects from interfering signals, but that doesn't help when another signal is stronger at the drone than yours is. Very strong radio signals which are not even on the RC frequencies can also affect the drone receivers. Beware of microwave towers, especially avoid flying in their transmission beams.

Buildings, trees and even your own body will potentially affect the RC signals being received by the drone.

eldreds Posted at 2016-4-17 09:25
When flying in urban areas there is every chance that a strong 5.8 or 2.4 signal can mask your RC si ...

Thank you so much.

I also have bad range only 300-500Meter

I've flown my P3 ADV out over the ocean 6000 ft + with no end in site... and then fly in a area with buildings and other structures ,Cell phones and such and fly only 500ft.

I know a guy who flew his by RC 19.4 miles away.  With lots of mods of course.  

Just sayin'

4.2km here with the Advance