So, i did quote a few flights today, over 2000ft.. Well, the last flight tonight went about 1000ft and I got a signal loss... No bigh deal, right? Well.. yes, big deal...
The drone just hung there..  I restarted the tablet then I reestablished and had to tell it to come home...
Never had something like this happen before...
I would have expected the drone to RTH when signal was lost...
Another unusual thing I've seen tonight was that upon signal loss, only on this one flight, the app would ask me if i want to RTH when signal was lost.. Well, with lost signal why would you ask? After all you cannot talk to the drone.. right? This is on Androif, so still 2.8.0 app, i think...
This was the weirdest thing! The logs for that flight r screwed as well..

So.. say I get the logs from the drone, then what? Do they differ from the ones from GO app, or can I just apload them to any of the tools I used for the GO app logs?

Can I put them somewhere on the tablet, so GO app just pics them ap as it's own, and will sync to the cloud?

I was happy to find that the drone just hovered there.. I was worried something has happened.. but still am quite puzzled by this behavior!

I guess something must have gone wrong on the tablet... BTW, there were moments when the controller LED turned green, but it was certainly red a few times, which makes me thing, the RTH really should have kicked in!

OK, got some logs from the app, part 1:http://healthydrones.com/main?share=wtvVsp
amd part 2, where I manually issued RTH once the RC went green again, app did not:
http://healthydrones.com/main?share=sqncOX

No signal on downlink only? Does that imply i lost video but not control signal perhaps? Hence RTH never kicked in?

Signed: confused ;)

One of the RTH settings in the DJI GO app allows you to change the behavior of RTH.  One of those being 'hover.'  Make sure it's set properly

I did... that's why I am puzzled.. I specifically check that setting before every flight, as sometimes I do want to make sure it's set to Hover, not today.. unless it got flipped somehow when the app got confused....
I will connect in a sec to pull the logs from the aircraft anyhow, so I will double check if it still says "RTH"...
If it says Hover, i may just have to blow away app data, remove, and reinstall... maybe something got corrupt...

"No signal on downlink only? Does that imply i lost video but not control signal perhaps? Hence RTH never kicked in?"
Give the man a cigar.
That's exactly what happened.
HealthyDrones explains exactly what Downlink Lost means:
Downlink data connection lost ( Data Loss ) means that the remote got partial or no flight data from the aircraft for more than 1 second, which means the data downlink had issues.

There is a control signal and a video+telemetry downlink signal.
Your Phantom lost downlonk  signal but you still had full control - either joysticks or RTH button.
It sat there waiting for you to control it.

It's much better that video drops out before control signal.

It is possible that during this time there is a sense of full control of the aircraft via the remote as well as clear video, however typically the video gets choppy and the remote controls may have some delay.

This is typically an indication that the aircraft was flying in a high interference area or that distance was a negative factor. In these conditions the aircraft is at higher risk of initiating the Return-To-Home function.

Phantomski Posted at 2016-5-29 03:09
I did... that's why I am puzzled.. I specifically check that setting before every flight, as sometim ...

It is at home. Look at the first line in log 2 distance to home 0.
That is strange. Posted about this 2 day ago.
Look like a new home point so RTH is working, just to new home point.

Well, i just pulled the log from the drone, what is the best place to upload it? But, based on the video he was just hovering there.. for lik egood 3 minutes while i was trying to figure what the hell happened. I would swear the radio had a RED led, which implies RTH should have kicked in.. And RTH wqas correct, because when i finally got signal back, he returned exactly where he was supposed to.. So..  What do I do with that cool dat file?
https://www.djilogs.com/#/ does not give me much data.. well.. not for free anyways....
Are there some other sites that will download the actual DAT file?
Thx!

gullisig Posted at 2016-5-28 21:58
It is at home. Look at the first line in log 2 distance to home 0.
That is strange. Posted about t ...

Look at D and E though, distance from home is 900ft, yet, it ended up there via RTH function, and autolanded exactly at the right spot.. so something fishy definitely happened on the app side.. thankfully the drone did the right thing ;)

if the app is on and connected, you can - you can reset home point to either your GPS enabled tablet/phone, or current location of the quad...  now, have I done it? certainly not. Mind you, this is advanced.. but I assume all p3 have the same functionality there, in the GO app.

OK, looking at https://www.mapsmadeeasy.com/log_viewer as well as https://exmaps.com/logs
Hoping the 2nd one has a bit more detail as to what exactly the drone was thinking...

https://exmaps.com/uploads/47891
Still no data about what happened though....

Phantomski Posted at 2016-5-29 15:06
https://exmaps.com/logs/47890
Still no data about what happened though....

If you want to see what was happening the best site for checking flight data is:
http://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Phantomski Posted at 2016-5-29 15:06
https://exmaps.com/logs/47890
Still no data about what happened though....

What Labroides told you the first time was most probably what happened. The video link is always the first to go, and often you get nothing on your display device.

But, the Phantom does not absolutely need the phone/tablet or even the Go App to fly, and you need to understand this because it still responds to control input from the sticks. It seems many people panic when the video disappears or the Go App freezes or whatever, not realising the aircraft is still flying fine and can be controlled perfectly well. Which is exactly what happened in your case as far as I can tell.

They then waste time trying to restart the app instead of concentrating on flying the a9ircraft. This is how aircraft get lost.

Geebax Posted at 2016-5-28 23:34
What Labroides told you the first time was most probably what happened. The video link is always th ...

Agreed! But I'd swear I saw ded on the transmitter, which should have initiated RTH.. but yes, overall i am willing to buy the video only loss explanation....
As for the phantomhelp, that sucker does not want to upload DAT file... Let me try one more time...No.. it tires, then it throws a server error.. I just assumed it only works for txt files from GO app, not DAT from the aircraft...

Phantomski Posted at 2016-5-29 16:07
Agreed! But I'd swear I saw ded on the transmitter, which should have initiated RTH.. but yes, over ...

HealthyDrones only reads the txt file but will show a lot more info that what you have already.
If you must look at the .dat file use this:  https://datfile.net/index.html

But Phantoms lose their downlink all the time and this is almost certainly what you encountered.
If your Phantom did RTH you would have heard the conspicuous beep-beep-beep which confirms RTH is in action.
Have you practiced RTH before to know how to activate it and have you heard the beep-beep-beep ?

How did you restart the app?  By any chance,  did you turn off the controller for a second and then back on to get the app to restart?

tytlyf Posted at 2016-5-29 11:07
One of the RTH settings in the DJI GO app allows you to change the behavior of RTH.  One of those be ...

Is it a 4... New firmware for April made it so that particularly android can't be used, and I'm sure someone has already said it but I had same problem.. Just have to bite the bullit and upgrade to the iPad.. I recommend refurbished from Amazon

jsimpson1000 Posted at 2016-5-29 18:39
Is it a 4... New firmware for April made it so that particularly android can't be used, and I'm su ...

???  That  sounds highly unlikely.
Can you point me to a reference that explains this?

Phantomski Posted at 2016-5-29 16:07
Agreed! But I'd swear I saw ded on the transmitter, which should have initiated RTH.. but yes, over ...

It may have been a momentary loss with red LED on the transmitter when you looked, but was it continuously out of contact for the required period (>3sec?) to initiate a RTH?

Kneepuck Posted at 2016-5-29 02:22
How did you restart the app?  By any chance,  did you turn off the controller for a second and then  ...

No, if I did i would think it would RTHed... I just exited the app, pulled USB, reinserted, came back up.. still no signal.. another question on the app "cancel or rth" - and rth resulted in "timed out".. then I pressed RTH on controller, as i noticed green light back - that did it.

I will play with the DAT file later.. Tried to zip it and upload here, but even a zip is 55MB
BTW, today while flying, the drone totally went into ATTI mode on it's own - clear skies, 200ft AGL... I am beginning to worry.. or be.. cautious..... just a bit....
Will post my dat outcomes later...  just a weird 2 days for me...
And i think it was down for over 3 sec.. but who the heck knows... clearly not I.. yet

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-5-28 23:16
If you want to see what was happening the best site for checking flight data is:
http://www.phanto ...

I got the SCV via datcon app, still cannot upload it anywhere useful... Very weird...
Here's a link to the dat file, for now... Looking at it, i can find nothing about signal or signal loss though, i guess i do not quite understand all the columns yet...
and yes, i did email support.. i realized that if we only discuss issues here, and if there are issues, support DOES need to hear about them....
https://sftp.larimer.org/?ShareT ... 6EF975D96FF1A13BF78

jsimpson1000 Posted at 2016-5-29 16:39
Is it a 4... New firmware for April made it so that particularly android can't be used, and I'm su ...

"New firmware for April made it so that particularly android can't be used"

See? The new firmware is to blame for EVERYTHING!

From the second part of your log on healthydrones ...

E        02m 40s        187.0 ft        960 ft        Data Loss        Downlink data connection lost for 2.3 seconds
F        03m 24s        185.7 ft        954 ft        Warning        Return-to-Home__Operation Timeout
G        04m 25s        185.7 ft        954 ft        Data Loss        Downlink data connection lost for 1 seconds

Explanation

Downlink data connection lost ( Data Loss ) means that the remote got partial or no flight data from the aircraft for more than 1 second, which means the data downlink had issues.

It is possible that during this time there is a sense of full control of the aircraft via the remote as well as clear video, however typically the video gets choppy and the remote controls may have some delay.

This is typically an indication that the aircraft was flying in a high interference area or that distance was a negative factor. In these conditions the aircraft is at higher risk of initiating the Return-To-Home function.

jsimpson1000 Posted at 2016-5-29 09:39
Is it a 4... New firmware for April made it so that particularly android can't be used, and I'm su ...

Please show a link to a statement from DJI that says Android cannot be used with the April update firmware.

If that is the case there will be tens if not hundreds of thousands of DJI drones appearing on eBay ... including mine.

Oh yes! It is the firmware! I just realize that i did NOT upgrade 2 days ago.. mainly because I upgraded over a month ago ;)
Well, people are quite distrustful of the upgrades...
As for Android, I see they are already beginning to slowly "crack down" on unsupported tablets, as well as non DJi accessories... so there's a possibility they are trying to jump more into "only our stuff" - like the batteries, but then again.. if you want a good piece of technology to work well, one way to accomplish it, is by controlling the toolset users can use....
Anyhow, I will see what DJI says, now that they have the logs, and will let you pple know!

Phantomski Posted at 2016-5-30 13:53
Oh yes! It is the firmware! I just realize that i did NOT upgrade 2 days ago.. mainly because I upgr ...

I don't think DJI are 'cracking down' on unsupported tablets. They have always published a list of ones that they have tested and found to work well.

But people will always go out and buy a cheap tablet they found at the local dime store then complain it doesn't work. As long as I have been on the forum, you get at least one posting a day saying something like 'I bought a Xoaingping Mega 4 which is terrific, and it does not work with the Go App, DJI must fix this'.

Well, I would say me going to target and getting a Samsung Tab A for $160 is not a dime store.. Do i want to drop 300+ for a good one? Not sure....  I just dropped near a $1k on the drone, a bag, bunch of accessories...  But i do understand why they have the list.. they tested, they can "certify" it works... and anything else really is a suspect.... I used my Samsung S4 for a while - worked well, but small. Then I went with a cheap tablet, and could not return it fast enough. Then tried Tab 4 and now am on Tab A...  which I still think it's unsupported.. sort of sucks.. That was not my intention. By "cracking down" I meant that DJI is beginning to more openly "blame" such factors as unsupported devices, 3rd party accessories, disabling 3rd party batteries... It looks like they might actually be moving towards a very restrictive policy...  
But we are digressing here... ;)

So, according to DJI support, the drone did not kick into RTH due to interference... that is all I got from DJI... so that would seem to confirm what you guys said before, that the signal was not fully lost to the point where RTH would kick in, but lost enough to where I lost video, and perhaps control signal in one direction....
If they tell me anything more useful I will post it..

Very interesting!  

Even though I downgraded back to 2.8.1, and I did not upgrade the P4 firmware,

When I flew the P4 yesterday looking for fish activity far out and into the sun, I had a tough time seeing the iphone
screen.  (I wish they can change the color scheme to black and yellow) The battery wa slow so I pressed the RTH
button.  NOTHING HAPPENED!!  I tried again!  Nothing!  It worked on the third try.

I wonder if the P4 have a general video transmission issue?  I am still getting some green screens on my phone 6 plus,
even though I am at 2.8.1.  It was very bad with 2.8.2  Which tells me they may not have optimized the Freq. Hopping
system.  I wonder if it is QCOM?

Just an FYI, I am on P3 Advanced, not p4. just to be clear there.

And that is all they have to say, about that:

Brought to you DJI support:
"The reason the RTH was not initializing was due to the strong internet interference. RTH will work right away if there is signal loss with no interference. It varies on where you are flying.  That is all the information we have on this matter."

I do not think he meant "internet", and he also did not explain why "interference" prevented it from going into RTH, but I guess the thing is, that if there's interference, the drone may not go into RTH.. so there....  now we know!

Run Forrest! Run! (of fly?)

Phantomski Posted at 2016-6-3 03:56
And that is all they have to say, about that:

Brought to you DJI support:

He obviously meant internet as in internet WIFI.
Interference won't prevent the Phantom from RTH but  it might interfere with your signal to command RTH.
In that situation, shutting down the controller should initiate RTH.
One of  the biggest causes of RTH failure is owners that  have not  tried to use RTH to know how it operates and how to get it to work.
Not knowing that you have to press and hold the button catches a few.
The time you need RTH is not the best time to start learning how to RTH.

Agreed, and turning off the controller was on my list, but clearly after a few times the button worked.. I just find it.. disturbing.. that DJI is so forthcoming with explanations, to the point of saying "you not gonna get more out of me! you pig!"

Phantomski Posted at 2016-5-30 01:52
Well, I would say me going to target and getting a Samsung Tab A for $160 is not a dime store.. Do i ...

My $200.00 NVidia shield is flawless and completely updated to 6.1  and latest GO

it is Not on list.... yet no issues at all

I looked at your .DAT and found the following
The AC lost contact with the RC during the following 2 intervals
  1. 155.718 -156.208
  2. 158.623 - 160.618
Neither of these intervals was greater than 3 seconds which is required to trigger RTH.

I'd show the plots here but I don't know how to do that.

kirk2579@aol.co Posted at 2016-6-2 20:50
My $200.00 NVidia shield is flawless and completely updated to 6.1  and latest GO

it is Not on li ...

I just ordered it, should be here monday, my samsuing tabA is going back to the store, after my samsung tab 4 did already ;)  Is nvidia shield k1 "approved" by DJI yet?!!!!

BudWalker Posted at 2016-6-3 13:02
I looked at your .DAT and found the following
The AC lost contact with the RC during the following  ...

what tool did u use?
Anyhow, that is consistent with what others here and DJI said, I lost signal few times, but not enough to kick off RTH....  I can live with that...  I would like to understand why the RC led went red, for what I recall and extended period of time, but my memory may be exasurading the facts because I was a wee bit stressed at the moment ;)

Phantomski Posted at 2016-6-3 14:06
what tool did u use?
Anyhow, that is consistent with what others here and DJI said, I lost signal ...

DatCon which can be obtained here

yes, i used that too, but did not see a graph u had.. i guess the tool has more in it, than what I used ;)

Phantomski Posted at 2016-6-4 11:00
yes, i used that too, but did not see a graph u had.. i guess the tool has more in it, than what I u ...

DatCon just converts the.DAT to a .csv. I use the Excel plot package to make the graphs.