Hi All

I've started to push my P3S a bit now and want to know if I am suffering same/different or none compared to others.  I have turned off beginner mode and have max altitude @ 120M. RTH of 20M, no distance limits.

I lose RC signal at roughly 30m height and 80m distance. I can sometimes push height to 51m  (never higher) and no futher than 80m distance.  This is the RC signal - the video signal stays reasonably constant (more choppy on android than IOS). The symptoms will be "R/C Signal lost" then flashing orange on the quad (maybe 3 seconds) before an auto RTH. This will be in a field - sometimes I get interference mesages, but not often.

This is nowhere near the specs. Is it my environment (field surrounded by houses/buildings - no pylons)? Or is there something more firmware/sinister/hardware?

Advice would be very much appreciated. I'm on latest F/W on drone, rc, batteries and DJI Go version.

Many thanks in advance!

Im in California usa have a p3s this weekend i tested 1 went 380ft up and 600 ft out and all was fine at the most i had one less bar on vid sig but was fine. 2 i took to 200ft up and 1200 ft out and was full sig. Now 3 was at a park 100 up and 800 out had warnings of tx sig lost.. Has alot to do with interference and antenna position.

Did you update your drone to 1.6.80???? then it s common problem even I have.. the only solution so far is sending it back to DJI.. they will fix it..

I'm completely updated on my P3S and just this msinungot back from flying at 390ft and 1100ft out. Maybe yours?

As I'm in the US with FCC mode, I have gone out 3000' in open farm land and still had good signal, and 2700' in the suburbs when the downlink would start to cutout. So you can see the difference.
But one thing I would add is your RTH height seems too low to me, 20m is the default. Unless there's no two story homes and no big trees in your area. Personal I would think about making it somewhere in the 30 to 50m range, mine's at 40m. But it really depends on where your flying, just don't cut it too close, give yourself a margin of error.

Hi Tony,im martin from irvine..maybe if we met up i could poss help you.

Thanks for the replies guys
Hail Hail Martin, would be great, but I now live in Sunny Swindon (Wiltshire)

Out of interest Martin - what range do you get?

Hi, since UK is using CE instead of FCC in North America, it's normal for users in UK to have less max distance.

80 meters can be normal or abnormal, depending on the environment around. It would be helpful if you have a photo for us to show the density of buildings around.  Also RTH 20 meters height is not enough  in town, you want to scout around and look at the highest buildings, structures, light poles, even hills  and add 10 meters above that.

Also, I suggest you take the drone to an open filed with few houses around, like a farm or a park, and try again.  You should be able to get 200 meters at least.  Let us know what happens then.

Downgrade your firmware to 1.5.7 and i think your problems are solved (at least for me it did solve it)
there is a post on this forum how to downgrade and how to get the other firmware

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... D369%26typeid%3D369

Thansk all. I originally had RTH of 50m but of course it never got there!
I'm going to have another few tests to include different areas, different phone devices, downgrade firmware to check what the current state.

But for the avoidance of doubt 80m distance and 30m height is NOT what I expect of a drone of this calibre in the UK, so if this does not appear to get fixed I will ask for support from DJI.

Also not sure how to attach am image - it's asking me for an address?

Thanks, Tony

GreenBhoy Posted at 2016-7-7 17:03
Thansk all. I originally had RTH of 50m but of course it never got there!
I'm going to have another  ...

Hi, on the right side of the response section,  there's an "Advanced" button, you can upload photos in it.

Or you can upload your picture, especially oversize ones, to online albums like Instagram, Flickr or Google Photo and get the link to post here with link.

Hi, I'm in wolverhampton and was getting 120m height, 500m horizontally until I upgraded, now only 20m height max before RTH. I tried downgrading software, reinstalling app, relinking remote, calibrating, recalibration, checked for loose wires. Everything to no avail. Just reluctantly returned my bird to DJI today.. Miss her already

Oh. DJI will think you're stupid. Before you contact them make sure you e tried it in a totally open area nowhere near houses or power lines or they won't issue a return ticket...

I am in the UK too and to begin with had signal issues at a local park. Since then I've been flying from a large field and can go to 120m height without issue. The furthest distance so far has been 370m then I lose the signal but occasionally lose it at very close range but only for a second or two. There's no wi-fi interference or powerful transmitters nearby but there are some power pylons 500m away so I avoid flying in their direction. I also get compass errors, maybe it's the pylons interfering, I'm not sure. I take a real compass with me to check which doesn't appear to be affected but maybe things change in the air.

I am going to test it soon at Goyt Valley near Buxton Derbyshire which should be perfect as there's nothing there at all to interfere with it. It should be the ultimate test...will report back...

Thanks guys, I'm going to take it to a field tonight and have a test and will post results. Bird is 3 weeks old with about 20 flights - 3 longish ones. I did F/W upgrade straight out of the box.
120M height would be a luxury for me atm ;)

But again that 's nothing like the specs, even for a CE device....

I'm hearing reports that fixed drones are coming back from DJI with 1.05.0070 on them, so defo sounds like firmware.

I've attached a longish flight map, and as you can see, it's probably not ideal, but the nearest green space to me...
Many many return to homes initiated...

Question Wolves - was it prepaid, courier pickup or did you have to pay for the return?

Also thanks DJI for the advice re attchments...

Cheers Tony

I had a standard for a few months, sold it after fitting ARGtek upgrade and the most I got was 1000m x 120m up.

Before the upgrade I used to get around 600mm out and 120m up.

I would check your ariel, how its pointing and open up the controller for loose wires.

GreenBhoy Posted at 2016-7-7 14:17
Question Wolves - was it prepaid, courier pickup or did you have to pay for the return?

Also thanks ...

DJI emailed me a UPS prepaid label, I just boxed it and dropped it off at the UPS pick up point.

Although it took three weeks of silly question answering, syncing Flint records, re test flying, and waiting for no rain...

GreenBhoy Posted at 2016-7-7 23:12
Thanks guys, I'm going to take it to a field tonight and have a test and will post results. Bird is  ...

Judging from the photo, you are right in the middle of a lot of houses. Probably every third house will have a WiFi router that is competing for radio channels with your Phantom, that is why you do not get much distance.

Unfortunately everyone goes on about firmware versions and all of that when it has no bearing on the issue. The Standard has a significantly shorter range than the Advanced or Pro, and it is made worse by flying near homes. If you go out into the countryside, you will find you get much better range.

Thanks guys.
@Geebax - exactly why I tested in an open field last night. Please note large building i'm near is an empty barn
Bad news is that only marginal improvement 57.9m height & 112m distance. I'm constantly moving my orientation of the controller to keep within best practice of pointing 'flat' side of antenna at the legs of the drone.
bluetooth and all other interference causing app off on the phone.

Last thing I'm going to do is a downgrade, but it's looking like a return to DJI currently
@any DJI support - I've fully synced my flight records.

A little bit more context

Hi DJI-people!

I'm a new user of a P3S for the last 3 weeks. I have noticed poor range on RC signal with RTH due to signal loss at 30-50m height and 50-100m distance. The better results are obviously in open fields (noted in this thread) I have fully sync'd my logs and I'm looking at a return as I definitely feel I'm one of the unlucky ones - can you advise how to proceed please? I'm in the UK.

I initially did an upgrade to 1.6.8 straight out of the box, so unsure as to what the results would have been had I not upgraded. Would prefer not to sell/return a 3 week old phantom - would rather get it working to at last the specs that others in similar positions are suggesting I should be achieving....

Many thanks GreenBhoy

Hail hail Tony....I've never experienced probes with range..I fly mainly along the coast and open moors..the farthest I've flown has been over 1km (3028 ft)..at a height of 70m.(230ft)..

Yeah - I'm getting a tenth of that raised an RMA with tech support

Had the same issue, until I downgraded the firmware.

GreenBhoy Posted at 2016-7-11 08:42
Hi DJI-people!

I'm a new user of a P3S for the last 3 weeks. I have noticed poor range on RC signal ...

Hi, you can send an email to support@dji.com and include details of what you have done. Then you'll receive a shipping slip to ship your drone to our repair center in UK to repair.

Thank you.