After the successfull launching and landing the Phantom 4 at 8kms distance I wanted to fly that distance and then land the Phantom on the terras of my holiday home. But after 1.5 kms I lost signal dramatically and it had to return home...

Well that was surprising, I noticed you had a warning at 5:10 about a fly zone or something?  Seemed to go haywire after that.

The thing about range extenders is that you must point the antenna panel exactly at the aircraft all the time. I was watching you moving the transmitter around, pointing at the sky etc. They are directional antennas, and they are more critical in terms of position than the normal antennas.

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-7 01:03
The thing about range extenders is that you must point the antenna panel exactly at the aircraft all ...

Yes true. I Lost signal for a second because I pointed it upwards. But when it wanted to return home, I was pointing it directly towards it. The signal was so bad that not only I lost the video, but also the control. In general the signal for control is better than for the image.

Noyag Posted at 2016-9-7 18:19
Yes true. I Lost signal for a second because I pointed it upwards. But when it wanted to return ho ...

I wish you luck with your experiment, I hope you can repeat it successfully next time. The puzzling part was that you were able to contact the aircraft when it was on your roof, so the path must work.

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-7 10:38
I wish you luck with your experiment, I hope you can repeat it successfully next time. The puzzlin ...

Exactly. Spoiler alert: I did some tests and I did retry. I will show in upcoming videos ;-).

Noyag Posted at 2016-9-7 21:09
Exactly. Spoiler alert: I did some tests and I did retry. I will show in upcoming videos ;-).

I shall look forward to seeing it.

Oh NO!

I just did the conversion, and

1.5 KM is what I have been saying too for weeks now: 0.8 - 0.9 miles is the point of DISCONNECT!
It used to be 1.5 - 2 miles when I first bought it.


Why?{:4_157:}

Jorgedalmau Posted at 2016-9-8 00:54
You are Dutch, but this isn't clearly the Netherlands. :-)  I think you are in some touristic villag ...

Tenerife...
Wow, that sounds really bad. So I did right trying to avoid attracting attention ;-)

Accually 1.5 kilometers is pretty good compared to my p4

MD_Icarus Posted at 2016-9-8 01:31
Oh NO!

I just did the conversion, and

I think this was just an incident. I have had a greater distance many more times. You know there is an option in the DJI Go App to limit the distance you can fly? You'll have to switch this off.

I would say that getting the bird back after all that was successful!

If I was attempting to do this exercise, I think I would get someone to take the aircraft up to the top of the hill, and I would stay down in the village on the roof-top. My reasoning is, that once I got the aircraft airborne, the entire flight is coming towards me, so that when it gets critical, the signal is improving all the time. Therefore your ability to control the aircraft at the most critical time is maximised.

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-8 13:12
If I was attempting to do this exercise, I think I would get someone to take the aircraft up to the  ...

You are absolutely right Geebax. Also you will not lose signal when you need to land it.  On long flights I have found that the farther away you go the higher the altitude needs to be to maintain good signals. So landing it at a far away distance will be very tricky.

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-8 07:12
If I was attempting to do this exercise, I think I would get someone to take the aircraft up to the  ...

That crossed my mind. But it wouldn't make such an interesting challenge/video, because as soon as you can launch it and get it closer, you kind of already succeeded... ;-)

MD_Icarus Posted at 2016-9-8 07:31
Oh NO!

I just did the conversion, and

And he's using CE, you're using FCC.

Probably the drone is getting old after a while.. You can get a range extender if you really need it.

DJI-Thor Posted at 2016-9-8 05:44
And he's using CE, you're using FCC.

Probably the drone is getting old after a while.. You can g ...

The P4 getting old? It's only a baby; it was born in late May 2016!

I am hoping as it gets older, and gets more techie, it may come up with a power increase hack on it's own, which will undo the bad side affects of the baby medicine (firmware) is doing to it!   

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-6 20:03
The thing about range extenders is that you must point the antenna panel exactly at the aircraft all ...

Agreed, I have the same range extender on my P3P and have reached 8km but you must keep it carefully aimed.

jim.chisholm Posted at 2016-9-8 09:52
Agreed, I have the same range extender on my P3P and have reached 8km but you must keep it careful ...

I get 2 - 2.5 miles without them on P3A, and I am just hoping for only 2 miles on my P4; not looking to break any records!

Which range extender do you use?