Hello Everyone,

New piliot here so bare with me. I just got a phantom 4 about a week ago and I did all the start up watched all the movies and then took it out for a flight. I am in a subdivision, of about 30 houses, and there are other subdivisions around me. Not crazy interference but enough... So... I send it up and fly one directions and I get a weak transmission signal after about 1300-1500 FEET... I turn around and come back and send it the other way and get a warning at 800 FEET. I bring it back and do some research.

I played with my HD channels (updated to 32 even), watched the Antenna video, lowered my rate to 4MB and relinked the remote, calibrated the IMU, and compass, and have done everything I possibly can. I am not out of ideas. I got on the online chat with DJI and they are the ones that gave me the ideas with the IMU and compass. It seems they are hesitant to offer to check the physical aircraft for defects.

It's less than a week old, maybe less than 2 weeks - so I decided to try one of the Parabolic antennas you slide over the stock antenna --- and it only got me a few hundred more feet. I think I got close to 2000 feet but I couldnt control it, it sat there until I manually hit RTH.

So I decided to updrade my antenna to one of the longe range booster kits:
DJI LIGHTBRIDGE LONG RANGE ANTENNA MOD FOR 5-10KM FLIGHT (4 WATT)
https://www.fstop-labs.com/collections/long-range-antenna-systems-5-10km/products/dji-lightbirdge-long-range-antenna-mod-for-5-10km-flight

I installed it correctly, this thing promises 5K which would be about 16k Feet in a high interference area --- I sent the drone up... and I got close to 3000 feet and lost it again... thats the most in any direction I went.

Now I know installing this on my remote voided the warranty on it --- but what now? The drone itself should still be covered. Should I send the drone in to get checked? What gives? I dont know what else it could be. I am really frustrated... I should be able to fly this thing longer than this. Everything I read these range extenders should give me a decent amount of distance, regardless of where I am and regardless of interference..... only getting 3000 Feet on a range booster, and 600-1900 -- something has to be mechanically wrong.

That's the only thing I can think of.

Thanks Dan!

You are in a subdivision. Take it out in the open and test it there. You'd be surprised the number of things in houses that affect these things.

houses, building, cellular antenna are contributing our range. you may try to fly at rural area, or wide open area and test it again

Jkeller84 Posted at 2017-1-17 17:48
You are in a subdivision. Take it out in the open and test it there. You'd be surprised the number of things in houses that affect these things.

I get all that, but it really doesn't make sense that this thing w/ the range booster isn't getting more distance than that...

Insomniak2 Posted at 2017-1-17 17:58
I get all that, but it really doesn't make sense that this thing w/ the range booster isn't getting more distance than that...

Yes it does, you are in a housing sub-division. The DJI range spec is under ideal conditions, meaning out in the countryside well away from any buildings. There are a million things nearby you that are competing for the radio spectrum. Don't forget that the range extender is only working on one end of your link, the aircraft has nothing to help it, while it may be 2000 feet away from you, it is much nearer to a whole bunch of houses that are emitting signals than it is to you.

Cell phone towers, emergency response, air traffic control. fleet radio for trucks etc. any where there are roofs....there's interference.
I'm up on the side of a hill and I will only go out around 1000 feet.
I live in a cell tower valley so I keep it close. I could go out a mile but in this part of Seattle, no way.
The weather sucks here now, rain again.  But when I can fly I'll work on my camera work and look forward to better weather nd the mountains an deserts.
It's hard to believe when you have seen vids on you tube of dudes getting 3 miles and more in some city but they are taking chances with serious drone failure.
Check your reception on the screen and see what channels look like .
Hope that was helpful

No more help with this? :*(

Insomniak2 Posted at 2017-1-18 06:42
No more help with this? :*(

Did you take the advice and test it away from the massive amounts of interference? If not, then no. There is no more assistance that can be offered.

Just as some of the others mentioned interference from your surroundings do have a big factor on range. You can also try using a custom channel that looks more stable vs the auto that could help hold the frequency vs the radio searching for the other channels. I have done this in a few situations and it seemed to help!