ok hello guys im new to the DJI platform and this is my first go at the forum so please bear with me.

i have a phantom 3 standard and i had crashed it and broke the gimbal and ordered a completly new gimbal before i realized that you could fix indivual parts of the gimbal. but the was a pretty bad crash it hit a phone line and fell straight down to the gimbal and broke it pretty good. OOPS!!! {:4_157:}

so i installed said new gimbal, but i noticed that when the original gimbal broke it pulled the WIFI coax cable ends apart and the gimbals wifi wires where detatched from the gimbal with the coax ends still attached to the board in the gimbal. so i tried to put them back in and it seems to work but i have very limited range and never got to test it for range before i crashed it.

im getting about 1300-1600 feet away before my video feed will start to go glitchy at this point i stop flying and come back in range.

at a wide open park i stand at the highest point which is unobstructed from trees or power lines. complete straight clear line of sight in all directions.

i still have full control over the drone but the video feed is glitchy. is this normal? can i still keep flying with the video feed glitchy?

have a maybe not fixed those coax wires correctly?

i see youtube videos of people flying up to 4000+ feet on stock gear? am i missing something? should i keep trying or should i have it looked at cuz clearly i must have done something wrong.

ALSO
my gimbal is 2-3 degrees off and i cant seem to center it if i move the left stick to the left and right i can get it to center but as soon as i let go of the stick it goes back looking to the left 2-3 degrees.

thank you everyone for your help in advance.

anyone? this has to be a common issue right?

Normal range,  get dbs mod , 3 mile rsnge

So you're wondering if you still have a good stock connection.  It's hard to say for sure.  Only you know if you reconnected those cables correctly.  

The FPV will always go out before the control.  1300-1600 feet isn't bad for basic stock setup.  A lot depends on the wifi interference you might be getting and if you're aiming the controller correctly.  Fresnel zone issues might play a part too, depending on your environment.  

And yes, the dbs mod (also known as ITELITE) mentioned above by Rick King will improve your range a lot.  There's also an ITELITE "maxxrange" antenna made specifically for your 2.4 ghz FPV signal.  But it's big and awkward and cumbersome, and it won't do anything for your 5.8.

Hope this helps.  

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-1-28 13:17
So you're wondering if you still have a good stock connection.  It's hard to say for sure.  Only you know if you reconnected those cables correctly.  

The FPV will always go out before the control.  1300-1600 feet isn't bad for basic stock setup.  A lot depends on the wifi interference you might be getting and if you're aiming the controller correctly.  Fresnel zone issues might play a part too, depending on your environment.  

yea that's what I'm most worried about is my FPV signal range cuz that's what makes it fun and 9/10 of I need to be able to see what I'm filming and where to go.

I'm going to be getting a 4 pro soon when my taxes get here cuz I make a lot of car videos and the 3 standard cant keep up and this range issue is really driving me nuts.

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-1-28 13:17
So you're wondering if you still have a good stock connection.  It's hard to say for sure.  Only you know if you reconnected those cables correctly.  

The FPV will always go out before the control.  1300-1600 feet isn't bad for basic stock setup.  A lot depends on the wifi interference you might be getting and if you're aiming the controller correctly.  Fresnel zone issues might play a part too, depending on your environment.  

pretty much what I'm asking is 1600 ft before I start to get glitch FPV feed a normal thing or should I have those coax ends redone? I just don't get how people are getting 2000-4000 feet on stock radios but I can barely get 1600 feet.

does weather play a lot in to it? it was about 65 degrees and over cast one weekend when I tried to go as far as I could I was only at about 150-180 feet vertical I am seeing there seems to be a sweet spot at around 250-300 feet vertical for maxium distance.

but what also concerns me if I fly 350 vertical straight up above me I even get crummy FPV feeds but that maybe due to the fact that the antennas in the drone face sides ways with a tiny downward tilt and not straight down.

idk I hope when I get the 4 pro everything is more omnidirectional

My understanding is you should get 500-700 meters distance in FPV in a perfect environment.  So that works out to be within your specs, right?  

I don't actually have a P3S so if somebody has better info and wants to chime in, that would be great.

If you have nagging doubts, you could go in and mod the AC and bring the antenna outside.  That way, you will end up with a better antenna regardless of whether the current connection is good and you're getting good range now or not.  I would replace that tiny patch inside with a dipole outside.  There are wonderful advantages with the dipole regarding aiming the FPV signal back towards the controller.

Another thing you could do is install an ITELITE antenna, aka a DBS Mod antenna onto your controller.  That would help a lot, but even if the range was doubled, you might still have that nagging doubt which would bug you.  

Another thing you could do is install an ITELITE MAXXRANGE antenna onto your controller which is even bigger and better, but it won't do anything for your control signal.  

The distance guys like to fly straight out fairly close to the ground and then increase height by 50 feet or so whenever they see weakness in the signal.  And of course, they aim their controller antenna perfectly.  They use tripods and such to make it perfect.  You want the antenna alignment to be as perfect as possible.  

Flying overhead is bad news because it's impossible to match up the antennas correctly.  

If you like distance, you won't like omni.  

Hope this helps!

Antenna theory is quite complex as well as being a bit of a black art.

The radiation pattern from an ideal dipole would look something like this;



This is generally about as close as you will get to a point source which is truly omnidirectional. The field is like a doughnut but you will see that there is a null both above and below.

The pattern can be modified to flatten the doughnut;



This will result in better performance horizontally but reduced reception above and below. This may be a good compromise for our needs.

When you make the field directional it will work better in selected areas but at the cost of the others;



This is a pattern from a Yagi antenna which would be similar to that on a modified controller.


If you want an analogy think of a lightbulb in a room compared to the headlights on a car. The room light illuminates the whole room whereas the reflector on the car concentrates the light in one direction.

So should you point that antennas up? Because with other drone put them down.

KevDrones Posted at 2017-2-1 18:41
So should you point that antennas up? Because with other drone put them down.

The first two would be patterns for the transceivers on the drone. The third is a modified controller output.

You will see that when the drone is directly overhead it is a bit deaf. Now it will receive something as there is metal in close proximity which will cause reflections.

It can be seen that to get more power/sensitivity in one direction means taking it away from another. There is no free lunch

KevDrones Posted at 2017-2-1 18:41
So should you point that antennas up? Because with other drone put them down.

Well don't point it directly at drone.

I have done some flying where I get to around 350m in height and 350 - 450m in distance without loss.

I really think it depends on a lot of things.   For really extended range get another antenna kit.

This is a video I took yesterday with what I think is reasonable range.  P3S

Nice video, and thanks for the advice.

KevDrones Posted at 2017-2-1 20:25
Nice video, and thanks for the advice.

Basically the P3S has a 500m limit.  I have flown to the edge lost signal and the drone has auto returned.

Not really a feature I want to test too much.  Also I have really clear line of sight and if you get behind a building or a mountain or trees then for sure you may encounter issues.

Glad you liked my video. I plan on doing some flights up at 3000m in the mountains where I live.

What happens if you directly fly up ways since the antenna is sending signals through the side of the stick?

KevDrones Posted at 2017-2-1 20:55
What happens if you directly fly up ways since the antenna is sending signals through the side of the stick?

I tried, I lost signal at 200m and the drone went to RTH. However I just also moved the drone away and signal returned.

The black and grey coax feeds the video signal the patch antennas that are in the remote. Even a pinched coax will reduce the video signal sent to the antennas. How well the connectors were  re-attached will have some effect your video range and if badly done, could possibly burn out the radio in the gimbal.