I have found that I am able to go much further and the craft is much more responsive early in the morning and to a lesser extent late evening.

Why is this? Temperature, humidity, solar or radio interference..... Any ideas?  

  

What are yr typical late evening weather conditions? Is Zamboon from Zambia perhaps? what country are you flying in.

my recent research is showing that temperature and humididty do affect radio signals - trying to clarify that in this forum - not many opinions yet. if you google yr questions you will find that there are some technical pdf reports that say yes to yr question - i did not yet find any that say no.

Both are valid and possible. Supossing you are not affected by tail or front winds, solar interference can be checked on http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/, look for the estimated planetary k index. If 4 or above, expect possibility of erratic behaviour.Another factor could be temperature, i.e, air density, the colder air you fly, more air density and better sustentation.This means less rotations and lesser consumed energy/battery