Hi folks, first post here but I have read and learned a lot so far so thanks to everyone who contributes.

I have spent about a week with my Phantom 3 se and love it. Today however I started getting disconnects with the bird trying to return home. This happened both at the park with only trees between me and the bird and also outside of my home which had my building and trees between. Both times were between 400-500 meters. The screen would go grey and say that the image was disconnected and then say that the drone was not connected. After a short flight and sometimes just after the drone turned back towards me and went 10-20 meters the signal would come back and I could control it again.

Is this working as intended? I have seen people flying Phatoms really far distances in cities so I wouldn’t think that there was too much between me and the bird, but perhaps there was? I have flown a bit further than my max distance today in the past but not ever in that direction from home or the park (I live right next to the park).

What is the maximum range that one should expect from a Phantom 3 SE? What kind of range do you usually get?

Sorry for posting here - I can’t find a forum for the SE. I have been really pleased with the images I have captured so far but I would like to fly further given the reported capabilities of this drone.

Range will vary depending on where you are.  Try to keep antennas parallel and pointed directly at the drone.

Trees, buildings and anything that will keep you from seeing the ac(LOS) will impede video and control, initiating RTH. Especially trees with leaves. After leave drop here in Wisconsin, penetration gets better, but still will eventually stop both video and control signals. Line of sight also affects signals. Altitude is your friend, up to 400 feet. I fly rural area, and as ac gets farther out distant tree lines will impede signal, unless I raise altitude to bring LOS( Line of signal) back into play . Your SE should get close to a mile I think, but be aware that is with clear line of signal. If your new to flying drone, you should keep in well within visual sight, keeping in mind that is the legal limit in the US.

the max range of the bird is 4 km, but its wifi connection so it has a lot of interference

I often fly in a fixed location. At this location, I easily get a distance of more than 900 meters / 2900 feet (with 100% signal). It is an open field without significant development. This weekend I flown on another location. It was only 500 meters away from my original location. At this location I found the same problems as you describe.

After studying my surroundings, I saw some antennas on the roof of a (very) small and low building. It's clear to me that these antennas the source of my failures was.

I am convinced that DJI has made a good product. And there are no gnomes or ghosts in a drone (). So, when there are malfunctions, I look for the solution first and foremost to my own handling and in my environment.

I would make sure to check on the range of the aircraft through the app. Make sure you are not in beginner's mode. Try flying in a few spots to see if the range is consistent.

Thanks everyone for al of the good info. Good to hear that the drone is probably working as intended. Tomorrow I am going to walk out to where I was flying and try the same trip but backwards. I would guess that would not have the connection problems since that side has more open space and also some elevated landings I could try standing on to see what kind of range difference there is. I’m going to log distances for the next week to see what kind of conditions give me what kind of range.

I ask to Se owners...are you able to switch 2.4 or 5.8ghz and have custom channels? For me is not possible...could be also a country restriction? In dji go i don't see channel quality and i can't switch them....
Best regards
Andrea

Since you're in the air, hopefully you've read your flight manual from front to back at least a couple times by now.  

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... ser+Manual+V1.0.pdf

You should read the specs to see what the max range is among other things.  If you do that, you'll see it is 4000 meters FCC.  

http://www.dji.com/phantom-3-se/info?lang=cn#specs

That's about two and a half miles, but that's also under perfect conditions.   Perfect conditions is transmitting from the side or top of a mountain and flying straight out and slightly down over an empty valley.  Flying from flat rural terrain can be almost as good.  It also helps to learn how to aim the transmitter and it helps to learn how to fly for max distance.  There's a technique involved.  It would also help to understand the fresnel zone and how to use it to your advantage if you can.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_zone

As DJI-Mark mentioned above, be sure the problem isn't Beginner Mode.  If it is, maybe you should stay there for a bit longer.  :-)  

I would read through the forum linked below which is specifically for the Phantom 3 SE and try to learn as much as you can.

https://phantompilots.com/forums/phantom-se.144/

You can also use google search to find phantom 3 SE threads on this site and all sorts of other things:

https://www.google.com/search?q= ... eid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I'd also read the P3S forum/threads because there's a wealth of knowledge already posted and the two ACs are very similar.  

Good luck!

Andrewrok Posted at 2017-10-2 11:36
I ask to Se owners...are you able to switch 2.4 or 5.8ghz and have custom channels? For me is not possible...could be also a country restriction? In dji go i don't see channel quality and i can't switch them....
Best regards
Andrea

There's no switching frequencies that can be done by the pilot.  Control is 5.8 ghz.  FPV/telemetry is 2.4 ghz.  I don't know about custom channels.  I don't have an SE.  

https://store-guides.djicdn.com/ ... 7/08/P3SE-P3S-7.jpg


Edit 2017-11-20:  Sorry - the above is incorrect.  See video #2 below...

Mark The Droner Posted at 2017-10-2 12:51
Since you're in the air, hopefully you've read your flight manual from front to back at least a couple times by now.  

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... ser+Manual+V1.0.pdf

Thanks for the links - my phantom came with everything and was new, as far as I could tell, but didn’t have a full manual. So I am glad to have a link to the manual. I learned how to use it just from watching videos and just assumed that there wasn’t a full manual other than the quick start guide.

northpaul 3 Posted at 2017-10-3 11:57
Thanks for the links - my phantom came with everything and was new, as far as I could tell, but didn’t have a full manual. So I am glad to have a link to the manual. I learned how to use it just from watching videos and just assumed that there wasn’t a full manual other than the quick start guide.

Can’t see how to edit my posts but I am not in beginnner mode. If you noticed, the drone is losing connection and returning home, not saying maximum distance reached. Thanks for the links though.

here is for your reference.

DJI Phantom 3 SE Range Test #01 By ARGtek Pilot:-


DJI Phantom 3 SE Range Test #02 - By ARGtek Pilot:-


DJI Phantom 3 SE Range Test #03 - By ARGtek Pilot:-

Andrewrok Posted at 2017-10-2 11:36
I ask to Se owners...are you able to switch 2.4 or 5.8ghz and have custom channels? For me is not possible...could be also a country restriction? In dji go i don't see channel quality and i can't switch them....
Best regards
Andrea

can't switch also... tried few android devices, still on 2.4

With Skyreat

Nice, but I think we're trying to confirm stock max distance.

Here are some stock distance vids I found last night:


https://phantompilots.com/thread ... 23704/#post-1288991

Hi guys

Bought my P3 SE 2 weeks ago. First weeks I just used Beginner Mode, and no signal problem.

Now when I go over 40/50 meters sometime I get low signal feed from drone. So far I went to 70m max, but connection went very instable. I never lose sight of drone and I use it on open areas only on rural places. Is it normal? For a drone that can go 500m high, weak signal at 70m is weird.... Is it normal?

What firmware?

I tested it today at 100m and no problem. Maybe was some buildings or trees before...

On the limited flights I’ve made the furthest out I have gone is 1700m, 3600m total trip.  I’m running the current FW.

The entire flight was LOS from an elivated terrain, overlooking a valley.

Hi, I was able to fly 2 km with my phantom 3 SE, but since the last update in November, I just can fly 150 meters max. If you live in Europe don't buy a dji drone they do updates to limit the range of drones

djiuser_kTrYeGgkLp32 Posted at 2018-3-26 13:57
Hi, I was able to fly 2 km with my phantom 3 SE, but since the last update in November, I just can fly 150 meters max. If you live in Europe don't buy a dji drone they do updates to limit the range of drones

....or use FakeGPS...

Simply.... Switch to FCC

whats fcc?

This is an old thread, but he means switch to USA mode - FCC mode - rather than rest-of-the-world mode - CE mode.  FCC mode has an unencumbered transmitter and receiver.  CE mode has an attenuator engaging the transceivers which deliberately weakens the signal.  

Switching to FCC mode outside the USA requires a hack.