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Flight distance - Solved
2399 28 2018-3-11
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Suren
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Hi Guys

Decided to bit the bullet today and take a long range flight, unfortunatly I could not. Has i got to around 800 meters with my Samsung S8 the remote icon signal dropped to 1 bar and poor image transmission error so I brought the drone back changed the phone to the iphone 8 and off I went again but this time at around 1000 meters got the same error. Could not complete this test.

Now I was flying in a suburb way above electrical power lines, above cellphone towers etc. Could this be the reason for the poor range? I always fly where the drone was visible to me but decided today was the day and it did not work out. I had the drone around 100 meters in height, also tried with the parabolic range extenders still same result. Any advice is much appreciated.

Thank You in Advance.
2018-3-11
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integer
Captain
Flight distance : 113355784 ft
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electrical power lines, cellphone towers, trees, houses, wifi, is a good reason for the poor range. Go to an open area and try it there
2018-3-11
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Suren
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integer Posted at 2018-3-11 05:34
electrical power lines, cellphone towers, trees, houses, wifi, is a good reason for the poor range. Go to an open area and try it there

I know that would be the cause but assumed due to the Occusync tech in the Mavic I would get decent mileage. Looks like I have to wait until I find a good open place to try this.
2018-3-11
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integer
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Greece
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Occusync works better in a straight line without obstacles  and magnetic fields

EDIT: And always the antennas face directly at the aircraft. Very important!
2018-3-11
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Suren
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integer Posted at 2018-3-11 06:13
Occusync works better in a straight line without obstacles  and magnetic fields

cool Thanks, so the range extenders are basically useless if one is trying to use it in an urban area. From what I have seen it was supposed to focus the frequency when pointed at the drone.
2018-3-11
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integer
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Flight distance : 113355784 ft
Greece
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range extender must face directly at the aircraft "with accuracy", else you lose the signal abruptly
2018-3-11
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Suren
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I'm sure it was pointed the right way.
2018-3-11
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Bob Brown
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Mavic Air or Mavic Pro? Sorry since the Air is now the default you need to specify what one you are talking about. I wish they would fix that!

I notice on my Pro that the cold seems to affect the range quite a bit... the warmer the temps the further I can go... visa versa.
So not sure if this is fact or not.. Ocusync I think is affected greatly by weather and temps?
2018-3-11
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Bob Brown
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integer Posted at 2018-3-11 06:26
range extender must face directly at the aircraft "with accuracy", else you lose the signal abruptly

I have had this issue going straight up... found that the extenders are less beneficial than I expected if not directly pointed at the drone. Kinda defeats the purpose and increases signal loss events for me.
2018-3-11
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Suren
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Should have mentioned it is a mavic pro
2018-3-11
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Suren
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Weather was a bit cloudy today but no wind
2018-3-11
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integer
Captain
Flight distance : 113355784 ft
Greece
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in open area the ocusync make miracles. the only limitation will be your battery
2018-3-11
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Mavic Ace
Second Officer
Flight distance : 333976 ft
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The mobile device shouldn’t matter. It’s only being used as a video screen.  
2018-3-11
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AuroraHunter
First Officer
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I fly in the mountains with the Mavic pro and my limit is around 2500 meters before I start seeing issues with the connection. All line of sight for the most part  and I keep the antennas point in the proper direction, No range extender  on my controller.
2018-3-11
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Suren
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Mavic Ace Posted at 2018-3-11 07:48
The mobile device shouldn’t matter. It’s only being used as a video screen.

surprisingly it does count. I tested the difference yesterday as well with the Samsung and the iPhone. the Samsung shows signal drop literally 400 to 500 meters from me with the Rc icon starts to flash around 300 then when I get to around 500 the bars drop to 3. Today has I got to 800 meters the signal bars dropped completely and I got an error, as mentioned in my original post brought drone back swopped to iPhone and went out again. I know flying in an Urban area has restrictions but when you have the remote pointing to the drone I should not have such short range and signal drop.

Anyways going to look for an empty spot away from interference and try this again.
2018-3-11
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Suren
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AuroraHunter Posted at 2018-3-11 08:04
I fly in the mountains with the Mavic pro and my limit is around 2500 meters before I start seeing issues with the connection. All line of sight for the most part  and I keep the antennas point in the proper direction, No range extender  on my controller.
[view_image]

I would like to try and find a nice spot to try that kind of range. Where I live I am limited to areas for open flight has most areas are heavily populated. Maybe I need to book a holiday in Drakensburg Mountains to get some sweet distance and footage.
2018-3-11
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Suren
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integer Posted at 2018-3-11 07:28
in open area the ocusync make miracles. the only limitation will be your battery

I don't doubt that. With my spark I cannot get more than 100 meters without it going crazy. I fly my Pro almost every week.
2018-3-11
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DJI Elektra
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Hong Kong
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Suren Posted at 2018-3-11 08:18
I don't doubt that. With my spark I cannot get more than 100 meters without it going crazy. I fly my Pro almost every week.

Suren, I would recommend you fly in recommended environment without interference. If you fly you spark, you can enter the wifi setting and see if most channels are green.
flight environment.PNG
2018-3-17
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RocketChap
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Suren Posted at 2018-3-11 08:05
surprisingly it does count. I tested the difference yesterday as well with the Samsung and the iPhone. the Samsung shows signal drop literally 400 to 500 meters from me with the Rc icon starts to flash around 300 then when I get to around 500 the bars drop to 3. Today has I got to 800 meters the signal bars dropped completely and I got an error, as mentioned in my original post brought drone back swopped to iPhone and went out again. I know flying in an Urban area has restrictions but when you have the remote pointing to the drone I should not have such short range and signal drop.

Anyways going to look for an empty spot away from interference and try this again.

If is a pro your flying (i.e. RC connected by wire to phone) and there is a constant difference in displayed AC signal strength between a Samsung S8 and IPhone then the only things I can think of that are different are:  

* The App is slightly different between the Android and iOS versions. (I guess this does not apply as you seem to be talking about signal strength on the RC)
* The physical position of the phone may be different and affecting the RC antenna.
* The phone is generating some interference that is affecting the received signal at the RC (is the phone in airplane mode?).
2018-3-18
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Suren
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RocketChap Posted at 2018-3-18 00:48
If is a pro your flying (i.e. RC connected by wire to phone) and there is a constant difference in displayed AC signal strength between a Samsung S8 and IPhone then the only things I can think of that are different are:  

The App is slightly different between the Android and iOS versions.

I always fly in airplane mode.
2018-3-18
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RocketChap
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Suren Posted at 2018-3-18 00:52
I always fly in airplane mode.

Thanks, although much less likely,  It could still be the phone making some background interference - try a long USB lead (preferably one with a ferrite slug) and move the phone closer/further from the RC and see if that makes a difference.
2018-3-18
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RocketChap
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Suren Posted at 2018-3-18 00:52
I always fly in airplane mode.

You could also hover at distance and turn the phone right off (i.e. power down) and see if that makes a difference.
2018-3-18
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Suren
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RocketChap Posted at 2018-3-18 01:03
You could also hover at distance and turn the phone right off (i.e. power down) and see if that makes a difference.

Worth giving it a shot.
2018-3-18
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RocketChap
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Suren Posted at 2018-3-18 01:04
Worth giving it a shot.

I'd be very interested in the results - please remember to let us know.
2018-3-18
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Suren
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RocketChap Posted at 2018-3-18 01:09
I'd be very interested in the results - please remember to let us know.

Okay so after doing a firmware refresh, changing all the props, calibrating gimble and imu went out on a flight with my 3 batteries, first flew with the S8 and found issues still there at around 500 or so meters, brought drone back and changed phone to iPhone 6s+ and off I went again and wow got to around 1,2 km with only 1 bar drop on Rc icon. this was great. did not want to risk going further has there will be no way to recover drone from this area so I came back. But this was a great flight possible the best so far for me and the furthest that I went. will be trying a good range month end when away on holiday.
2018-3-18
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Henry M.Y.
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Suren Posted at 2018-3-18 02:58
Okay so after doing a firmware refresh, changing all the props, calibrating gimble and imu went out on a flight with my 3 batteries, first flew with the S8 and found issues still there at around 500 or so meters, brought drone back and changed phone to iPhone 6s+ and off I went again and wow got to around 1,2 km with only 1 bar drop on Rc icon. this was great. did not want to risk going further has there will be no way to recover drone from this area so I came back. But this was a great flight possible the best so far for me and the furthest that I went. will be trying a good range month end when away on holiday.

Hi Suren,

You can always trust DJI's Ocusync transmission technology in Mavic Pro for its robustness against interference as well as transmission range. I often fly over 3km and sometimes up to 5km away from home point to check out outlying islands in Hong Kong, and the Mavic Pro never disappointed me. All you have to do is to correctly orientate the flat surfaces of both antennas towards your Mavic Pro, and the Ocusync system will analyse the RF environment and determine which channel and transmission mode for your Mavic Pro to best transmit video downlink and flight telementary to your RC.

Henry




IMG_0388.jpg
2018-3-18
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Suren
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Henry M.Y. Posted at 2018-3-18 03:35
Hi Suren,

You can always trust DJI's Ocusync transmission technology in Mavic Pro for its robustness against interference as well as transmission range. I often fly over 3km and sometimes up to 5km away from home point to check out outlying islands in Hong Kong, and the Mavic Pro never disappointed me. All you have to do is to correctly orientate the flat surfaces of both antennas towards your Mavic Pro, and the Ocusync system will analyse the RF environment and determine which channel and transmission mode for your Mavic Pro to best transmit video downlink and flight telementary to your RC.

That's looks like it was a good flight
2018-3-18
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Dirty Bird
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To get a good assessment of your bird's RC range you really need to find a good open location like open farmland or better still open water.  I am fortunate to have a great range test location within a few miles of my house.  In this video the stock Mavic Pro is 3 miles (4828 m) out at the furthest point near the cranes.  I had perfect control & FPV signal the entire flight & could have flown much further.


2018-3-18
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RocketChap
Second Officer
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Suren Posted at 2018-3-18 02:58
Okay so after doing a firmware refresh, changing all the props, calibrating gimble and imu went out on a flight with my 3 batteries, first flew with the S8 and found issues still there at around 500 or so meters, brought drone back and changed phone to iPhone 6s+ and off I went again and wow got to around 1,2 km with only 1 bar drop on Rc icon. this was great. did not want to risk going further has there will be no way to recover drone from this area so I came back. But this was a great flight possible the best so far for me and the furthest that I went. will be trying a good range month end when away on holiday.

Big difference using the two different phones - I'm really intrigued as to why.
2018-3-18
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