Vyborny83
lvl.4
Flight distance : 166014 ft
Czechia
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davidmartingraf Posted at 2018-4-13 06:16
Why does the OTG cable matter so much to people in Europe? I'm in the United States and I actually just flew my Spark without an OTG cable, and always have achieving 10,000 feet in one of my Spark range tests, I also own a Mavic Pro that has OcuSync and is the premier OTG cable drone for DJI.
I barely could tell the difference in my three flights, two batteries with the Spark and one battery for the Mavic Pro using OTG cable, just a few minutes ago. The Spark strictly with WiFi achieved just as good of transmission feed back to my phone, and I enjoy that it was free not being tethered to the controller when like in flight with my Mavic Pro.
Let's start with the official specs:
Max Transmission Distance
2.412 - 2.462 GHz (unobstructed, free of interference)
FCC: 1.2 mi (2 km); CE: 0.3 mi (500 m)
SRRC: 0.3 mi (500 m); MIC: 0.3 mi (500 m)
5.745 - 5.825 GHz (unobstructed, free of interference)
FCC: 1.2 mi (2 km); CE: 0.18 mi (300 m)
SRRC: 0.7 mi (1.2 km); MIC: -
The main problem is that unlike the US, the Europe uses much more strict regulations concerning the maximal allowed output of the transmitter. For the 5,8GHz its 0.5mW in the US (FCC) vs 0.025mW for the EU (CE), for those who have problems with math, it's 20x less.
But that's not all. Most of European android phones can't use the 5,8GHz band. Even dualband phones end at 5,7GHz. It's because the 5,8GHz band is not allowed in Europe with the exception of a Short Range Devices https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels . And even those devices are limited by those 0,025mW of maximal power. The problem is that when you take a look at the definition of Short Range Devices, you do not even see Smartphone or Remote controller category http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/radio/short-range-devices. That's why android phones do not use the 5,8GHz band.
Now comes the good part, due to the inability to use the 5,8GHz for the Phone-RC connection, you are stuck with this ridiculously weak connection for Spark-RC. I really do not know how DJI got those 300m in official specs but there are literally hundreds of people that have trouble reaching 100m with this. Quite often some serious disconnects begin even sooner (50m, give or take). Essentially, the official specs are a fraud if you are planning to use the Spark the DJI recommended way.
And this is where the OTG comes in. If you use it to connect the Phone to the RC, you can use the 2,4GHz band for the Spark-RC connection and since this band has much more allowed power, you get significantly better results. In my case around 400m without disconnect which is much closer to official 500m for this band (still about 4x less what you get in the US though...)
For a large number of European users this is the only way how they can fly their Sparks safely. That's why we immediatelly after DJI broke it asked for this feature to be reenabled. DJI Mods here told us it was a mistake and that it will be restored ... but half a year (and 5 or 6 updates ? I have lost tracks) later, it still does not work.
That's why there are hundreds of threads here where people complain about the ridiculously low range and why some of us keep copying/pasting how to downgrade to an older versions so that the owners can actually use the drone they bought under the advertised specs. Btw, thanks for nothing DJI for NOT PINNING any of these advices for all those who keep coming with the complains about the range ... really helpful.
If you take a look at the changelogs of the last few newest versions of DJI GO 4, you will notice that all the updates are for Mavic Air, there are no updates for the Spark, not a single one from all the suggestions made since the last summer. That's why people feel that DJI has abandoned them and the Spark as well.
The other problem is that larger drones like Mavic pro and others are too large/heavy/expensive for some of us. Seriously, I am an amateur outdoor photographer, everything I carry I carry in a backpack and every gram counts. No to mention the fact that I could probably survive if I loose the Spark due to some crash, but the other drones are significantly more expensive and since I am interrested in panoramatic pictures alone, 4k camera and other features simply do not justify the higher cost of other drones. The only possible upgrade for me could be Mavic Air ... but ... since I am stuck on DJI GO 4.1.14 because I need the OTG, I can't even buy it since this version would not recognize it ...
I wonder if somebody actually reads it all .
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