Im a new phantom 3 pro owner and have noticed that I always get a strong wireless interference warning at my house. My neighbor has a mavic which he crashed after flying with the same error message.  A relative brought another mavic over and noticed the same condition. There not many wifi signals but I do have a neighbor with every known antena known to man on his roof. Could those be the culprit?

I have often been getting a compass error message.. Can that just be caused by the interference?    I have been standing on a cement slab when calibrating it which I just read is bad, but it seems fine most of the time..  The compass error happened this morning the second I landed.. auto land but seemed to bump down a bit harder than usual and then got the error.

Thanks for any advice!

I can only go about 1500-1700 feet before I get weak transmission signal warnings... sometimes i suddenly get weak transmission warning only 400 feet above my house.   think I need to get to a park.

What's your country? US has FCC (stronger signal), Europe and others have CE.
When you fly directly overhead are you putting the antennas down so they are horizontal?
There are lots of reasons for interference at home. Microwave can be one of them.  And your neighbor probably adds to it.

In order to find out if something is wrong with your system you want to check it in the countryside with low chance of interference.
Trying it at home doesn't give you a reliable figure.

The compass reacts to metal not radio signals. When you had that hard landing and you got that error message:
Did you land on concret?

Eric13 Posted at 2018-4-24 06:19
What's your country? US has FCC (stronger signal), Europe and others have CE.
When you fly directly overhead are you putting the antennas down so they are horizontal?
There are lots of reasons for interference at home. Microwave can be one of them.  And your neighbor probably adds to it.

yes not real hard landing. used auto but it was on concrete.. I thought it would be safer to land there than in grass.  why?

Eric13 Posted at 2018-4-24 06:19
What's your country? US has FCC (stronger signal), Europe and others have CE.
When you fly directly overhead are you putting the antennas down so they are horizontal?
There are lots of reasons for interference at home. Microwave can be one of them.  And your neighbor probably adds to it.

oh im in USA near NYC

Why not visit the antenna neighbor with a beer and find out what it is about? If only they are used to receive they should not be the cause of any interference but if he transmit it might, in that case find out what frequencies he is transmitting at.
Only thing that could be really bad is if there is parabolic link set up in your way as they can be using the microwave bands but unlikely to do anything unless you flight just to close to or through the beam.

JJMik Posted at 2018-4-24 06:32
yes not real hard landing. used auto but it was on concrete.. I thought it would be safer to land there than in grass.  why?

Concrete is no good, there is metal inside. I used to have major problems on concrete landing piers.
Try to avoid concrete. Asphalt will work or anything that doesn't contain metal.
Means: You don't want to take off from metal bridges as well...

Wifi in your neighborhood is probably the biggest culprit.  As far as distance, obstacles between you and the AC can really affect this.  Densely wooded areas as well as low lying areas as your home point can account for that.  

KedDK Posted at 2018-4-24 07:15
Why not visit the antenna neighbor with a beer and find out what it is about? If only they are used to receive they should not be the cause of any interference but if he transmit it might, in that case find out what frequencies he is transmitting at.
Only thing that could be really bad is if there is parabolic link set up in your way as they can be using the microwave bands but unlikely to do anything unless you flight just to close to or through the beam.

I plan on it!   he wants a drone after I showed him mine so if his hobby is interfering I'm sure he will address the issue

JJMik Posted at 2018-4-24 07:29
I plan on it!   he wants a drone after I showed him mine so if his hobby is interfering I'm sure he will address the issue

thanks for the info about the concrete... that makes sense.

I guess ill put a board out in the grass somewhere or buy a landing pad... our small driveway is a challenge because I have to fly between the power wires and house to get there.

I always get a strong wireless interference warning at my house. My neighbor has a mavic which he crashed after flying with the same error message.
Strong interference might cause a loss of signal cannot cause a crash.
At worst, if it totally swamps the control signal, the Phantom would just RTH.
You will always get interference in an urban area.
Your neighbour's amateur radio equipment might not be the cause.

I have often been getting a compass error message.. Can that just be caused by the interference?    I have been standing on a cement slab when calibrating it which I just read is bad, but it seems fine most of the time..  The compass error happened this morning the second I landed.
Reinforced concrete contains a lot of steel.
Your compass is in the bottom of the landing gear.
WHen you get that close to the magnetic field of the steel, the compass won't be able to properly read the earth's normal magnetic field.
The manual advises you to avoid calibrating the compass near steel.

Why are you recalibrating the compass at all?
In normal circumstances you should never have to recalibrate your compass - leave it alone.
Never launch or land on steel or reinforced concrete surfaces.

"our small driveway is a challenge because I have to fly between the power wires and house to get there. "

Power lines anywhere nearby will cause significant interference. And, yes, interference from power lines may well cause a compass error.

I have regular Power lines all around my house and neighborhood. Weird thing is that the interference comes and goes.   I was 2000 feet away full signal then almost lost signal suddenly.

The compass has only happened on the concrete pad I have been launching from.

Probably a combination of everything.  The good news is that two Mavic owners have complained about the interference.  I know it’s not my drone

treybein Posted at 2018-4-25 02:50
"our small driveway is a challenge because I have to fly between the power wires and house to get there. "

Power lines anywhere nearby will cause significant interference. And, yes, interference from power lines may well cause a compass error.

"Power lines anywhere nearby will cause significant interference."
No they will not, i have at several occasions been flying both over and under some of the higher voltage than normal house supply without any issues.

"interference from power lines may well cause a compass error."
Not correct either, if any compass error it would be the metal and not because it is a power line and you would have to be that close it would be considered unsafe flying.

You realize that there are people in here using drones for power line inspections?
Here we had some drone pilots hanging hi colored reflex material on the power lines with phantoms to avoid birds flying in to them as they were right in the route the birds would pass.

KedDK Posted at 2018-4-25 04:49
"Power lines anywhere nearby will cause significant interference."
No they will not, i have at several occasions been flying both over and under some of the higher voltage than normal house supply without any issues.

I flew over high voltage wires (way above them). and on that flight had a fantastic signal the entire time no errors and went  several thousand feet before turning back.  Other times I get weak trans signal only 300 feet above my house. Compas error has seemed to only happen when landing or taking off from concrete patio... but doesn't always happen..   I can't wait to get out to a park where I have some space. I haven't used RTH yet and would like to see how closely it returns.   They say 5 yards from him point ?   Problem is that in my yard 15 feet could mean landing in the pool or hitting power wires or the house... We have a tiny yard.  I know you are supposed to be able to cancel RTH and cancel RTH if it caused by loss of signal but I have seen videos where it has not allowed the person to reconnect and just lands.

JJMik Posted at 2018-4-24 07:33
thanks for the info about the concrete... that makes sense.

I guess ill put a board out in the grass somewhere or buy a landing pad... our small driveway is a challenge because I have to fly between the power wires and house to get there.

Here is how i manage it when flying from home ...

cheap landing ''pad''

You end up being very good at precision flight as the air from AC itself seem to fight it against being landed on the box after flight.

Flight environment is very important for the flight. Keep away from the interference source if applicable. See if this video helps.