Hi All
Over the weekend I flew. It was not without trepidation. I kept losing colour and signal - see attached pics.

I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me as to why this was happening. I have a theory that prhaps I was too close to my car and this was causing a disturbance in the force.

Our apologies for the inconvenience. Can you try to fly the drone on an open wide area and check if the issue persists? May I know what is the mobile device, android or ios version and DJI Go 4 app you are using? Thanks for your support.

DJI Paladin Posted at 2018-10-2 01:08
Our apologies for the inconvenience. Can you try to fly the drone on an open wide area and check if the issue persists? May I know what is the mobile device, android or ios version and DJI Go 4 app you are using? Thanks for your support.

Sony Xa  F3112  on Android 6.0.
DJi 4 v4.3.0(642-googlePlay)


That, to me was a wide open space, however, I will, weather permitting, try and fly out of town.
Thanks for your reply

Where was the drone with respect to the remote? How was the remote oriented with respect to the drone? How far away?

Tentoes Posted at 2018-10-2 06:03
Where was the drone with respect to the remote? How was the remote oriented with respect to the drone? How far away?

Hi Tentoes
I am not quite certain how to answer you.
The drone was dead ahead in line of sight flying over the open field.
The controller was pointed staight at the drone. Look at the pics to see what the distance and height was.
Looking at the small pic you will see that I was facing the open field, with the car behind me. I should point out that the pics are in sequence and that it was one flight only.

It happened to me too a few times and its not becuase of the car. weather changes, wind speed, and let it focus for a bit.

H. Arif - 6IX Posted at 2018-10-2 14:29
It happened to me too a few times and its not becuase of the car. weather changes, wind speed, and let it focus for a bit.

The weather was fine snd warm with a light breeze. It makes me afraid to fly too far.

Droffarc Posted at 2018-10-3 06:58
The weather was fine snd warm with a light breeze. It makes me afraid to fly too far.

Video signal loss is more related to the signal environment than weather.  What was the spectrum analyzer showing you in respect to noise on that band?  Lots of signal traffic or was it clear for your remote's WiFi signal?

Just because the sky's look clear doesn't mean there aren't a lot of people and businesses using the WiFi bands where the Spark (distant or not from the remote) is flying.  Easy to fly the Spark into a noisy area.

Droffarc Posted at 2018-10-3 06:58
The weather was fine snd warm with a light breeze. It makes me afraid to fly too far.

I always remind myself YOLO, what's the worst that could happen, apparently losing the drone on a flyaway is the worst that could happen. LOL

Gunship9 Posted at 2018-10-3 08:47
Video signal loss is more related to the signal environment than weather.  What was the spectrum analyzer showing you in respect to noise on that band?  Lots of signal traffic or was it clear for your remote's WiFi signal?

Just because the sky's look clear doesn't mean there aren't a lot of people and businesses using the WiFi bands where the Spark (distant or not from the remote) is flying.  Easy to fly the Spark into a noisy area.

Unfortunately I did not record the settings, but will do so in future as with the takeoff. What I normally do is after take off move forward, backward, yaw left and back then proceed with the flight.

Thanks for your comment.

I think I have it all figured out!
I was watching a vid on a Canadian guy doing a review on why he likes his Spark after a year. He indicated that the aircraft antenna is placed at the back of the body, where the battery is, just above.
SO
If that is the case the signal from the controller is strongest when the ac is flying away from you.
When you yaw the signal reception is not as strong and when flying back at you with the camera in front, the signal is weakest because the ac antenna is at the back.
I think this is the answer to the above.

Please feel free to discuss this.
Regards

Disappointing flight today...

It began with compass error


So I walked forward a few steps and I got the all clear



Then at 58m distance


Composure regained and flew further





I decided to walk towards the spark, but that did not help too much



So I tried to return home, and in mid-rth



TRH operation time out

I eventually got the spark to come back and these were the readings



And if you wanted to know



This is the way I hold my controller.
Note: the reason for the distance difference is because I walked toward the spark, away from the home point.

Now tell me, what is the point of having a ing drone if it cannot go further than ing 70 meters without having a ing  problem?

I am NOT Happy  

Droffarc Posted at 2018-10-5 02:50
Disappointing flight today...

It began with compass error

The channels look very clear of signal interference.  

The sides of the antenna radiate a donut pattern.  The best connection is when the sides are facing at the drone.  Not the antenna tips.   You could try another area.

I have lost video signal when out over a corn field filming geese about 100 yards out.  I navigated back via the icon in the HDI in the lower left corner.  I have also crossed one of our bigger corn fields to film my horse at a neighbors house without issue.  Wierd.  Drones just fly so far away compared to RC model planes.  Now days I mostly walk to whatever I want to film and stay close to the drone.

On further perusal I note the following:

The wifi signal between the ac and the RC diminishes drastically with distance.









The nearer the ac is to the RC the better the wifi signal becomes.

This leads me to believe that either the  aircraft antenna is faulty OR the Remote Controller is faulty / not strong enough to transmit to 68m, let alone the advertised 2K M!

I would appreciate it if one of the DJI Mods would comment on my logic.

Thanks

This afternoon I went right out of town, into the farmlands - far from any wifi interferance, and got the very same results.

AH! so
more flying with more views.
THE GOOD NEWS
without the OTG cable





This was in an open area with no buildings.

BUT WITH OTG



HUGE IMPROVEMENT!

The BAD NEWS





So my question remains - why, If the app allows the setting of MAX DISTANCE of 8000M (I have limited it to 500m) does my ac disconnect at 145m - that is only a third of the limit?!

But wait! there's more....



This was taken at the bottom of the dam wall of the Berg River outside Franchoek In the Western cape, South Africa.

Don't fly too Far until you figure it out,..
It's also just never a good idea to fly out of VLOS.  Good Luck Happy Flying

Carmenvail Posted at 2018-10-7 16:53
Don't fly too Far until you figure it out,..
It's also just never a good idea to fly out of VLOS.  Good Luck Happy Flying

Good advice, thanks, however, spark is visible at that distance against the skyline.

Get an older Go4, first

Oh:
And for a test, get the Go4 mod 2.0.
This will set your bird-RC connection to FCC

Use OTG, older App and FCC. Work for me.

I think you are right, antenna is in the back.
About the signal strength indicator..
Litchi will show both uplink and downlink.
Pretty handy!

Thanks for the replies.  have addressed my concerns with the selling agent and am waiting for their response.
i will check the litchi, sounds juicy

Droffarc Posted at 2018-10-8 03:05
Thanks for the replies.  have addressed my concerns with the selling agent and am waiting for their response.
i will check the litchi, sounds juicy

Hi All
After much ado, I am now happy with my spark.
What the dealer eventually did to tweek I do not know but I am now quite happy with the results - see the pic taken last sunday in Strand South Africa.

Further news is that my other spark, sent to the address given by DJI, has landed in China but nothing further - afraid it yawed its way into oblivion...