Was out this morning and lost communication with the drone.  It did what it is supposed to do and initiated RTH - no problem there.

Calm day,  probably 25/26C.
First flight on freshly charges batteries

Over water.  Distance from controller was about 350/400mtrs with absolutely no obstruction.  Full VLOS.
Altitude about 50 mtrs.
The drone was in sight against a clear blue sky.

Was flying towards a channel into a boat harbour & tried to roll the gimbal down.  Huh,  it wouldn't roll so I pressed the S1 (?) button to rotate the gimbal to the vertical position - nowt.  Then I realised I wasn't actually flying the drone any more.  At this stage I didn't note a warning.  After a few seconds of fiddling for no result I decided the only thing to do was to turn the controller off & back on - which I did.  By the time that had happened,  the drone had initiated a RTH.   It was best part of the way home by the time the controller was up & running.  I cancelled the RTH & continued flying with no further problem.
No idea what happened or why,  but the craft performed perfectly after the incident bith in the remainder of that 15 minute flight & a subsequent flight.

There was no drama in this case,  the system did what it was supposed to do..............  but I do wonder why ??

Aloha Manx,

     Yes, that is weird.  Those things happen every once in a while to me.  I write them off as a good reason to be prepared and informed about your options.  Nice that it does come home or otherwise recover from these mishaps though.  Never a dull moment!

     Maybe there was a strong interference of some sort.  What frequency were you using?  You might choose to change the frequency between 2.4 and 5.8 the next time you are there.  How big was the harbor?  Big ships or only small boats?  Any military involved?

     BTW, half the fun is trying to figure these things out!

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetacean Posted at 1-5 03:26
Aloha Manx,

     Yes, that is weird.  Those things happen every once in a while to me.  I write them off as a good reason to be prepared and informed about your options.  Nice that it does come home or otherwise recover from these mishaps though.  Never a dull moment!

I leave the frequency on Auto ......  so I don't actually know what we were on at the time.
The entrance is to a fishing boat club's harbour - nothing large or made out of steel.
Definately nothing by way of military there.
I was in clear air,  well away from any (known) magnetic/electrical interference.  I have flown there before a few times.
I guess it just happened   "'cos it can"
It is nice to know that the drone knows its' way home though - enforces the need to establish (and check) your noted home point.
All good,  just thought I'd throw it out there ..............  

Manxmann Posted at 1-5 03:48
I leave the frequency on Auto ......  so I don't actually know what we were on at the time.
The entrance is to a fishing boat club's harbour - nothing large or made out of steel.
Definately nothing by way of military there.

Aloha Manx,

     "Cos it can" works!  Like I said, "Never a dull moment!"

     Along the line of "Half the fun is figuring these things out."; you might want to try the "Custom" option in the HD Settings since you now know it will come home.  Maybe the app chose 2.4 GHz (or 5.8 GHz) the other times and the RTH incident happened when the app chose the untried alternative.  

     BTW, in the Custom settings, you can choose the "bitrate" and select the lowest one.  This really improves my "Live View" display.  When I use my Parabolics, I can increase the bitrate if I think the display could get better, but I generally do not fly that far.

     Good to hear you are still out there having fun!  May this new year give you many more fun flights!

Aloha and Drone On!

Many thanks Cetacean.  I will check out the setting options you mention.
If the lower bitrate gives a better live view - does it have any effect on the final recorded video ?
Cheers & drone on !

Something similar to this happened to me but 4 meters away on dry land. Maybe you mistakenly pointed you RC antennas downward?

ChavaLozVi Posted at 1-5 06:03
Something similar to this happened to me but 4 meters away on dry land. Maybe you mistakenly pointed you RC antennas downward?

No,  they were vertical at the time,  which is where I generally position them when the beast is more than ----  say 100mtrs away.
I think it was probably "one of those things"  ??

Manxmann Posted at 1-5 05:47
Many thanks Cetacean.  I will check out the setting options you mention.
If the lower bitrate gives a better live view - does it have any effect on the final recorded video ?
Cheers & drone on !

Aloha Manx,

     The recorded video remains at the same setting you intended, only the Live View is changed and that is usually for the better.  That is one of the nice things about the DJI design, the camera is a different system from the Live View.  But a 720p version of your video recordings is saved in one of the other folders on the Micro SD card.  The 720 version is useful for an instant and easy replay with almost no compatibility problems.  

     There is also a recycled video recording of the Live View, but I forget how that works.  I keep mine at 2 GB to free up the storage and RAM on my device.  That recording is the one on the General Settings first screen (. . . at the bottom) and it can be set at different levels.

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetacean Posted at 1-7 15:12
Aloha Manx,

     The recorded video remains at the same setting you intended, only the Live View is changed and that is usually for the better.  That is one of the nice things about the DJI design, the camera is a different system from the Live View.  But a 720p version of your video recordings is saved in one of the other folders on the Micro SD card.  The 720 version is useful for an instant and easy replay with almost no compatibility problems.  

Thanks for the tips Cetacean.
I'll check it out next time I get the opportunity to  fly.

PS:  I am well retired.  Consequently don't have much spare time !!    Great init ?

Manxmann Posted at 1-7 16:11
Thanks for the tips Cetacean.
I'll check it out next time I get the opportunity to  fly.

Aloha Manx,

     In my case, I was tired the first time, so I do not want to re-tire.  And this is mostly because I have not worked so hard as I do since I stopped working!

Aloha and Drone On!

Cetacean Posted at 1-7 19:56
Aloha Manx,

     In my case, I was tired the first time, so I do not want to re-tire.  And this is mostly because I have not worked so hard as I do since I stopped working!

Isn't it amazing how many 'retired' folk say they have never been so busy.  It's all to do with one of the Peter Principles    "The amount of time taken to complete a given task will expand to fill the amount of time available"

Manxmann Posted at 1-8 01:37
Isn't it amazing how many 'retired' folk say they have never been so busy.  It's all to do with one of the Peter Principles    "The amount of time taken to complete a given task will expand to fill the amount of time available"

Aloha Manx,

     Very true, at least in my experience!

Aloha and Drone On!

Manxmann Posted at 1-5 16:22
No,  they were vertical at the time,  which is where I generally position them when the beast is more than ----  say 100mtrs away.
I think it was probably "one of those things"  ??

You mean "those things" that happen out of the blue and correct themselves?

ChavaLozVi Posted at 1-9 08:10
You mean "those things" that happen out of the blue and correct themselves?

You got in one ChavaLozVi !
It's all computer based,  so nothing needs to make sense or have a reason.

It's a real love/hate thing IMO  (Computer-wise)

ChavaLozVi Posted at 1-9 08:10
You mean "those things" that happen out of the blue and correct themselves?

PS:   I shouldn't dwell on the negatives and admit that computers do an awful lot right.  

Manxmann Posted at 1-9 15:31
PS:   I shouldn't dwell on the negatives and admit that computers do an awful lot right.

Normally the drone will choose the frequency with the least interference on automatically as the default when it takes off, then switches channels on that frequency based also on interference. It may be that all the channels had some interference on whatever frequency you were on at the time to problem happened, which subsequently dropped off.
I have a mavic 2 pro as well as a P4Pro, the mavic switches between frequencies and channels while flying, and you can see the bars going up and down as its doing its thing, so the background 2.4 and 5.8 clutter changes all the time.

Manxmann Posted at 1-5 16:22
No,  they were vertical at the time,  which is where I generally position them when the beast is more than ----  say 100mtrs away.
I think it was probably "one of those things"  ??

I think DJI only recommend they are vertical when operating in 2.4 ghz, they should be tilted slightly forwards when operating in 5.8 ghz, it does highlight this in the manual

SPIKE_151 Posted at 1-10 07:56
I think DJI only recommend they are vertical when operating in 2.4 ghz, they should be tilted slightly forwards when operating in 5.8 ghz, it does highlight this in the manual

I wonder why they would suggest that ?
Perhaps it is to safeguard against signal loss in the event that you fly the drone overhead ?
I would have thought when the thing is 100mtrs out and 30/40mtrs up that vertical antenna blades would be emitting a better signal than those at 45deg ?
I adjust the blade angle quite frequently during a flight.

Thanks for the comment Spike_151

SPIKE_151 Posted at 1-10 07:44
Normally the drone will choose the frequency with the least interference on automatically as the default when it takes off, then switches channels on that frequency based also on interference. It may be that all the channels had some interference on whatever frequency you were on at the time to problem happened, which subsequently dropped off.
I have a mavic 2 pro as well as a P4Pro, the mavic switches between frequencies and channels while flying, and you can see the bars going up and down as its doing its thing, so the background 2.4 and 5.8 clutter changes all the time.

I do run the frequency selection on auto.  But as to whether or not it changes,  well ?????  Must admit to having never looked to see that !

Incidentally,   since that one glitch,  there has been not repeat of the drop out on subsequent 2 or 3 flights.
The part of the original drop out situation that concerned me :  The drone was not far away & in absolute VLOS,  with no big buildings or other infrastucture of any type within maybe 100 mtrs.

Who knows ?????

Manxmann Posted at 1-10 15:38
I wonder why they would suggest that ?
Perhaps it is to safeguard against signal loss in the event that you fly the drone overhead ?
I would have thought when the thing is 100mtrs out and 30/40mtrs up that vertical antenna blades would be emitting a better signal than those at 45deg ?

I suspect it has to do with the propagation of the wave differing from 2.4 to 5.8 ghz and the length of the aerial.

Manxmann Posted at 1-10 15:43
I do run the frequency selection on auto.  But as to whether or not it changes,  well ?????  Must admit to having never looked to see that !

Incidentally,   since that one glitch,  there has been not repeat of the drop out on subsequent 2 or 3 flights.

Its interesting to watch live the channels changing you see how quickly the interference comes and goes on each channel, its quick and seems to be in bursts.

SPIKE_151 Posted at 1-11 00:17
Its interesting to watch live the channels changing you see how quickly the interference comes and goes on each channel, its quick and seems to be in bursts.

I am afraid it's above my pay grade !