Does anybody know how long a loss of signal it takes to have RTH kick in. I had a loss of signal for 7.5 seconds yesterday due to lack of altitude for distance and antennae position. The picture started  getting choppy so I pressed the RTH button and the RTH worked out perfectly. Checked the flight data and saw exactly what happened but just curious how long it takes for the system to kick in automatically.

For loss of radio signal it’s 2/3 seconds are you sure it was radio transmission you lost or video link ?
If it was radio it’s automatic as RTH button won’t work .

It was data link. Due to choppy and stalled video I decided best to come back.

Ollie Bird Posted at 3-10 12:54
It was data link. Due to choppy and stalled video I decided best to come back.

Yeah I thought so, if craft looses radio signal for 3 seconds it will indicate RTH , if you are within 20 to 50 metres it will go to RTH height and fly straight to homepoint, if it is between 50 metres and 2000 metres it will first retrace it’s flight path for 60 seconds if still no signal craft will fly directly home, if further than 2000 metres craft will RTH directly .

hallmark007 Posted at 3-10 14:00
Yeah I thought so, if craft looses radio signal for 3 seconds it will indicate RTH , if you are within 20 to 50 metres it will go to RTH height and fly straight to homepoint, if it is between 50 metres and 2000 metres it will first retrace it’s flight path for 60 seconds if still no signal craft will fly directly home, if further than 2000 metres craft will RTH directly .

Have you experienced this data link loss and or RC link loss before? I reviewed the flight with AirData and could see exacyly why it happened and have learned a few lessons, luckily without the loss of aircraft. Thanks for the reply and info.

Larry (Ollie is my Conure and AC)

Ollie Bird Posted at 3-11 06:09
Have you experienced this data link loss and or RC link loss before? I reviewed the flight with AirData and could see exacyly why it happened and have learned a few lessons, luckily without the loss of aircraft. Thanks for the reply and info.

Larry (Ollie is my Conure and AC)

With Mavic 2 I have had very little loss of video signal , and radio signal the same, it’s importan if using a tablet to fly with that you use a good lead to optimize your video signal, for radio try keeping antennas facing the aircraft in the upright position, there are many you tube videos showing how to achieve best position.

Signal can be weak when flying in areas where interference maybe high and also at periods of the day areas are mostly using radio frequencies like evenings.

But overall once you have correctly set RTH parameters to suit the environment you are flying in then you can rest assured that at signal loss craft will always return.

hallmark007 Posted at 3-11 07:04
With Mavic 2 I have had very little loss of video signal , and radio signal the same, it’s importan if using a tablet to fly with that you use a good lead to optimize your video signal, for radio try keeping antennas facing the aircraft in the upright position, there are many you tube videos showing how to achieve best position.

Signal can be weak when flying in areas where interference maybe high and also at periods of the day areas are mostly using radio frequencies like evenings.

Thanks, I 'm pretty sure I've got it figured out in part due to Airdata(great tool). It wasn't the birds fault. Do you use Airdata? And by the way happy St Patricks Day coming up.

Ollie Bird Posted at 3-11 12:31
Thanks, I 'm pretty sure I've got it figured out in part due to Airdata(great tool). It wasn't the birds fault. Do you use Airdata? And by the way happy St Patricks Day coming up.

I don’t use Airdata, I’ve always used Phantom help for checking logs, I also try as much as I can to log manually, it helps when returning to locations, it’s a bit anal but it’s something I’ve done since I began flying seriously.
Thanks always looking forward to st Patrick’s Day.

Ollie Bird Posted at 3-11 06:09
Have you experienced this data link loss and or RC link loss before? I reviewed the flight with AirData and could see exacyly why it happened and have learned a few lessons, luckily without the loss of aircraft. Thanks for the reply and info.

Larry (Ollie is my Conure and AC)

Hi Larry, I had a 1 second data link loss and reviewed the flight with AirData. The craft was 15 m away and 15m high, I would say it was clearly an interference issue and automatic RTH had not been activated. You said "You could see exactly why it happened" what happened? Glad AirData helped you to find out. (Great Tool) Cheers Larry&Ollie ^^

FLYINHASS Posted at 4-3 11:41
Hi Larry, I had a 1 second data link loss and reviewed the flight with AirData. The craft was 15 m away and 15m high, I would say it was clearly an interference issue and automatic RTH had not been activated. You said "You could see exactly why it happened" what happened? Glad AirData helped you to find out. (Great Tool) Cheers Larry&Ollie ^^

Hi Frank, I was 4209 ft away at 114 ft up when the video started getting choppy and then froze up. I started getting nervous so I hit the RTH. I got the video back and I climbed to 134 ft which is what RTH altitude was set for. The rest of the return and landing were perfect. I reviewed the flight with Airdata and could see the radio signal going from 100% slowly down to 0% where it stayed for 7.5 sec. There was a message that said signal weak/adjust antenna angle that I must have missed. Also in looking at the map in the HD replay I saw what probably was another factor, a small gove of 130 ft. high pine trees between me and the bird (interupting line of sight signal?). I think if I had been flying at 150 ft rather than 114 ft and had the controller held with antennas in proper relationship I would have been fine. I was using a tripod to hold my RC and I-pad which would tend to point the antennas slightly down(guessing). I also bought some signal boosters and am going to try the same route again. The planned route is about a 4 mile square following the roads behind our elementary school. It's a handy place close by to practice before I go out into the big world around me. I have a lot of ideas as you probably do as well. Take care; Larry, Ollie, and Ollie Bird

Ollie Bird Posted at 4-4 09:47
Hi Frank, I was 4209 ft away at 114 ft up when the video started getting choppy and then froze up. I started getting nervous so I hit the RTH. I got the video back and I climbed to 134 ft which is what RTH altitude was set for. The rest of the return and landing were perfect. I reviewed the flight with Airdata and could see the radio signal going from 100% slowly down to 0% where it stayed for 7.5 sec. There was a message that said signal weak/adjust antenna angle that I must have missed. Also in looking at the map in the HD replay I saw what probably was another factor, a small gove of 130 ft. high pine trees between me and the bird (interupting line of sight signal?). I think if I had been flying at 150 ft rather than 114 ft and had the controller held with antennas in proper relationship I would have been fine. I was using a tripod to hold my RC and I-pad which would tend to point the antennas slightly down(guessing). I also bought some signal boosters and am going to try the same route again. The planned route is about a 4 mile square following the roads behind our elementary school. It's a handy place close by to practice before I go out into the big world around me. I have a lot of ideas as you probably do as well. Take care; Larry, Ollie, and Ollie Bird

Copied that well Larry, oh yes, definitely a lot of ideas as well you're right. You went too far I'm afraid. Better consider new technology 2.4 gigahertz RC signal more as a light signal, the further you go the less obstacles between the controller and the craft according to what I read. I hope you are on the right way for your 4 miles square challenge with the booster you bought! I'm looking forward to hear about it.
You had an automatic RTH for sure, hehe, worked fine hopefully. I would have hit RTH button as well, even if it was useless due to signal loss. Owning a European version of M2P I wouldn't have gone that far, RC signal is weaker due to EU regulations... lucky me - Take care Vermont and good luck for your next attempt. Cheers mate and thanks for the explanations ^^

Hi All. I have few the same question and can’t find the answer. My situation was that I started flying in a zone which I would not want to test automatic RTH feature (my first 10 flights). I’ve lost the signal at around 50 meters just above me, while antennas were adjusted appropriately. I saw RC Signal Lost message and saw lights indicating lost signal on the drone itself. I freaked out as I thought RTH will kick in and I’m it’s sure if I can cancel it quickly after signal is retrieved. I took maybe 5 long to me seconds before I got signal back and RTH did not kick in. I’m now very cautious and don’t fly further if I see such message even for a brief second but it actually stops me from enjoying further distances and heights.

My plan is to do an experiment in extra safe environment with good visual distance - will check RTH point, fly as far as I can see to simulate signal loss and then see how accurate RTH will be + will test cancellation of automatic RTH when signal is retrieved.

Sorry ran out of space. My drone is Mavic Mini

hallmark007 Posted at 3-11 07:04
With Mavic 2 I have had very little loss of video signal , and radio signal the same, it’s importan if using a tablet to fly with that you use a good lead to optimize your video signal, for radio try keeping antennas facing the aircraft in the upright position, there are many you tube videos showing how to achieve best position.

Signal can be weak when flying in areas where interference maybe high and also at periods of the day areas are mostly using radio frequencies like evenings.

Very detailed info. Thanks. While still I’m interested for how long signal has to be lost for RTH to kick in automatically, another question you might be able to answer:

If RTH automatically kicks in, is it easy to quickly cancel RTH process when signal is regained?

djiuser_uHKhCBnlpdz5 Posted at 12-12 23:07
Very detailed info. Thanks. While still I’m interested for how long signal has to be lost for RTH to kick in automatically, another question you might be able to answer:

If RTH automatically kicks in, is it easy to quickly cancel RTH process when signal is regained?

Instant ......

hallmark007 Posted at 12-13 02:04
Instant ......

I had a loss of signal for approx  15 seconds today and my drone was hovering until I got signal back.

I actually lost signal at around 10 meters hight just above me with antennas pointed correctly. Interesting thing is that while I had complete lass of signal in my remote (was blinking leds on remote, as well as all colours blinking in drone) nothing is captured in flight log, just some RC interference.

I’m starting to think something is wrong with my mini as others are flying in jam packed sixties 500 meters away, while I’m completely loosing signal in area where there are two story buildings around me.

I think I got the reason why my RTH was not kicking in immediately - my presumption is that because drone lost signal just above me and virtually 0 distance from me (above home point) it treated it as safe location and allowed time to regain signal before kicking in RTH.

Today I was flying at 116meter altitude (380feet) and 58 meters (190 feet) away from me and lost the signal - I got notification after few seconds that RHT kicked in. I regained signal when drone was already landing and was 60 meters (around 185feet) above me. I was able to cancel auto-landing at about 35 meters above me. I was flying above the stadium, but I presume there might have been quite a lot of signal interference around that area as well.

From this test it seems that area close to my home is somehow interference haunted, while it has not so many buildings and wifi spots around. I am looking forward to test the range somewhere outside the city, because 190 feet away at 185 feet height still seems not so good. One thing I forgot to check was channels and their load at this location.