Hello guys,

Writing here from small heart-shaped country, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I am an owner of Spark for some 3 months. It wasn't a fly more combo, because I couldn't afford it, but I did order RC shortly after. And everything is bliss and wonderful, 50m limit was down and stuff... and I'm still getting to know my spark. And more I read and more I try to fly, less confidence I have.

Strange thing began to happen.
About 3 weeks ago I was flying along one lake here in Bosnia. Did not go over water or anything, GPS was good and everything looked and worked as charm. But then just as I wanted to go just a bit over the water, all kind of errors started to pop-up. First one was Remote controller error, airfcraft disconnected... I did not force it over water because I know it is not recommended. But still - Panic! I tried RTH, didn't work, controls didn't work, it just stayed there. And then, I guess auto RTH kicked in and the AC started coming home, I regained signal and went down happily. But this is when I started lose confidence. Similar thing happend to me, except that time Spark was some 70m above me, overhead, so I guess I didn't put the antenaes properly. This time, I am sure I did, it was some 30-40m away and some 30 or so in the air, not overhead. I was recording video and there was a lot of bad parts, it's in one piece (around 1 minute or so, but kinda chopped up).
But this did not discourage me, I was confident RTH works well as long there is good GPS.
And then the update of the DJI Go App came. So, now, it is v4.3.20(785-GooglePlay). I have trouble when I connect, it disconnects few times, enters and exits and stuff like that. I tried OTG on Samsung J6 and it keeps happening. So, ok, I tought let's try without OTG. And those disconnecting problems when just starting the app (not even flying) are a bit better I suppose, but it lags seriously. Doesn't matter, it's better to have choppy signal, than none. I guess I won't be using OTG anymore, even tough people say it is better (and it is, lag is was smaller, but I have that weird problem). And weird thing happens when I do fly, and I want to download images or videos, doesn't matter, sometimes it's just disconnects if I try doing that. And I never do it mid-flight because I am scared it will lose signal and bye bye drone. I never got to find out what causes this, so if anyone knows...

Also, I am flying in airplane mode, wth wifi on, bt off, data off (because airplane mode).
And the problem, one more, is that I cannot change channels. I am constantly on 5.8G, even tough I am not sure my phone even supports it as it should. I was in one city some 150km from my hometown and I lost control just after some 30 metres, and now I am afraid to go further than 20m, which is unusable.
I try to change channels, but it doesn't work: I don't see any bars of channels in use, it's just empty and I see those 1-16 and I can swipe further to 17-32 channels, but I can't see anything on them.

Also, if I select custom, it says please select with least intereference bla bla bla, but when I click on channels 1-13, it says it will restart wifi and I hit OK, hit Apply, nothing happens! It stays in 5.8!
But, if I try to change channel in 5.8G, for example, it is in channel 149 and I select 153 or 157, it does it no problem at all, it disconnects, resets the wifi and that's it. It briefly, just for an instant, say 2.4 and reverts back to 5.8G. I am sure 2.4 would give me better signal, more confidence and better range, but I just can't do anything about it! Please help and sorry for the long post!

The reason why you can’t change the WiFi on 2.4GHz is because the Samsung J6 does not have 5.8GHz, so the phone can only connect to the controller via 2.4GHz and has to use 5.8GHz for the controller to Spark RF link. It’s probably for this reason the J6 is not on the DJI recommended devices list.

The J6 will work with OTG BUT the connection has to be done in a specific way. I can’t remember the routine but if you search “Samsung J5 + DJI Spark + OTG” I think you’ll find the solution.

Range can be severely limited by many factors but one possible solution for this is to force the Spark and its controller into FCC mode. By default your Spark is in CE mode (Euro Spec) and the RF output on 5.8GHz is only 25milliWatts. Forcing FCC mode (USA spec) will increase the power output to 600milliWatts. There are numerous methods on how to do this, some explained in this forum and demonstrated on YouTube.

Regards

Nidge.

Nidge Posted at 7-11 23:52
The reason why you can’t change the WiFi on 2.4GHz is because the Samsung J6 does not have 5.8GHz, so the phone can only connect to the controller via 2.4GHz and has to use 5.8GHz for the controller to Spark RF link. It’s probably for this reason the J6 is not on the DJI recommended devices list.

The J6 will work with OTG BUT the connection has to be done in a specific way. I can’t remember the routine but if you search “Samsung J5 + DJI Spark + OTG” I think you’ll find the solution.

Thank you very much! I will try to find that tutorial about setting up Samsung with OTG to try and force it in 2.4GHz because this is really annoying.
I wish I knew tough what is happening to the app too, because this is really really bad.
It pops up remote controller error but I am sure it is working well because I do have control over AC, or jist disconnects and connect and so on...