FIrst flight (Read the description)
Got to 20 feet or so and the go app said lost signal, the lights turned yellow and it started decending.  Total flight was about 3 min.

I thougth ok, there's a lot of interference, let me go out to the desert...
Not even thinking about it I took off hovered a bit about 10 ft away then flew out a ways.  Lost control, lights turned yellow, and it initiated a complete return to home where it went up to 60 ft and came back to the take off point.  On the way down I was able to give it some control input so it could land (I took off from a table)

I then did some testing,  I had it on a table about 30 feet away, controller antenna up, looking right at it, and it would go from full bars to signal weak or lost.


It's sitting right behind my jeep on a table.  I tried the antenna in several positions.



I just got it about 1.5 weeks ago and it had me update the firmware the first time I connected to it with the Go app.


Is this just a defective unit or am I doing something wrong?


Can someone point me to a link that shows how the app, controller, and the Phantom communicate?  I opened the controller to check for loose connections, and surprised to see two internal antennas.  They look like ceramic GPS antennas, but I assume they were wifi?


Thanks!

I'm pretty sure your RC antenna has snapped or dislodged from its connector. For some reason the antennas on the P3S remotes are installed tightly stretched. If your Phantom is still under warranty you should return it. If not, you could open up your remote and have a look.

The two internal antenna are for the 2.4 ghz video signal.  The external whip is the 5.8 ghz control signal.  This is if you have the P3S.  I am guessing you do because of the problem you are having.  I suppose it would no hurt to verify the connection to the whip antenna,  but know this; you are not the only one.  Upgrade firmware and a quad that could go some distance may as well be one of those old airplanes that you held on a string and turned in a circle with it.

A couple of things to consider: Where we you during that flight? Were you under the porch, does it have a metal roof? If so, best get out from under it. Also, you took off from a table, does that table have any metal frame or parts to it, as this can confuse the compass. It you want to fly off a table, make sure it is entirely wooden or plastic and not too near a car.

Thanks all for the replies.

I searched before I posted and found people complaining of a range of "only" several hundred meters that seemed to be evident after a firmware upgrade.  Hell, I'd be happy with that, lol.

So I took the controller apart again and put it under the microscope.  All the connections have a dab of silicone, but the 5.8ghz connection just didn't seem right.  I turned on the quad and left it downstairs. I figured I wouldn't get a good signal that way it would be easier to test.
From my bench up stairs, signal ranged from midrange, to nothing depending on where I put my hand around the antenna.  I then started poking around.  If I applied pressure to the connector it seemed to get better, so I removed all the silicone from that connector and popped it off.  It seems the silicone got in the connector a little bit.  I cleaned it out and the connector went on with a positive click.  It still wasn't much better, but then I removed the connector and slightly bend the contacts for the center pin.  That seemed to help.  Now the signal was full strength.  I could still reduce it (as expected) buy covering the antenna, but it didn't seem nearly as bad.

I will test today.

There is metal under that table.   When I turned it on the first time, the app said it needed an IMU calibration,  When I went into the IMU calibration screen and clicked Check IMU, it said it was fine.  Weird.
I ended up doing an IMU and compass calibration before flying. I did the calibration away from the table.  But I didn't think twice about the metal in the table, I won't be doing that anymore.  I was trying not to get dust all over the phantom.  That desert dust gets everywhere.  I tried putting down a moving blanket but it was small enough that the propwash was getting under the edges.  Guess I need a bigger one.

In the video, I was out in the open in by back yard. Nothing over me. In the pic, I was as well.  

dji.g-forcemoto Posted at 2015-11-15 05:07
Thanks all for the replies.

I searched before I posted and found people complaining of a range of " ...

I live in the desert as well,  or at least the mountains above the desert,  so,  Hi desert.  Now that you are somewhat familiar with the internals,  may I suggest replacing the existing fixed whip with a bulkhead connector so you can attach another antenna, or amplifier,  as I did.  5.8 ghz bi directional 5w amp for about 60 bucks on ebay.  Major massive difference.

dji.g-forcemoto Posted at 2015-11-15 08:07
Thanks all for the replies.

I searched before I posted and found people complaining of a range of " ...

Just go to your local appropriate store (virtually anyone who sells plywood) and buy a 2' x 2' square of 1/4" plywood - use that for a helipad in the desert, in the grass, etc.

If you find it that difficult to control, get several pieces and lay them edge-to-edge. You'll have a heliport that that's 4-feet-square but no piece bigger than 2-feet.

There have been some reports of P3S models with short range!

Not to say yours is one of them - you'd really have to take it out to a large open area to find out for certain. However, that is what I'd do - if you are unable to get something reasonable like 300 meters (1,000 feet total) you should contact DJI and get another one.
Again, there have been some reports of short range which were only fixed with a new machine.

Obviously you first want to go through the basics - especially if DJI themselves gives you some suggestions to try. But don't wait too long...if it doesn't seem to be working to spec, send it in or return it (if Amazon or another vendor you can return easily within 30 days)

Hi , dji.g-forcemoto
Please check this video and give it another try : http://forum.dji.com/thread-33091-1-1.html  . If it's not getting better , please contact your local dealers .

dji.g-forcemoto Posted at 2015-11-16 00:07
Thanks all for the replies.

I searched before I posted and found people complaining of a range of " ...

The compass unit is inside the little bulge in one corner of the leg, so it is almost on the table top. It is very sensitive to any metal nearby, that's why I suggested using a totally plastic table, or as 'aburkefl' says, use a 2 foot square plywood section as a pad. That is exactly what I do and it works well.

I have to ask because i didn't see it mentioned - is beginner mode off?

dji.g-forcemoto Posted at 2015-11-15 14:07
Thanks all for the replies.

I searched before I posted and found people complaining of a range of " ...

Hi.
Could you take some photos, what have you done to repair it? Thanks

Finally got around to testing last weekend.  It was pretty windy so I didn't fly long.  It was working hard to keep position.

It does appear to be better.  I didn't go for any range records, but I flew out and watched the signal strength on the Go app and it seemed much better.

I just got the DBSMods version of the itElite panel antenna for the P3S..I'll be trying that out this weekend.

I'll take some pics of what I did to fix and the install this weekend as well.

> I have to ask because i didn't see it mentioned - is beginner mode off?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I enabled the advanced flight modes.  I'm pretty sure I went through all the settings on the app...and I wouldn't have left beginner mode on, assuming I saw it.

So here's what I did..I removed the silicone, and cleaned up the connector, removing any silicone attached to it.


I also cleaned up inside the connector, and slightly bent the contacts inward to get a better connection.




I just installed the panel antenna and repeated the "indoor" test (P3S downstairs on the other side of the house, controller upstairs).
First thing I noticed, was that the U.FL connectors supplied with the kit snap on MUCH better than the OEM ones.

I powered everything up and it's a huge difference.  I can put my hand right in front of the panel and still only lose 1 bar. With the OEM antenna, in open space, 20 ft away, if I turned around and put my body between the controller and the drone, I'd alomst completely lose signal.  Not any more.

Can't wait to do a test flight!

nevermind..

Uhg. This forum software is so confusing.  

https://picasaweb.google.com/turbo2ltr/Phantom3Standard

Well with the panel antenna, I got to about 750ft (at ~20ft elevation) before things got shady, which probably isn't much for most people. But I'm not experienced enough to feel comfortable flying out that far and not being able to see orientation.  But this time, the video uplink got weak before the controller signal did.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.7766046,-112.1185645,330m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!6m1!1sz7pdoLxLDZkI.k_1MY6MYB9tk