hello all, i have a phantom 4 and it is supposed to have a range of 3 miles, mine only goes a little over a mile before it loses contact with the controller and does not transmit images. any ideas?

Where are you flying?

Zone,interference,Wi-Fi channel......

If you're in an urban/suburban neighborhood, you need to factor in all of the interference around.  I took my stock P4 straight out over the water for 2.73 miles without any problem at all.

In an interference free area you should be able to get close to the advertised range.
Also, proper antenna orientation is necessary. Here is a video that may help.
And if your flying in your neighborhood, there's tons of interference and you will get no where close to the advertised range.

LOS line of sight out in the country I achieved 3.5 miles one way. I was positioned on a highside ~250' up. I still had fairly good signal strength both ways. When I turned and started heading back my video broke up a few times, so I'm glad I didn't push it. Any type of obstructions will greatly reduce the distance you can fly.

i live in the suburbs, i am flying around my neighborhood and its pretty good there, the problem happens when i reach the area of stores and restaurants. i purchased the shields for the antenna and it improved a little but not much.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-24 15:56
In an interference free area you should be able to get close to the advertised range.
Also, proper antenna orientation is necessary. Here is a video that may help.
And if your flying in your neighborhood, there's tons of interference and you will get no where close to the advertised range.

this video was helpful, thanks

Big Dog 1967 Posted at 2017-1-24 18:54
this video was helpful, thanks

Most Restaurants and stores, and Business's  have WiFi routers that are much stronger then home units, also these same places also have wireless burglar alarms all of which put out massive signal strength compared to  Home wifi routers on top of all that there are usually huge power transformers that supply these buildings which also transmit interference. So it's like flying into a perfect signal overload storm. I've only got one place that i can fly care free and it is over 7 farms that i have obtained permission to fly their properties when flying there i have almost achieved a full 4 miles. And only there do i trust my auto return to home after signal loss (Due to low signal interference)  so i fly till loss of signal almost every flight. in town i turn around when my Downlink starts to show diminished capacity.  

Big Dog 1967 Posted at 2017-1-24 18:54
this video was helpful, thanks

Good to hear, let us know how much further you can get now after you've tested it out.

Already answered it looks like (with the WIFI in public) but there are a lot of the items in the 2.4ghz range that could be interfering. Risky to fly out a couple miles, past what you can actually see, especially when over restaurants and stores, just keep that in mind.

Normn8or Posted at 2017-1-24 22:39
Most Restaurants and stores, and Business's  have WiFi routers that are much stronger then home units, also these same places also have wireless burglar alarms all of which put out massive signal strength compared to  Home wifi routers on top of all that there are usually huge power transformers that supply these buildings which also transmit interference. So it's like flying into a perfect signal overload storm. I've only got one place that i can fly care free and it is over 7 farms that i have obtained permission to fly their properties when flying there i have almost achieved a full 4 miles. And only there do i trust my auto return to home after signal loss (Due to low signal interference)  so i fly till loss of signal almost every flight. in town i turn around when my Downlink starts to show diminished capacity.

RTH has nothing to do with interference, it is set using GPS. So as long as you have enough satellites it should always work correctly no matter how bad the interference.

fansb1fe1104 Posted at 2017-1-25 15:46
RTH has nothing to do with interference, it is set using GPS. So as long as you have enough satellites it should always work correctly no matter how bad the interference.

To each his own, I my self know that huge transformers create huge magnetic interference that can affect compass which can send the bird in the opposite direction of home point. So i'll stick with what works for me. No since in putting a compass in the bird if it doesn't need it or use it in autonomous functions such as RTH. Could have save some money not putting it in.

Normn8or Posted at 2017-1-25 16:00
To each his own, I my self know that huge transformers create huge magnetic interference that can affect compass which can send the bird in the opposite direction of home point. So i'll stick with what works for me. No since in putting a compass in the bird if it doesn't need it or use it in autonomous functions such as RTH. Could have save some money not putting it in.

Of course it uses and needs the compass. It is the sensor that tells the controller which direction the bird is pointing.

all good information, i will try a different route and let you know what happens.thank you

KM5RG-Robert Posted at 2017-1-25 16:47
Of course it uses and needs the compass. It is the sensor that tells the controller which direction the bird is pointing.

My point Exactly... ;-)

I did a test on my Phantom 4 with a freshly charged battery on the drone and controller and lost signal at an altitude of 220 meters and distance of 300 meters (Flying in the country where there in no buildings or any other interference)  
I am running DJI App 3.0.1 on controller and latest firmware on drone

4.5 miles for me.

my p4 pro with apparently 7km range started having drop outs at 2km, in the country off the side of a hill. It was a cloudy day, so maybe there was some moisture in the air? don't believe the hype I say..

Those specs for distance are only true if you live on the salt flats!!

Big Dog 1967 Posted at 2017-1-24 18:50
i live in the suburbs, i am flying around my neighborhood and its pretty good there, the problem happens when i reach the area of stores and restaurants. i purchased the shields for the antenna and it improved a little but not much.

You will get a lot of terrestrial interference around condensed area's.

So that could be the issue.   I live away from cities in the mountains and have a P3S and can reach the maximum distance on it.  About to get a ARGTec antenna set to extend my range.

I run a satellite teleport ground station and I moved away from the city because of interference.  I do not think there are any microwave filters you can get for drones.  

It certainly helps to understand a little physics and how radio waves are transmitted and received.

Learn more here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_zone

Thanks ATTI Mode