Recent content by mmcbain

Tom's Tech Time does a great video walkthrough of the DJO Go App, which covers camera and drone settings. Well worth a look.

This happens in Australia, too... My son and I were flying our new P4 earlier this year for the first or second time on a sporting reserve. There were no games going on, but a lot of people walking dogs. He had the P4 hovering about 300 metres away, and was fiddling around trying to get the...

It's not just distance, it's signal strength. With me at ground level, and using a stock Phantom 4 pootling along at about 30 metres above the ground, I can get about 800 metres away before I have signal problems. If I am flying around our local extinct volcano, as I was this past Friday...

In Australia the rule is 30 metres from people, roughly 100 feet. I plan my quadcopter flights pretty carefully. The first consideration is safety. If you have a rotor or engine failure, or if you don't take obstacle management seriously, your 1.5 kg $2.5K plaything is going to plummet out of...

Myron: As you may have realised, the "35mm-equivalent" value doesn't help you very much, because it is based on the relationship between the diagonal of a sensor and the focal length of the lens. I can tell you that the Phantom 4 's lens is roughly equivalent to a 150mm focal-length lens on an...

Or you could just say: 'If found, please call 555-0909-2111'. most people who find an RC quad like the Phantom will be happy to return it [especially since it is of no use without the controller]. As the owner, you can expect a lot of questions about it. People do find them interesting. I speak...

Here is a little video of a guy flying a quadcopter off a small mountaintop and into a valley, just to inspire you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBRZHLbyts8 DHS should have better things to do than concern themselves with a 33-class hobby quadcopter flying around a lake, although one should...

I know exactly the problem you describe. The sports field where I practice has a row of very tall [approx 30 metres high] sugar gums along one side. If I fly over them and lose signal,, Fail Safe is going to bring the Phantom back at canopy height, with exactly the effects you describe. I'd be...

I took mine up and flew it around the War Memorial and Mount Ainslie over Easter. If only I'd known ... Michael McBain Melbourne, Australia

Definitely agree. Keep 2.4 GHz for controlling the Phantom [and the gimbal if you decide to go with one controllable from the ground] and 5.8 GHz for video. Otherwise you *will* get weird interference. You *could* try 1.2GHz for video, but the antenna would be huge. If the Phantom flies behind a...

The DJI gimbal, when available, has 3 axes of rotation, and is controllable from the ground, so not quite the same thing as the one you have purchased. However, I certainly won't be ponying up for one at DJI's price point. Michael McBain Melbourne, Australia

I've had three flyaways myself, so well do I know that feeling of dread as it rises into the atmosphere... I now strictly follow these three mantras: 1. Name and phone number on the airframe. I have Dymo stickers either side of the batery compartment. If it's found, someone can call you. A...

I've done my own FPV setup, but I can understand just wanting to have verything up and working out of the box [or, actually, out of a very nice case]. I have no direct experience with him, but by the looks of things, the UAV Advertising guy does a *lot* of Phantom custom builds. He charges...

The risk of flyaways tend to be exaggerated; most are due to pilot error. I've had three flyaways, the first one was the first time I every flew it. It just lifted off and headed east over the nearby houses. The third one was similar. Why? I forgot tip 2 [below]. With hundreds of thousands of...

I've said this in other parts of this forum, but here goes. I think you're over-thinking things. The DJI Phantom is a consumer-grade entry-level quadcopter. It is the first 'serious' quadcopter available to first-time RC pilots, which is why it continues to sell so well. Hundreds of thousands...