Aiming at the Drone when in flight. How to?

[JayS_CT]

All,

I posted this on the DJI forum and a couple of the DJI folks chimed in with the Best Antenna Practices and another video:

However the discussion never really addressed what I was looking for. We all know there are times when the aircraft is not in sight. At those times, the question I was asking is how to remain centered on the aircraft using the existing DJI maps. There is an app that claims that they change the "tether" like view from green to yellow to red if you're pointing wrong (and getting worse). The video referenced shows a "green line" on the map view that appears when the aircraft flies away (as they put it).. First, I don't recall seeing that line, but will check on the next flight, but my question was more basic.. Let's say the drone is heading due west and for whatever reason I'm facing north.. How does the display let us know we not pointing as best we can.

I tried this "indoors" just to see.. When I'm in line with the aircraft (behind it), the nose points forward, when I move to the right of the aircraft (with the antenna still facing forward), the nose now points to the right.. but we can accomplish that same view (while directly behind) by simply rotating the nose of the craft to the right..

Any thoughts..

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

What is this app that you speak of?

 

[JayS_CT]

What is this app that you speak of?

FPV for Camera - Home

Still not getting what DJI is saying though.. :-( I don't see a green line in the map images posted by DJI-Tim in the article.

 

[Meta4]

FPV for Camera
Still not getting what DJI is saying though.. :-( I don't see a green line in the map images posted by DJI-Tim in the article.

That DJI tutorial is quite confusing
Try using the radar display.
It is very good at showing you where your Phantom is and which way it is pointing

 

[JayS_CT]

That DJI tutorial is quite confusing
Try using the radar display.
It is very good at showing you where your Phantom is and which way it is pointing

Thanks for the reply.. Knowing which way the nose it pointed is helpful but not what I'm after. What I'm looking for is making sure I (or all of us) have a way of making sure we are pointed at the aircraft if it is out of visual range. I'm not 100% sure they're getting the question I'm asking. The example I used of the drone heading due west, but if (for some reason) I am physically pointing north, how is that indicated in any of the displays??

 

[Meta4]

Thanks for the reply.. Knowing which way the nose it pointed is helpful but not what I'm after. What I'm looking for is making sure I (or all of us) have a way of making sure we are pointed at the aircraft if it is out of visual range. I'm not 100% sure they're getting the question I'm asking. The example I used of the drone heading due west, but if (for some reason) I am physically pointing north, how is that indicated in any of the displays??

The radar display shows you where your Phantom is AND which way it is pointing.
In this example I am standing by the lighthouse in the upper right.
The radar display is showing me that the Phantom is well out and just a little to the right of where I am facing.

 

[chazz]

The radar display shows you where your Phantom is AND which way it is pointing.
In this example I am standing by the lighthouse in the upper right.
The radar display is showing me that the Phantom is well out and just a little to the right of where I am facing.

So how does it actually work? Is it the compass in the notepad that makes this work? Mine isn't accurate and I think its because of the shield K1 compass sucking....

 

[Meta4]

So how does it actually work? Is it the compass in the notepad that makes this work? Mine isn't accurate and I think its because of the shield K1 compass sucking....

Ah .. yes.
That's the only problem with the Shield.
It's a great tablet for flying ... that's what I'm using these days but my compass is crap.
The image above is from a different tablet with a reliable compass.
The Shield has 5 strong magnets in the back cover.
Removing them didn't help for me.
It still has the speaker magnets affecting its compass.
Some folks are reporting that their Shield compass works now with the latest Nvidia updates.
Maybe I should try putting the magnets back in now?

 

[chazz]

Ah .. yes.
That's the only problem with the Shield.
It's a great tablet for flying ... that's what I'm using these days but my compass is crap.
The image above is from a different tablet with a reliable compass.
The Shield has 5 strong magnets in the back cover.
Removing them didn't help for me.
It still has the speaker magnets affecting its compass.
Some folks are reporting that their Shield compass works now with the latest Nvidia updates.
Maybe I should try putting the magnets back in now?

I updated and mine and its still crap...It is the only reason I update and the first thing I check...If I would have known I would have never purchased the K1...Being able to point the antenna at distances and GPS is a must for me...

 

[Meta4]

I updated and mine and its still crap...It is the only reason I update and the first thing I check...If I would have known I would have never purchased the K1...Being able to point the antenna at distances and GPS is a must for me...

Here are the 5 magnets inside the cover ....

 

[JayS_CT]

The radar display shows you where your Phantom is AND which way it is pointing.
In this example I am standing by the lighthouse in the upper right.
The radar display is showing me that the Phantom is well out and just a little to the right of where I am facing.

I'm on an iPad Mini II and don't think I've ever seen it out of the cone like that, but will have to pay more attention.. Maybe I've always been good about pointing.. Will intentionally try to miss and point the wrong way! And thank you for the image that no one else seemed to be able to post to show exactly what I was looking for (even if I haven't seen that yet) The only difference is I'm on a P3P and I have a white dot in the middle, not a yellow "H". What are you flying and which tablet? Thanks again..

Jay S.

 

[Meta4]

I'm on an iPad Mini II and don't think I've ever seen it out of the cone like that, but will have to pay more attention.. Maybe I've always been good about pointing.. Will intentionally try to miss and point the wrong way! And thank you for the image that no one else seemed to be able to post to show exactly what I was looking for (even if I haven't seen that yet) The only difference is I'm on a P3P and I have a white dot in the middle, not a yellow "H". What are you flying and which tablet?

That screenshot is the Android version of the app on a Nexus 7.
The differences are minor.
Play around with the radar displaw and it should all make sense.
It shows if your Phantom is behind or in front of you, left or right etc.

 

[MasterBlaster]

When I use my iPad air 2 with cellular the radar box (or whatever its called) works great and I use it to point\turn to the left or right to keep my antennas pointing at the bird. However, as others have mentioned, I also have a Shield K1 which I love everything about except the compass. With the K1 the radar box is not accurate. I wish there was a way to fix it. I have not flown since the latest Shield update but others have said it did not fix this issue.
Bummer

 

[JayS_CT]

That screenshot is the Android version of the app on a Nexus 7.
The differences are minor.
Play around with the radar displaw and it should all make sense.
It shows if your Phantom is behind or in front of you, left or right etc.

Thanks.. Flying later today and will try.. Great shot.. At a quick glance, it looked like you inserted the image of a person in the lower right.. (head and face under the bridge on right, black shirt).

 

[MasterBlaster]

OK, that's freaky!!
Where is redhotpoker when you need him.
He knows this stuff

 

[chazz]

Here are the 5 magnets inside the cover ....

Yeah, I read people tried that and it didn't work as you mentioned...I should have done more research before buying it...I really don't understand why some here suggest buying it or even say it's a good tablet for this purpose without the compass working...I went cheap and that is what I get...I'm going to buy a iPad pro 9.7 with cellular data, GPS, working compass and probably one of the better tablets as far as anti glare...

 

[Meta4]

I went cheap and that is what I get..

Cheap isn't always bad. The Nexus 7 2013 is very cheap but one of the best Android tablets for flying.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yeah, I read people tried that and it didn't work as you mentioned...I should have done more research before buying it...I really don't understand why some here suggest buying it or even say it's a good tablet for this purpose without the compass working...I went cheap and that is what I get...I'm going to buy a iPad pro 9.7 with cellular data, GPS, working compass and probably one of the better tablets as far as anti glare...

I just found a fix for the shield k1 compass issue in an older thread and it worked for me, radar works perfect now!

*Download the free app field compass
*Reboot your Shield (you must do this for whatever reason)
*Launch Field Compass
*Calibrate the compass (it will say there is magnetic interference and to do figure 8s with you shield to calibrate)
*Once calibrated the warning will go away
*Launch your Go App and go fly.

Hope it works for you as it did mine.
So happy I found the thread talking about this fix!

Fly safe

 

[Meta4]

I just found a fix for the shield k1 compass issue in an older thread and it worked for me, radar works perfect now!

Maybe I should put the magnets back because this hasn't helped for mine?

 

[chazz]

I just found a fix for the shield k1 compass issue in an older thread and it worked for me, radar works perfect now!

*Download the free app field compass
*Reboot your Shield (you must do this for whatever reason)
*Launch Field Compass
*Calibrate the compass (it will say there is magnetic interference and to do figure 8s with you shield to calibrate)
*Once calibrated the warning will go away
*Launch your Go App and go fly.

Hope it works for you as it did mine.
So happy I found the thread talking about this fix!

Fly safe

I tried that earlier...It didn't work for me..Well it did for about a minute if that then it went back to crap...Instead of being off 180 deg at times it was more like 20 to 40 deg off...