Best altitude for long range

[Stathis]

Hello, anyone knows which is the best altitude for long range without interference problems?If you go higher is better?

 

[moswissa]

Hello, anyone knows which is the best altitude for long range without interference problems?If you go higher is better?

It's pretty obvious the higher you go the better LOS you'll get which is what the birds need if you want optical reception. I usually go as high as 400ft when flying long range. Make sure you are pointing at the craft. Get yourself a windsurfer. I have not lost reception from traveling long distance with my phantom 3. The only thing that made me turn back was the lack of balls I had

 

[WetDog]

It actually is not an easy calculation:

1) LOS is obviously better the higher up you go, but -
2) It takes power to both ascend and descend. If you are going for distance, you need power.
3) Winds may be higher and / or in the wrong direction at altitude
4) At 400 feet, you are out of visual range - that probably isn't bothering you if you are trying for distance, but it's something to keep in mind.

You really want to be at the lowest altitude consistent with LOS. A rough calc for line of sight is 1.22 x square root of height (distance in miles, height in feet). So, at 5'7" its about 3 miles. At 400 feet it is over 20 miles. Do you need 20 miles of line of site? Probably not.

 

[impilot51]

2) It takes power to both ascend and descend. If you are going for distance, you need power.

Why does it take power to descend? If hovering, I'm going to slow the motors to descend, thus should use less power during descent. Same should hold true if in forward flight if descending at the same time. . Should use less power than maintaining altitude or climbing. Am I missing something here?



Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[WetDog]

Why does it take power to descend? If hovering, I'm going to slow the motors to descend, thus should use less power during descent. Same should hold true if in forward flight if descending at the same time. . Should use less power than maintaining altitude or climbing. Am I missing something here?



Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

That was not worded especially well - a quad takes power to stay up, period (duh). You can actually use up a lot of battery by descending rapidly then slowing down quickly - or changing direction quickly. If you are going for distance, you would want to avoid all unnecessary movements and concentrating on going in the direction you wanted to .