Decreasing max. range ??

[Jiggly-Wiggly]

There is a public park where I conduct all my max. distange flying tests with my P3 Pro for the past two years.

I have the FPVLR dual-amp kit installed on the controller and my personal distance record with this rig is 4.2 miles, which I did in October 2016 on a totally calm day.

However, I flew the exact same flight path about a week ago on a calm day and was losing FPV signal around 3 miles. Nothing in the park has changed, such as new cell towers, buildings, etc --- and my dual-amp FPVLR kit is working fine as far as I can tell.

Has anyone else noticed a decrease in max. range with your P3P over time?

 

[tevek]

Are you losing video or control signal at 3 miles? I too have a FPVLR boosted setup on my P4 and can get both good and not so good distances dependent on the weather conditions. On a clear wind free day I'm getting between 5-6 klms and on an overcast day much less. Moisture in the air or in the trees where I usually fly and have to penetrate, has a noticeable difference on performance.

 

[Jiggly-Wiggly]

Are you losing video or control signal at 3 miles? I too have a FPVLR boosted setup on my P4 and can get both good and not so good distances dependent on the weather conditions. On a clear wind free day I'm getting between 5-6 klms and on an overcast day much less. Moisture in the air or in the trees where I usually fly and have to penetrate, has a noticeable difference on performance.

I'm losing FPV video at 3 miles --- which pretty much means I lose control as well, although I can still fly blind a few hundred feet further once I lose video. It's really bizarre since I'm flying the exact same flight path as I did last year with the exact same equipment. It's mostly launching from the park and flying over residential area and a golf course, so I doubt increased WiFi routers is affecting the signal.

Do signal amps become less effective the more they are used? That seems like only plausible explanation I can think of.

 

[tevek]

I'm losing FPV video at 3 miles --- which pretty much means I lose control as well, although I can still fly blind a few hundred feet further once I lose video. It's really bizarre since I'm flying the exact same flight path as I did last year with the exact same equipment. It's mostly launching from the park and flying over residential area and a golf course, so I doubt increased WiFi routers is affecting the signal.

Do signal amps become less effective the more they are used? That seems like only plausible explanation I can think of.

My experience is that amps either work or they don't. Depending on the weather, it doesn't take much to lose video signal (I never seem to lose control) and I only need to move the controller 20 mm to get it back. The LHCP/RHCP antennas are fairly directional but give great penetration. I had forgotten to fully charge the battery for the amps on one occasion and that led to a very interesting RTH event through the trees.
Next time it happens, check that the one amp is showing both solid green and red light and the other is showing a solid red light and the green light (video/telemetry from memory) is slowly flashing/glowing green.

 

[Neon Euc]

Also, did you get the same height roughly too when you flew? In that 3 miles you can get have a little look around on and see if you noticed any new cell towers that has been built

 

[Apilot101]

Something else to consider.... are you on the exact same fw on the bird, rc, and Go version? Sometimes they push an update that you didnt know about.I do know that fw can control wattage if DJI chooses.
Minimize the variables.

 

[Jiggly-Wiggly]

Something else to consider.... are you on the exact same fw on the bird, rc, and Go version? Sometimes they push an update that you didnt know about.I do know that fw can control wattage if DJI chooses.
Minimize the variables.

I've installed a couple FW updates since October 2016 when I had those long range tests.

Seems odd that a FW update can affect wattage on the bird-side transmitter, but it wouldnt suprise me either. Seems like DJI is kowtowing to Big Brother more and more every month and pretty soon civilian drones will fly no higher than 30 feet and no further than however far you can throw it

 

[Meta4]

Seems like DJI is kowtowing to Big Brother more and more every month and pretty soon civilian drones will fly no higher than 30 feet and no further than however far you can throw it

Despite comments like this being very common on the forums, my Phantoms on current firmware still can go as far and as high as they ever could.