Dedicated P4P Range and Distance discussion

[AaronWinters]

We are talking about a large urban city. I answered you above. And the range is as advertised- over 4 miles easy.

What city are we talking about, and at what elevaton above ground are you needing to fly, to get this incredible range?

 

[AaronWinters]

NTSC or PAL have nothing to do with range.

Im in hk maybe same as europe?. We use pal here


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[John Locke]

Aaron, there are a good number of pilots having range problems with P4P. I've seen many good reports like yours also, but others are reporting poor results compared to Mavic. I myself have held off from buying a P4P because of these report, trying to figure out what's going on. Just like you, my P4 sucked for range and had to resort to using an Inspire controller before I could get good reliable ranges of 2-3mi. I know you're new with this forum, but it's common practice that we share Healthy Drones access links to disclose our missions to analyze range, environment, battery performance and any anomalies in GPS or compass. Healthy Drones is free, and it lets you load your flight log and then share a link so everyone can see the flight data and flight path. Hundreds of us go beyond VLOS, that's a guideline from the FAA that many of us break. Nobody has been cited for breaking that guideline to date, so you should not be worried about that. I'm very interested to see your flight record too, along with your friend's flight records (via Healthydrone link). If you haven't used Healthy Drones, check it out. It's very useful to learn more about your craft than you would normally, logging everything that happens with each flight. It's very cool.

 

[GadgetGuy]

No. A couple of my friends with P4Pros are in my area but the other 3 are in other cities. All urban areas and they all get similar range to me.

This is a total of 6 people all getting the range I am. I am not using any channel hack. I just put it in auto. I am not setting any transmission speed. Again, I am in auto. I have VPS on but OA turned off usually. Nonetheless, when I have everything on it isn't affecting my range. Sometimes I fly in sport mode and sometimes I don't. The speed I fly at varies. My AGL varies. Sometimes 350ft, sometimes I go higher.

None of those things you ask affect range. Mode, sensors, etc- they are all irrelevant.

You have a lemon- that's what is happening to you. There is nothing magical that me and my friends do.

Thank you for sharing more. I ask about the settings because there may be a buggy setting that is crippling the range. You are representing that 6 people are getting incredible range, while I personally have three separate P4P aircraft that are not, as do many others. That's at least 3 "lemons" in my posession of 9 total P4P aircraft under discussion. I use the same settings on all my aircraft. I also turn OA off and VPS on, and limit the transmission setting to the lowest 4Mbs. Whether I use Auto or Manual, whether Channel 20 or 30, I get the same poor range results on all three P4P aircraft from B&H, received in the last 3 weeks. I'm not looking for magic, just wanting to replicate your settings for testing. 400 feet AGL and higher is way too high for my purposes, but even that does not help my current results. It would seem that you are suggesting that the 5.8 Ghz band is providing the long range, instead of the more powerful 2.4 Ghz band. I'll try 5.8 Ghz and see if it improves, but my two P4's with my amped DBS-02 RC on 2.4Ghz get 6 miles in this same area. The P4P's fall flat, so far, on the same 2.4 Ghz channels that rock on the P4’s.

 

[AaronWinters]

Try 5.8 Ghz. Also- how do you get 6miles out on your P4 without battery problems?
And why do you have 3 separate P4Pro's?

Also, if you are in a congested area or there are trees/buildings around, you may need to fly higher than 400ft AGL.

 

[aaronrivera]

I thought 2.4ghz is good for range .. 5.8 for quality.


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[F3honda4me]

I see as many range complaints about mavic as I do p4p. *shrug*

 

[F3honda4me]

Thank you for sharing more. I ask about the settings because there may be a buggy setting that is crippling the range. You are representing that 6 people are getting incredible range, while I personally have three separate P4P aircraft that are not, as do many others. That's at least 3 "lemons" in my posession of 9 total P4P aircraft under discussion. I use the same settings on all my aircraft. I also turn OA off and VPS on, and limit the transmission setting to the lowest 4Mbs. Whether I use Auto or Manual, whether Channel 20 or 30, I get the same poor range results on all three P4P aircraft from B&H, received in the last 3 weeks. I'm not looking for magic, just wanting to replicate your settings for testing. 400 feet AGL and higher is way too high for my purposes, but even that does not help my current results. It would seem that you are suggesting that the 5.8 Ghz band is providing the long range, instead of the more powerful 2.4 Ghz band. I'll try 5.8 Ghz and see if it improves, but my two P4's with my amped DBS-02 RC on 2.4Ghz get 6 miles in this same area. The P4P's fall flat, so far, on the same 2.4 Ghz channels that rock on the P4’s.

Yea that seems off to me too. 5.8ghz doesn't have the distance on range that the 2.4ghz does. You should get farthest on 2.4. I leave mine on auto and it starts 5.8 but by the time I get 3k+ feet away it switches to 2.4

 

[AaronWinters]

Both 5.8 and 3.4 are rated at 4.3 miles in the DJI specs. In a high interference environment it will stay in 5.8.

 

[F3honda4me]

Ah you are correct. I would think that means then that the transmitter of the 5.8ghz would have to be much more powerful than the 2.4 since I believe 5.8ghz and 2.4ghz at the same power transmission the 2.4 will go farther.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I thought 2.4ghz is good for range .. 5.8 for quality.


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Exactly, which is why I am skeptical, but willing to try anything to get his results.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Both 5.8 and 2.4 are rated at 4.3 miles in the DJI specs. In a high interference environment it will stay in 5.8.

I will test and report back on 5.8, but 2.4 works just fine on my P4 with amped DBS-02 mod with the channel hack on Custom 30.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Yea that seems off to me too. 5.8ghz doesn't have the distance on range that the 2.4ghz does. You should get farthest on 2.4. I leave mine on auto and it starts 5.8 but by the time I get 3k+ feet away it switches to 2.4

Yup! 5.8 is good for high data rates over short distances, while 2.4 results in lower data rates but over long distances, which is why it is used for Lightbridge.

 

[With The Birds]

Both 5.8 and 3.4 are rated at 4.3 miles in the DJI specs. In a high interference environment it will stay in 5.8.

The 5.8ghz band has less range than 2.4, a simple
Experiment with your home wifi will proved this. 2.4 will provide significantly higher data throughout with increasing distance (compared to 5.8).

 

[GadgetGuy]

Try 5.8 Ghz. Also- how do you get 6miles out on your P4 without battery problems?
And why do you have 3 separate P4Pro's?

Also, if you are in a congested area or there are trees/buildings around, you may need to fly higher than 400ft AGL.

Thanks! I will. One-way flights are one way. Battery mods are the other way.
I use a battery mod on the P4, which the P4P batteries will definitely help with.

I ordered the P4P+ originally, and also wanted the regular transmitter without the built-in screen limitations, so I ordered a P4P as well, which reduced the price of a backup P4P aircraft to under $1000, when the extra battery, charger, and regular P4P transmitter price were subtracted from $1500. Then, when the P4P arrived 10 days ago, it had a crooked camera, so I ordered a replacement, leaving me with three P4P aircraft on hand to test, and play around with, while sorting out all the range and gimbal issues. Turns out the newest P4P is even worse than the second one, with a camera that flips 45-90° sideways on left banking turns, and terrible lens flare, including a celluloid red disc that appears in the left or right side, and intermittent rips along the bottom of the frame. Terrible QC at DJI! That one is a certified lemon!

I am already able to fly at 150 feet AGL over urban landscape and drop to under 50 feet AGL 3 miles away, when I reach the beach, with my existing P4's on the same 2.4 Ghz band on Channel 30 with an amped DBS-02 GL300A transmtter. If I cannot replicate that with a P4P, after a similar P4P transmitter mod, the P4P has limited use for me. No point in flying far with a superior camera, if I have to limit myself to a Google Earth type of view from higher than 400 feet, when I get there.

 

[GadgetGuy]

The 5.8ghz band has less range than 2.4, a simple
Experiment with your home wifi will proved this. 2.4 will provide significantly higher data throughout with increasing distance (compared to 5.8).

Exactly!

 

[GadgetGuy]

I see as many range complaints about mavic as I do p4p. *shrug*

Compared to the P4P, with my Mavic, also from B&H, I have achieved 4.1 miles completely over water, but only by elevating to above 400 feet at the extreme. My Mavic will also reach 3 miles over the same urban area that the P4P's crap out at 6500-12,000 feet or less, albeit at a much higher elevation than my P4 is capable of, with my amped DBS-02 modded GL300A transmitter.

Frankly, as long as the video transmission on the P4P is robust, I can fix the range issues with a transmitter mod, just like I have with the P4, but without that mod, the P4P range with its stock GL300F transmitter, appears just as bad as the P4, with its lousy GL300C transmitter, in my area.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Both 5.8 and 3.4 are rated at 4.3 miles in the DJI specs. In a high interference environment it will stay in 5.8.

Aaron, you have made a true believer out of me!
Sorry for doubting you in the first place, but hopefully you will understand my previous skepticism. It is counter-intuitive to me that 5.8 Ghz should have better range. Thank you for being patient in answering my questions so I could find out what was different in our very similar setups. It works! I'm so happy!

I used Auto with 5.8 GHz selected on iOS on three back to back flights, late this afternoon and early evening, and, as you stated, it stayed in 5.8Ghz the entire flight, out to 4 miles away, over water on the first flight, before I turned around, only because of the battery, like you did. On my second flight, I flew it up a nearby mountain top to 3 miles away before turning around due to flying back against a strong headwind. After building up my confidence with the first two flights, I then flew it low over the 3 mile urban area between me and the beach, and was able to drop down to 25 feet over the water once reaching it, just like I do with my P4's with the boosted DBS-02 on the GL300A! I'm in awe!

THANK YOU!

 

[GadgetGuy]

Try 5.8 Ghz. Also- how do you get 6miles out on your P4 without battery problems?
And why do you have 3 separate P4Pro's?

Also, if you are in a congested area or there are trees/buildings around, you may need to fly higher than 400ft AGL.

That's the ticket!

 

[F3honda4me]

You have made a believer out of me!
Sorry for doubting you in the first place, but hopefully you will understand my previous skepticism. It is counter-intuitive to me that 5.8 Ghz should have better range. Thank you for being patient in answering my questions so I could find out what was different in our very similar setups. It works! I'm so happy!

I used Auto with 5.8 GHz selected on iOS on three back to back flights this late afternoon and early evening and, as you stated, it stayed in 5.8Ghz the entire flight, out to 4 miles away over water on the first flight, before I turned around, only because of the battery. On my second flight, I flew it up a nearby mountain top to 3 miles away before turning around due to flying back against a strong headwind. After building up my confidence with the first two flights, I then flew it low over the 3 mile urban area between me and the beach, and was able to drop down to 25 feet over the water once reaching it, just like I do with my P4's with the boosted DBS-02 on the GL300A! I'm in awe!

THANK YOU!

That is fantastic to hear. I actually noticed today that my drone flew out to about 16,000 feet and I noticed it stayed on 5.8 the whole time. That was as far as I was willing to push it today.