Downside of failsafe RTH

[themosttoys]

Had just flown back from over 3280 feet with no problems. Decided to circle a water tower that was less than 800 feet from me. Thank goodness I always plan to fly higher than anything I'm flying around. I was flying FPV and did not notice that as I passed behind the water tower it blocked LOS to the P2V. As soon as the P2V past behind the water tower it lost the control signal (as well as FPV.) Before I had a chance to do anything , failsafe kicked in and the P2V headed home, which was of course was on the other side of the water tower.

Video: http://youtu.be/Gc_BSTPyOxA

Close call.

 

[Venom93corba]

Gotta love RTH

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

 

[Nvr2fst]

The ole, I'm taking over twitch. I have yet to use the RTH.

 

[BenDronePilot]

Which antenna are you using for the 3k feet? The 14dbi tplink? I've tried the 9dbi directional and it didn't prove any better than the 5 or 8 dbi omni directional tplink antennas. I have been able to push past 2k feet with the omni directional tho and without the added bulk or weight of higher gain options. Tho doing 3k+ from time to time would be fun.

 

[themosttoys]

Which antenna are you using for the 3k feet? The 14dbi tplink? I've tried the 9dbi directional and it didn't prove any better than the 5 or 8 dbi omni directional tplink antennas. I have been able to push past 2k feet with the omni directional tho and without the added bulk or weight of higher gain options. Tho doing 3k+ from time to time would be fun.

Docooler repeater with this antenna: http://www.l-com.com/wireless-antenna-2 ... -connector

edit: BTW, the 14dbi TPLink is a good antenna (just a little bulky). Under perfect conditions (line of site with no obstructions) I've (as have others) achieved about 3K feet with it and the stock repeater. But to do so, the antenna needs to stay vertical (no more than 10 degrees tilt) and the P2V must be flying sideways with one of the antennas in the sides of the camera pointing directly back to home. While it does work, other than proving it can be done, it's not much fun. The Docooler will amplify the receiving signal more than the stock repeater, so there is a bit more flexibility in the flight angle at distance. But much beyond 3K feet and video is lost when the P2V is pointing directly at or directly away from home. Based on all my testing, doing better will require modification to the P2V (the antennas in the camera).

 

[themosttoys]

It would be nice if you showed how you set this up. Maybe a few pictures please?

Would be happy to, if only it stopped changing so often. Pretty much every flight I'm trying different combinations. Until last week I simply had a pigtail sticking out the side of the stock repeater (through a hole I drilled). I did a lot of testing by attaching antennas to the pigtail and zip tying them to the carry handle on the controller (similar to all the other pictures).
Since I received the Docooler repeater I put the stock repeater back to stock (took the pigtail off). I like the ease and convenience of the stock setup, it's quick and it all fits nicely into small case:


This is a picture of the setup used in this thread. Basically I now use this as the base for my antenna testing. Very easy to swap out antennas and is separate from the stock setup:


The antenna is the one linked above, the repeater is the Docooler and the box sitting on the bottom is a 32000mah Poweradd battery. I also have regular 8000mah 12v lipos that I use, but I like the Poweradd because it shows battery % remaining and I can plug my phone into it if I need a top off in the field.