Finally got to 3000' distance... :-)

Dronebow · Aug 12, 2015

After only being able to get to a max distance of about 2000' before I lose video it was very refreshing and exciting to get to 3000' easily using a less congested channel which is now available...

Now.. if I could only find better scenery in this flat land of Texas... Who else is in North Texas and/or can offer ideas of where to fly and get good video or pictures??

atki · Aug 12, 2015

You only get 3000' on flat land?

Dronebow · Aug 12, 2015

atki said:
You only get 3000' on flat land?

Sad huh? The RC signal is strong but video is terrible. I think the congested area with cell towers everywhere with other radio waves (Raytheon is not far as well as DFW airport) may be causing short distances.

atki · Aug 12, 2015

Could be. I do see a lot of people with the antennas positioned incorrectly though.

atki · Aug 12, 2015

Also what altitude is that?

Dronebow · Aug 12, 2015

atki said:
Could be. I do see a lot of people with the antennas positioned incorrectly though.

They are pointing up (vertical) at a bit less than 90 degrees and I usually face toward where the drone is flying.

Dronebow · Aug 12, 2015

atki said:
Also what altitude is that?

100' to 130'

atki · Aug 12, 2015

Sounds about right.. In the video settings are you on auto ch select? If not if try that and also try on manual on channel 20 and lowest quality settings beneath that (4mbps rather than 6)

atki · Aug 12, 2015

Dronebow said:
100' to 130'

Try at 300' to 400' altitude unless that's too high for your interest. Higher and toggle those video settings.

Dronebow · Aug 12, 2015

atki said:
Sounds about right.. In the video settings are you on auto ch select? If not if try that and also try on manual on channel 20 and lowest quality settings beneath that (4mbps rather than 6)

Checking channels 1 - 32 it seems the least amount of interference is 8 or 9 so I set manual on 9 and that allowed me to get to 3000'. Now I could have taken it higher and probably gotten further but I was thrilled with the extra 1000'. Have not tried yet to lower the resolution.

John Locke · Aug 12, 2015

Dronebow,
In Texas I would be looking for old abandoned buildings to shoot, like old factories and barns, getting experience with VPS, etc. Historical sites also are interesting to me as well as lakes. Big construction sites can be interesting on weekends when nobody is working as well as refineries. You'll have to use good judgement considering the safety and risk with each of these targets.

Dronebow · Aug 12, 2015

John Locke said:
Dronebow,
In Texas I would be looking for old abandoned buildings to shoot, like old factories and barns, getting experience with VPS, etc. Historical sites also are interesting to me as well as lakes. Big construction sites can be interesting on weekends when nobody is working as well as refineries. You'll have use good judgement considering the safety and risk with each of these targets.

Good ideas. As you probably know it takes at least an hour to get anywhere in the general area in Texas... but yeah, I have been wanting to drive out to some of the local lake areas. Construction sites are plentiful and your comment about on the weekend is well received...

I have yet to try flying with VPS only. I'm still nearly always flying 30' or higher everywhere because I don't want to crash into a tree or something. I like the idea of abandon buildings.. I am an ASM with the Boy Scouts also so we are going camping somewhere every month. Looking forward to some flights in different places there as well.

TeeDubbDizzle · Aug 12, 2015

I'm in Abilene/ Sweetwater myself. You? Also, I was using my Note 4 as the monitor and flew about 300' high. I took it Just over 4000 ft away trying to fly from one friends house to another and land. However, once I got a little lower, the connection was lost and it triggered RTH. Still fun to try! It was the first time I had tried to fly that long.

Just a disclaimer since we have some very talented people here, Everything in auto, just stitched and posted.

Skip to 1:30 for the long flight. A little twitchy because
A - it's sped up 400x
B - I drew out a flight path and was doing my best to follow it. The POI auto flight would be handy here

Dronebow · Aug 12, 2015

TeeDubbDizzle said:
I'm in Abilene/ Sweetwater myself. You? Also, I was using my Note 4 as the monitor and flew about 300' high. I took it Just over 4000 ft away trying to fly from one friends house to another and land. However, once I got a little lower, the connection was lost and it triggered RTH. Still fun to try! It was the first time I had tried to fly that long.

Just a disclaimer since we have some very talented people here, Everything in auto, just stitched and posted.

Skip to 1:30 for the long flight. A little twitchy because
A - it's sped up 400x
B - I drew out a flight path and was doing my best to follow it. The POI auto flight would be handy here

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

I'm in McKinney TX. Yep, wide open spaces like your video except the population here is much more congested.