Frequency sniffer or scanner

[Madkeen]

Have had two instances in the last two days where I have lost control of my phantom. One resulted in a crash and one I got control back after a fair length of time.

Is there anything out there that can scan and show if there is any signal that may interfere. Would be great to monitor an area before taking off to see what the likely hood of this happening would be.

The problem I had tonight was near a big Ferris wheel. The Brisbane Eye, about half the size or less, than the London eye.i took off near it and had my back to the wheel and the phantom in front of me. I maneuvered a bit so I would be higher than the ye so I could see what the view would be like if on the wheel. Then I when higher and moved a bit to the right. Then I had no control. The phantom flew over my head and was heading to a building. It then stopped and hovered. Lights were normal, blinking green and the others red. When I yawd left the copter would slowly come down. But then it wouldn't do anything and just hovered. Then about 30 seconds I had control again. No switches were moved or anything, just could not get control.

Any ideas ? Would the wheel cause interference with all the metal?

Or was there a signal there I would have known about if I had some sort of scanner?


Suggestions anyone?

 

[2trickpony]

Have had two instances in the last two days where I have lost control of my phantom. One resulted in a crash and one I got control back after a fair length of time.

Is there anything out there that can scan and show if there is any signal that may interfere. Would be great to monitor an area before taking off to see what the likely hood of this happening would be.

The problem I had tonight was near a big Ferris wheel. The Brisbane Eye, about half the size or less, than the London eye.i took off near it and had my back to the wheel and the phantom in front of me. I maneuvered a bit so I would be higher than the ye so I could see what the view would be like if on the wheel. Then I when higher and moved a bit to the right. Then I had no control. The phantom flew over my head and was heading to a building. It then stopped and hovered. Lights were normal, blinking green and the others red. When I yawd left the copter would slowly come down. But then it wouldn't do anything and just hovered. Then about 30 seconds I had control again. No switches were moved or anything, just could not get control.

Any ideas ? Would the wheel cause interference with all the metal?



Or was there a signal there I would have known about if I had some sort of scanner?


Suggestions anyone?

Maybe something like this:?
http://www.metageek.net/products/wi-spy/

 

[Big Ben]

It might also be useful to use an app on your smartphone that shows the values of its magnetic sensor or just a compass app and check for significant variations when the wheel rotates. A big hunk of metal that moves has the potential to disturb the local magnetic field. The Phantom might react to that.

 

[ianwood]

You would need a spectrum analyzer. And you would need to put the spectrum analyzer near the Phantom and recreate the conditions. The ferris wheel doesn't ring any alarms for me. Possibly the way the cross members are set up could create a strong multipath situation but that seems unlikely. Is your set up stock TX/RX? How far away were you from the P2? What if anything was between you and it? How close was it to ferris wheel? Was the other incident in the same place? Any crashes before this? Have you moved the stock antennas? Are the tips both straight, not overly curved, kinked, or bent?

A WiFi scan tool will tell you little. It doesn't show you how much actual bandwidth is being saturated.

Side note, it would be really great if we could see RSSI in the OSD! And we need the OSD logging capability that has been promised! Or I just need to get off my derrier and build my own OSD / logger using an Arduino!

 

[Fink]

I've wondered about this, too. I've got an app on my phone for WiFi networks, just to see how many 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks are within range and how strong the signals are. Doesn't do jack for your Ferris Wheel situation, though.

I'll be sure to follow this thread to see what you guys come up with.

Fink

 

[Ozzyguy]

Use your smartphone to monitor how many wifi networks are present

 

[OI Photography]

Side note, it would be really great if we could see RSSI in the OSD! And we need the OSD logging capability that has been promised! Or I just need to get off my *** and build my own OSD / logger using an Arduino!

You may know this but the iOSD II is supposed to be logging telemetry already, seems they even put 4GB of storage on it for that purpose. I couldn't get anything useful out of it when I first tested it, and just gave up trying at that point.

RSSI is one of the main reasons I moved to an aftermarket Tx/Rx, I'd hate flying without it now. Maybe that's a "premium feature" they're reserving for the Lightbridge :roll:

 

[Ozzyguy]

Two questions. What is RSSI and what is lightbridge

 

[OI Photography]

RSSI = Received Signal Strength Indicator. Basically a gauge or readout telling you how strong the control signal is at the Rx.

Lightbridge: http://1uas.com/DJILightBridge

 

[Ozzyguy]

Thanks

 

[Madkeen]

I was about 100ft from the wheel with my back to it and the Phamtom was about 100 feet in front of me and about 300 feet high. So the wheel was not between the phantom and me.

I looked around and could only see a pad mounted electricity transformer. A TV station offices are there as well but the do not transmit from there. All power and telephone lines are underground. One Yagi antenna with the transformer but I am pretty sure that only transmits when there is a problem.

The other crash involved a a 100ft spiral tower/sculpture I was above it for a while and then backed away so that the phantom was between me and the tower. As I descended about 10 feet away from the tower the phantom simply dropped out of the sky. Fluttered like a leaf but a lot faster. All that was on the phantom was the red lights on the front, no green flashing on the rear. Luckily one prop hit a small wall and snapped and flipped the phantom over so it landed upside down.