How far can the phantom fly?

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Hey guys I've been flying for about 3 months now, just wondering how far can the phantom fly and how high can it fly without losing signal?

Also if it does lose signal, does it automativally go to the home location(GPS)?
 
r3tro23 said:
Hey guys I've been flying for about 3 months now, just wondering how far can the phantom fly and how high can it fly without losing signal?

Also if it does lose signal, does it automativally go to the home location(GPS)?

A dangerous question to ask in here :lol:

The answer depends on if you are on a stock setup or have an upgraded TX. Stock should get you 500 metres away. I have seen people getting 700 meters.... now that will technically work in an upward direction too but for all our sake please PLEASE don't try this out.
400 feet is a pretty standard legal limit across most countries. Outside this and you are interfering with commercial air traffic and no one wants a Phantom going through the prop, screen or engine of an aircraft carrying real people just to see how high it will go if pushed.

If you upgrade your TX to say a Futaba T8J (or any 'full range' set) you can get maybe 2km max.... slap an EzUHF system in there and you can get like 10miles+ with the correct antenna setup. You will never ever achieve this in a Phantom of course cause of battery life (and it'd just be silly to try!).

Some idiot on youtube got nearly 1km up in a Phantom and due to the power it used, it ran out of juice on the way down at about 100feet up.

Oh and yes when it gets out of range it will kick into RTH.
 
This guy did an impressive run of 2820 meters (1.76 miles) one way, and back, on a Stock Battery and Stock TX, he claims...


WATCH:


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA-nr3BRTaU[/youtube]
 
I have doubts that 2.8km is on a stock radio, possibly there is zero radio interferance where he is but I just cant see how that little radio could do that. 1km was pretty much the limit on my stock radio setup but it was dropping out in random spots beyond 700m for me and just about everyone else. :?:

With upgraded radio like a futaba 2km is quite possible and maybe a bit beyond as my range test location is far from clear of radio interferance and I have got it to 1.8km on my longest range test there so far.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPk41yX-Zx8[/youtube]

Height wise best to avoid pushing limits and just keep it within the standard heights of 400ft.
 
DeweyAXD said:
r3tro23 said:
Hey guys I've been flying for about 3 months now, just wondering how far can the phantom fly and how high can it fly without losing signal?

Also if it does lose signal, does it automativally go to the home location(GPS)?

A dangerous question to ask in here :lol:

The answer depends on if you are on a stock setup or have an upgraded TX. Stock should get you 500 metres away. I have seen people getting 700 meters.... now that will technically work in an upward direction too but for all our sake please PLEASE don't try this out.
400 feet is a pretty standard legal limit across most countries. Outside this and you are interfering with commercial air traffic and no one wants a Phantom going through the prop, screen or engine of an aircraft carrying real people just to see how high it will go if pushed.

If you upgrade your TX to say a Futaba T8J (or any 'full range' set) you can get maybe 2km max.... slap an EzUHF system in there and you can get like 10miles+ with the correct antenna setup. You will never ever achieve this in a Phantom of course cause of battery life (and it'd just be silly to try!).

Some idiot on youtube got nearly 1km up in a Phantom and due to the power it used, it ran out of juice on the way down at about 100feet up.

Oh and yes when it gets out of range it will kick into RTH.

thanks for your detailed response... reason i'm asking is bc I got an FPV system and my immersion 600mW TX + spironet antenna is on its way - so i wanted to know how far I can push it.
 
martcerv... what kind of battery are you using (make, size, etc)...
 
I remember reading in one of the manuals that the Phantom TX has an 800 meter range. This is farther than you can see.

Even with FPV (for which you need an amateur radio license) you would still need the IOSD MINI to find your way back.
 
My Transport Canada permit specifies that I fly my Phantom no higher than 120 metres above ground- this is the highest they allow.

I also must keep the Phantom in visual sight at all times; no flying using just FPV is allowed. The exact wording is "shall only be operated during the day, and remain within continuous unaided visual contact of the operator/observer at all times".
 
miskatonic said:
Even with FPV (for which you need an amateur radio license) you would still need the IOSD MINI to find your way back.

or some kind of autonomous return to home feature, wouldn't that would be awesome.


Oh... wait...
 
marcus_canada said:
miskatonic said:
Even with FPV (for which you need an amateur radio license) you would still need the IOSD MINI to find your way back.

or some kind of autonomous return to home feature, wouldn't that would be awesome.


Oh... wait...

I would not rely on that particular function, ever. Losing sight of your Phantom would mean that you would have to be very quick on the draw to switch to fail safe and hope that it comes back to you.
 
marcus_canada said:
miskatonic said:
Even with FPV (for which you need an amateur radio license) you would still need the IOSD MINI to find your way back.

or some kind of autonomous return to home feature, wouldn't that would be awesome.


Oh... wait...

If you know your way around where your flying and do some Google earth research prior to a flight, you should easy enough find your own way back flying out of visual sight with a good video feed. All FPV flight is flying out of visual sight and so technicly may not be legal as even with a spotter once you get behind a tree you have broken the law and at that point you must.

img_Jyq7Ih.jpg


If you dont have the right equipment and dont know how to properly control you quad and fly it without needing to rely on RTH or GPS to get you home then stick to short range flying. :mrgreen:
 
martcerv said:

An essential item to carry in a flight case :lol:

As always with these things you can interprit the law in a number of ways. If things go wrong the authorities will always interprit them in the worst way but a defense lawyer would not have much problem throwing it back at them. This is probably why we don't see threads titled "So I got arrested today".

Example - Go to youtube and type in "DJI Phantom Night Flight" pick any of them from the USA. You will then be watching actual video evidence of law breaking based on the FAA Guidline for UAV's under 4.4ilbs:
Quote from "Small unmannged aircraft" section: http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/new ... wsId=14153

"The 2012 reauthorization bill also directed the FAA to “allow a government public safety agency to operate unmanned aircraft weighing 4.4 pounds or less” under certain restrictions. The bill specified these UAS must be flown within the line of sight of the operator, less than 400 feet above the ground, during daylight conditions, inside Class G (uncontrolled) airspace and more than five miles from any airport or other location with aviation activities."

If the FAA were fussed they 'could' use the FBI to trace each of these people through Youtube/Google and haul them in.... but they won't (well lets hope so anyway).
Simple counter defense comes from that same website where under the "Model Aircraft" Section it refers users to a PDF guidline (http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/medi ... /91-57.pdf). In this there is no mention of daylight hour operation. Can a judge really say a tiny little phantom isn't a model aircraft compared to a large scale plane?... this argument alone would likely cost several thousand dollars and hence would unlikely ever come up..... UNLESS said video showed some tool flying over LAX, running out of batt, and auto landing on an acitive run way!

As Martcerv points out we have tools at our disposal like Google Earth/Maps that allow us to get a good indication of what we might be flying over so any long range non LOS test should be done over unpopulated areas to reduce risk to everyone including those in the hobby.
 
" how far can the phantom fly "

If one ignores ALL of the practical, reality, safety, and legal issues....There are reports that in manual or atti mode, possibly with tweaked props, speeds of 55 mph. I have seen what mine can do and I believe it. In a stock body, unencumbered weight-wise, at continuous full throttle, a flight of 5-6 minutes would cover almost 5 miles? One of those gps flight recorders would tell the tale.
 
martcerv said:
marcus_canada said:
miskatonic said:
Even with FPV (for which you need an amateur radio license) you would still need the IOSD MINI to find your way back.

or some kind of autonomous return to home feature, wouldn't that would be awesome.


Oh... wait...

If you know your way around where your flying and do some Google earth research prior to a flight, you should easy enough find your own way back flying out of visual sight with a good video feed. All FPV flight is flying out of visual sight and so technicly may not be legal as even with a spotter once you get behind a tree you have broken the law and at that point you must.

img_Jyq7Ih.jpg


If you dont have the right equipment and dont know how to properly control you quad and fly it without needing to rely on RTH or GPS to get you home then stick to short range flying. :mrgreen:

FPV isn't legal if you do not have an amateur radio license.
 
How do you *tweak* the props to get the Phantom to go 55 mph?

A review on GIZMAG say this: "Really opening up the throttle, I found that the quadcopter could go fast (10 meters/32.8 feet per second, going forward)..."

That translates to only 22.5 mph roughly...

55 mph is more than double that... very hard to believe ... (I could be wrong though).


Article with the Stats source: http://www.gizmag.com/dji-phantom-quadcopter-review/26812/
 
PJA,
Do a search on this site on Phatom speed. Those were the speeds reported by multiple people. Then fly flipping into Atti mode. BIG DIFFERENCE! That listed and published speed is, I assume GPS mode....which is MUCH slower than Atti mode. I've not set my bird up for manual mode....sure I am not ready to handle it.
 
Even with an amateur radio license most FPV equipment is not technically legal, you still need to maintain LOS and have a spotter to be within most countries definition of what is legal and whats not and the limitations on radio equipment rules out nearly all gear used.

Here is a little flight which I should hand myself into the local jail ASAP :lol:

This was in total darkness flying FPV through trees so obviously no LOS is maintained even if I had a spotter which I didnt here. Not very long range only 150m max here but a fair way into the trees testing out the radio and FPV link behind some obstructions, its late at nite so there is nobody else around which is safer for everyone in my eyes. ;)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIg-orY4I8E[/youtube]

The actual video was much brighter out of the GoPro so I could clearly see what I was doing but I graded this to look a bit more like what it was even though its still brighter in this video then what I could actually see.

Regarding speed I dont know exact top speeds of my setup but Im sure it has got to 80-100kmh on some fast manual mode flying when comparing to the speed of moving traffic in the background. This is with a 1150g setup with GWS 9050 triblades and tiger motors mt-2216 kv900. I also fly a heavier 1300g 3d setup at times that would be down about 20-30kmh on the top speeds of my lighter single cam setup.

Here is some faster single cam flying in manual mode.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBKTYLcctZ4[/youtube]

Here is the heavy 1300g setup in 3D.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9t50dLsa3A[/youtube]
 
Hey guys I've been flying for about 3 months now, just wondering how far can the phantom fly and how high can it fly without losing signal?

Also if it does lose signal, does it automativally go to the home location(GPS)?

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I actually lost my P3 over trees about 1/2 mile out and screen went dark and indicated No Connection. I could barely hear it hovering somewhere over the water, but could not regain control or a visual. After a minute or so plotting its location and trying to decide whether to jump in my boat I hit the RTH command, which brought it home as it should. My question is why did I not regain a connection on the return flight? And if the connection was lost, how did it happen to receive the RTH command? Is there a specific time lapse when connection is lost that automatically signals it to return? I realize that is the case when it goes out of range...which may have essentially been the same due to the lost LOS. Perhaps it was then coincidental that it began to return about the same time I gave the RTH command.
 

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