Howdy from Texas

[Texxracer44]

Newbie here. Me 53yo , wife , 27yo daughter, live south of Houston. Former pilot, Army, work in the petroleum industry now.
Fly a P3 , Will get my 107 shortly.
I have one early question. I own property in the county. I have NO gps support (or even phone for that matter)
Can I fly without GPS signal?
If so how? or where can I read on this.
Thanks
Dave

 

[RodPad]

Welcome to the Forum!
No GPS? Is this in a cave?

Yes you can fly it. It will be in the ATTI mode, Have you tried it there?

I would be shocked, that you won't have GPS.

Rod

 

[RodPad]

Take a look at this thread, this is with a P3S, once he gets in the air, he gets a GPS lock, the P3A, P3P pick up more satellites, which do you have.

Opps or Don't be in a hurry to take off....

Rod

 

[sturgissteele]

Welcome aboard!

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to the forum .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching .

 

[Capt KO]

Inside, no gps. Outside, gps everywhere. No need for cell phone signal. Go fly, have fun.
Welcome from Florida ?

 

[SubseaFlyer]

Howdy Neighbor!!

I do a lot of flying out in West Texas - Big Bend area (I'm from the Houston area as well), and out there it takes a few minutes, but I usually have a good satellite lock in about 60-90 seconds.

Where are you doing most of your flying?

 

[Texxracer44]

Howdy Neighbor!!

I do a lot of flying out in West Texas - Big Bend area (I'm from the Houston area as well), and out there it takes a few minutes, but I usually have a good satellite lock in about 60-90 seconds.

Where are you doing most of your flying?

So usually I may have to wait to get 3-4 GPS signals but I've never not had at least one. I was trying to check out some land I bought in Moss Bluff , TX , North of Liberty. There are trees but not all that thick. I'll try again to wait longer for signal and see how that goes. Hope to get up there this weekend. It was mentioned I could take off and get up higher to secure a signal. Problem is I could get it to take off with no gps lock. I'm new so don't know the tricks.

 

[msinger]

Welcome to the forum!

Can I fly without GPS signal?

You can (if not in beginner mode), but it's not a great idea. Your drone won't be able to hold its position and it could be hard to track down if it lands in an unexpected location.

 

[RodPad]

@Texxracer44,

Yeah, as stated not a great idea, but did you see the area he was taking off in?

"So usually I may have to wait to get 3-4 GPS signals"
Is this normal in open sky area?

"but I've never not had at least one"
Is this at your property problem area?

How old is this P3? and what is the exact model?


Rod

 

[Texxracer44]

@Texxracer44,

Yeah, as stated not a great idea, but did you see the area he was taking off in?

"So usually I may have to wait to get 3-4 GPS signals"
Is this normal in open sky area

"but I've never not had at least one"
Is this at your property problem area?

How old is this P3? and what is the exact model?


Rod

Its in a sort of remote area. Heavily wooded .5 miles south of Liberty TX and about 15-20 miles east of Houston. Not the middle of the congo. Just doesn't seem to want to get GPS connection.

 

[chascoadmin]

We started our UAV program years ago with a Phantom 3 Pro and it had many occasions with GPS and compass errors. They are much more susceptible to electromagnetic and vertical structure interference than the 4’s. You should try taking off in A-mode and then switching to P-mode. You’re going to have to do this if you decide to get into any kind of mapping or autonomous flight software.

 

[Texxracer44]

Howdy Neighbor!!

I do a lot of flying out in West Texas - Big Bend area (I'm from the Houston area as well), and out there it takes a few minutes, but I usually have a good satellite lock in about 60-90 seconds.

Where are you doing most of your flying?

In a heavily wooded area about 40 miles east of Houston.

 

[Dallas Drone Guy]

Welcome from Dallas!
Satellites orbit the earth rapidly at much lower than geosynchronous orbit, meaning they come and go all day over a given location. I've never heard of gps dead zones. Do you have any issues in other locations as well?

 

[chascoadmin]

Welcome from Dallas!
Satellites orbit the earth rapidly at much lower than geosynchronous orbit, meaning they come and go all day over a given location. I've never heard of gps dead zones. Do you have any issues in other locations as well?

Austin here! There are dead zones globally, but planning has reduced this to very few and remote areas. There are also cycles that can be observed and planned around using GPS planning software available in many apps and pretty much every commercial grade GPS Data Collector software.

 

[Texxracer44]

Welcome from Dallas!
Satellites orbit the earth rapidly at much lower than geosynchronous orbit, meaning they come and go all day over a given location. I've never heard of gps dead zones. Do you have any issues in other locations as well?

Honestly after all the replies I'm wondering if I'm somehow not doing something correctly. I am new so I think I'll look into it more. I have learned a lot from this thread but most all seem to doubt that I TRUELY don't have gps so I'm going to re-try at the same location and take my time.

 

[chascoadmin]

Honestly after all the replies I'm wondering if I'm somehow not doing something correctly. I am new so I think I'll look into it more. I have learned a lot from this thread but most all seem to doubt that I TRUELY don't have gps so I'm going to re-try at the same location and take my time.

Have you tried taking off in (A)tti-mode and switching to P-Mode for GPS. I believe most system require 5 satellites and some Autonomous Flight softwares require seven. There's always the possibility that there is some other form of interference or jammer, but I think that is pretty sketchy.

Does it work elsewhere? Then maybe the drone...