I had my first heart-stopping moment (and I made it through)

[Ckcampbell248]

TL;DR - Lost signal and my drone returned to home but I wasn't there. Had to go back to my point of origin to recover. Found it and all is well. Skip to the end for my questions. For the whole story, read on.

This weekend my family and I participated in a local walk for charity. One of the organizers asked me I felt I would take drone video of the event. I'm a bit of a noob...I've been flying my P4P+ for about 4 months...but I was game.

I had a few firsts in this flight. First time around a city. First time around a lot of people. First time someone was counting on me. Suffice it to say, I was a bit nervous.

Everything started out fine. I got some good shots of the start of the event. Then I walked down the road a bit and relaunched and started to follow the walk route. I was walking the route and flying the drone on ahead. Everything was fine and I was feeling pretty good. Then the drone got out about a half mile out from me and I lost signal. I didn't panic yet. I figured I was heading toward the drone and it was heading back to me so I should reaquire. It did and then I realized it was heading to the home point which was about a half mile back. I tried cancelling RTH so I could bring it to me but I kept losing signal and the battery was dying at this point. I still didn't panic and I figured the best thing to do was to let it go home and then I'd go look for it so I turned around and started hoofing it back up the street.

Now I was starting to worry. The battery had to be dead at this point but I knew the behavior should be to RTH or land. A few minutes later I ran into some event staff in a golf cart. They saw my controller and said, "Oh! Are you flying the drone? It landed up the street!" So now I find myself riding in a golf cart explaining how smart and cool my drone is. A few minutes later, we pull up to my drone sitting precisely where I took off from and now I'm feeling pretty good!

So, all's well that ends well but I have a few questions for the veterans.

1. I knew I was going to be on the move. What would have been the best way to handle being away from the home point? Can you update it in flight? Or better yet, can you have RTH come to the controller? I had another thought later that I could've tried follow-me mode and it should've come to the controller.

2. I was surprised by the loss of signal only a half mile out. I was in a clear area but there were power lines and houses. Could power lines, other wi-if or cell towers cause that much interference? I was up about 300 feet.

3. Is there a way to monitor the signal strength in flight?

4. The drone passed me on the way to the home point, it had to, but I didn't see it (I did hear it). I was surprised the controller didn't reconnect when it got close to me. Any thoughts on that?

5. Any other constructive criticism would be welcome!

 

[Deleted member 62848]

TL;DR - Lost signal and my drone returned to home but I wasn't there. Had to go back to my point of origin to recover. Found it and all is well. Skip to the end for my questions. For the whole story, read on.

This weekend my family and I participated in a local walk for charity. One of the organizers asked me I felt I would take drone video of the event. I'm a bit of a noob...I've been flying my P4P+ for about 4 months...but I was game.

I had a few firsts in this flight. First time around a city. First time around a lot of people. First time someone was counting on me. Suffice it to say, I was a bit nervous.

Everything started out fine. I got some good shots of the start of the event. Then I walked down the road a bit and relaunched and started to follow the walk route. I was walking the route and flying the drone on ahead. Everything was fine and I was feeling pretty good. Then the drone got out about a half mile out from me and I lost signal. I didn't panic yet. I figured I was heading toward the drone and it was heading back to me so I should reaquire. It did and then I realized it was heading to the home point which was about a half mile back. I tried cancelling RTH so I could bring it to me but I kept losing signal and the battery was dying at this point. I still didn't panic and I figured the best thing to do was to let it go home and then I'd go look for it so I turned around and started hoofing it back up the street.

Now I was starting to worry. The battery had to be dead at this point but I knew the behavior should be to RTH or land. A few minutes later I ran into some event staff in a golf cart. They saw my controller and said, "Oh! Are you flying the drone? It landed up the street!" So now I find myself riding in a golf cart explaining how smart and cool my drone is. A few minutes later, we pull up to my drone sitting precisely where I took off from and now I'm feeling pretty good!

So, all's well that ends well but I have a few questions for the veterans.

1. I knew I was going to be on the move. What would have been the best way to handle being away from the home point? Can you update it in flight? Or better yet, can you have RTH come to the controller? I had another thought later that I could've tried follow-me mode and it should've come to the controller.

2. I was surprised by the loss of signal only a half mile out. I was in a clear area but there were power lines and houses. Could power lines, other wi-if or cell towers cause that much interference? I was up about 300 feet.

3. Is there a way to monitor the signal strength in flight?

4. The drone passed me on the way to the home point, it had to, but I didn't see it (I did hear it). I was surprised the controller didn't reconnect when it got close to me. Any thoughts on that?

5. Any other constructive criticism would be welcome!

Yeh wont be the last ,if i move around like you say,i always wait for home point to set,should do when powered off and on at new location,that way it will land back there,,you can set homepoint back to controller,its in settings ,pay to check rth height setting could be why you not hear it go past ?? Not sure on signal but if gets a bit weak remember to aim rc at ac,not sure why not reconnect with drone again,must have really lost signal,not havin a visual sight of what doin in rth mode bit tricky to coment on,good to read it still alive,,

 

[Ckcampbell248]

Yeh wont be the last ,if i move around like you say,i always wait for home point to set,should do when powered off and on at new location,that way it will land back there,,you can set homepoint back to controller,its in settings ,pay to check rth height setting could be why you not hear it go past ?? Not sure on signal but if gets a bit weak remember to aim rc at ac,not sure why not reconnect with drone again,must have really lost signal,not havin a visual sight of what doin in rth mode bit tricky to coment on,good to read it still alive,,

Thanks for the reply!

I didn't have the opportunity to reset the home point. I was on the move while the drone was flying (it was a charity walk). I retrospect, I should've stayed put.

 

[Meta4]

1. I knew I was going to be on the move. What would have been the best way to handle being away from the home point? Can you update it in flight? Or better yet, can you have RTH come to the controller?

First thing on the first page in your settings.
It gives you two options for resetting your home point during a flight.
You can reset to where the Phantom is or you can reset to where the controller is (as long as you have a GPS enabled phone or tablet)

Either would have prevented the Phantom flying back behind you because it was getting close to the battery level to cover that distance

3. Is there a way to monitor the signal strength in flight?

Top of your screen - between GPS sat count and battery level.

 

[Ckcampbell248]

First thing on the first page in your settings.
It gives you two options for resetting your home point during a flight.
You can reset to where the Phantom is or you can reset to where the controller is (as long as you have a GPS enabled phone or tablet)

Either would have prevented the Phantom flying back behind you because it was getting close to the battery level to cover that distance

Top of your screen - between GPS sat count and battery level.

Thanks for the reply!

Pretty basic stuff I guess but that's how we learn.

Any thoughts on the loss of signal?

 

[Meta4]

Any thoughts on the loss of signal?

Just the usual.
Urban areas have a lot of interference.
Did you have a clear line of sight to the Phantom, were there any trees or buildings blocking signal?
Did you have correctly oriented antennas aimed at the Phantom?
The P4 pro lets you choose 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz frequencies.
Around interference one will probably be better than the other.

 

[Ckcampbell248]

Just the usual.
Urban areas have a lot of interference.
Did you have a clear line of sight to the Phantom, were there any trees or buildings blocking signal?
Did you have correctly oriented antennas aimed at the Phantom?

Pretty good line of site. It was down a straight road. Some trees. Lots of houses plus power lines running along road. I was facing in the general direction of the drone the whole time. Antennas pointing straight up and parallel.

 

[captaindeckbuilder]

First thing on the first page in your settings.
It gives you two options for resetting your home point during a flight.
You can reset to where the Phantom is or you can reset to where the controller is (as long as you have a GPS enabled phone or tablet)

Either would have prevented the Phantom flying back behind you because it was getting close to the battery level to cover that distance

Top of your screen - between GPS sat count and battery level.

Meta4, I'm relatively new to the P4 as well. I've had it several months but only short stints of actual use. With regard to your description of the RTH feature I have a couple more questions. 1. I assume you are referring to the "Home Point Settings." There are 2 icon shown which don't mean much to me. Is the one on the left supposed to mean to set the drone down at the drone's current position? 2. Is the icon on the right supposed to return the drone to the controller? 3. If you select one of these, how do you then get the drone to return to the point from which it took off?

 

[FlashBuddy]

I never fly without windsurfers. Am I crazy?

 

[Meta4]

Meta4, I'm relatively new to the P4 as well. I've had it several months but only short stints of actual use. With regard to your description of the RTH feature I have a couple more questions. 1. I assume you are referring to the "Home Point Settings." There are 2 icon shown which don't mean much to me. Is the one on the left supposed to mean to set the drone down at the drone's current position? 2. Is the icon on the right supposed to return the drone to the controller?

Here is a larger screenshot:

On the left it's showing a location icon next to a paper plane symbol - that is to reset your homepoint to where the aircraft is right now.
On the right it's a location icon next to a person - that's to reset home to where you (and the GPS enabled controller) are now.

3. If you select one of these, how do you then get the drone to return to the point from which it took off?

Once you reset the home point you can't change it back.
You could reset it again to the controller location if you went back to that spot.

 

[captaindeckbuilder]

Here is a larger screenshot:

On the left it's showing a location icon next to a paper plane symbol - that is to reset your homepoint to where the aircraft is right now.
On the right it's a location icon next to a person - that's to reset home to where you (and the GPS enabled controller) are now.
[QUOTE="captaindeckbuilder, post: 1253682, member: 100379"3. If you select one of these, how do you then get the drone to return to the point from which it took off?

Once you reset the home point you can't change it back.
You could reset it again to the controller location if you went back to that spot.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for the clarification and description of the icons. So, once you change it to something else, you cannot then revert back to RTH to the original lift-off location. If you land and shut down the controller, will the RTH location change then to the current lift-off point, or is this option gone forever?

 

[Meta4]

So, once you change it to something else, you cannot then revert back to RTH to the original lift-off location.

It would be very unusual to reset home and then want to put it back to the original location.
The Phantom can only store one home point and if you change it, the new one is what's stored in memory.

If you land and shut down the controller, will the RTH location change then to the current lift-off point, or is this option gone forever?

If you shut down the Phantom (not the controller) the home point is lost and a new home point will be recorded when the Phantom is turned on again and gets GPS reception.

 

[Numone]

I never fly without windsurfers. Am I crazy?

No, you're not.

 

[captaindeckbuilder]

It would be very unusual to reset home and then want to put it back to the original location.
The Phantom can only store one home point and if you change it, the new one is what's stored in memory.

If you shut down the Phantom (not the controller) the home point is lost and a new home point will be recorded when the Phantom is turned on again and gets GPS reception.

Thank you for the response.

 

[rcflyingaddict]

Thanks for the reply!

Pretty basic stuff I guess but that's how we learn.

Any thoughts on the loss of signal?

Speaking about range or lack of it you can watch it go from full to disappear and disconnect (top of your read-out) . I unboxed my P4P yesterday and after a half dozen flights I can tell you that my P4P's range is severely lack luster when compared to my MP. Flying in the same places and at times back to back and at first I thought my new P4P was defective due to how poor the signal strength was compared to the MP. Did a bit of research and it looks like this is a known issue to many/lots of folks. I never thought about antenna amplifiers before but they are #1 on my list now.

 

[Ckcampbell248]

Speaking about range or lack of it you can watch it go from full to disappear and disconnect (top of your read-out) . I unboxed my P4P yesterday and after a half dozen flights I can tell you that my P4P's range is severely lack luster when compared to my MP. Flying in the same places and at times back to back and at first I thought my new P4P was defective due to how poor the signal strength was compared to the MP. Did a bit of research and it looks like this is a known issue to many/lots of folks. I never thought about antenna amplifiers before but they are #1 on my list now.

Yeah, kind of disappointing since they advertise 4 miles!

When you say amplifiers, are you talking about the parabolic antennas ore something different?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Meta4]

Yeah, kind of disappointing since they advertise 4 miles!

What they advertise is:

Max Transmission Distance 2.400 - 2.483 GHz (Unobstructed, free of interference)
FCC: 4.3 mi (7 km)
CE: 2.2 mi (3.5 km)​

And people have achieved those distances (and even more)
But there are huge variations in interference in your local environment.
Are you using 2.4 GHz in a good interference-free area?

 

[Ckcampbell248]

What they advertise is:

Max Transmission Distance 2.400 - 2.483 GHz (Unobstructed, free of interference)
FCC: 4.3 mi (7 km)
CE: 2.2 mi (3.5 km)​

And people have achieved those distances (and even more)
But there are huge variations in interference in your local environment.
Are you using 2.4 GHz in a good interference-free area?

In this case, I had fairly clear line of site and was on 2.4 but interference is what I can't really speak to. Lots of power lines and houses so I suspect a lot of Wi-fi.

I get it, "your mileage may vary". I just want to understand what typical vs. optimal is. TBH, a half mile feels like a very long way right now but I want to be better prepared next time.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[jdharrin]

I'm a newbie as well. I'm amazed at the distances I read about on these forums. On my third flight yesterday, I flew about 575 feet out at an altitude of 285 over a beautiful lake, and although the app showed I had excellent range left and could go out much further, I could barely see my P4P. I definitely couldn't tell which way the bird was facing. Definitely not comfortable just looking at and flying from what I see in the monitor. Maybe that'll come with more practice. Some of you folks are truly amazing...

 

[Meta4]

I could barely see my P4P. I definitely couldn't tell which way the bird was facing.

When you fly again, try using the radar display and see what it's telling you.