IM IN LONDON, AND I ONLY GET 200METER RANGE, PLEASE TELL ME WHY??

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I HAVE BEEN GOING TO A LOCAL PARK TO TEST FLY AND BECOME MORE COMFORTABLE WITH THE P3, BUT I HAVE ONLY BEEN ABLE TO MAKE ABOUT 200 METERS IN RANGE UP AND OUT, PLEASE TELL ME WHY. MY PHONE IS ON FLIGHT MODE. BUT SOME PEOPLE ARE NEAR BY, COULD THEY BE THE REASON?????
 
WHERE ABOUTS IN LONDON? (You don't have to type in all caps, see?) As in, which park so I can go and look at the surroundings on a map.

It could very well be interference from your surrounding environment. You are in one of the most congested places in Europe, after all, and there are many many high-intensity transmitters around.

Also what height are you flying at?
 
WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! (There's a little button to the left of your keyboard, press it!)

As for not getting more than 200m, what happens when you get to 200m? Other people nearby won't be an issue. How big is the park and what is nearby? In some places, you will get very limited range due to a noisy RF environment.

Also note the P3 will work differently in EU countries compared to US and others due to local regulations in how large of a band the TX/RX can use at one time.
 
Sorry, at 200meters, the signal is completely lost. it is called stepney green park, its a circle park with a lot of housing around. so i generally fly at 20 to 30 meters, but i often try to increase my height to 200.
 
Sorry, at 200meters, the signal is completely lost. it is called stepney green park, its a circle park with a lot of housing around.

Yep you have a mobile phone base station right next to the park:
2015-07-11_00-22-24.png


Not sure if that would actually make a difference since it's on 2.1Ghz, but it's not too far off the 2.4GHz your controller uses. If that isn't the reason, then you can certainly blame all the WiFi from nearby houses.

Side note: flying there is technically illegal in the eyes of the CAA (you must be >150m away from residential areas)
Check out the regulations:
https://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1995&pageid=16012

Best to find somewhere else to fly, given both of the reasons above. :)
 
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yeah, i kind of know, but I'm going down to a club over the weekend to test it properly, any advice, on the best settings for range on the phantom ??
 
also thank you so much for all the help, i have been looking for answers for ages, you people are all so nice.
 
No problem

Default settings should be fine. If not, change to manual video mode, select a clear channel, and turn the video quality right down.
 
yeah fly planes, and a few drones, I'm only 16, what you just said made very little sense, nothing wrong with you just I'm in experienced, please may you explain it more detailed ??
 
Yep you have a mobile phone base station right next to the park:
2015-07-11_00-22-24.png


Not sure if that would actually make a difference since it's on 2.1Ghz, but it's not too far off the 2.4GHz your controller uses. If that isn't the reason, then you can certainly blame all the WiFi from nearby houses.

Side note: flying there is technically illegal in the eyes of the CAA (you must be >150m away from residential areas)
Check out the regulations:
https://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1995&pageid=16012

Best to find somewhere else to fly, given both of the reasons above. :)


The CAA rules you quoted are for commercial use of a uav. They cover that in the BNUC-S course. When I lived in the UK my club field was very close to houses. Follow the BMFA rules.
 
Make sure to select a frequency (channel) in the controller setup that has the least amount of traffic. You can see a tutorial about that HERE, go to minute 11 for the section about channel selection, but I would advise you watch the whole video.

Also, make sure you turn off the wifi on your display device when flying, it could interfere, that's what DJI says.
 
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The CAA rules you quoted are for commercial use of a uav. They cover that in the BNUC-S course. When I lived in the UK my club field was very close to houses. Follow the BMFA rules.

Are you sure about that? I don't think that's right. The CAA makes a distinction between recreational use and commercial use elsewhere, I would assume they would make it clear that these regulations only applied to commercial use if that was the case. Do you have any sources?

Here are prosecutions from the CAA against hobbyists flying UAVs for recreational use:
http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?appid=7&mode=detail&nid=2348
http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?appid=7&mode=detail&nid=2364
 
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Yep you have a mobile phone base station right next to the park:
2015-07-11_00-22-24.png


Not sure if that would actually make a difference since it's on 2.1Ghz, but it's not too far off the 2.4GHz your controller uses. If that isn't the reason, then you can certainly blame all the WiFi from nearby houses.

Side note: flying there is technically illegal in the eyes of the CAA (you must be >150m away from residential areas)
Check out the regulations:
https://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1995&pageid=16012

Best to find somewhere else to fly, given both of the reasons above. :)
What's the website shown in your screenshot please?
 
The CAA rules you quoted are for commercial use of a uav. They cover that in the BNUC-S course. When I lived in the UK my club field was very close to houses. Follow the BMFA rules.
Trumple is absolutely right. you do not fly over or within 150m of a congested area.(when equipped with a camera)
Commercial and recreational included.
However,
Commercial aircrafts of less than 7kg WITH PFAW can fly at 50m.
Commercial aircraft of more than 7kg even with PFAW must submit a safety case to the CAA.
If you refer to your BNUC's course, the rules have slightly changed late 2014. Check IN-2014/190 paragraph 6.1.3
http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=6511
BFMA doesn't rule UAV's but quote the articles from ANO 2009 published by the CAA
 
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Put in simple terms, you should not fly in a London park, as they are pretty much ALL considered to be congested areas - so the 150M rule applies.

The rule states you must not fly over or within 150M of any congested area. Unfortunately that means that virtually all of London is out of bounds for quadcopters fitted with cameras. There are also issues with most of central London being controlled airspace, again making flying illegal, as well as bans on flying in all the central parks under their own bylaws.

Best bet is to find a local flying club, who will have legal flying sites and can help with some training as well. These quadcopters are really nice and easy to fly, until things start to go wrong, then you really need to know the basics of flying to recover without a crash. A few hours with an experienced pilot will help a lot.

I also don't buy the interference issue only giving you 200M range. Check you don't have any height or distance limits set in the software. I fly on an old air base, with high power radio links from the active USAF communications site next door and can get 600m - 1000M without a problem. I would need to get very close to the transmitters to start having a problem. 2.4GHz Wifi would also need to be quite close to give you a problem as well, as the base stations are less than 50mW each.You need a single big transmitter to swamp the receiver with RF noise to cause a blackout, so a big TV transmitter broadcasting on thousands of watts or similar. Frequency is less important that power when it come to interference.
 
Put in simple terms, you should not fly in a London park, as they are pretty much ALL considered to be congested areas - so the 150M rule applies.

The rule states you must not fly over or within 150M of any congested area. Unfortunately that means that virtually all of London is out of bounds for quadcopters fitted with cameras. There are also issues with most of central London being controlled airspace, again making flying illegal, as well as bans on flying in all the central parks under their own bylaws.

Best bet is to find a local flying club, who will have legal flying sites and can help with some training as well. These quadcopters are really nice and easy to fly, until things start to go wrong, then you really need to know the basics of flying to recover without a crash. A few hours with an experienced pilot will help a lot.

I also don't buy the interference issue only giving you 200M range. Check you don't have any height or distance limits set in the software. I fly on an old air base, with high power radio links from the active USAF communications site next door and can get 600m - 1000M without a problem. I would need to get very close to the transmitters to start having a problem. 2.4GHz Wifi would also need to be quite close to give you a problem as well, as the base stations are less than 50mW each.You need a single big transmitter to swamp the receiver with RF noise to cause a blackout, so a big TV transmitter broadcasting on thousands of watts or similar. Frequency is less important that power when it come to interference.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think you are allowed to fly in controlled airspace without permission if your aircraft is less than 7kg in weight.
To quote the ANO:

The person in charge of a small unmanned aircraft which has a mass of more than 7 kg excluding its fuel but including any articles installed in or attached to the aircraft at the commencement of its flight, must not fly such an aircraft:

a) in Class A, C, D or E airspace unless the permission of the appropriate air traffic control unit has been obtained;

I do agree, though - flying anywhere in London is pretty much a no-go.
 

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