Interesting 4th flight

[BMEWS]

It's incredibly gusty out at the moment. Lovely spring sunshine and pretty warm, but that breeze. Quite a few interesting things happening,

1st one was that I lost video transmission at about 725 feet distance. Dropped entirely. Not sure whether it was the Nexus 7, or the range extender on the P2V. Ended up closing the app out and restarting it. in the meantime I couldn't see the P2V and thought I was going to have myself a little adventure. (eventually the video returned after restarting the app).

Thought about kicking in failsafe and suddenly realised i'd forgotten how to invoke it (lesson learned, re-read the manual again and ensure that RTH is available to me as an option). BTW, do all the DJI controllers only have the markings S1 & S2? I certainly don't have atti or indeed anything else marked on mine.

In the meantime, my much younger spotter did indeed spot the P2V and I managed to get it to fly back overhead. Interesting snippet number 2, the reported altitude was way off the mark. It certainly didn't look 400' up so bringing it down to about 5' and the app reported 23'. Any ideas?

Watching the video I am wondering whether the P2V was in a strong tailwind and with both video TX not pointing directly towards the range extender was the cause of video dropout? Still had a great flight. Learning that everything should be done slowly as the P2V reacts amazing quickly.

The other thing is that I've now got it into my head that when descending if I pull back continuously on the power that the motors will just stop (as per powering down) so need to get an idea of just how much I can pull down on the throttle without causing a shutdown.

Thanks in advance

Bmews

 

[dkatz42]

It certainly didn't look 400' up so bringing it down to about 5' and the app reported 23'. Any ideas?

Baro altimeters aren't all that accurate. Full-scale aircraft that autoland use radar altimeters to know where the ground really is.

 

[FlyingFox]

My video link drops out at between 800' and 1200' with the standard antenna flying away from myself about 100' up , I've upgraded the antenna but yet to test it as it's too windy today.

 

[F6Rider]

Looks like your GPS lock was incorrect, or you didn't have enough satellites locked. Pulling full down on the altitude should not turn off the motors if you have altitude, only if the bird is on or very near the ground. Not sure about your video loss, I use a Nexus 7 also and have had no issue but also use mod'ed antennas. The S1 & S2 switches are not marked but you can get stickers (love them) that denote the other modes, ie: IOC Off, Course Lock and Home Lock for the S2 switch when in NAZA-M flight mode.. For the S1 its GPS, Atti, and Failsafe modes. I need these as when in a hurry I don't want to try and remember which is which.

 

[BMEWS]

It certainly didn't look 400' up so bringing it down to about 5' and the app reported 23'. Any ideas?

Baro altimeters aren't all that accurate. Full-scale aircraft that autoland use radar altimeters to know where the ground really is.

Not sure the smart battery would be enough to power a radar altimeter Nice idea though.

thanks for taking the time to respond.

Bmews

 

[BMEWS]

My video link drops out at between 800' and 1200' with the standard antenna flying away from myself about 100' up , I've upgraded the antenna but yet to test it as it's too windy today.

I'm guessing i'll be looking to undertake an antenna upgrade. Oh so much money needing to be spent

Decisions, decisions

Bmews

 

[BMEWS]

Looks like your GPS lock was incorrect, or you didn't have enough satellites locked.

The number in the app was showing 9. However, this did drop to 7 at one point. Really difficult to read the screen on the N7, wondering whether I've got that set up right as the writing is tiny

Pulling full down on the altitude should not turn off the motors if you have altitude, only if the bird is on or very near the ground.

That's a relief. I'll have to give that a try and see how it goes.

The S1 & S2 switches are not marked but you can get stickers (love them) that denote the other modes, ie: IOC Off, Course Lock and Home Lock for the S2 switch when in NAZA-M flight mode.. For the S1 its GPS, Atti, and Failsafe modes. I need these as when in a hurry I don't want to try and remember which is which.

Think i'm going to need to get me some stickers and some more reading

thanks kindly for the response. it's very much appreciated.

Bmews

 

[F6Rider]

As far as not seeing the Nexus 7's screen be sure to turn OFF auto brightness and then turn the manual brightness up full in the pull down menu, also if you don't already have one a sun shield really helps. I have a set of CP antennas from Horizon, both repeater side and the UAV side, just about doubled my video range. Also be sure to have FULLY charged batteries in the repeater, I say this because you mentioned it had not been charged for a week and had one short flight on it. Hope you get it sorted out.

 

[BMEWS]

As far as not seeing the Nexus 7's screen be sure to turn OFF auto brightness and then turn the manual brightness up full in the pull down menu, also if you don't already have one a sun shield really helps. I have a set of CP antennas from Horizon, both repeater side and the UAV side, just about doubled my video range. Also be sure to have FULLY charged batteries in the repeater, I say this because you mentioned it had not been charged for a week and had one short flight on it. Hope you get it sorted out.

Cheers, i'll give the brightness thing a go. I'm actually trying to find some kind of hood for the N7 (v1). If you've any recommendations i'd appreciate it. As for charging up the range extender? Hmm, not sure that's me you're referring to everything was fully charged before the last flight.

Just done a quick line measure using google earth and comparing to the video the P2V was just over 1,000ft away. Turning it around there was one hell of a headwind and you could visibly see it slowly making its way back.

Thanks for the response.

Bmews

 

[Pull_Up]

Just done a quick line measure using google earth and comparing to the video the P2V was just over 1,000ft away. Turning it around there was one hell of a headwind and you could visibly see it slowly making its way back.

Thanks for the response.

Bmews

Stock range extender wifi manufacturer spec is 300m (or near enough 1000ft) so you were on the money for getting FPV loss at about that distance. You might find that you keep telemetry read out after the live stream has dropped out. One thing I like to have on the screen at all times if I'm at the edge of visual range is the "radar" view. Just tap the artificial horizon on the bottom left to get a range and orientation display. The blue shaded area shows you which direction your tablet is facing, the red chevron is the Phantom, with the point being the direction the camera is facing.

Headwinds can definitely slow down your return from distance - watch the battery %. If the winds are up near my personal limits (like they were today) then I try and operate up-wind as much as possible. That way it's helping you get back if you need to in a hurry.

If you do want some quality made stickers then forum member Coloradosky has a business that produces them and they are high quality. Postage from the US is pretty quick and there are lots of different options for transmitter and Vision. See www.uavstickers.com for the details.

 

[BMEWS]

Stock range extender wifi manufacturer spec is 300m (or near enough 1000ft) so you were on the money for getting FPV loss at about that distance. You might find that you keep telemetry read out after the live stream has dropped out. One thing I like to have on the screen at all times if I'm at the edge of visual range is the "radar" view. Just tap the artificial horizon on the bottom left to get a range and orientation display. The blue shaded area shows you which direction your tablet is facing, the red chevron is the Phantom, with the point being the direction the camera is facing.

Headwinds can definitely slow down your return from distance - watch the battery %. If the winds are up near my personal limits (like they were today) then I try and operate up-wind as much as possible. That way it's helping you get back if you need to in a hurry.

If you do want some quality made stickers then forum member Coloradosky has a business that produces them and they are high quality. Postage from the US is pretty quick and there are lots of different options for transmitter and Vision. See http://www.uavstickers.com for the details.

Cheers Simon, figured as much. I'll check out the stickers. Think an antenna upgrade is next on the cards. Gimbal was, but may as well await the DJI announcements next month or so.

Need also to get a case of some description. Problem is i'm using prop guards so it's either remove them or find a deep square case (at a reasonable cost).

Bmews