Losing Wifi 250 meters

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After receiving my phantom 2 vision + I've been losing wifi and preview at around 250-300 meters. This is in an open field in a rural area where there would be very little interference. I have the antennae pointed up and the range extender (RE700) with the flat side towards the RX. I am using the lowest quality of preview. At around 200 meters (often less) the video begins to lag. The range extender appears to be binding and functioning correctly. I am using a Galaxy S5 with the DJI vision app. I have set the galaxy to not search for other Wifi sources.

Some days I can go further but I have yet to make it to the 1000 mark as advertised. Other times I have lost wifi signal at less than 100 meters.

Based on what I have read this is not normal. I searched the forums, but one of the solutions that worked was to upgrade the RE500 to RE700 (which I have).

I plan on eventually getting some sort of antenna modification, but I would first like to see what I have purchased working to its fullest capacity.

Any suggestions? I suppose I will try this on a different mobile device and see if that helps.
 
250 meter straight up? or 250 meters away?
If away, what altitude? What's the angle to the Phantom?
You will get much less vertical range than horizontal due to the way the WiFi antenna are positioned on the Phantom.
The antennas on the Phantom are directional and face to the left and right side at a slight downward angle.
The best orientation is to the side at around 20 degrees.

I've always been able to get at least 700 meters on the WiFi link. I think the best I ever got was ~850 meters away on an open beach at about 30-40 meters altitude.
My control signal was still good. I always lose WiFi first.
My hardware is unmodified except for using a range booster app to increase Wifi output power.

That said, some WiFi modules are poorly assembled with insufficient heat dissipation and that excess heat has been known to effect the output and decrease range.
See this thread (viewtopic.php?f=27&t=28176)
Double check your WiFi antennas. They are the square patch antennas you can see inside the battery space on the left and right side. Make sure the cables haven't broken off either one and open up the top to check that the connectors are secure on the WiFi module inside.
 
I would say that I tend to stay around a 30-40 meter altitude. Today I flew to see how far I could go before I lost wifi and I was at 267 m distance and 43 m altitude.

I have only lost control one time, mainly the wifi goes first.

The Wifi antennas are still connected (I am unable to see if there is actual contact due to the white glue that holds them to the board).

Is it possible that the field I am flying over may be absorbing wifi signal? I heard that leaves can really absorb the signal...it is full of canola right now.
 
Use wifi analyzer on the android and see how much power the phantom is pumping out. You should be able to see both the phantom and the re700. Also make note of the channel. Try rebinding the wifi extender again so it changes channels.
 
I checked out the wifi analyzer...they are both coming up on channel 7.

When I am right next to them my RE (which I have renamed) comes up at -29 dBm. What I assume to be the Phantom (appears as a ? but is by SZ DJI) is at -66 dBm. They are both at channel 7.

The app has a graph that shows curves where wifi signals aren't just limited to one channel but overlap into others. I can't tell if this is just the graph design or something that actually happens. I am not really sure how these things would work and need to do some research.

There is a timecard system here that utilizes wifi and is set for channel 6. I am realizing the system has a pretty large range.

And mako...sorry bad wording, I meant I have the RE700 stock and couldn't upgrade like the other guy did.
 
crayon said:
I checked out the wifi analyzer...they are both coming up on channel 7.

When I am right next to them my RE (which I have renamed) comes up at -29 dBm. What I assume to be the Phantom (appears as a ? but is by SZ DJI) is at -66 dBm. They are both at channel 7.

The app has a graph that shows curves where wifi signals aren't just limited to one channel but overlap into others. I can't tell if this is just the graph design or something that actually happens. I am not really sure how these things would work and need to do some research.

There is a timecard system here that utilizes wifi and is set for channel 6. I am realizing the system has a pretty large range.

And mako...sorry bad wording, I meant I have the RE700 stock and couldn't upgrade like the other guy did.

That's also about my range. Recently I've also been looking at signals usin the wifi analyzer app but the only thing I see is my local network and the phantom network when the extender is on. I never see anything in reference to the wifi module. I did see FC200 pop up of a mili second but never again. My extender is was also on channel 7 but I've recently changed it to channel 1 with the FPVbooster app. I wonder why I can't find the birds signal?
 
crayon said:
I checked out the wifi analyzer...they are both coming up on channel 7.

When I am right next to them my RE (which I have renamed) comes up at -29 dBm. What I assume to be the Phantom (appears as a ? but is by SZ DJI) is at -66 dBm. They are both at channel 7.

The app has a graph that shows curves where wifi signals aren't just limited to one channel but overlap into others. I can't tell if this is just the graph design or something that actually happens. I am not really sure how these things would work and need to do some research.

There is a timecard system here that utilizes wifi and is set for channel 6. I am realizing the system has a pretty large range.

And mako...sorry bad wording, I meant I have the RE700 stock and couldn't upgrade like the other guy did.

Its common for it to overlap with other devices. Many devices uses the 2.4Ghz range, wifi access points, cordless phones, RC toys, etc and wont show in the Wifi Analyzer app. This is why wifi is usually weaker in suburban areas. I use the app to find my mac address and check power output boosted vs non boosted. If the channel you are using is flooded by others, try and rebind to get it to randomly pick another.
 
I did a rebind so see if I could switch channels. It seems to help a bit. There was still some inconsistency in my flight length. In the morning I got about 850 meters, but then in the afternoon it went back down to around 250.

I will have to check out the FPV booster app.

JDNC, I see the same problem. The wifi for the range extender is easy to find, but the module tends to pop in and out more randomly. It would stay for longer periods of time of the wifi analyzer, but that might just have to do the refresh frequency.
 
I just realised you have 6 posts.
Have you tried dropping your FPV preview to a lower res? Go to the settings on the main page of your DJI Phone App. Look for Preview settings. If you are on 640x48030fps, then try 640x480@15fps or 320x240@15fps.
 
I was up with mine the other day and here my snap of my flight this is with phantom vision 2 with SE700 wifi extender and new TX with the scroll wheel.....
IMG_0702.PNG
 
Remember these are low power radio signals. Radio signals can be bounced and adsorbed by different various objects. Tree's and buildings are the main culprit. But if you have clear line of sight. And the wifi extender is pointed flat face directly at the Phantom you should get maximum range depending on the temperature, humidity and any interference. It is all going to be dependent upon your environment and the antenna placement. Looking at themthreads the average is around 500 meters or less. A lot of fliers do antenna mods just so they can keep video along with the controller. The normal dbi antenna's that are factory installed are 2 dbi levels. Any 5-8 dbi external antenna is going to greatly increase your range. Good luck with the stock wifi!
 

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