Max Height?

[lucky118]

Hi all,

So went pretty much straight up with my copter yesterday. No mods, got to about 850 feet at which point control signal was lost. I had my range extender flat part pointing at the drone and the 2.4ghz control antenna parallel with the ground so as to not have the null zone on the copter.

Why was control lost so early? This seems like quite a small distance to what i was expecting? I have read a few threads which seem to indicate going straight up isnt great but i dont get how it makes any difference so long as you set up your control antennas to compensate?

 

[JWarren]

sounds about like what has been happening to me to. I look at people like Dirty Bird who fly to 2400ft up with no problem and scratch my head. I think he is the exception though. I've made it to 1100 ft before LOS occurring. I'm going to play around with antenna settings and getting the aircraft further out from me the next times I make a run at 1000 ft, hopefully 1500ft.

 

[Wedeliver]

I made it to 877' with an fc40. The video was still working, but I was unable to control, such as rotate, the quad. But it came down so I guess throttle worked. (I have a flytrex, love it)

 

[Wedeliver]

Hi all,

So went pretty much straight up with my copter yesterday. No mods, got to about 850 feet at which point control signal was lost. I had my range extender flat part pointing at the drone and the 2.4ghz control antenna parallel with the ground so as to not have the null zone on the copter.

Why was control lost so early? This seems like quite a small distance to what i was expecting? I have read a few threads which seem to indicate going straight up isnt great but i dont get how it makes any difference so long as you set up your control antennas to compensate?

Isn't your range extender for the camera wifi not the radio in the quad? Have you made sure you are in FCC mode, 2 beeps when you turn on the transmitter? Also it should show in software. I have heard that to really put the transmitter in FCC mode you need to open the transmitter up and rotate the pod from that point of view. I do wonder if that is true or not.

 

[lucky118]

Hi all,

So went pretty much straight up with my copter yesterday. No mods, got to about 850 feet at which point control signal was lost. I had my range extender flat part pointing at the drone and the 2.4ghz control antenna parallel with the ground so as to not have the null zone on the copter.

Why was control lost so early? This seems like quite a small distance to what i was expecting? I have read a few threads which seem to indicate going straight up isnt great but i dont get how it makes any difference so long as you set up your control antennas to compensate?

Isn't your range extender for the camera wifi not the radio in the quad? Have you made sure you are in FCC mode, 2 beeps when you turn on the transmitter? Also it should show in software. I have heard that to really put the transmitter in FCC mode you need to open the transmitter up and rotate the pod from that point of view. I do wonder if that is true or not.

Yes it is, just stating that was also set as it should be. Controller is in FCC mode, 2 beeps yes. I changed mine in software only and not on the pot on the back.

 

[Wedeliver]

Hi all,

So went pretty much straight up with my copter yesterday. No mods, got to about 850 feet at which point control signal was lost. I had my range extender flat part pointing at the drone and the 2.4ghz control antenna parallel with the ground so as to not have the null zone on the copter.

Why was control lost so early? This seems like quite a small distance to what i was expecting? I have read a few threads which seem to indicate going straight up isnt great but i dont get how it makes any difference so long as you set up your control antennas to compensate?

Isn't your range extender for the camera wifi not the radio in the quad? Have you made sure you are in FCC mode, 2 beeps when you turn on the transmitter? Also it should show in software. I have heard that to really put the transmitter in FCC mode you need to open the transmitter up and rotate the pod from that point of view. I do wonder if that is true or not.

Yes it is, just stating that was also set as it should be. Controller is in FCC mode, 2 beeps yes. I changed mine in software only and not on the pot on the back.

I wonder if we have really enabled a different control mode or just changed the beeps????

 

[lucky118]

I wonder if we have really enabled a different control mode or just changed the beeps????[/quote]

Yes i do wonder sometimes but most people do seem to think this has changed the mode i think

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

Flying directly over head will almost always yield the worst results for height. Sent it out a few hundred feet and then head upwards. You will get a lot higher than straight over head. Another test to try is to send it straigh up while you are standing, then test how high up you get if you are lying on your back facing straigh up.

 

[Vippiggie]

No mods. Out of the box. 500 metres height

 

[gilmbento]

No mods. Out of the box. 500 metres height

looks like 250 / 300 meters.. Really nice picture

 

[sergekouper]

It looks like the max height authorised is 400 feet. You shouldn't be there.

 

[phantomguy]

Flying directly over head will almost always yield the worst results for height. Sent it out a few hundred feet and then head upwards. You will get a lot higher than straight over head. Another test to try is to send it straigh up while you are standing, then test how high up you get if you are lying on your back facing straigh up.

Yep. 200 feet away horizontally, phantoms side facing you, transmitter antenna pointing straight to sky, top of range extender facing phantom usually will get highest altitude

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

Flying directly over head will almost always yield the worst results for height. Sent it out a few hundred feet and then head upwards. You will get a lot higher than straight over head. Another test to try is to send it straigh up while you are standing, then test how high up you get if you are lying on your back facing straigh up.

Yep. 200 feet away horizontally, phantoms side facing you, transmitter antenna pointing straight to sky, top of range extender facing phantom usually will get highest altitude

Yep but I was hoping he was going to lie on his back and think "what the hell am I doing"

 

[JWarren]

Just took my newest PV2+ for an altitude test. Took the Phantom about 200 feet south of me then started ascending. Like my other Phantom 2 V + once I hit 1000 ft, loss of signal. This time I didn't fight back for control like a ******* the first time I had LOS at 1000ft, I let Fail Safe do its job until it got down to about 500 feet and I took back over. I had the antenna in about the best position I thought, straight up, and the Wi-Fi booster pointing right at the Phantom. So, what can I do to maintain 1000 feet and fly around? I don't know. I don't think its a hardware or software problem. Perhaps environmental? I might try pointing the antenna back towards me by about 15 degrees, or one click. That's the only thing I can think of. Luckily, there isn't much need to be flying around at 1000ft or higher. I have video of all this and a nice sunset, but don't think its really worth posting unless someone wants to see it.

Regards,
J.

 

[Mako79]

Just to reiterate.

The WIFI extender has NOTHING to do with controls. The VISION series has 2.4GHZ wifi for video and 5.8GHZ for Controls.

The blind spot is at the tip of the antenna. Never point the tip of the antenna at the phantom. Point the shaft at the Phantom.

If the Phantom is above you, then have the antenna parallel to the ground. Ie point the tip to the horizon.

If the Phantom is far from you horizontally then have the antenna perpendicular to the ground.

 

[JWarren]

Mako, at 200 ft distance from me, where should the antenna be at 1000ft altitude? Thank you sir,

Regards,
J.

 

[Mako79]

Mako, at 200 ft distance from me, where should the antenna be at 1000ft altitude? Thank you sir,

Regards,
J.

Pythagoras theorem would say that your antenna would function better parallel to the ground. You are higher than further.
make sense?

 

[Dirty Bird]

It could be environmental. Every controller and Phantom is going to be a little different also. Try flying further away from yourself. Do a 1.1 or 2.1 ratio of height to distance. If you are only a couple hundred feet away, you are still near the narrow edge of the Phantom's antenna. On my Highpoint Park video I was 1000' up and 5800' out with a stock bird.

 

[JWarren]

Watching my video, which I'll post here shortly, I realized that even though I had flown 200 ft away from myself, during ascension, she must have moved back toward me because when Fail Safe kicked in, the she didn't have very far at all to go before the automatic descent started. Pretty clear that I should have been further out. I don't know why but I get as nervous as hell every time I try to reach 1000ft. I shouldn't though, because the Fail Safe proves it's self time and time again. Thank Mako and Dirty Bird.

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

Watching my video, which I'll post here shortly, I realized that even though I had flown 200 ft away from myself, during ascension, she must have moved back toward me because when Fail Safe kicked in, the she didn't have very far at all to go before the automatic descent started. Pretty clear that I should have been further out. I don't know why but I get as nervous as hell every time I try to reach 1000ft. I shouldn't though, because the Fail Safe proves it's self time and time again. Thank Mako and Dirty Bird.

Nervous, wait till you start flying her out to sea