My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft.

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So, I decided to set a personal goal to send my P2V+ out 1.5 miles down range at 500 ft. alt. in my area. I picked that goal because everything that I might want to observe around here is within that range and I also think that's a realistic and reasonable goal. The best way to describe the area that I live would be -- an open subdivision surrounded by ranches and farms.

I flew two flights to get a baseline of what my stock P2V+ is capable of. The best of the two flights was 3334 ft. down range or just over 1/3 of my goal. Currently, there are zero hardware modifications but I do use the Vision+ Utility App for logging telemetry data and boosting the 2.4. The app works very nice (Thanks Ocatcr and team) and boosting makes a very noticeable difference, bringing the 2.4 to about the same range as the 5.8 controller. It will almost certainly go further than the stock 5.8 by picking the maximum number but I have found that picking around 18 for the booster and camera gets the two of them pretty close to matching. There is an obvious increase in heat generated by the DJI 2.4 booster when the output is increased by the App, so I only like to boost as much as I need.

To document my baseline test, here is a YouTube video of it. Data was captured by the Vision+ Utility logger App and overlayed using DashWare PC software.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_zGt9hjrtw[/youtube]

And just a baseline picture of my P2V+ for future comparison.




After several discussions, I have decided to start with FPVLR.com antennas to help me reach my goal. I am going to do this on a somewhat iterative process (if necessary), starting with the FPVLR Stage 2 kit that is already on order.

This will not only document what kinds of real-world gains are achieved through antenna upgrades but also demonstrate the modifications necessary to effectively and realistically triple your range. After I complete the stage 2 modification, I will fly two flights from the same location, at the same altitude, on the same path, with the same amount of App boost on the 2.4. Like the baseline, I will take the best of the two flights and compare. If that doesn't get me to 1.5 miles, then I will take it to the next level, and so on.

So now I anxiously await the stage 2 kit. The big question is -- is the FPLR stage 2 going to be enough to get me to my goal or will I have to do more?


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Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

Also, for any of the earlier discussions about whether or not the Vision+ Utility App telemetry data is accurate, you can run the YouTube video above at full screen and compare the values. They looked really close to me when I compared.
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

Very nicely done sir... Love the production of the video and screen record overlay...

Good luck with your goal... Judging by your flying you will have no problems whatsoever :ugeek:
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

kxkraze said:
I flew two flights to get a baseline of what my stock P2V+ is capable of.

You might want to do about 6 test with baseline and after. Distance can change quite a bit based on atmosphere and how hard it is to point the OEM antenna.

I think you will find swings from day to day. As a FYI, I have the stage 2 setup as well and after just a few flights have hit 6400 feet. I think the mile and a half might be there but not going to be easy. I have no clue what I am doing either.

We be interested in anyone's thoughts on ideal elevation and techniques (as I am sure you are).

Good luck with your test. Look forward to watching it.
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

I'm giving this a whirl this weekend with the utility app boost..previously got to @ 2900ft but that was near power lines etc.

Nothing like getting your own pb :)
 

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DBS said:
Very nicely done sir... Love the production of the video and screen record overlay...

Good luck with your goal... Judging by your flying you will have no problems whatsoever :ugeek:


Thank you !!
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

FPVLR said:
I think you'd be better served by a parasitic disk and a 8 turns 5.8ghz helix.
Stage 2 will give you X2 your range with wide beamwidth, you need X3 your range, so a parasitic disk helix or a 6.5 turns helix will have more go than the stage 2 at narrower beamwidth, of course, you can't go very far and still retain a large beamwidth.
Tony.


Hey Tony, what about the stage 2 with one of your amplifier kits?
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

rrmccabe said:
kxkraze said:
I flew two flights to get a baseline of what my stock P2V+ is capable of.

You might want to do about 6 test with baseline and after. Distance can change quite a bit based on atmosphere and how hard it is to point the OEM antenna.

I think you will find swings from day to day. As a FYI, I have the stage 2 setup as well and after just a few flights have hit 6400 feet. I think the mile and a half might be there but not going to be easy. I have no clue what I am doing either.

We be interested in anyone's thoughts on ideal elevation and techniques (as I am sure you are).

Good luck with your test. Look forward to watching it.


Thanks. Since you seem to be on a similar endeavor, be sure to share what you discover and I will do likewise.
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

PVFlyer said:
You may also compare the performance of FPV Booster, as you have owned it anyway.


I purchased the FPV Booster first and it did seem to help but there is a greater perceived improvement with the Vision+ Utility signal booster. As you see, I still have both apps installed on my phone.

That might be a fun thing to do this weekend -- replace my perception with test results -- a runoff between the 2.4 boosters perhaps???
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

kxkraze said:
PVFlyer said:
You may also compare the performance of FPV Booster, as you have owned it anyway.


I purchased the FPV Booster first and it did seem to help but there is a greater perceived improveme and most of those records are ant with the Vision+ Utility signal booster. As you see, I still have both apps installed on my phone.

That might be a fun thing to do this weekend -- replace my perception with test results -- a runoff between the 2.4 boosters perhaps???
FYI, our FPV Booster only boosts 13dBm (20mW) with interference control algorithm. Higher TX power might not help for longer FPV range depending on your flight area, but definitely more RF noise and heat. You may imagine a car with 200,000 mileage for general use, but if you always drive it at 6,000rpm and it may only last 50,000 miles or even less.

You may refer to "FPV Booster Top-10 Range Scoreboard" with stock Wifi viewtopic.php?f=27&t=13496 and most of those records are at 640x480. However, your mileage may vary.
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

I received my FPVLR stage 2+ kit last week and installed it that night. Wouldn't you know, it was either too windy to do a long range test or it was raining -- all stinkin week long. Finally, yesterday was a near perfect day for flying, so I put the antennas to the test and I am now officially a FPVLR fan boy !!!

My stated goal was 1.5 miles and it beat that on the very first time out !!! 1.58 miles (8317 ft) at just over 500 ft. altitude. If you watch the video below and compare it to the stock video in the first post, you will notice that I am flying in the exact same area, with the same heading, over the same terrain, at the same altitude. The FPVLR nearly tripled my range with the first test. As stated in the beginning, it gets two attempts. The second attempt will be today. Video below.

BONUS: some large bird did a flyby at around 4:57 in the video. LOL

I do have a question for Tony and/or anyone out there with more experience with these kind of modifications. As you will see in the video, I start to get some video dropouts as I approach the maximum range. I was able to get the video back by making slight pitch adjustments to the TX. Is there any additional mods to make that more solid or is it just a matter of mastering the art of antenna pointing?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HlQJwOUNhY[/youtube]

Also a comparison picture below with the FPVLR stage 2+ antennas.



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Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

kxkraze said:
As you will see in the video, I start to get some video dropouts as I approach the maximum range. I was able to get the video back by making slight pitch adjustments to the TX. Is there any additional mods to make that more solid or is it just a matter of mastering the art of antenna pointing?

Great follow up and good question. I think its a matter of antenna pointing for the most part. I am still learning and you need to respond quickly and not get carried away with the amount you move the antenna.

I assume the Stage 2+ is the same as the Stage 2 with the slightly longer helix? If so, it would seem you might have better control range than FPV.

My stage 2 setup is pretty well matched and my wifi and control are dropping at about the same time. I think if I had the longer helix I would be losing video long before control.
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

Actually, I just watched the rest of your video. I think your video was pretty strong and in the end it was the control that got you. I personally would not worry about the video lag at the end. What resolution/speed do you have FPV set at?
 
Re: My Personal Goal -- 1.5 Miles @ 500 ft. Alt going with F

rrmccabe said:
kxkraze said:
As you will see in the video, I start to get some video dropouts as I approach the maximum range. I was able to get the video back by making slight pitch adjustments to the TX. Is there any additional mods to make that more solid or is it just a matter of mastering the art of antenna pointing?

I think its a matter of antenna pointing for the most part. I am still learning and you need to respond quickly and not get carried away with the amount you move the antenna.

Absolutely this....at one mile plus ranges you are no longer casually flying...rock steady and focused is SOP...good luck!!!
 
Hey, thanks for the responses. What you are saying makes sense and it's small adjustments to get that angle.

Yeah rrmccabe, after I started I realized that I still had my video set to 640x480 @ 30 fps. from when I was doing some picture/video flying earlier. When I do my second run today I will be sure to put the video on the live stream video on the minimum setting. The helix is a 6.25 turn that Tony did for me.

Any other tips/tricks you guys have to offer is greatly appreciated !!!
 
kxkraze said:
Hey, thanks for the responses. What you are saying makes sense and it's small adjustments to get that angle.

Yeah rrmccabe, after I started I realized that I still had my video set to 640x480 @ 30 fps. from when I was doing some picture/video flying earlier. When I do my second run today I will be sure to put the video on the live stream video on the minimum setting. The helix is a 6.25 turn that Tony did for me.

Any other tips/tricks you guys have to offer is greatly appreciated !!!

Hi kxkraze,
that's amazing that you got that range with 640x480 and 30fps, others can only dream of this.
I am Tony BTW, this is my "fpv pilot" account, not my commercial account
All the long range flights you see are at 320x240, so you got 10k in the pocket and then some.

Keep it coming. I see they have clipped the thread name... keep strong!
 
Thanks for the response Tony. Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on in this forum. Some of the moderators seem to have a chip on their shoulder about capitalism and regulating what is communicated in these forums.

I'm about to go outside in a few minutes and run the second test, only this time in 320x240 like I did in the stock configuration video.
 
Well, my second run fell short of the first by about 400 feet. The video dropped out and I couldn't recover it.
 
kxkraze said:
Well, my second run fell short of the first by about 400 feet. The video dropped out and I couldn't recover it.

i have a question for you..what software are you using for the picture in picture?
 

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