Newbie needs your advice on distance flying!

[chrismeetsdrone]

Hi everyone, new to the forums here! I love my Phantom, but I can't seem to get it to fly very far without losing signal. I can go maybe 0.2 miles at 210ft (photo) and then I get the "remote signal weak" warning.

I have some aluminum foil atop my bird, because I'm in a "no-fly zone radius," even though I can fly legally here in Virginia (D.C. has a 15-mile block around it and I'm right on the edge). Would that affect distance? I thought the sensors were on the bottom for RC control.

I attached a screenshot of where I am on the ground when I got the "remote signal weak" warning.
Any help would make a new owner very happy!

 

[rmarler]

I dont know for sure my self, but here are my thoughts, why not take off the tin foil and go away from the "No Fly Zone" your in and try it out there.
If the problem has gone away then i would say the tin foil was blocking the receiver some how on the P3, The photos posted showing the inside of the P3 are packed with electronics. Give my idea a try and let us know. Hope this helps you out.

 

[isopro]

So you only fly in Atti mode , the antennas are on the legs, so it should not affect range. Did you check that your remote controller antenna are position as mentionned in the user manual ?

 

[chrismeetsdrone]

I dont know for sure my self, but here are my thoughts, why not take off the tin foil and go away from the "No Fly Zone" your in and try it out there.
If the problem has gone away then i would say the tin foil was blocking the receiver some how on the P3, The photos posted showing the inside of the P3 are packed with electronics. Give my idea a try and let us know. Hope this helps you out.

Hey thank you for the reply! Once it charges up I will be sure to try that out. Do you think I should also try a direct line of sight trial? With this one I had to go up and over trees (thought I still had LOS), perhaps that had an effect.

 

[chrismeetsdrone]

So you only fly in Atti mode , the antennas are on the legs, so it should not affect range. Did you check that your remote controller antenna are position as mentionned in the user manual ?

Haha yes, I have to. I did see them, I think I got it right. If I'm flying away from me and up, the antennas are positioned like the remote is giving the Phantom the finger?

 

[isopro]

The only thing i see is the thin foil reflector you created, reflect the Lightbridge signal+all the noise from the electronics, and all ground noise into the antennas, creating even more noise, and this would be the reason behind your limited range...Because thin foil reflector will block and reflect the GPS signal from the top, but it will also reflect and double the signal of all RF from bottom, this can make your antennas blind to outside signal that are weaker then this reflected noise

 

[chrismeetsdrone]

The only thing i see is the thin foil reflector you created, reflect the Lightbridge signal+all the noise from the electronics, and all ground noise into the antennas, creating even more noise, and this would be the reason behind your limited range...Because thin foil reflector will block and reflect the GPS signal from the top, but it will also reflect and double the signal of all RF from bottom, this can make your antennas blind to outside signal that are weaker then this reflected noise

Makes a lot of sense. I do notice that even at 200m distance my lightbridge has some lag...

 

[isopro]

Makes a lot of sense. I do notice that even at 200m distance my lightbridge has some lag...

The only way for you to be 100% sure of my theory is remove thin foil, get out of that zone and test range in an open LoS area...Then come back here to give results, i've P3A and i did 1000m this morning in a Urban area without loosing signal, flying over a golf course.