No Range on P4A

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Bought a lightly used P4A as a backup to my P4P. Took it to a job site today for 1st time and found it would disconnect at about 250 ft. Tried again and watched signal strength indication, and sure enough it starts dropping almost from 20 ft away. All this was vertical separation only, no horizontal distance.

Got back home and looked in the manual for a low-power radio range test feature like on regular RC Tx, but couldnt find anything. will take out to my local club field and try again with a different location with a known low interference history Should have checked the HD tab for frequency while at the job site but didnt think about it

would appreciate thoughts\suggestions. Thx ,.... Bob R
 
If it is easy to swap linked controllers and no one raises any objections, I'd be inclined to swap over the controllers and see if the problem persists and or follows the controller etc.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Good idea. I'll try it when I get my P4P back. It got tumbled in a car roll over with a collegue and is off getting a new lens).

I just got back from a check flight at the club field, and it was definitely better, but still not good. I could take it to 400' AGL and by 1000ft away it was losing RC connection again. Was also getting image transmission failure. I don't know what to make of that.

I'm thinking my earlier difficulty was a combo of weak signal combined with strong interference at that site.

I suppose it's possible this was originally a gray market item intended for Europe. Anybody know how to check whether this is set up for full FAA-allowed Tx power?
 
Am thinking about opening up the Tx to make sure the antennae cables are connected. If so, I'll do that after I've exhausted all other ideas.
 
As Mr. Foggg said, if anyway possible, borrow another 300C remote. They’re everywhere. High end P3’s and P4S, P4A. There’s been some very reasonably priced ones here lately. If you end up going that direction. Best of luck, If you’re near West Central Florida you could borrow one of mine.

Wait a second, your 300F will work with your P4A. Go to the linking page and open advanced settings and choose Advanced. Then re-link everything.
 
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I’ll try that again. Your remote for the P4P works with your P4A. If you have it. Probably not. It’s with the bird, I guess.
Remember to put your phone in Airplane mode. Too much interference. Or a long way away. Turning off screen doesn’t help. Throwing darts, hope something hits. Good luck.
 
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Haven't thought about airplane mode as a means of reducing interference. Makes sense. I'll check it out. I was thinking about installing NoLimitDronez app to keep DJI out of my business anyway. I know they have a feature to turn on FCC-power for folks in Europe, but I haven't tried that in prior installs with NLD. I've used the app on 4 drones with no problems, so I'm willing to try it again if only to see what it offers for power adjustments.
 
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Yeah, Capt KO. The controller is off with the bird, but I expect to have them both back next week.

I've had no experience previously on the various models of RC. Sounds like I'm going to get familiar with them. I can tell that this is going to be a learning experience.
 
You’re so lucky to have the pro remote, 300F. It flies all the P4’s just like the 300E, with screen. At least you have a back up for your back up. Take care
 
Airplane mode won’t help. All it does is turn off the cellular capability. That is in a very different range and won’t impact WiFi related signals.
 
David -- Doesn't "airplane mode" turn off all wireless signal acitivity, including WiFi, bluetooth, and cellular?
 
David -- I'm running iOS. When I turn Airplane mode ON, my Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular data, and Personal Hotspot ALL turn OFF.
 
Mod builder i always fly in airplane mode with everything off. the drone doesn’t need WiFi or cell. Did you check your flight restrictions and turn off max if so make sure you log back in to dji thru the app(you will need WiFi or cell to do this )to lift the restriction. You probably know this but I was just throwing out there had the same problem with my P4A.

Safe flying
 
I'm headed back to the field Monday to do the range check again with "airplane mode ON" on my cell phone and iPad. Will report back. It'll be embarrasing if I was creating the interference that's hosing up my range. Most of my drone flying has been with the occu-sync system (Mavic Pro), and I've had no issues at all at Much longer ranges.

DenMac -- When you say "turn off max" and "lift the restriction" , are you referring to the max distance setting? I have the max distance constraint turned OFF. I'm also getting a reduced signal strength warning and a RC/AC disconnect that wouldn't occur from hitting a max distance limitation. If you meant something else, please give more details.

Thanks ALL for your feedback. I'll keep you posted on progress. .................R
 
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I tested what I posted on my iPad running. iOS 12,and as I write this and send it, the iOS device is in airport mode. If you get this, my WiFi link is working in airport mode.
 
Hmmm. I tested on my iPhone and it turned WiFi off. I'll look on the iPad Mini 4 that I use for the "device" on the RC. Since I run the drone with the iPad and I have the iPhone in my pocket, it'll be worth checking both. This is interesting!
 
David -- see if you agree with this on your iPad.

If you start with Airplane mode OFF, and cycle all your wireless stuff through an OFF/ON sequence, leaving everything ON, then turn Airplane Mode ON, that action will turn all of your wireless stuff OFF.

If you have Airplane mode ON and all your wireless stuff is OFF, you can manually override any of the wireless items by individually turning them ON, and that item will respond and go active. Now you have Airplane Mode ON AND have a wireless item ON. I think that must be the condition that you're experiencing.

WhatDaYaThink? ............ R
 
Well... there's even more to the story. In order for Airplane Mode to successfully turn everything OFF, you have to have a step of closing the Settings app in there. Once you override the Airplane Mode by turning WiFi ON for example while airplane mode is ON, Airplane mode continues to be unable to override WiFi being ON until the Settings app is closed and reopened. Then the description in the prior post seems to be correct.
But once Airplane Mode is overridden, it stays overridden until the Settings app is reset. I guess the point here is that you can't just rely on turning Airplane Mode ON. It might or might not turn all the wireless stuff OFF. You have to look, and maybe just turning all the wireless stuff OFF manually is a more consistently reliable work flow.

I'm learning a bunch here. Can't wait to get to the field and see if any of this makes a whit of difference in my range. Hopeful.
 
Update --

Turning off all my individual sources of interference makes a nice difference. I took it out to 3000 ft at 400'AGL and was approaching two cell towers. The image transmission signal warned and then stopped, but I didn't get a RC warning or disconnect. While out there, I rotated the craft around 360 degrees and found that the RC signal was heavily impacted by the orientation, with a noticeably stronger signal when the nose was toward me.

So... I think I've achieved similar performance to what other P4A pilots report and am satisfied for the moment. It's embarrassing that this simple action is a well known consideration among Phantom pilots. Most of my prior experience has been with Mavic Pro. I'm sure that turning off my own sources of RF is still useful with the MP, but it's just never been an issue with the OccuSync set up.

Since my photogrammetry work relies on the RC to trigger the camera, I'm still going to install a set of high gain directional antennae to help insure those flights don't get interrupted.

Guys and Gals, you've helped me through some needed problem solving and learning. I appreciate your help. I'll leave this thread open as long as anyone wants to add to it, but I'm happy with the outcome.

Thanks.............. .Bob R.
 
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