P4 Range Question (A serious one, not a bash)

[Shea Barger]

Hello,

I realize there is a thread for this, however, I see that people are very irritated at the P4 range questions. I am very legitimate in my question. This is my first Phantom, so I am not comparing it to the P3 or earlier.

I am relatively new to quads. I purchased the P4 about a month ago. This past weekend, I was flying in a field close to my house. I was about 1000 feet out and under 100 foot in altitude. I first lost video and then a moment later the aircraft disconnected. RTH took over and in just a moment, I had video again and control of the P4. I also notice that often, my video appears pixelated and it will freeze and by the time it catches up the P4 has moved considerably from where it was when the video froze. I am just curious if others have this happen at a distance I would think was not that far. A local drone shop suggested I put the antenna boosters with the copper inside of them.

Does this sound like normal operation for the P4?

 

[ptuner1]

Were there any obstructions, eg. buildings, between you and the p4? at only a 100 ft altitude it would be easy to do. try flying a bit higher.

 

[KykPhantom]

Hello,

I realize there is a thread for this, however, I see that people are very irritated at the P4 range questions. I am very legitimate in my question. This is my first Phantom, so I am not comparing it to the P3 or earlier.

I am relatively new to quads. I purchased the P4 about a month ago. This past weekend, I was flying in a field close to my house. I was about 1000 feet out and under 100 foot in altitude. I first lost video and then a moment later the aircraft disconnected. RTH took over and in just a moment, I had video again and control of the P4. I also notice that often, my video appears pixelated and it will freeze and by the time it catches up the P4 has moved considerably from where it was when the video froze. I am just curious if others have this happen at a distance I would think was not that far. A local drone shop suggested I put the antenna boosters with the copper inside of them.

Does this sound like normal operation for the P4?

Do something simple. Try to fly at a different location, may be 10km away from the field. If the problem insists then as a last trial change again your location. If the problem is still there then your P4 is highly possible to be problematic. Otherwise, in your area there is a lot of interference from other sources of electromagnetic waves (mobile telephone base stations, TV transmitters, military antennas, etc.).

 

[Shea Barger]

This is the third location that I have had the video issue. It's the first time for the aircraft disconnected issue. In the field it is wide open between me and the drone. When I go back and watch the video, the issue is not there. It's only in the transmission it seems. I am going to try the antennas and see what happens, but if it persists how should I go about trying to talk to DJI? Will flight data show stuff like this?

 

[tberton]

What pilot device are you using


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Shea Barger]

Are you referring to the app? DJI Go.

 

[Helihover]

Device= Apple or android

 

[Dacon Productions]

Under IDEAL conditions, max out range is about 4 miles, battery is only good for about 8 miles flight time.
The rest is a craps shoot, at any time and distance you can have interference and loss of signal. In the same spot where you flew last time 2 miles out, now the range is dead at 500ft. Is like fishing, same spot is OK now and later is dead.
Learn how to fly in any conditions and ATTI to save the drone. The rest has no rime or reason.

 

[Geoff G]

I've been flying a P4 for a couple of months and mostly at short range (<2000'). Video freezes of a second or so and picture blocking seem to be commonplace, but I've not lost control communication.

It makes me wonder how often it's due to inadvertent antenna movement, maybe by the pilot briefly changing position or sneezing and so on, especially in situations where they were not optimally positioned to start with?

Since being more carefull with that, I've had fewer occurances.

 

[WWK888]

Fly higher and try the windsurfers.

 

[r62ewa]

I often get freezes if I have my wifi left on, once I put my iPhone in Airplane mode everything is smooth after that.

 

[Helihover]

I often get freezes if I have my wifi left on, once I put my iPhone in Airplane mode everything is smooth after that.

Crazy.. I got a phone call the other day while flying and live feeding to FB. Lol. Phone never skipped a beat!

 

[r62ewa]

Crazy.. I got a phone call the other day while flying and live feeding to FB. Lol. Phone never skipped a beat!

Strange, I have a brand new iPhone 6 plus running the latest iOS version.

 

[Helihover]

6s with iOS 10. Think I might get my 7 this weekend.

 

[Suhail78]

Crazy.. I got a phone call the other day while flying and live feeding to FB. Lol. Phone never skipped a beat!

I also have received calls and alerts while flying with my iPhone 7 Plus, and never have had any problems at all.

 

[jbrown630]

Change HD streaming to lower resolution to improve video feed. Fly higher to get the bird out of the ground based home wifi and other signals, and improve line of sight to the bird. Search for the channel tweaks to find a clear channel in the wireless frequencies. Windsurfers have helped others. I rarely have issues and get over 2000' out routinely, others in more remote locations such as over lakes etc where wifi is thinner have gotten upwards of 3-4mi on the stock RC.