P4 Range?
- Thread starter Moonie
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Careful not to piss him off. Frank might just clip your wings straight out of the dji go app or start monitoring your flights...
Frank?
I think if a lot of people politely write him about the reduced RC power AND the reduced bird transmitting ability and tell him it is actually becoming a downgrade then he will order a change.
I hope this can be done with a firmware update.
I hope this can be done with a firmware update.
That's my experience as well. I've been using my P3 controller with my P4 to get any type of range comparable to my original P3P setup. With the stock controller the range is just pathetic. I'm in an urban area but fly out over the ocean most of the time. It feels like it is much more sensitive to interference but that's just a guess.
GadgetGuy
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Agreed. I, too, was testing the fit of a small windsurfer in the P4 case, and the smaller version fits, along with two extra sideways batteries, and the charger, and my iPad Mini! Two miles on location with that setup would be fine. The FPVLR setup is primarily for flights from home, where I need the extra range without driving closer, to avoid traffic. Beating the traffic flying "as the crow flies" is awesome! 5 minutes each way instead of 25 minutes, and no parking hassles, or annoying questions to answer from curious bystanders.
My Best Buy W323A P3P is .612 watts and is a huge disappointment for stable video. Only my original W323 P3P and original W322 P3A with .746 watts each truly deliver. The WM330A P4 is only .580 watts, so it is the lowest video power of the 4 aircraft I currently own.
Please let us know when you test the P4 with your FPVLR RC. I think that will tell us a lot.
I think there is another issue as well: the stock wires in the RCs are poorly shielded aluminum. I would bet that if they are replaced with a better shielded copper wire, you'd have much less interference and better output and even the later RCs would outperform an original P3 remote with higher power.
I think there is another issue as well: the stock wires in the RCs are poorly shielded aluminum. I would bet that if they are replaced with a better shielded copper wire, you'd have much less interference and better output and even the later RCs would outperform an original P3 remote with higher power.
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ItElite currently holds the record for long range.
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Seems the same or worse with my P4 compared to P3P. I sold my boosters with my P3P now I have to buy a new set again. Not happy at all with the results. As a matter of fact, I'm not convinced the upgrade is worth it at all.
In actually interested in wondering what the range would be in a congested area, more of an urban environment than a rural flat field. Wondering if you could get 2-3 miles east with zero signal loss in that type of environment. That would be more important to me than 5 miles in the middle of nowhere.
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I did a little over two miles in a congested area with the ItElite + Amplifiers. I definitely could have went further, but I didn't want to push my luck as I had strong wind going against me on my return flight. See attached picture and notice how quick I got out to 2+ miles haha! Was averaging 50mph.
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I will test it with stock equipment. I have my original p3 advanced with the w322 1st generation aircraft and gl300a controller. I've gotten 2.5 miles with that bad boy. I will fly both the p4 and p3a in the same location and direction and report back. On my advance I often lose rc control connection before video connection I think because it only transmits 2mb video max whereas the p4 can only go down to 4mb so that alone may cause the p4 to lose connection first. We shall see..
In a congested urban (lots of home wi-fi) area at about 300ft I can only go about 2,000 ft before I start getting 'weak rc' and then about 2200-2400 with the weak video warning and about there is where signal is lost. With a stock P3P bought in December I can go 3000-3500ft before seeing those messages. Same path and launch point/route.
This range will only go down once trees are in full leaf.
This range will only go down once trees are in full leaf.
Keep in mind that the number of WiFi devices is growing exponentially in both power and density. New devices can use the entire spectrum. People are streaming ultra-HD video over WiFi now. The only way to test the range is to fly both the P3 and P4 at the same spot at about the same time.
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I've consulted with someone smarter than me and this is the response I received:
P4 specs:
Operating Frequency: 2.400 GHz to 2.483 GHz
Transmitter Power ( EIRP ): FCC: 23 dBm; CE: 17 dBm
Sunhans Bi-Directional SH-RC24G3W eSunRc WiFi booster
Operating range : 2400~2500MHz
Input power: 0 ~ 23dBm
Transmit gain: 15 – 18dB
Receiver gain: ≤ 12 dB
Noise figure: ≤3.5dB typical
The overall power of either the signal or the noise level does not matter; instead, what matters is the ratio of these two. If the desired signal is too weak, then it will fall into the noise and make it hard to distinguish. On the other hand, if the noise level gets too large, then it can also encroach on the desired signal level and likewise make it harder to distinguish. The Boosters amplify and help to distinguish between the two.
Digital data such as that sent over a Wi-Fi signal is sent in packets, each of which is checked for integrity and assembled with other received packets to complete the data stream. This process ensures the data is kept intact; however, it does not overcome the fact that the digital data must always be transmitted over a physical analog signal (air, light, electromagnetism, etc.).
If the physical analog signal carrying the data degrades in quality, then the computer listening to the signal will have a harder time receiving intact packets that it can understand, and the system will spend a lot of time discarding incomplete packets and waiting for them to be resent over the poor-quality analog signal.
Therefore, as the analog Wi-Fi signal quality degrades, the first thing that happens is the speed of the connection drops since the system spends more time asking for duplicate packets than it spends steadily receiving them. As the signal quality degrades further, the system will have a much more difficult time maintaining other aspects of the connection than just the data stream, and you will begin to see the Video lose its handshake with the Remote, resulting in a dropped connection. The boosters amplify this to better identify and assemble the packets even with a low sig to noise ratio.
Went out into the country this afternoon , very rural and got 3200' 200ft atitude. The only error I saw before the screen went black and RTH started on its own was concerning the video feed signal. RC was still full strength. Hmm.
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If I'm okay with my W323B P3P, I should be happy with my P4? Is that true? I don't get my P4 fly yet till now, 5 days after received.
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