Ph.3 Standard distance problem

[brick_paver]

I have the P 3 standard and have been using it straight out of the box. Have had it up in the air about 15-20 times so far but only recently attempted to push it farther away,.....hoping to go about 3/4 of a kilometre away but while I was able to achieve a good height,.... I could only get it to travel about 100 or so metres away from me before it gave me the "Go home" message, went right up high, turned and came back to immediately overhead before slowly descending to land softly ahd shut down,..all as quite normal.
I have had this same outcome each subsequent time that I have attempted to fly it further. Each duration has been only about 5 minutes maximum before the 'Go Home' message.
I have checked settings etc and seem to have done all the obvious settings but still the minimal distance and 5 minutes only scenario remains.
What am I doing wrong or what am I missing in 'settings'.
Cheers.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Be sure you're not in beginner mode. Be sure you don't have max distance enabled. Try to fly "out" more and "up" less. Turn your stick antenna 90 degrees (straight up) and keep it there. Then tilt your controller adequately so that you aim your controller antenna as perfectly as possible. This vid between :54 and 1:02 might help although the illustration there is not quite "perfect" aim. Good luck.

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[Stazz]

Be sure you're not in beginner mode. Be sure you don't have max distance enabled. Try to fly "out" more and "up" less. Turn your stick antenna 90 degrees (straight up) and keep it there. Then tilt your controller adequately so that you aim your controller antenna as perfectly as possible. This vid between :54 and 1:02 might help although the illustration there is not quite "perfect" aim. Good luck.

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Nice tutorial video

 

[brick_paver]

Be sure you're not in beginner mode. Be sure you don't have max distance enabled. Try to fly "out" more and "up" less. Turn your stick antenna 90 degrees (straight up) and keep it there. Then tilt your controller adequately so that you aim your controller antenna as perfectly as possible. This vid between :54 and 1:02 might help although the illustration there is not quite "perfect" aim. Good luck.

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Nice tutorial video

Thanks for your reply Mark. I did make sure that I am out of beginner mode. That was my first 'check'.
Without the screen in front of me at this moment, I cant check but I'm sure I set the distance to the maximum shown in the distance options,....I'm sure I have it set to 500 metres, but even at that setting, I still cant get it to travel anywhere near that,......more like only the 100 or so metres that I mentioned, before it just takes over itself and returns and lands,.....automatically.
I have the single centre antenna which I keep straight out from the controller and subconciously keep it aimed directly up at the aircraft.
I still keep thinking that I am missing a setting somewhere.
Cheers.

 

[Mark The Droner]

Thanks for your reply Mark....
I have the single centre antenna which I keep straight out from the controller and subconciously keep it aimed directly up at the aircraft.
...
Cheers.

Tell us more about how you "keep it straight out from the controller and ... keep it aimed directly at the aircraft." Please be specific.

 

[Neon Euc]

There was an issue where a lot of people had this. The fix was quite simple... Sign out of dji go and sign back in again and it lifts that restriction. Give that a try and see what happens mate

 

[Stazz]

This is interesting, even when I was first training with my p3s and I had distance restrictions set , it would go out to that distance but it wouldn’t just RTH I could fly around at that distance, now I don’t have max distance on, and in an open cow pasture I can go 1300 - 1400 meters before losing sig and RTH,
I’m assuming also that if it returns immediately when it gets out to a certain distance it’s because that’s what it’s told to do somewhere in the programming.
I like Neon’s reply above, I’d start there I think , good luck

 

[brick_paver]

Tell us more about how you "keep it straight out from the controller and ... keep it aimed directly at the aircraft." Please be specific.

As specific as I said in my post,..the antenna is straight,.. pointing out from the controller instead of out and then pointing up. I'm sure I saw this point made in one of the youtube 'out of the box' video clips.
By keeping the controller aimed at the drone,..I mean just that,...I watch the drone in flight with the controller in front of me and pointing at where I'm looking, which of course is the drone itself.
As I will be working with my job, out in open country again today, I will be taking the P3 with me and putting it up again but this time I will try it with the antenna pointed at right angles and straight up instead of straight out from the controller.
Because I'm using my iphone SE as my screen, I don't have a large viewing area to follow much of the flight on the screen so I do rely a lot on line of sight,.....while still pointing the controller at the drone.

 

[barefootbeachcombing]

As specific as I said in my post,..the antenna is straight,.. pointing out from the controller instead of out and then pointing up. I'm sure I saw this point made in one of the youtube 'out of the box' video clips.
By keeping the controller aimed at the drone,..I mean just that,...I watch the drone in flight with the controller in front of me and pointing at where I'm looking, which of course is the drone itself.
As I will be working with my job, out in open country again today, I will be taking the P3 with me and putting it up again but this time I will try it with the antenna pointed at right angles and straight up instead of straight out from the controller.
Because I'm using my iphone SE as my screen, I don't have a large viewing area to follow much of the flight on the screen so I do rely a lot on line of sight,.....while still pointing the controller at the drone.

Right, but you need to be sure that the antenna is not pointing "straight out" from the controller. You need to angle the antenna so that the broad side (and not the tip) is pointed toward the Phantom.

 

[brick_paver]

There was an issue where a lot of people had this. The fix was quite simple... Sign out of dji go and sign back in again and it lifts that restriction. Give that a try and see what happens mate

Thanks Neon. I like that idea actually. Logging or signing out of something and logging back in again often seems to work well with other things (like computers being re-booted) so well worth a try in this instance.
I am tempted also to uninstall and re-install the dji app but then I hesitate with actually doing that at this point.

 

[Mark The Droner]

See post #9. There is no way to fly a P3S with your stick antenna positioned the way you described. It must always be bent 90 degrees so it's perpendicular to the plane of the controller. No exceptions. And you must learn how to aim your antenna.

This vid should help you understand how to aim. But this video is NOT meant to explain perfectly for a P3S. It's actually a P3A/P vid. Freeze the vid at :57 secs to get an idea how to aim. But to aim perfectly, you'd tilt the entire controller slightly towards you. See the emanating radio waves in the graphic at :57 secs.

Good luck.

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[brick_paver]

See post #9. There is no way to fly a P3S with your stick antenna positioned the way you described. It must always be bent 90 degrees so it's perpendicular to the plane of the controller. No exceptions. And you must learn how to aim your antenna.

This vid should help you understand how to aim. But this video is NOT meant to explain perfectly for a P3S. It's actually a P3A/P vid. Freeze the vid at :57 secs to get an idea how to aim. But to aim perfectly, you'd tilt the entire controller slightly towards you. See the emanating radio waves in the graphic at :57 secs.

Good luck.

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Thanks for that video Mark, it certainly shows more importance with the antenna position, something that I will certainly take note of when I fly my P3 again, hopefully then with a better outcome.
Cheers

 

[LarBear360]

Thanks for that video Mark, it certainly shows more importance with the antenna position, something that I will certainly take note of when I fly my P3 again, hopefully then with a better outcome.
Cheers

The tip of the antenna is like a blind spot for signal. The signal goes the other way. >|<

 

[Mark The Droner]

The tip of the antenna is like a blind spot for signal. The signal goes the other way. >|<

I like that!

> | <

 

[Neon Euc]

Thanks Neon. I like that idea actually. Logging or signing out of something and logging back in again often seems to work well with other things (like computers being re-booted) so well worth a try in this instance.
I am tempted also to uninstall and re-install the dji app but then I hesitate with actually doing that at this point.

Don't hesitate mate.... Its a simple fix. No need to uninstall the app. Go to log in, sign out, sign in again and it the restriction will be lifted. Been happening to so many pilots over the last few weeks and this way worked. [emoji4]

 

[RodPad]

@brick_paver,
Welcome to the Forum!

Were waiting for flight analysts.

Here a post related to firmware killing remote control distance problems or Bad out of the box. (P3S)

Phantom 3 standard Rc signal lost

When a P3S is working correctly, it will do what it says on the box in clean air.
My experiences on a Stock P3S, If you can see it, it should see you, when I went on distance tests, I could see it, the screen would display RTH, I would look back at the Phantom couldn't see it any more, I could hear it before I could see it on its return. this was usually 3/4 of mile.

This is old HD stuff, but when you would loose signal, then the signal came back DJI-Go would star another flight log.

Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones
Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

Rod

 

[RodPad]

Wow, I found one of my shortest flights with a defective P3S..
Data really creates more facts.

Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

Rod