Poor range

Joined
Jul 22, 2018
Messages
34
Reaction score
10
Age
36
Location
Nottingham
Hey all,
Still quite new to all this so could use your help. I was flying my phantom 4 over the last couple days and noticed that my range was poor. I could reach about 260m max before signal was lost and RTH kicked in. I use the dji go 4 app, and a Huawei tablet if either of those things could possibly affect it. I've also read some stuff online about switching from 5.2ghz to 2.6ghz. What is this about and where can I find what setting I'm in? Also how would you change that?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Andrew
 
Um have not heard of that frequency p4 use 2.4,,couple things I would try relinking,imu check and reinstall of app,do you get this all locations when flying....should add 2.4 for transmission aswell,,,try aswell another usb cord incase other breaking down,is it signal lost or or disconected
 
  • Like
Reactions: WV. Rootman
Ahh this was on a general dji forum so they could have been talking about a different drone. What's an imu check? The time before this I flew I could only get in the 100m's but it was quite a windy day so I didn't think much of it. This time it was nice and calm, and coastal so there were no issues of topography or obstructions etc. Signal was starting to become weak at maybe 200m, and then disconnected and RTH a short bit after. The 2 USB cables used between my last 2 flights are not the same one and both pretty new so wouldn't imagine that's the issue
 
Ahh this was on a general dji forum so they could have been talking about a different drone. What's an imu check? The time before this I flew I could only get in the 100m's but it was quite a windy day so I didn't think much of it. This time it was nice and calm, and coastal so there were no issues of topography or obstructions etc. Signal was starting to become weak at maybe 200m, and then disconnected and RTH a short bit after. The 2 USB cables used between my last 2 flights are not the same one and both pretty new so wouldn't imagine that's the issue
Cables can be bad at new or faulty,imu calibration recalculate all sensors on board drone,,imu check does fast check and say if needed or not but most just do it anyway,cause go4 not installed on this device is can't screenshot so I just get a picture
 
Also when doing this imu calibration props come off cause you follow onscreen pictures and last one is upside down resting on motors
Screenshot_20190425-193616.jpg
Screenshot_20190425-193531.jpg
 
Also me not mum or dad but read manual and refresh your memory,,it will keep you in the air,,we all do it,,becomes like second language,,hope you can sort this the p4 are good craft:)
 
Hey all,
Still quite new to all this so could use your help. I was flying my phantom 4 over the last couple days and noticed that my range was poor. I could reach about 260m max before signal was lost and RTH kicked in. I use the dji go 4 app, and a Huawei tablet if either of those things could possibly affect it. I've also read some stuff online about switching from 5.2ghz to 2.6ghz. What is this about and where can I find what setting I'm in? Also how would you change that?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Andrew

I find flying in 5.8 custom channel better than Auto, and I’m not familiar with that tablet but the Go app is very power hungry I noticed a difference between an iPad mini 2 and an iPad pro
 
Hey all,
Still quite new to all this so could use your help. I was flying my phantom 4 over the last couple days and noticed that my range was poor. I could reach about 260m max before signal was lost and RTH kicked in. I use the dji go 4 app, and a Huawei tablet if either of those things could possibly affect it. I've also read some stuff online about switching from 5.2ghz to 2.6ghz. What is this about and where can I find what setting I'm in? Also how would you change that?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Andrew
Hello,
The choice of tablet and even the USB cable between the tablet will have no effect at all on your range. The range is strictly based on when the controller and drone lose the ability to communicate with each other. If the tablet was disconnecting from the controller, that would be a totally different issue. However since you said that emergency RTH kicked in, that means that you had a loss of signal between the P4 and the RC.

Respectfully, I don't believe that calibrating the compass or IMU will have any effect on range either. IMU issues would cause the P4 to not be stable (pitch, roll, yaw) but not lose connectivity with the RC. If you had IMU issues you would certainly know about it through erratic flight and on screen warnings. Also the P4 has dual IMU and dual compass so even if one was off, the P4 should still fly well.

I always leave frequency selection in AUTO but others have found that in certain areas the custom selection may work better. Personally I believe the P4 is the best judge of which frequency to select.

Also wind and temperature won't affect your range either.

So that still leaves us with your range issue. What type of area are you flying in? Is it a city environment where there could be lots of radio frequency interference? I find that my range is severely limited when flying in the city as opposed to wide open country.

Are you orienting the antennas properly as recommended in the manual? Both should be vertical and always face toward the P4.

Have you tried a different location and does the range vary based on location?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ABomb74
So the first time I noticed poor range I was flying on my parents' field, I could send it way down the field (not sure on distance, 1-200m maybe) but then flying around the house to the front it had very poor range, 100m max, this is the windy day I mention previously, but could also be my fault as the control wasn't always facing where I was flying. The last time though, 2 days ago, I was flying out over the sea to try and reach an art sculpture, no obstructions or power lines etc in sight and reached about 260m before losing signal, antenna pointed in drone direction the whole time.
 
So the first time I noticed poor range I was flying on my parents' field, I could send it way down the field (not sure on distance, 1-200m maybe) but then flying around the house to the front it had very poor range, 100m max, this is the windy day I mention previously, but could also be my fault as the control wasn't always facing where I was flying. The last time though, 2 days ago, I was flying out over the sea to try and reach an art sculpture, no obstructions or power lines etc in sight and reached about 260m before losing signal, antenna pointed in drone direction the whole time.
I would try some other remote location just to make sure. If you still get such terrible range them perhaps there is something wrong with the radio circuitry in either the P4 or the RC.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,354
Members
104,933
Latest member
mactechnic