Reason Why Stock P3S Has Such Poor Range

Frank Pliska III · Jun 22, 2017

bornmean said:
Frank, would you mind sharing your mods that you have done to get the increased range? I've recently acquired a second P3S, for stupid cheap, and am very interested in tweaking it for better range. Would you mind showing some pictures as well?

I wish I knew about this before I spent all the time, effort and $ I did. Also it looks like something happened to my original thread on this. Hope DJI didn't delete it. Maybe it got moved. Anyway check this out.

Icarus for Phantom 3S/4K - Android Apps on Google Play

Frank Pliska III · Jun 22, 2017

bornmean said:
Frank, would you mind sharing your mods that you have done to get the increased range? I've recently acquired a second P3S, for stupid cheap, and am very interested in tweaking it for better range. Would you mind showing some pictures as well?

Try this.
Icarus for Phantom 3S/4K - Android Apps on Google Play

Frank Pliska III · Jun 23, 2017

Works with any P3S world wide but you have to configure with an Android then can use ios if you want from what Im reading.

bornmean · Jul 21, 2017

Frank Pliska III said:
Works with any P3S world wide but you have to configure with an Android then can use ios if you want from what Im reading.

Frank, thanks for the info. I have been doing searches on extending the range and have upgraded to the Argtech antennae's with good success. This sounds like it will be the fix for the signal strength I have been looking for. Also our tip helped me find the proper searches to get more info off this forum. Greatly appreciated!!!

Jthomp · Jul 22, 2017

These mods and upgrades and fancy range-extenders are all fine and good for some folks, but the rest of us have to live with the old adage which says "Cadillac taste, Volkswagen budget".....

jwmcgrath · Jul 23, 2017

P3S stock, out of the box, over water, reached 5,445' yesterday.

I wouldn't make that up.

Jthomp · Jul 23, 2017

jwmcgrath said:
P3S stock, out of the box, over water, reached 5,445' yesterday.

I wouldn't make that up.

You've got more nerve than I do, pal. And probably better eyesight, too. I can barely even see my P3S at 1/2 mile out...

jwmcgrath · Jul 23, 2017

Jthomp said:
You've got more nerve than I do, pal. And probably better eyesight, too. I can barely even see my P3S at 1/2 mile out...

No nerve at all... more like a "resigned confidence". Half terrified, half accepting the fact that even if it was only 100 feet out, it won't be any less painful if it goes down (if its over the water) than if it's a hundred miles.

It's a progressive confidence that comes from flawless flights that having me loving this hobby way more than I even expected to!

kndll · Jul 23, 2017

Got 915m / 3020 ft today out over a lake , stock P3S typically 300 - 400m in heavily treed area

macoman · Jul 23, 2017

kndll said:
Got 915m / 3020 ft today out over a lake , stock P3S typically 300 - 400m in heavily treed area

I have same aircraft and over a big river on downtown only go as far as 60 meters. I have the parabolic device on the antenna. Using the latest firmware. I am suspecting that could be interference with the Wifi, because downtown Philly have a lot of cell towers, electric cables, bunch of other stuff.

Jthomp · Jul 23, 2017

jwmcgrath said:
No nerve at all... more like a "resigned confidence". Half terrified, half accepting the fact that even if it was only 100 feet out, it won't be any less painful if it goes down (if its over the water) than if it's a hundred miles.

It's a progressive confidence that comes from flawless flights that having me loving this hobby way more than I even expected to!

Sure wish my wife would develop some of that "progressive confidence" in this hobby! She looks at my three drones an simply rolls her eyes with that "Oh boy, so THAT'S where all our money is going!" look.

jwmcgrath · Jul 24, 2017

Jthomp said:
Sure wish my wife would develop some of that "progressive confidence" in this hobby! She looks at my three drones an simply rolls her eyes with that "Oh boy, so THAT'S where all our money is going!" look.

LMAO oh trust me, I get it!

I only gave you half the story! She was sitting beside me the whole time... "bring it back... bring it back... BRING IT BACK!!! Oh my God you're going to lose it!"

jwmcgrath · Jul 24, 2017

kndll said:
Got 915m / 3020 ft today out over a lake , stock P3S typically 300 - 400m in heavily treed area

That's more like what I expected... rated for 1km, figured it would max out just after 900m, so ya, I'm pretty impressed...

Frank Pliska III · Jul 26, 2017

Jthomp said:
These mods and upgrades and fancy range-extenders are all fine and good for some folks, but the rest of us have to live with the old adage which says "Cadillac taste, Volkswagen budget".....

A lot of us are experimenters and enjoy tinkering trying to improve performance even though we don't have much $. Many of these improvements / mods are not that expensive anyway.

Frank Pliska III · Jul 26, 2017

bornmean said:
Frank, thanks for the info. I have been doing searches on extending the range and have upgraded to the Argtech antennae's with good success. This sounds like it will be the fix for the signal strength I have been looking for. Also our tip helped me find the proper searches to get more info off this forum. Greatly appreciated!!!

I just ordered a used P3S controller off ebay to see if all of them have the problem of only approx +8dbm/5mw tx output on 5.8ghz and only approx +20dbm\100mw output on 2.4ghz as my original one does now. My P2V+ does 50mw & 400mw respectively. I will create a new post on my findings with the used controller off ebay compared to my original P3S controller .

Frank Pliska III · Jul 26, 2017

jwmcgrath said:
P3S stock, out of the box, over water, reached 5,445' yesterday.

I wouldn't make that up.

That's pretty hard to believe STOCK!

jwmcgrath · Jul 26, 2017

Frank Pliska III said:
That's pretty hard to believe STOCK!

Bone stock. Zero mod. I agree with you 100%, that it is hard to believe, but I sat on the beach and flew a straight line until I reached what I was looking for (there was a campground I knew to be about a mile away)...

I just wanted to see if I could find it, even from a distance, but kept going until the nerves took over...

And even then, I only got one signal warning... not enough to force a RTH.

I'm as thoroughly impressed with this equipment as I am surprised and amazed.

One_crazy_dude · Jul 26, 2017

Some people get lucky and go far with p3 standard. Here is a vid with stock remote, p3 standard.

I'm wondering if DJI has lowered the output signal strength on the remotes. But why would they do this?

I took my p3s out just over 2000 feet before it lost signal and came home. I would like to extend this further. I thought about remote upgrading but if it only puts out low power than any upgrade is worthless correct?

Might there be a way to adjust the remotes output? It might sacrifice battery on the remote but I'd be ok with that.

One_crazy_dude · Jul 30, 2017

Any updates?

jwmcgrath · Aug 2, 2017

Yes. I was wrong. I double checked my flight log and actually peaked at 5,604'. Bone stock, out of the box.

And did not return home due to signal loss either, nor video loss... just nerve loss.