Transmitter range

fasteddie · Apr 19, 2013

What range does the Phantom have, I am concerned about going too far and able to control it.

Eik · Apr 19, 2013

iirc the manual says about 300 meters. At that range you wont really be able to see it without visual aid.

colchester daz · Apr 19, 2013

I saw a video on you tube, where some one on a standard controller went 1000mtrs,

I wouldn't worry about it going out of range as it will go to RTH mode and come back.

Gizmo3000 · Apr 19, 2013

-read up about using Home Lock so you can bring the Phantom back to you if you fly too far away and lose orientation.
- the Phantom will fly back if it loses connection with the Transmitter,. but ONLY if you've made sure the home location was recorded when you took off.

telecaster · Apr 19, 2013

+1 Gizmo
And also if your Phantom has got the DJI disease it will never return if you fly past the range limit..........

Sac D · Apr 19, 2013

telecaster said:
+1 Gizmo
And also if your Phantom has got the DJI disease it will never return if you fly past the range limit..........

+1 telecaster

True dat!

auck · Apr 19, 2013

+1 Eik
+1 Gizmo
+1 Tele

so basically what people are saying is stay well within the recommended 300 meter range, make sure your "home" position is recorded by the phantom when you take off, and don't chance it if you are unsure.

Audaciter · Apr 19, 2013

Yeah, If you take your Phantom apart, and see that teeny tiny pc board that is the receiver, you will understand why they
say 300 meters line of sight.

Actually the system works extremely well for it's size.

auck · Apr 19, 2013

Audaciter said:
Yeah, If you take your Phantom apart, and see that teeny tiny pc board that is the receiver, you will understand why they
say 300 meters line of sight.

Actually the system works extremely well for it's size.

yeh, and it's not even shielded so i'm pretty sure it's rather susceptible to RFI / EMI. so keeping it under 300 meters is best.

BadWolf · Apr 19, 2013

colchester daz said:
I saw a video on you tube, where some one on a standard controller went 1000mtrs,

I wouldn't worry about it going out of range as it will go to RTH mode and come back.

Even if it successfully starts RTH it may not make it back. You need to have enough altitude to make it over any obstructions.
You need enough battery to make it back. I hear it travels very slowly in RTH mode.

mmcbain · Apr 28, 2013

Not true. It rises and hangs around a bit before it returns to home, but when it does, it's doing about 30 kph

Michael McBain
Melbourne, Australia

telecaster · Apr 28, 2013

mmcbain said:
Not true. It rises and hangs around a bit before it returns to home, but when it does, it's doing about 30 kph

Well, not all do !
A friend of mine lost contact with his Phantom, it flew happily away completely ignoring him trying
to regain control. After a long while he gave up, packed the radio back in its box,, closed the trunk
and opened the car door. Really fed up with Phantoms and flyaways he decided to light a cigarette
before driving home.
6-7 mins later while crushing the rest of the cig under his boots he hears a faint buzz, and lo and behold,
here comes his Phantom creeping home, ever so slowly. And eventually it landed on the same spot it had left
some 15 mins earlier.

The moral of the story, at least wait until you are sure the battery is done.

auck · Apr 28, 2013

telecaster said:
mmcbain said:

Not true. It rises and hangs around a bit before it returns to home, but when it does, it's doing about 30 kph

Click to expand...

Well, not all do !
A friend of mine lost contact with his Phantom, it flew happily away completely ignoring him trying
to regain control. After a long while he gave up, packed the radio back in its box,, closed the trunk
and opened the car door. Really fed up with Phantoms and flyaways he decided to light a cigarette
before driving home.
6-7 mins later while crushing the rest of the cig under his boots he hears a faint buzz, and lo and behold,
here comes his Phantom creeping home, ever so slowly. And eventually it landed on the same spot it had left
some 15 mins earlier.

The moral of the story, at least wait until you are sure the battery is done.

quoted flight time for the Phantom is 10 - 15 min (depending on environment, how the Phantom is set up, and how you fly it). so i would say that it was a VERY good Phantom! :twisted: after all it struggled to return home even though it was running on fumes :lol: i bet if your friend had checked the voltage on his battery, it would have been nearly at the second low voltage stage (supposing he didn't change the low voltage fail safe setting).

telecaster · Apr 28, 2013

auck said:
quoted flight time for the Phantom is 10 - 15 min (depending on environment, how the Phantom is set up, and how you fly it). so i would say that it was a VERY good Phantom! :twisted: after all it struggled to return home even though it was running on fumes :lol: i bet if your friend had checked the voltage on his battery, it would have been nearly at the second low voltage stage (supposing he didn't change the low voltage fail safe setting).

So very true

, but both he and I have turned off the warnings in the NAZA on all our quads and hexa/octo's.
We use a timer in the TX or for the Phantom we use the downcounter in our iPhones set to 10 mins, then we have 2 mins
to get it home. I was too fed up with getting warnings and red lights flashing around 8 mins and still have a lot of juice
left in the batterypacks. Very soon I will change to my brand new Jeti DS-16 TX and use a Jeti telemetry module so I will
always know when to land.