Trees blocking my signal

[GPS_Ken]

You want everything spoon fed to you from a platter. Sometimes you have to do a little work yourself.

You don't know what I want. I entered a new hobby a little over a week ago and I've spent hours and hours reading everything I can find and practicing with the drone. Asking for information and understanding about things that have little or no documentation is not asking to be "SPOON FED". If you don't have any useful information or don't wish to share the information you have, then just don't reply. But I don't need your posts saying I'm unworthy of your knowledge because you think I should have educated myself differently.
Ken
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[JoeNewbe]

Just a thought, I have never used Dji go for way points but I would guess that it saves missions. If so why not walk the the planed flight while flying and setting the waypoints and save the mission

 

[Bad Brad]

Titan Atlas Antenna problem solved

 

[JoeNewbe]

Another possibility is Groud station pro. It is a free app and since it is a DJI app it should be compatiblewith all p3 drones. You can set waypoints on the tablet. The only cavet is it is an ios app. If the app is infact compatible you could pick up an Ipad mini 3 on ebay

 

[GPS_Ken]

Just a thought, I have never used Dji go for way points but I would guess that it saves missions. If so why not walk the the planed flight while flying and setting the waypoints and save the mission

A reasonable thought, but the route is not passible on foot, and I'm still not clear on how the waypoint system works. It sounds like I'll have to wait until new Litchi software comes out that supports the SE.

Ken
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[GPS_Ken]

Titan Atlas Antenna problem solved

I checked it out. It does not list P3-SE as a supported model, and it is a lot of money to spend on something that may or may not work in my situation. However, I will keep it on my list of possibilities. Thanks for the info.

Ken
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[Bad Brad]

I checked it out. It does not list P3-SE as a supported model, and it is a lot of money to spend on something that may or may not work in my situation. However, I will keep it on my list of possibilities. Thanks for the info.

Ken
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I think your correct I didn’t realize you had the standard.. prolly no helping that upgrade to a pro light bridge is the way to go in the drone world

 

[ferncfc]

Can't you just walk down to the waters edge?

 

[Tim Dawes]

Ditto to GPS Ken's suggestion. An automated waypoint mission is the way to go. You can set it up to fly to the boat, drop to any given altitude, circle the boat, stop and hover for a while etc.
Here's a video I shot last summer of lake Ontario. Its a compilation of 3 separate flights the first of which is a fully automated waypoint mission. No way signal could be maintained because of trees. You'll also notice that the video of a waypoint mission is super smooth. I used Litchi.
One caveat, make sure you set all your altitudes to clear any obstacles. Good luck:

 

[msinger]

Ditto to GPS Ken's suggestion. An automated waypoint mission is the way to go. You can set it up to fly to the boat, drop to any given altitude, circle the boat, stop and hover for a while etc.

FYI, the OP is flying a P3SE.

 

[Tim Dawes]

FYI, the OP is flying a P3SE.

Right, I missed that. I have a P3S. Does Litchi not support the PSE at all? With the standard there are limitations on some of the features but a waypoint mission works just fine. That's too bad if it doesn't work on the SE.
That said, it may still be cheaper for him to simply purchase a P3S ($399) specifically to fly his missions to the boat rather then spend alot of $ on a pricey signal booster that may not work.

 

[msinger]

Does Litchi not support the PSE at all?

Per our discussion above, it does not seem to be supported by Litchi (or any of the other commonly use apps that include waypoints).

 

[Russ43Phantom]

The most pertenant question here is how you maintain VLOS at 1500 feet behind tall trees. Recreational or commercial ... both require safe adherance to the VLOS rule. You should have done better research on the use of drones before purchasing a drone to fly beyond your VLOS.

 

[Helihover]

The most pertenant question here is how you maintain VLOS at 1500 feet behind tall trees. Recreational or commercial ... both require safe adherance to the VLOS rule. You should have done better research on the use of drones before purchasing a drone to fly beyond your VLOS.

Exactly. If your craft is behind trees and a 1,000 feet away, 1- your flying in a very unsafe manner (basically a disaster waiting to happen), 2- it’s illegal to be blunt.

Flying BVLOS is an extremely dangerous practice especially a waypoint mission.

This looks to our first report that was 100% caused do to flying BVLOS. NTSB Report is out on Phantom4 vs Blackhawk from Sept 2017

 

[GPS_Ken]

You should have done better research on the use of drones before purchasing a drone to fly beyond your VLOS.

Having never owned or flown a drone before a few weeks ago, the only rules I knew about were airports and something about maximum height.

At what point in my shopping research for my expensive play toy do you think a reasonable person would have come across information on VLOS?

There was nothing I ever came across that led me to believe that I needed any more research than I would put into buying my next big screen TV.

Ken
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[GPS_Ken]

Can't you just walk down to the waters edge?

Not without taking a very long away around over a tree covered path.

 

[msinger]

@GPS_Ken , if you're flying in the US, you can find the rules (US laws) you must follow on the FAA's website in the "2 Options for Flying Your Drone" section here.

 

[GPS_Ken]

if you're flying in the US, you can find the rules (US laws) you must follow on the FAA's website in the "2 Options for Flying Your Drone" section here.

I saw the rules AFTER I bought the drone. What I was saying was that there was no information I came across BEFORE my purchase that would make me think I needed to seek out and read rules.

 

[msinger]

I saw the rules AFTER I bought the drone.

No worries. Many people don't know they exist. I just wanted to link you to the source in case you were interested in learning more about them.

 

[wa5tef]

My first thing to try would be a set of Windsurfers from Amazon. I paid about $14.00 for mine and made a drastic signal strength improvement. I can range out to 7,500 feet at 400 feet altitude with Litchi still showing 100% signal! Before that I would frequently disconnect before I got past 5,000 feet. However you have to realize the parabolic reflectors direct the signal mostly in one direction and you should keep the beam path pointed at the drone. This means have the shiny side facing the drone.

If that still doesn’t work you’ve only spent a small amount of money. Let us know if you get your problem worked out. Interesting post!
Thanks
Jim
WA5TEF.