Uncomfortable Flight

Mcook929 · Mar 15, 2015

So I headed out for an evening flight. I went through all my pre-flight and everything was good. I set my iphone 6 into airplane mode and turn the wifi on and start my Shou app to record my screen. I was all set to go. I powered up and throttled up and hovered for a about 20 seconds just to verify GPS hold. I then started heading out. I am using the FPV Booster app and I am having an issue with my controller point and wand jumping around. I am not sure how to fix this. I am in a good safe area and I re calibrated the compass on my iphone 6. The home point and the Phantom arrow are portrayed accurately but that controller point jumps around all over the place. Any advice on how to fix this would be appreciated.

So I was having a good flight (besides the app issue) around a local park getting some good video of the skate park, baseball fields, tennis courts and horseshoe pits. I then moved a little further was and started to lose FPV and I was turning back I lost controller connection but then regained it right away. I then decided I need to get close so I switched to homelock and started pulling it back but during this I lost connection and it went into failsafe. I watched as it made its way back home. When I was comfortable with where it was at I took back control and brought it back home and landed. I understand flying out of controller range but when I lost connection I was only 960 feet away. I was at a park in the middle of town but I have been in a more congested area and flown further without losing that connection. I have not made any mods to the antenna but starting to consider it. last week I was out in a field far from town and I maxed out at 2500 feet at 400 feet high. Does this sound about right? Should I go ahead and start adding stronger antennas?

So after all that I was looking forward to seeing the video of the park and if there is anything to notice from when I lost connection. I plugged the SD card into my computer like normal and pulled up the video and it stops at 32 seconds. That was all that was taken. I did record my screen during my flight and I went back and looked at that and sure enough at 32 seconds the record light turns off. So now I am really starting to lose faith in the FPV Booster app. I have it set to start and stop recording when powered on/off.

With all that combined my take away from todays flight is an uncomfortable one.

UKFlyer · Mar 15, 2015

I would say check that your phones compass is correctly calibrated first, I think there is nothing wrong with your quad as you have already previously been out to a more realistic 2500ft with no issues, maybe the area you were in when you lost connection had interference or was congested?
Just a thought.

Meta4 · Mar 15, 2015

There's a lot more than simply distance involved in keeping FPV signal. There are lots of variables.
The angles between your Tx and Phantom antennas is an important factor and the video antennas on the Phantom do not pick up equally in all directions

BlackTracer · Mar 15, 2015

Is there an option in the app you are using for what to do when the camera connection breaks? In the vision app there is a checkbox for stop recording when connection breaks. Since you may have broken camera connection around that time, maybe it is set to stop recording?

PVFlyer · Mar 17, 2015

If you turn OFF airplane mode (turn on cellular network), you should get correct and stable pilot point.

len750 · Mar 19, 2015

PVFlyer said:
If you turn OFF airplane mode (turn on cellular network), you should get correct and stable pilot point.

Should I always fly with airplane mode OFF? (turning on cellular). Just thought about that when reading this post.

Mcook929 · Mar 19, 2015

I was able to back out the next day and flew with airplane mode turned off. My pilot location stayed right where I was at which solved that problem. I always liked having that on in case of an incoming phone call.

PVFlyer · Mar 19, 2015

Mcook929 said:
I was able to back out the next day and flew with airplane mode turned off. My pilot location stayed right where I was at which solved that problem. I always liked having that on in case of an incoming phone call.

A simple workaround is to forward all incoming calls to voice mail (or somewhere else) before takeoff and cancel the forward after landing.

dirtdummy · Mar 19, 2015

Don't know where you live, But this week here in NH there has been high magnetic fields due to solar flares.

Meta4 · Mar 19, 2015

dirtdummy said:
Don't know where you live, But this week here in NH there has been high magnetic fields due to solar flares.

Yes ... but it's had no impact that anyone's been able to notice.
Just like it always has been during solar flare activity.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=36705

ccase39 · Mar 20, 2015

I have had the same problems. Are you sure you stopped recording before turning Phantom/Camera off? I had the problem with the indicator jumping around too but it worked itself out the next time I tried it. I had also recalibrated the compass in my phone. I have really not been too impressed with this app. It seems to lose connection to the TX a lot sooner and closer in this app than in others I use. The idea is great but maybe it needs work. I think the app itself sends Phantom in return to home if it reads that the signal is low. I am starting to think that the phantom has connection to the TX but the app is telling it to come home rather than it going into RTH because the TX loses control and tells it to. Can this happen? I have never lost TX connection in any other app and I have been out 3500 feet. The FPV booster app seems to tell it to go home a lot closer to 1500-2000 ft sometimes. There is a water tower about 1700 feet away from my house and I sent the Phantom there with the Vision app, the FPV Booster app, and iLoveCoffees Vision app. Was able to get to it easily with every app but the FPV Booster app. It went into RTH when I was in FPV Booster every time.

dirtdummy · Mar 20, 2015

Meta4 said:
dirtdummy said:

Don't know where you live, But this week here in NH there has been high magnetic fields due to solar flares.

Click to expand...

Yes ... but it's had no impact that anyone's been able to notice.
Just like it always has been during solar flare activity.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=36705

Thanks for the link i was mislead. i thought anything over a K5 was bad.

Mcook929 · Mar 20, 2015

ccase39 said:
I have had the same problems. Are you sure you stopped recording before turning Phantom/Camera off? I had the problem with the indicator jumping around too but it worked itself out the next time I tried it. I had also recalibrated the compass in my phone. I have really not been too impressed with this app. It seems to lose connection to the TX a lot sooner and closer in this app than in others I use. The idea is great but maybe it needs work. I think the app itself sends Phantom in return to home if it reads that the signal is low. I am starting to think that the phantom has connection to the TX but the app is telling it to come home rather than it going into RTH because the TX loses control and tells it to. Can this happen? I have never lost TX connection in any other app and I have been out 3500 feet. The FPV booster app seems to tell it to go home a lot closer to 1500-2000 ft sometimes. There is a water tower about 1700 feet away from my house and I sent the Phantom there with the Vision app, the FPV Booster app, and iLoveCoffees Vision app. Was able to get to it easily with every app but the FPV Booster app. It went into RTH when I was in FPV Booster every time.

This is very interesting and I tend to agree with you. I have used this app almost exclusively since I paid for everything and I love the concept of it. I have had it kick into RTH a few times and always wondered it it was both connections that I lost or just the wifi connection but now that you say that I think I would agree with you that as soon as the app loses connection it returns to home. This is something I would mind if I was getting further than 900 feet in a saturated area. Even in a wide open area I maxed at 2500 feet. So I either need to try a different app or start modding my antennas.

StevenQX · Mar 20, 2015

Are you sure you're in FCC mode with the tx? It beeps twice when you start it?

Mcook929 · Mar 20, 2015

StevenQX said:
Are you sure you're in FCC mode with the tx? It beeps twice when you start it?

Yes I am in FCC mode.

Uptowndisco2 · Mar 21, 2015

As much as I like the Fpv app , I have also lost a few recordings due to the app stopping the recordings with no input from me,
I have bought other apps with auto record and they are not stopping the recording mid flight on their own,

len750 · Apr 6, 2015

UKFlyer said:
I would say check that your phones compass is correctly calibrated first, I think there is nothing wrong with your quad as you have already previously been out to a more realistic 2500ft with no issues, maybe the area you were in when you lost connection had interference or was congested?
Just a thought.

I was wondering why I need to check the compass in my phone. Isn't the GPS in the Phantom sufficient? Also, how do I do that on an Adroid Note 3?

Meta4 · Apr 7, 2015

len750 said:
I was wondering why I need to check the compass in my phone. Isn't the GPS in the Phantom sufficient? Also, how do I do that on an Adroid Note 3?

The Phantom knows where it is but the app in the phone won't know where the Phantom is (relative to the phone) unless the phone compass is working properly. There have been several cases of phone compasses being out of calibration and giving false indications of where the Phantom is.

Some compass apps include a calibration feature.

len750 · Apr 7, 2015

Meta4 said:
The Phantom knows where it is but the app in the phone won't know where the Phantom is (relative to the phone) unless the phone compass is working properly. There have been several cases of phone compasses being out of calibration and giving false indications of where the Phantom is.

Some compass apps include a calibration feature.

Thanks Meta4. I will look into that today.

Mcook929 · Apr 8, 2015

After reading in some other threads there is an issue with it knowing where you are it when your cell service is off. I have started to not turn airplane mode off when flying. I was turning that on so I do not receive calls. Now that I don't turn airplane mode on I have not had any issue with it jumping around on me. FPV Booster did say that in their next update they will be leaving the controller point and wand at the same location as the home point. Not sure what that will mean for DHP but we will see.