Was flying yesterday and ran across talk of 2.4GHz signal jamming

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I was out at my regular practice field yesterday and after landing a couple of guys walked over asking about the quad.

They seemed friendly but one of them said that they know the Phantom uses 2.4GHz band and that a "friend" of theirs has a frequency jammer that could bring it down. I wasn't sure if these guys were serious or not but I did Google it later and found quite a few 2.4GHz jammers available.

Legal or not, I'm sure some of the drone haters would get these if they would cause a flyaway or crash considering they have already shown they will shoot them down with a shotgun.

I'm thinking that even if they did have a jammer and even if they did use it, the Phantom would RTH (if set up properly) rather than flyaway anyway. What would be the difference if the signal was jammed vs lost as in the transmitter turned off? A jamming signal could not interfere with the Phantom's autonomous functions correct?

I could see losing control via the transmitter, but the Phantom should then just come back to the Home point and land.

Anyway, I'm not quite as comfortable at my practice field now. Maybe they were just Droneaphobes trying to scare me off?
 
The outcome would depend on the model. P1 may act erratically as it has very little to protect it RF wise. P2NV would simply RTH. P2V would lose video. P3 would RTH.

Jamming is highly illegal. The FCC takes it very seriously, significant penalties, criminal prosecution, etc. https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/jammer-enforcement
 
Do you mean to say the P1 would act erratically until failsafe kicked in or BOTH before AND after?

What does RF have to do with autonomous flight? The Naza, compass and Naza integrated GPS do not require any RF internally in the 2.4GHz band.....do they? Aren't all three self contained devices that do their jobs and THEN receive or transmit only as needed to communicate with the controller?

Or, is there some internal communications still necessary that could be affected?

I thought that because of that, even the P1 would be virtually immune to jamming once failsafe kicked in? On the other hand, if GPS were in the 2.4GHZ band I could see it....but GPS operated in the 1500Mhz range right?

Being highly illegal won't stop people in the least. Jammers wouldn't be available if people weren't buying them. I commend the FCC for taking it seriously but they can't police every instance.
 
Do you mean to say the P1 would act erratically until failsafe kicked in or BOTH before AND after?

What does RF have to do with autonomous flight? The Naza, compass and Naza integrated GPS do not require any RF internally in the 2.4GHz band.....do they? Aren't all three self contained devices that do their jobs and THEN receive or transmit only as needed to communicate with the controller?

Or, is there some internal communications still necessary that could be affected?

I thought that because of that, even the P1 would be virtually immune to jamming once failsafe kicked in? On the other hand, if GPS were in the 2.4GHZ band I could see it....but GPS operated in the 1500Mhz range right?

Being highly illegal won't stop people in the least. Jammers wouldn't be available if people weren't buying them. I commend the FCC for taking it seriously but they can't police every instance.

That's a good question. I have experienced GPS jamming when using my Boscam 2.4ghz FPV system on my FC40 (it won't catch more than 4-5 satellites if I try to use a cloverleaf antenna on it). Mind you, this is after I copper-taped EVERYTHING. So there's a possibility.
 
Thats a ******* move on their part to meet someone at a practice field and say "nice drone bro, my buddies got a jammer that can bring it down."

Regardless I'm 100% sure it would just RTH. Off-Putting, YES, but I wouldn't let it get to you from using the field.
 
People feel the need to say something about things they know little about. Makes them feel special I suppose. Maybe he's jealous he can't have one cause his bro would bring it down.
 

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