Smashed old Distance record

Ed Hahn · Sep 16, 2018

To begin with I live in central N.J. Its hard to find a good place to fly any distance without any interference.
Well yesterday I did. My record before yesterday was 6,500ft. I went to the western part of N.J. My first
flight I got 7,500ft. with the small Omni directional antennas.(I do have the switch system from Titan) The second
flight I got 10,000 with the panel. The third flight I got 16,000ft. with the Large Omni. Holy Shi...
I could not believe it. Three miles !!! And I probably could have gone farther,But I got nervous and turn
around. I do fly a p4 its over two years old.My friend with his p4 pro with stock antennas went over 20,000
ft. and the bird turn itself around saying low battery go home. Great day it took me over two years but I
finally got some good distance.

John1960 · Sep 16, 2018

Nice one

Brockrock · Sep 16, 2018

It’s kind of addictive isn’t it. I enjoy long flights with my P4 standard as well and do so only flying south over the water. Initially, wind really bothered and scared me, but this summer there were lots of days when the wind was directly out of the south and I would head out low until 50% bat and then turn, switch into ATTI, and return while climbing into the upper winds. I’ve seen return speeds in the 60’s. So far 3 miles is my max but since I usually land with 30% bat, I could probably push a bit more.

Ed Hahn · Sep 22, 2018

Here is question for you. When you go for long distance and your battery is low is it better
to just fly back normal or put it in sports mode and get back quick ?? Now I know it depends
on a lot of things,So maybe the question should can you go farther in sport mode?? I know
it eats up the battery quicker but can you get more distance?

Geoelectro · Sep 22, 2018

Ed Hahn said:
Here is question for you. When you go for long distance and your battery is low is it better
to just fly back normal or put it in sports mode and get back quick ?? Now I know it depends
on a lot of things,So maybe the question should can you go farther in sport mode?? I know
it eats up the battery quicker but can you get more distance?

In the past I read some had tested this to see what speed was the most effecient. I don’t remember if it was the P4 or not but I seem to remember that a speed was determined to provide the best distance. Might want to search this out. I wish I could remember the speed.

Geo

John1960 · Sep 23, 2018

From what i can recall it seems that 30mph is the most efficient speed

Geoelectro · Sep 23, 2018

John1960 said:
From what i can recall it seems that 30mph is the most efficient speed

That’s what I remember.

Geo

DenMac · Sep 24, 2018

Ed Hahn said:
To begin with I live in central N.J. Its hard to find a good place to fly any distance without any interference.
Well yesterday I did. My record before yesterday was 6,500ft. I went to the western part of N.J. My first
flight I got 7,500ft. with the small Omni directional antennas.(I do have the switch system from Titan) The second
flight I got 10,000 with the panel. The third flight I got 16,000ft. with the Large Omni. Holy Shi...
I could not believe it. Three miles !!! And I probably could have gone farther,But I got nervous and turn
around. I do fly a p4 its over two years old.My friend with his p4 pro with stock antennas went over 20,000
ft. and the bird turn itself around saying low battery go home. Great day it took me over two years but I
finally got some good distance.

Hey Ed congratulations I too live in central New Jersey and have limited places to fly. How do you get your nerve up to fly past let’s say 3000 feet when you can’t see the drone anymore I’ve been flying for two years had two drones I get past 2500 feet and I’m as nervous Nellie. I have a phantom 4advance it’s just hard for me to trust a drone getting past that distance.Where I can’t see it anymore. But congratulations again man that’s a hell of an accomplishment

Ed Hahn · Sep 25, 2018

DenMac
You just go a little farther each time you fly. If you are getting 2500 now, Try for 3000
Take your time it took me over three years to get that far. You said you live in NJ. too
Maybe someday you can meet up with us. I fly with two other guys. When you see
someone else get some distance right in front of you It gives you more confidence to
go for it.

John Locke · Sep 25, 2018

Wow Ed, that's pretty good distance with the GL300C RC. Even with a windsurfer I couldn't get 2 miles reliably using GL300C. I ended up using a GL658A RC from an Inspire. That Inspire RC has much better transmission power for the control side, not sure why. My P4 with the GL658A flies similar range to my P3P, about 3mi range. Recently I installed the Itelite panel antenna on my GL300C and it went 3 miles on the first test, but ran out of battery. I forgot to put in my higher capacity P4P 5840mah battery in the craft, so I need to redo the test with more juice. With an Itelite antenna with no amp, my P4 works pretty good now. Your Titan setup with amp should be even better.

With that kind of distance, you can now climb some pretty high mountains. Assuming you have old firmware from before July 2017, you can alter the flight parameter to climb above 500m (1640'). I've made climbs of 3800' above home point while climbing a mountain that's 14,250' MSL high. The view was amazing that high, about 50' above the mountain top.

tevek · Sep 26, 2018

Geoelectro said:
In the past I read some had tested this to see what speed was the most effecient. I don’t remember if it was the P4 or not but I seem to remember that a speed was determined to provide the best distance. Might want to search this out. I wish I could remember the speed.

Geo

I did some tests some time ago when chasing some distance. I found that in my case running in sport mode was less efficient both in controlling direction and a constant speed than running at a steady 50kph/30mph in P-GPS. I ran the test over 1 klm stints trying out out a variety of modes and the results were pretty consistent regarding battery performance and flight times.

Ed Hahn · Sep 26, 2018

Tevek THANKS

DenMac · Sep 28, 2018

Ed Hahn said:
DenMac
You just go a little farther each time you fly. If you are getting 2500 now, Try for 3000
Take your time it took me over three years to get that far. You said you live in NJ. too
Maybe someday you can meet up with us. I fly with two other guys. When you see
someone else get some distance right in front of you It gives you more confidence to
go for it.

Ed that’s what I’ve been doing a little at a time. I live in pt pleasant and fly over manasquan river My dream is to fly out over the inlet and film some surfers.but get nervous flying over water.i think it’s about trusting your AC like you said it takes time.
Yes that would be great to fly with seasoned pilots.just let me know next time you go.

Blue Sky’s

DroneTurismo · Oct 1, 2018

That's crazy and now I dont feel unsure of myself when I tell people they can travel at least a few miles.

phxbird57 · Oct 1, 2018

Ed Hahn said:
To begin with I live in central N.J. Its hard to find a good place to fly any distance without any interference.
Well yesterday I did. My record before yesterday was 6,500ft. I went to the western part of N.J. My first
flight I got 7,500ft. with the small Omni directional antennas.(I do have the switch system from Titan) The second
flight I got 10,000 with the panel. The third flight I got 16,000ft. with the Large Omni. Holy Shi...
I could not believe it. Three miles !!! And I probably could have gone farther,But I got nervous and turn
around. I do fly a p4 its over two years old.My friend with his p4 pro with stock antennas went over 20,000
ft. and the bird turn itself around saying low battery go home. Great day it took me over two years but I
finally got some good distance.

great to hear you are getting some distance. I have a panel I made up my self . I have not had any problems with . As long as I keep it pointed correctly. I've popped out to 22k with still good signal and not boosted. If I feel the need I do have his big brother a pair of CCP's that was gone through. With help from Pro97.