Weak signal at 3000 feet distance

[grantiago]

I've been flying my phantom 3 pro for about a year. I'm not getting anywhere near the distances of 5km, as stated in the specs. It is more like 1000 meters and I start getting a green screen and then no signal.

Most of my flying has been on the coast of mexico. Where there in no electricity. no wifi. no nothing. I'm currently in the Outback in Australia where there is nothing at all. Same thing here: same distance problems at 3000 feet. I have a clear line of site. no wifi. no electricity. Lots of kangaroos however.

I am going to calibrate the IMU after I finish this post. Any other ideas?

 

[tevek]

You haven’t mentioned the type of device (android or iOS) you are using, the video settings or at what height you are flying. 5km is quoted in an ideal environment and not often achieved in real life given a bunch of variables. I use iOS and drop the transmission rate to 4 mbps to ease the workload on my device and film in 1080, green screen issues are largely gone and fly at the maximum height allowed under CASA to get the best performance. I’m not getting into a VLOS discussion but I’m good for much better than 1000mtrs as long as you pay attention to antenna orientation. The first thing I notice is video signal loss but no issues with control signal.

 

[grantiago]

Thanks for you post. I'm using an android: samsung galaxy s5 v. 6.0.1. It has been de-bloated and the ram runs at about 50%.
I had previously reduced the transmission rate in the go app. Whatever the minimum was. I can't remember. I am flying in airplane mode. The antennas are vertical and I keep them oriented to the AC.

The only reason I mentioned where I am flying is to show I am in what should be, what I believe to be, ideal flying conditions: no tree cover, flat, no metal structures, no wifi, no cell signal, no cell phones - other than mine.

Thanks again

 

[tevek]

Thanks for you post. I'm using an android: samsung galaxy s5 v. 6.0.1. It has been de-bloated and the ram runs at about 50%.
I had previously reduced the transmission rate in the go app. Whatever the minimum was. I can't remember. I am flying in airplane mode. The antennas are vertical and I keep them oriented to the AC.

The only reason I mentioned where I am flying is to show I am in what should be, what I believe to be, ideal flying conditions: no tree cover, flat, no metal structures, no wifi, no cell signal, no cell phones - other than mine.

Thanks again

No worries, are you losing control or video signal? If it’s the former, it’s possibly device related, the latter leans towards the controller. Again, if it’s the former, I had a lot of issues early in the piece using android and switched to iOS as it gave far few issues particularly with each update of the app getting bigger and bigger.

 

[RunningWithScissors]

I'm using an android: samsung galaxy s5 v. 6.0.1.

I'm also using a Galaxy S5 running Android 6.0.1, with 3gb of available memory for both my P3S and my P4. Flying over rural open farm land (some trees, very few houses, mostly LOS), I can routinely get 6000 - 7000' with my P3S. Sometimes the video drops out by then, or RTH kicks in. In all fairness, I have had the P3S out to 9000'+ before RTH kicked in. I'm working out some issues with the P4 but, in early tests, I have gotten 2.5 miles with it. And that's using the S5 described above. Even though advertised range is under optimal conditions, I'm not sure how much more optimal your current conditions could be. Still, I would agree that you should get a lot more than 1000 meters under your current conditions, but I'm not convinced that the problem is with the Galaxy. One way to rule that out would be to borrow an approved Apple device to see if the problem disappears. If you still have problems, I wouldn't rule out a problem with the AC, either firmware or hardware. I honestly don't think the kangaroos are the problem. Good luck.

 

[grantiago]

I'm also using a Galaxy S5 running Android 6.0.1, with 3gb of available memory for both my P3S and my P4. Flying over rural open farm land (some trees, very few houses, mostly LOS), I can routinely get 6000 - 7000' with my P3S. Sometimes the video drops out by then, or RTH kicks in...

Thanks for the s5 experience. I don't think it is a phone issue.

I recalibrated the IMU, even though it said IMU OK, and flew out to 2300 meters before losing the video and control. Those were with lots of structures, wifi etc. So if anyone else is having trouble like this give the IMU calibration a Try.