DBS dramas, help needed

[eospro]

Hi all.
At my local oval I used to get a range of about 200m with my phantom 3 standard. Then one day range was reduced to approx 100m at best. It would usually say I lost video feed then disconnected, although I still had full control. Most of the time it would reconnect at about 20m. I purchased the DBS antenna mod and installed carefully. Now I get to about 30m and I get disconnected but appear to still have full control. I left the bird on the ground and could walk at least 50m away without any signal loss, but as soon as I take off I loose signal and then it says disconnected. I have triple checked all connections and tried a different device. I have also recalibrated several times and always do the compass dance. I have not crashed or landed heavily. Very frustrated, any advice welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[dirtybum]

I would replace the cables first[emoji41]

 

[eospro]

The cables from the DBS, I just checked them with a multimeter all appear ok.

 

[dirtybum]

Have you tried a complete new area? One of my favorite flying spots, where I can fly for miles, wouldn't let me take off the ground without signal loss for a whole week, I've flown there many times since

 

[eospro]

Will try this next week. Fingers crossed. Thank you.

 

[Oldthor]

One of the big problems with the P3S is RF interference. Depending on the area and direction you are flying having a new higher gain antenna like the DBS Intelite or Augtek may have less distance than a stock set-up in certain situations. Look at it this way, it's physics and you don't get something for nothing, as gain goes up beamwidth narrows which means the antenna becomes more directional making it more prone to misalignment. RF interference not only affects the controller but also the drone, both send and receive rf signals and while a higher gain antenna on the controller may help block interference to the controller it does nothing to help the drone in noise rejection. When interference is within the beamwidth of the controller antenna is will be amplified just like the signal from the drone. Before ruling out outside interference you should fly the drone in multiple locations as you may not have a antenna defect at all. They're are just so many variables that can cause this issue and you can rule out outside interference as a cause by flying multiple remote locations. As a side note if you aren't using your cell phone to fly shut of the wifi , I've actually had interference caused by my cell phone and shutting off the wifi got rid of my signal loss instantly. The issue was repeatable.

 

[eospro]

One of the big problems with the P3S is RF interference. Depending on the area and direction you are flying having a new higher gain antenna like the DBS Intelite or Augtek may have less distance than a stock set-up in certain situations. Look at it this way, it's physics and you don't get something for nothing, as gain goes up beamwidth narrows which means the antenna becomes more directional making it more prone to misalignment. RF interference not only affects the controller but also the drone, both send and receive rf signals and while a higher gain antenna on the controller may help block interference to the controller it does nothing to help the drone in noise rejection. When interference is within the beamwidth of the controller antenna is will be amplified just like the signal from the drone. Before ruling out outside interference you should fly the drone in multiple locations as you may not have a antenna defect at all. They're are just so many variables that can cause this issue and you can rule out outside interference as a cause by flying multiple remote locations. As a side note if you aren't using your cell phone to fly shut of the wifi , I've actually had interference caused by my cell phone and shutting off the wifi got rid of my signal loss instantly. The issue was repeatable.

Reminds me of my old cb radio days, where you would pick up random interference as you drove through towns or near broadcasting stations.
I can't really fly anywhere too remote around here, but I will certainly try a few different locations and see how it goes. And will turn my phone wifi off.

 

[Ohiowoodsman]

One of the big problems with the P3S is RF interference. Depending on the area and direction you are flying having a new higher gain antenna like the DBS Intelite or Augtek may have less distance than a stock set-up in certain situations. Look at it this way, it's physics and you don't get something for nothing, as gain goes up beamwidth narrows which means the antenna becomes more directional making it more prone to misalignment. RF interference not only affects the controller but also the drone, both send and receive rf signals and while a higher gain antenna on the controller may help block interference to the controller it does nothing to help the drone in noise rejection. When interference is within the beamwidth of the controller antenna is will be amplified just like the signal from the drone. Before ruling out outside interference you should fly the drone in multiple locations as you may not have a antenna defect at all. They're are just so many variables that can cause this issue and you can rule out outside interference as a cause by flying multiple remote locations. As a side note if you aren't using your cell phone to fly shut of the wifi , I've actually had interference caused by my cell phone and shutting off the wifi got rid of my signal loss instantly. The issue was repeatable.

How is supposed to shut off wifi when the p3s runs on wifi? Airplane mode helps though

 

[eospro]

I use a tablet to fly the p3s so therefore I can disable my phones wifi.

 

[Ohiowoodsman]

I use a tablet to fly the p3s so therefore I can disable my phones wifi.

GOTCHA, makes sense now

 

[eospro]

Many thanks to Dirtybum & Oldthor . Managed to get out to some reasonably open space and give the bird a proper DBS mod test after a shocking test at my local park. Full signal and 4 bars for video link at 500m. Oh, I also went back to firmware 1.57 (or whatever it is). Very happy with this and will probably not update the bird again, unless some amazing features. Once again thanks everyone for the advice.

 

[Oldthor]

How is supposed to shut off wifi when the p3s runs on wifi? Airplane mode helps though

What I meant was to shut wifi off on your cell phone if you are not using it to fly. In my case I use a Nvidia Shield K1 while flying so I shut off my cell to prevent interference.

 

[Chad Humphries]

I posted in another topic that I just installed the DBS Mod this past weekend myself. Below are my results with windsurfer, DBS and DBS with Beta Firmware all with flights at 400ft elevation and in the same direction where i get less interference. So, I know that interference in an given direction can cause issues. In other directions I'm only able to get as far as 2000-2500 ft. The flights below were in as straight a line as possible. It is interesting that the before and after Beta firmware results were about 700ft shorter but the 6500ft run was at night. I'm curious if night flying is better in general or if this was just a coincidence or possibly new firmware.

Previous best with only a Windsurfer - 5085ft
Installed new DBS Mod yesterday (no amps) - 6500ft last night which showed that the DBS Mod appears to help
Installed .0084 Beta Firmware today and got 5838ft in the same general direction.

 

[Ohiowoodsman]

What I meant was to shut wifi off on your cell phone if you are not using it to fly. In my case I use a Nvidia Shield K1 while flying so I shut off my cell to prevent interference.

lol, yeah l figured that out makes sense now