Does anyone try a range test for your new p4p? I did but totally disappointed><"

[John Locke]

That's crazy, such a huge difference between two P4s. What altitude above sea level are you?

On another note my p4p goes 30mph with OA.

I'm in So. Calif, it's not an elevation issue, always less than 1000'MSL. I'm perplexed also, but I'm glad to hear the P4P will do 30mph with OA enabled. And I'm starting to think the range of P4P is acceptable too. Initial reports weren't so good, but more are coming out with good range. Have you been able to test your P4P with clear LOS, with no trees in the way? If yes, what was your range achieved?

 

[F3honda4me]

I'm in So. Calif, it's not an elevation issue, always less than 1000'MSL. I'm perplexed also, but I'm glad to hear the P4P will do 30mph with OA enabled. And I'm starting to think the range of P4P is acceptable too. Initial reports weren't so good, but more are coming out with good range. Have you been able to test your P4P with clear LOS, with no trees in the way? If yes, what was your range achieved?

Farthest I have gone is 6500 feet so far. No issues to that point so could have gone farther. This was traveling over flat ground with trees, fields, etc. I noticed mine switched from 5.8ghz to 2.4 when I got way out there, so the auto select seems good.

 

[smiller]

So far my range seems to be a lot further than I have any interest in flying an $1800 drone.

 

[GadgetGuy]

So far my range seems to be a lot further than I have any interest in flying an $1800 drone.

What difference does it make that it costs $1800? Is it any better if it crashes at say 6500 feet away as opposed to 4.3 miles? It's still toast! Either the failsafes work or they don't. The only relevant factor is battery level. Even in a worst case scenario, at 4.3 miles away, it should still have plenty of battery power to RTH, in the event of signal loss or transmitter failure. Besides, the aircraft with battery and microSD card inside only represents $1130 of the $1800, when you factor in the $600 cost of the P4P+ transmitter, and the $70 cost of the 100W charger, which both survive any crash. At least that's the way I look at it. Trust the technology!

 

[kennedye]

If you add lighting to your Phantom to meet the three nautical mile visibility rules, then you are by definition capable of maintaining visual line of sight as far as 18,000 feet, give or take.

 

[IBV]

Did anybody actually measure the RF output of the bird? This seems more relevant than Tx power from the RC.. Anyway if dji would have made it for very long range they would make a switch to 1200MHZ or 900 band but as long as batteries are not good enough this is only useful for fixed wing planes like this from rangevideo. Actually a good combination with a drone for up to 5km and this plane for up to 40km.

 

[D-Fresh]

Mind my French but that ******* horizon is horrible!

I second that.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I second that.

Hopefully, a firmware update can correct the horizon issues. It did with the P4 and the P3P.

 

[John Locke]

Did anybody actually measure the RF output of the bird? This seems more relevant than Tx power from the RC.. Anyway if dji would have made it for very long range they would make a switch to 1200MHZ or 900 band but as long as batteries are not good enough this is only useful for fixed wing planes like this from rangevideo. Actually a good combination with a drone for up to 5km and this plane for up to 40km.

I think the RC transmit power is very relevant. If you lose your control signal connection, that will automatically disconnect the video feed, simultaneously. This triggers RTH after three seconds of no connection. This is the problem with the P4 radio, the transmit power of the RC is much weaker than P3P. You won't notice this unless you have owned P3P.

With P3P (GL300A) you rarely lose control signal, you always lose video first, which is less risk than losing the control signal connection. The P4 signal integrity and transmit power of the control signal from the RC just isn't as good as the P3P using GL300A RC. My P3P would always go farther than my P4 when comparing stock controllers.

When measuring the video signal from the craft I found the P4 to have a slightly better signal than P3, but that doesn't help when the control signal to the P4 Peters out, which then terminates the video connection.

 

[IBV]

I think the RC transmit power is very relevant. If you lose your control signal connection, that will automatic disconnect the video feed, simultaneously. This triggers RTH after three seconds of no connection. This is the problem with the P4 radio, the transmit power of the RC is much weaker than P3P. You won't notice this unless you have owned P3P.

With P3P you rarely lost control signal, you always lose video first, which is less risk than losing the control signal connection. The P4 signal integrity and transmit power of the control signal from the RC just isn't as good as the P3P. My P3P would always go father than my P4 when comparing stock controllers.

When measuring the video signal from the craft I found the P4 to have a slightly better signal than P3, but that doesn't help when the control signal to the P4 Peters out, which then terminates the video connection.

I agree that RC Tx is relevant but easy to fix with amps whereas the Rx side is determined by the bird's amps. With amps and directional antennas you can run out the battery easily. I thought to get an I 2 testing their 4g network control option. With 5g network comung soon the lag is also mimimal. Only if tjese batteries would hold 40-50minutes..

 

[smiller]

This is the problem with the P4 radio, the transmit power of the RC is much weaker than P3P.

The P3P RC RF output is specified as 20 dBm (or 100 mw) and the P4P is specified as 26 dBm (or 400 mw.)

 

[John Locke]

The P3P RC RF output is specified as 20 dBm (or 100 mw) and the P4P is specified as 26 dBm (or 400 mw.)

If the specs you state are for the RC, they are simply wrong. The real world distance performance along with my field measurements prove the opposite is true in comparison, P3P is stronger than P4 controllers. If you measure the RF output from these RCs (GL300A and GL300C) when linked to their matching craft you will discover the truth.

 

[smiller]

If the specs you state are for the RC, they are simply wrong. The real world distance performance along with my field measurements prove the opposite is true in comparison, P3P is stronger than P4 controllers. If you measure the RF output from these RCs (GL300A and GL300C) when linked to their matching craft you will discover the truth.

I seriously doubt the specs are 'simply wrong', although they may perhaps differ from your own experience with the units you tested with. There's an important distinction there.

And when you say you measured, what equipment did you use? Measuring RF field strength at 2.4 GHz and above takes some pretty specialized test equipment and expertise. Or did you mean that it seemed to you to be a certain way during anecdotal flight experience? Again, a big distinction there.

 

[IBV]

I seriously doubt the specs are 'simply wrong', although they may perhaps differ from your own experience with the units you tested with. There's an important distinction there.

And when you say you measured, what equipment did you use? Measuring RF field strength at 2.4 GHz and above takes some pretty specialized test equipment and expertise. Or did you mean that it seemed to you to be a certain way during anecdotal flight experience? Again, a big distinction there.

I don't know which one is stronger and luckily I don't need to car cayse I use amplification with AGC. Field measuing is indeed ver complex and standards are required. Direct RF measurements however can tell you something
I think John Locke triedbti shortcut the field by holding the omni antenna close to the bird's antenna when measuring the bird.(was it?). For the RC direct signal measurment is working fine. However, this whole measurement pricedure doesn't help much if the RC is using link depending AGC..
In my recent test only 7dbm ended up at my amplifier using 4m highflexx cable. 7dbm is eniugh to get the amps rocking at full gain (Tx). I agree on that there are surely differences between the RC models. Also there might be different algorithms for AGC and channel switch being used that have impact on the strength of the link...

 

[ringolong]

Finally got around to my first flight today, and my p4p does seem to have better range than my p4 did. I only flew out 6700 feet, but I flew to an area that I could not fly my p4 out too with my inspire remote that has the dbs mod antenna installed. Will test more on my next flight since I did not have much time.

 

[ginola73]

Range wise the bird is relying on its remote frequency the 2.4g and 5.8g.. 5.8g is good for short distance but for long distance you MUST switch to 2.4g..

My experience with 5.8g gives me less than 1km range... with 2.4g so far it gives me 2.4km (due to height restriction i wasn't be able to add the more KM)

 

[ginola73]

In the same location and route, the results are as followings:
P4: 4km
Mavic: 3.3km
P4p: 1.4km
Unbelievable ...........

Switch to 2.4g.. then you will see the distance..

 

[Snowwolf]

Now I have set it to 2.4 and not the unusable 5.8 it's been brilliant for distance, not had one low signal at all, far better than my P4

 

[maseman88]

Now I have set it to 2.4 and not the unusable 5.8 it's been brilliant for distance, not had one low signal at all, far better than my P4

I get far more range using 5.8 lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[F3honda4me]

New personal "highest" the other day, 10,000 feet. I notice that I just leave mine set to "auto" for the frequency and if it starts at 5.8ghz it will auto switch to 2.4ghz at some point once I get too far out for 5.8 to work effectively.