FC40 how to tell distances away?

mikey · Jul 20, 2014

Howdy all. I just received my FC40 yesterday and took it for its first two flights today. Absolutely love this thing.

My question: many people in the forums talk about the range they are getting with their machine, 200m, 300m, 645ft etc etc. - how do you know on the fc40 how far away you are? Do I need to add components to gain this feature? The only app I know of is the fc40 camera app for FPV.. I can't see anywhere from with in the app to get this kind of information.

Please help - thank you.

robinb · Jul 20, 2014

Welcome to the upgrade path.

Yes you need some extra internal bits to give you distances.

Lonewolf · Jul 20, 2014

One of the easiest and cheapest ways is to reset your limits. Try setting your altitude & distance settings in your NAZAM Assistant to say 100 meters. Once your Phantom reaches that set limit it will not exceed it The setting will act as a barrier that cannot be crossed. Once you have an idea of how far that is, move up to higher limit settings to give you a better perspective. Remember though, be careful of FAA rules. Flying above 122 meters (400 ft.) in the U.S. is against FAA rules and can get you into trouble.

J.James · Jul 20, 2014

be careful of FAA rules. Flying above 122 meters (400 ft.) in the U.S. is against FAA rules and can get you into trouble.

actually I hear people say its against the rules or even against the FAAs laws. But the FAA dont have jurisdiction on hobbyists and they also don't say you Cant fly over 400ft and instead its advised or suggested that you don't fly over 400 feet and advise that if you do and out informing the local air traffic control that you intend to and were about.

Not saying its a good idea or any thing to fly over 400 feet. But just pointing out that the FAAs guide lines and safety suggestions are just that suggestions and guidance. But when any one hears that some thing is against the law thats not. For one it makes people think there is some how laws and that makes them think that some goverment authority such as the FAA has already deemed them to be some type of a danger and then that gets people scared of them.

SimonH78 · Jul 20, 2014

Simple-Get a GroundStation.... ! It will tell you exactly how far and how high!

darwin-t · Jul 20, 2014

Flytrex has a live info device now, I guess. I saw it on their web site, but it is much too expensive for me to buy it, so I didn't look further.

J.James · Jul 20, 2014

does the Ground Station work for the fc40????

dteca · Jul 20, 2014

yes it does. it is fun to use. i have set waypoints at certain heights just to see what it looks like. it will give you great idea of heights and distances.

dragonash · Jul 20, 2014

dteca said:
yes it does. it is fun to use. i have set waypoints at certain heights just to see what it looks like. it will give you great idea of heights and distances.

wait, groundstation works for the FC40?

Is this an app for a phone or a laptop?

darwin-t · Jul 20, 2014

In my town, a block is 100 yards long. You can usually get an idea from surrounding streets. You can also use Google Earth to measure distance using their aerial view.

darwin-t · Jul 20, 2014

dteca said:
yes it does. it is fun to use. i have set waypoints at certain heights just to see what it looks like. it will give you great idea of heights and distances.

I,too, want to know about Ground Station.

mikey · Jul 21, 2014

Thanks everyone. Lots of great ideas. Also seems my answer has been answered in that if one wants to get the actual distance you need to make mods (flytex or ground station) to your setup. It's a shame each of those options seems to be around the $200 mark.

Today I took my phantom up high enough that I lost my FPV.. or at least that's why I thick I lost the connection... I was disappointed that when I came back down (within 50ft) it had trouble connecting again. not sure if perhaps it would have been wise to close the app and reopen it for a better connection?

darwin-t · Jul 21, 2014

That's about the only choice you have, and if the camera is recording, it won't reconnect - at least I was never able to do so.

You need to close the app, reconnect the wifi and then re-open the app.

If you get up high, remember to tilt the controller up - the antenna works best when the tip is perpendicular to the path between it and the FC40. It doesn't work well off the tip of the antenna.

The regular Flytrex is only about $60 with cable. It doesn't give you live information, but it DOES give you the exact path, height, distance from the home point, etc. Look at http://www.flytrex.com to see what kind of info you can get. You can export your missions to Google Earth and to Dashware, too.

J.James · Jul 21, 2014

The regular non live flytrax v2 is about $50 with the cable to hook it up to a phantom plus what ever it costs for a small sd card. about $5 more or so. But just the other day I seen some place selling the 1st version flytrax for $29 and the cable was another $9 or so. I thought that was pretty good price. I'll see if I can find it again.

mikey · Jul 21, 2014

Oh wow, ok thanks for the info. I didn't realize there were different versions. I guess it was the live one I was looking at. Hhmm.. 60 isn't to shabby...

J.James · Jul 21, 2014

here is the place that has the original flytrex on clearance for $29 http://www.floridauav.com/flytrex-core- ... d-phantom/ and here is the cable thats needed to install it on any of the phantoms. http://www.floridauav.com/flytrex-cable ... version-1/ I threw one of each in the shopping cart to see what shipping wold be and being the total on check out was only about $39 its looking like shipping is free to. So its a way good deal. and also if some one decides to by flytrex live flytrex direct from flytrex within 3 months of buying a flytrax they are giving $30 off.

Lonewolf · Jul 21, 2014

Generally on residential streets the fire hydrants are spaced 500 ft apart.

Bjornh · Jul 27, 2014

You can install Sport Tracer on your phone. Then you can walk or cycle the distance and it will tell you distance.Great program for exercise. It is a bunch of other GPS programs on GPlay or I store for this also.

Bjornh · Jul 27, 2014

mikey said:
Thanks everyone. Lots of great ideas. Also seems my answer has been answered in that if one wants to get the actual distance you need to make mods (flytex or ground station) to your setup. It's a shame each of those options seems to be around the $200 mark.

Today I took my phantom up high enough that I lost my FPV.. or at least that's why I thick I lost the connection... I was disappointed that when I came back down (within 50ft) it had trouble connecting again. not sure if perhaps it would have been wise to close the app and reopen it for a better connection?

The camera must be fully charged for best performance. But the SD card is still recording. Use of WIFI range extender is discribed n forum elsewhere and Youtube. Tried it, not so much better than stock. Guess it will depend on price quality of the WFI Extender-

ChrisV · Jul 27, 2014

Before I order the the Flytrex thats on clearence for $30 I just want to make sure that it will work for my FC40 which I just prchased. It is 5.8ghz and has been connected to the software which already had the most current version. Will I run into any problems if I install the one on clearence? I believe I will need to also buy the cord for the phantom and will have to open up the body, correct?

Thanks!!