GPS questions

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Hey everyone! I just recently received my P3A and I love it! I live in the states but I'm currently on vacation in Italy. I brought it with me because I figured I could get some pretty awesome shots. I fired my bird up because I wanted to take it out for a spin but after letting it warm up I wasn't connected to any satellites so I didn't have GPS. I thought of this before but after lots of googling I couldn't find any results so I figured I'd just wait and see. Is it possible I was just in a dead spot or is it pretty much garunteed than I won't get a sattelite signal in Italy? I do have experience with quadcopters so I can fly in atti mode if i have to but I would feel more comfortable if I had GPS.
 
I would wait quite a while for the bird to find sats.
 
Is it possible I was just in a dead spot or is it pretty much garunteed than I won't get a sattelite signal in Italy?

Sorry but I have to ask - are you outdoors?

I haven't flown either of my P3s in Italy, but I have gone geocaching in Italy. Milan and Venice specifically. I didn't have any issues acquiring sats. Granted my Garmin handheld is not a Phantom, but a Phantom should also have no trouble acquiring sats in Italy.
 
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Sorry but I have to ask - are you outdoors?

I haven't flown either of my P3s in Italy, but I have gone geocaching in Italy. Milan and Venice specifically. I didn't have any issues acquiring sats. Granted my Garmin handheld is not a Phantom, but a Phantom should also have no trouble acquiring sats in Italy.

No worries haha yes I was outdoors. I was on the roof of my building but it is surrounded by taller buildings that are made of concrete so I'll go to a more rural area tomorrow and give it a shot!
 
The U.S. GPS system and it's evil bro, the Russian's GLONASS are both utilized in your P3A for positioning. The word, global is the key here, so yeah, both systems work no matter where you're at.

Having said that, the GPS receives the latest ephemeral (satellite positioning) data about every thirty minutes. Two bits says that when you fired it up in Italy, it was using the last data from where ever it had last acquired a position and was confused. Turn it on and let it sit for five minutes before cranking power.

Let us know.

SB
 
I do live in Italy (close to Venice), and GPS signal is no problem. I went to the states (NYC) in April and brought my P3A with me, and I had GPS signal lock there as well. Same in France, the last year.
I am telling this because I am pretty sure that wherever you buy your copter, it can fly worldwide with no problem.
Honestly I am quite surprised by your experience.

Give your bird enough time.
 
No worries haha yes I was outdoors. I was on the roof of my building but it is surrounded by taller buildings that are made of concrete so I'll go to a more rural area tomorrow and give it a shot!
How much of the sky was visible to your Phantom?
If the surrounding tall buildings obscured a significant part of the sky, they are blocking satellites too.
 
How much of the sky was visible to your Phantom?
If the surrounding tall buildings obscured a significant part of the sky, they are blocking satellites too.
Not a lot. There are tall buildings on two of the four sides around me so there they do block a decent amount of sky. I'm going to take it out to the country today and see how it does
 
Just a quick update. I took my P3A out to the country and gave it about 10 minutes and before I knew it I was connected to 13 satellites! Thanks for all the responses everyone!
 

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