Losing FPV @ 600-700 feet

[jaywoodz]

I have flown my Phantom enough to know that at around 600-700 feet, I lose FPV, and the annoying "signal lost" flashes on my iPhone. I freak out, move around where I'm standing, and sometimes even walk towards it just so I can gain control of what its seeing. What bothers me.. is when I see other people get well over 2,000 feet before losing signal. What am I doing wrong? Just to get these questions out of the way, I have great line of sight. As in, I can practically see the phantom with binoculars, no trees, few power lines, but not that close. I shot it off a hill, and flew it to a river that was in a valley type of layout. It went over, then down. I have LOS the entire time and still lose signal 600-700 feet away. Only about 100-200 feet high. Also, I even point the range extender at it.. still no improvement.

I've seen the iPhone app that 'boosts' the signal, but there's all kinds of negative reviews saying it decreased range. What upsets me even more, is that when it did work for the select few.. they said they had 1,500-2,000 feet BEFORE the app, and now they have another 500 feet of range. So what am I doing wrong?!

 

[Dirty Bird]

You can get two messages:

Phantom Connection Broken: This indicates you have lost FPV. Video & Telemetry are lost.

Control Signal Lost: This indicates the Phantom has lost communication with the controller. RTH will engage in 3 secs if control is not reestablished.

First, make sure your controller is in FCC mode, indicated by TWO BEEPS when you power on the controller. Make sure the LONG SIDE of the controller antenna is facing towards the aircraft. Never point the tip at the aircraft.

For the FPV side, always make sure the flat top of the Wi-Fi extender is pointed at the Phantom.

Are you already doing these things?

 

[flyNfrank]

You can get two messages:

Phantom Connection Broken: This indicates you have lost FPV. Video & Telemetry are lost.

Control Signal Lost: This indicates the Phantom has lost communication with the controller. RTH will engage in 3 secs if control is not reestablished.

First, make sure your controller is in FCC mode, indicated by TWO BEEPS when you power on the controller. Make sure the LONG SIDE of the controller antenna is facing towards the aircraft. Never point the tip at the aircraft.

For the FPV side, always make sure the flat top of the Wi-Fi extender is pointed at the Phantom.

Are you already doing these things?

Now I get to ride on your heals for a change.

D Bird is on the money. I do want to add that your quad will fly those numbers in time. Set you camera at the lowest setting. My quad has never been off the lowest quality setting. And that's because I know how much the higher quality robs you of reception. I flew 2900ft vertically with my quad 100% stock. I have mentioned this only one other time, but our quads have a feature that sets the quad in low settings until you make x number of flights. It is like safety feature put in place so the flying wont experience something they are not ready for being a new owner. I have bought 4 of these quads this year and lost two of them. The last two out of the box gave Lost Connections at 400ft. After a few flights that increased to around 700ft, then 900ft, then after 10 or so flights it was around 1200ft, then 1700ft, and then it stopped and went off of the normal. So, when I made it to 2900ft, those flights only came around every so often. Which says to me that there is something that determines the amount of signal power, wifi, 5.8, 2.4, ect...that it is going to allow you to use. If I had a 2900ft flight, I would have had 8 or 9 1700ft - 2000ft before hand.

When I installed the Vision + Pro Utility app I went 1st flight 4600ft everything else stock.

 

[jaywoodz]

You can get two messages:

Phantom Connection Broken: This indicates you have lost FPV. Video & Telemetry are lost.

Control Signal Lost: This indicates the Phantom has lost communication with the controller. RTH will engage in 3 secs if control is not reestablished.

First, make sure your controller is in FCC mode, indicated by TWO BEEPS when you power on the controller. Make sure the LONG SIDE of the controller antenna is facing towards the aircraft. Never point the tip at the aircraft.

For the FPV side, always make sure the flat top of the Wi-Fi extender is pointed at the Phantom.

Are you already doing these things?

Yes, I'm doing all of those. I have two beeps when I turn on my controller, they're quick beeps. I have it in FCC mode. What do you mean the "LONG SIDE" of the controller antenna facing towards the aircraft? I usually point it up to the sky like the manual says. I always point the flat part of the extender towards the phantom. I typically adjust whenever it moves farther away.

 

[rrmccabe]

He meant the side of antenna should be at the bird. The tip of antenna pointing towards bird is weakest point.

 

[jaywoodz]

You can get two messages:

Phantom Connection Broken: This indicates you have lost FPV. Video & Telemetry are lost.

Control Signal Lost: This indicates the Phantom has lost communication with the controller. RTH will engage in 3 secs if control is not reestablished.

First, make sure your controller is in FCC mode, indicated by TWO BEEPS when you power on the controller. Make sure the LONG SIDE of the controller antenna is facing towards the aircraft. Never point the tip at the aircraft.

For the FPV side, always make sure the flat top of the Wi-Fi extender is pointed at the Phantom.

Are you already doing these things?

Now I get to ride on your heals for a change.

D Bird is on the money. I do want to add that your quad will fly those numbers in time. Set you camera at the lowest setting. My quad has never been off the lowest quality setting. And that's because I know how much the higher quality robs you of reception. I flew 2900ft vertically with my quad 100% stock. I have mentioned this only one other time, but our quads have a feature that sets the quad in low settings until you make x number of flights. It is like safety feature put in place so the flying wont experience something they are not ready for being a new owner. I have bought 4 of these quads this year and lost two of them. The last two out of the box gave Lost Connections at 400ft. After a few flights that increased to around 700ft, then 900ft, then after 10 or so flights it was around 1200ft, then 1700ft, and then it stopped and went off of the normal. So, when I made it to 2900ft, those flights only came around every so often. Which says to me that there is something that determines the amount of signal power, wifi, 5.8, 2.4, ect...that it is going to allow you to use. If I had a 2900ft flight, I would have had 8 or 9 1700ft - 2000ft before hand.

When I installed the Vision + Pro Utility app I went 1st flight 4600ft everything else stock.

Wow.. okay so I think my camera settings are rather high. My preview quality is set to 640x480, 30 fps. I assume, that's too high? It's so strange that it changes with the more flying you do. That just doesn't make any sense to me. What setting should I make for the camera to have the longest connection, and distance?

 

[Dirty Bird]

What setting should I make for the camera to have the longest connection, and distance?

For the longest range, you want the lowest setting. I run at 640*480*15 and still get out thousands of feet. I've never tried the lowest setting I should test it once.

 

[rrmccabe]

here is pointing picture.

And keep in mind these lowering FPV resolution suggestions are only going to help if you are losing the Phantom signal. Not the control signal.

 

[jaywoodz]

What setting should I make for the camera to have the longest connection, and distance?

For the longest range, you want the lowest setting. I run at 640*480*15 and still get out thousands of feet. I've never tried the lowest setting I should test it once.

Okay, thanks. I guess that has some to do with it, but based on what you said, I run my at 30 fps, and I am only getting 700ish feet. Hard to believe that if I change it to 15fps, I'm going to be able to go thousands of feet.

 

[jaywoodz]

here is pointing picture.

And keep in mind these lowering FPV resolution suggestions are only going to help if you are losing the Phantom signal. Not the control signal.

That picture is spot on. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[rrmccabe]

I think its because you are trying to transfer more data with the higher FPV quality and losing the data in general. If you stream less quality there is more bandwidth available to maintain the data (phantom) link.

Thats my theory anyway.

 

[jaywoodz]

I think its because you are trying to transfer more data with the higher FPV quality and losing the data in general. If you stream less quality there is more bandwidth available to maintain the data (phantom) link.

Thats my theory anyway.

I agree with that theory. Still should be able to go more than 700 feet under any frame rate, I think.

 

[rrmccabe]

Probably as long as you are Los. I have lost connection at 400 because of trees!

 

[jaywoodz]

Probably as long as you are Los. I have lost connection at 400 because of trees!

Are trees a huge issue? I've flown with no trees in the way, and I typically lose at 600-700 feet.

 

[jaywoodz]

What even happens after you lose signal? Obviously the remote is still connected, so you just tell it to come home at that point?

 

[rrmccabe]

Depends on which signal. Phantom (fpv) just says it's lost and you don't see updates on phone. Control signal lost either comes back and you have control or you get the coming home message shortly after

And foliage on trees are an issue. Dense and wet leaves will kill you.

 

[jaywoodz]

I had previously asked about the wifi booster app that people are paying $9 for. Does that even work?

 

[burlbark]

This can also be caused by a failing wifi unit from temperature extremes. Get in there and do the heat sink mods. My own quad would give me 1000-1500ft and then get warm and give me 400ft. Not anymore... full range all the time.

 

[jaywoodz]

This can also be caused by a failing wifi unit from temperature extremes. Get in there and do the heat sink mods. My own quad would give me 1000-1500ft and then get warm and give me 400ft. Not anymore... full range all the time.

What heat sink mods are you talking about? It was about 70 degrees or so each time I've had that issue.. each time being every time that I've flown mine. I've done about 7-8 flights so far. Just got it 2 weeks ago.

 

[GustavL]

I am in exactly the same situation.

Maksimum range 250m. One of the previous posts states more flights, more distance. That is not correct! I have had over 80 flights and my distance has not increased.
Tested it a number of times in wide open spaces with little interference.