Need advice: 2.4GHz or stay at 5.8 for FC40?

[lake_flyer]

Hi all,

I just found out that the range of my FC40 is only 1000ft and then it goes into FS. I recently installed 900 MHz FPV and very quickly hit the limit. Before I only kept it LOS which was around 600-800ft.

The reason my radio limit is only 1000ft, is because I yanked off the connector of the antenna cable when I opened the radio, to reach the internal mini usb port, for a calibration. I had to solder it straight to the transmitter, couldn't use the connector because it was broken on the board. I suspected it would have a negative effect on the range and surely it does.

Now I want a new radio!
Question is, should I buy the new 5.8 Vision controller or would it be better to replace the receiver with a Phantom 1 receiver and get a 2.4GHz Phantom 1 radio?
I'm specifically asking about Phantom 1 because I can't find a Phantom 2 receiver anywhere. The Phantom 1.1.1 radio and receiver are quite cheap too. Together around 75 Euro.

How is the range of the P1 radio, is it comparable with the P2?

Thanks
Jan

 

[IflyinWY]

What did you decide to do, and why?

 

[lake_flyer]

Well, I decided to order the new radio/receiver. It was listed for 49 Euro for the radio and only 9 Euro for the Rx.

Guess what, last weekend it was beautiful calm weather and I thought why not give it an extra shot. It went well over 1800 feet!
I guess the ECC/FCC settings were messed up somehow. I have been fiddling with the range mode pot, I admit.
So I thought about cancelling my order. It would still take another 10 days for the shop to deliver, according to the order confirmation. I opened up my notebook to write an email to the shop and voila! They just happened to send me an email that the goods would be delivered the next day.
So I decided to wait and send it back (free postage).

Yesterday the package came and to my surprise it wasn't the regular P1.1.1 radio but the new upgraded NDJ6 with pitch wheel. The shop was out of stock of the older version and shipped me the new one for the same price (normal 99 Euro). I decided to keep it, because it would also be a great upgrade for my P2.

The receiver is still on backorder so I have to wait a little longer. Until that time I fly with a little more confidence with 5.8Ghz, knowing it still works as it should. But once the receiver is there, it's going to become a P1.

Control range is something I just don't want to have any doubts about. I don't want to get it into FS every time I do an FPV flight of over 600 meters. With goggles on, you are at that limit in no time. What if I just happen to lose satellites right on the end of the range. It wouldn't come home. It would go into FS and fly off to who knows where. I could switch it to Atti of course but it wouldn't make any difference if the phantom is already out of range.

I like the new controller. I bound it with my P2 to test out and it works great. The pitch knob is something to get used to. The gimbal snaps back into initial position when you let go of the wheel (springs back to middle position). But I calibrated it so that the gopro will just not show the the props with 4-8 degrees pitch.

Probably will bind the old P2 radio to the FC40 once I have received the Rx.

Anyhow, if you want a control range of well over 2Km or 6000feet with your FC40, for around 60 bucks you have the complete P1.1.1. 2.4Ghz radio system.
The 2.4Ghz radio/receiver combi from DJI turns out to be one of the most powerful systems out there, in terms of range (without modifications).