P4 range issues

dougsteph · Jan 3, 2017

I have been unable to get past 2500ft with my new P4. I live on a hill in a very rural area. It doesn't make any difference what direction I go. The range is within a couple hundred feet of the same. I have tried over a lake as well, with the same results. I tried a wind surfer and didn't see any improvement still got the lost signal returning to home error. Any ideas?

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tevek · Jan 3, 2017

Well you should be able to do better than that. With 'enable maximum distance' turned off, make sure that your RC antennas are parallel with the legs of the drone and you are pointing at it as best you can. Try increasing your height to ensure that there is nothing interfering with the signal (adjust your RTH accordingly). I live in a heavily forested area and need to get right up out of the way of the trees to get reasonable distances.

dougsteph · Jan 3, 2017

tevek said:
Well you should be able to do better than that. With 'enable maximum distance' turned off, make sure that your RC antennas are parallel with the legs of the drone and you are pointing at it as best you can. Try increasing your height to ensure that there is nothing interfering with the signal (adjust your RTH accordingly). I live in a heavily forested area and need to get right up out of the way of the trees to get reasonable distances.

I have all of those things setup as you noted and have tried 200, 250, and 300 ft AGL with no difference.

tevek · Jan 3, 2017

dougsteph said:
I have all of those things setup as you noted and have tried 200, 250, and 300 ft AGL with no difference.

Have you had a look at your image transmission settings. Mine is set to custom and on channel 20 as there was quite a bit of interference on the auto default setting. Not much around where I live but interference nonetheless. I won't mention the height I regularly fly at, but it's considerably higher than yours for exactly the reason you are having problems. I have done an antenna mod to my P4 but prior to that, was achieving 2000-2500mtrs regularly before I started losing signal. Keeping an eye on the signal strength, I would keep raising the height until i got the signal back and keep going.

Boog0822 · Jan 3, 2017

I was looking upgrading from the P3S to a P4 due to range concerns. Now this gives me pause...

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tevek · Jan 3, 2017

Boog0822 said:
I was looking upgrading from the P3S to a P4 due to range concerns. Now this gives me pause...

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I wouldn't be too concerned, I sold my PS3 as the wifi issues drove me insane. The P4 is a very good unit and is streets ahead of my old girl. There are many reasons for range issues with any of the phantoms and you just need to work through them. There are many good solutions to be found on this forum and they have saved me many times. If you look at some of the distances some folk on here are getting with both modified and standard set ups, there is enough confidence in the P4 platform.