Phantom 2 and WIFI signals

[hughsnews]

Hi Guys,
I am just curious if anyone knows of, or has done any tests, with the Phantom 2 and wifi interference. I am not so much talking about GoPro Wifi connectivity, I mean wifi from wireless routers.
I am an archaeologist and I am possible going to be flying my quad overseas in a few months.
One site is the size of about 2-3 tennis courts(about 50m wide 100m long) between two buildings. I would only be taking my quad up maybe 30m, and was curious if errant wifi from within the nearby buildings might cause issues for the Phantom2?

Does the gp3 only interfere simply as it is RIGHT up against the phantom?

Any information would be awesome as I can only seem to find info on GP3 issues.
Cheers

 

[ianwood]

Proximity is everything. Because your GoPro is right there, definitely keep it's WiFi off! It is proven to cause problems when on. When it comes to WiFi networks in the vicinity causing problems, the risk is a lot lower.

I flew the Phantom back and forth in front of my office the other day where you can pick up 30 or 40 hotspots at any given time. The day before that I also flew the Phantom on the LA river between two rows of 450,000 volt power lines where the Phantom was drifting a fair bit more than normal but was still controllable.

I have a Futaba TX/RX but the stock setup has really proven itself to be very good on the P2. People are getting 5km of range with it.

 

[hughsnews]

Proximity is everything. Because your GoPro is right there, definitely keep it's WiFi off! It is proven to cause problems when on. When it comes to WiFi networks in the vicinity causing problems, the risk is a lot lower.

I flew the Phantom back and forth in front of my office the other day where you can pick up 30 or 40 hotspots at any given time. The day before that I also flew the Phantom on the LA river between two rows of 450,000 volt power lines where the Phantom was drifting a fair bit more than normal but was still controllable.

I have a Futaba TX/RX but the stock setup has really proven itself to be very good on the P2. People are getting 5km of range with it.

Thanks for the response.
Yes I never have the GP3 wifi on. I don't ever need it so no point.
My primary question was about wifi signal hotspots. So you don't think that wifi routers will have much of an affect on them?


I suppose the main thing is once you go outside a building, the wifi signal decreases in power dramatically so it's unlikely to affect the phantom?
Anyone else fly a lot in areas with large WIFI signals?

 

[Fink]

Proximity is everything. Because your GoPro is right there, definitely keep it's WiFi off! It is proven to cause problems when on. When it comes to WiFi networks in the vicinity causing problems, the risk is a lot lower.

I flew the Phantom back and forth in front of my office the other day where you can pick up 30 or 40 hotspots at any given time. The day before that I also flew the Phantom on the LA river between two rows of 450,000 volt power lines where the Phantom was drifting a fair bit more than normal but was still controllable.

I have a Futaba TX/RX but the stock setup has really proven itself to be very good on the P2. People are getting 5km of range with it.

Thanks for the response.
Yes I never have the GP3 wifi on. I don't ever need it so no point.
My primary question was about wifi signal hotspots. So you don't think that wifi routers will have much of an affect on them?


I suppose the main thing is once you go outside a building, the wifi signal decreases in power dramatically so it's unlikely to affect the phantom?
Anyone else fly a lot in areas with large WIFI signals?

I've flown right near downtown Orlando before where you can access 20-30 WiFi networks (some 2.4GHz and others 5GHz) and have had zero issues. Nice thing is these days, as technology improves, a lot of business are moving to 5GHz, at least here in Orlando. My company, where I manage IT, is now using 5GHz for all internal WiFi devices. This is likely not going to provide much relief for a while, but just about every mid-grade wireless router on the market today does offer dual-band technology, so it will indeed provide some relief.

Back to the topic...most wireless networking equipment does not work well when trying to send a signal vertically. Take your standard home WiFi network. If I am connected to my home network and start walking outside...I lose signal or at least see a dramatic drop in signal strength only about 20ft outside my front door. So even when at the same height as the router, the signal strength is not very strong at all. You'll notice most manuals state to put your router up as high as possible because the majority them provide more of a "blanket" signal. The odds of a residential WiFi connection broadcasting high enough vertically and wide enough horizontally to impact your Phantom is very slim. Definitely still something of which to be cognizant, but I wouldn't stress about it.

I do put my cell phone in Airplane Mode if I am using it to video the flight or if I have it near me when flying, just due to the proximity, but again, that's probably overkill.

Good luck!

Fink