Wow! Almost lost it my bird!

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I am not an experienced pilot, I don't get out enough but it is great fun. Went out this evening having re-charged everything this morning (I do read your posts!), and upgraded the firmware/software on everything. First battery went well, no problems. Swapped and decided to take it our towards some ships. After 2km, 'no signal' came up on the display (clear line of sight) but then it behaved differently from what I thought; it was (apparently after watching the video just now) just sitting out there for 3-4 minutes. Then when I though it had ditched itself (I tried pressing the home to base button but it just said 'failed') suddenly the distance start counting down and it said it was returning to home! It took another few years of my life (and some real minutes) before I saw the happy 2 red lights in the sky at the pre-programmed 30 meters return height. My controller still said 'no contact', I cancelled the home function and tried to land it, but it only responded to up/down, not forward, so I took it down in gently in a bush..

Curious why the controller kept saying 'no contact' when obviously it was receiving information regarding distance?
 
What tends to happen is Video is lost first and the on screen message does suggest contact is lost, which can spark a change of unwise decisions ;)
Usually you do still have control still at this point, if you are sure of its orientation you could pull it back towards you, or tryi climbing higher - normally you might as well press RTH until it gets close enough for video link to re-establish.
RTH actually takes a little while to 'engage' and it's tempting to press it again - which will cancel it.
It's well worth getting familiar with the feature at close range so you cansee it working.
You can also initiate RTH by simply turning the controller off.
Provided it set the Home Point correctly and has enough power it WILL come home.
 
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Thanks, yes I have tried the function (at safe distances) but I still don't understand why the 'no signal' remains even after it is clearly wihin a few meters? Started my career as a SW coder, so 2 questions comes to mind: why does the controller say 'no signal' if it still has some contact (as per your above example) and why when the bird is clearly close, why does the controller still say 'no contact'?
 
Understanding RTH is critical to safe flying.
There are three pages on it in the manual.
Read and understand it then go to an open area, fly 100 feet away and try it out a couple of times.
Learn how to initiate RTH and how to cancel it and resume control.
Then when you need RTH, you'll know what to do.

No signal means there is no video signal to the app but you still have full control.
 
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I think you will find they are two different functions. One control and the other video. Theyncsnmwork independent of each other.
 
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Thanks! My bad. I would suggest wording like 'no video' being better than 'no contact' but that's probably just me! Appreciate your feedback. I guess I have to RTFM...
 
Still, dont' understand why as the bird returned it should have come back on line? It showed 'no contact' until I landed in in a bush.
 
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Had the same no signal deal on the ground. Turned on remote, then the P3. Shortly after video goes blank with no signal message. I chalked it up to a buggy DJI GO app.
 
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The P3 is a sophisticated item of electronics and programming.
There's a lot of reading to do if you want to fly safely.
Still does not address my questions:
1. Why does the controller say 'no signal' if it still has some contact? It should say 'no video'
2. When the bird is returning and clearly close, why does the controller still say 'no contact'?

I fly over water to be sure I fly safe (i.e. not to hurt anybody or hit anything), but there are some bugs in the SW, I saw that first hand today.
 
1. Why does the controller say 'no signal' if it still has some contact? It should say 'no video'
That's just the way it is. You'd have to ask the DJI app programmers.
It means that your app has lost video contact although you still have control.
2. When the bird is returning and clearly close, why does the controller still say 'no contact'?
Several possible reasons. Hard to say for sure.
Your app had not reconnected. Perhaps pulling the cable and reconnecting would have fixed or maybe closing the app and restarting it?
Maybe your antenna wasn't aimed well at the Phantom - (flat sides of the antennas directed toward the Phantom).
 
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That's just the way it is. You'd have to ask the DJI app programmers.
It means that your app has lost video contact although you still have control.

Several possible reasons. Hard to say for sure.
Your app had not reconnected. Perhaps pulling the cable and reconnecting would have fixed or maybe closing the app and restarting it?
Maybe your antenna wasn't aimed well at the Phantom - (flat sides of the antennas directed toward the Phantom).

Thanks,

1. Understand but just stupid. Have never been a big fan of "that's just the way it is", when it is clearly ... stupid.
2. That is a software problem. I have worked for Microsoft; the whole 'reboot', just doesn't work for me. I dont' want to pull cables and I don't want to restart apps. This is a SW problem.
 
DJI are a saint compared to Microcost when it comes to bad software!!!
There are plenty of things with Microsoft that are plain wrong but you learn to live with them - that's just the way it is! Think of the hard drive limits and FAT restrictions to name a tiny handful.
I am glad your bird came back in one piece. Nice photo where is that?
 
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Hey, the photo is from Brighton, VIC, Australia!
(and yes, that was such stressfull minutes! thanks!)
 
I should have guessed it was OZ. Cars driving on the proper side of the road - looks British but the sun is shining lol. We have had 3 weeks of 70 - 90mph winds here and torrential rain and no end in sight! No wonder we all keep moving down under!
 
I'm glad I've never experienced the aforementioned however, I learned many new things from this thread including that turning off the controller will automatically trigger RTH. Thanks to 4WD and others for providing such helpful information.
 
I have worked for Microsoft; the whole 'reboot', just doesn't work for me.

I will laugh at this for years to come.....I am laughing out loud right now. I have had to reboot Windows soooo many times in my life...

Also many times when friends or coworkers have Microsoft problems I always tell them to reboot first and 99% of the time it fixes it.....still laughing....

Don't get me wrong, I make some mini apps and know how rebooting resets everything back to a known state, so it makes sense that it remedies issues. It has fixed issues with PS3, my router, cable modem, vehicles..... I just find that statement extremely humorous....Great picture by the way....
 

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