Cell Tower interference?

[SteveNunez]

Hey guys, my Blade Chroma has issues when flying anywhere near cell towers- how well do the Mavics do when flying in proximity to cell towers?
(Before anyone says, "don't fly near cell towers" I'm merely asking how does the Mavic react when in proximity to cell towers?)

I don't make it a habit to fly around cell towers but they are popping up everywhere and many of the local parks now have a CT around and I've noticed the behavior of the Chroma goes nuts- so wondering about the Mavic as it's a much newer model and presumably better with spurious RF (cell range) noise.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Hey guys, my Blade Chroma has issues when flying anywhere near cell towers- how well do the Mavics do when flying in proximity to cell towers?
(Before anyone says, "don't fly near cell towers" I'm merely asking how does the Mavic react when in proximity to cell towers?)

I don't make it a habit to fly around cell towers but they are popping up everywhere and many of the local parks now have a CT around and I've noticed the behavior of the Chroma goes nuts- so wondering about the Mavic as it's a much newer model and presumably better with spurious RF (cell range) noise.

A cell tower in general emits a huge amount of EM radiation. That will likely cause significant interference since the Mavic operates in the 2.4GHz band.

 

[vas67]

Check this video out at 1m 50 I fly to about 50m from cell tower, no probs at with control or video link. I actually didn't realise until I was reviewing the footage, I knew it was there but completely forgot during this flight.
There was no drama's maybe I was just lucky?

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[Cyberpower678]

Check this video out at 1m 50 I fly to about 50m from cell tower, no probs at with control or video link. I actually didn't realise until I was reviewing the footage, I knew it was there but completely forgot during this flight.
There was no drama's maybe I was just lucky?

Sent from my iPad using MavicPilots

Where's the cell tower? I don't see one.

 

[vas67]

Where's the cell tower? I don't see one.

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[Cyberpower678]

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That's not a cell tower. Cell towers are much larger than that.

 

[sonof40]

It IS a cell tower.

 

[Cyberpower678]

It IS a cell tower.
View attachment 6233

That's a cell tower, but what he pointed to looks like a local radio broadcasting antenna.

 

[greymonkey]

Could be a lighting rig for the footballer pitch?


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[SteveNunez]

Sonof40- yep- those look like the cell towers around here in south Florida.

 

[vas67]

Definitely a cell tower, it's the Three network in UK.


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[Cyberpower678]

Definitely a cell tower, it's the Three network in UK.


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That was shot in the U.K.? In that case I don't know what I'm talking about.


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[vas67]

That was shot in the U.K.? In that case I don't know what I'm talking about.


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You can't tell by the photo but you will see in the video the cars are on the wrong side of the road, well at least as most of you guys are concerned




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[Cyberpower678]

You can't tell by the photo but you will see in the video the cars are on the wrong side of the road, well at least as most of you guys are concerned




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I never paid attention to that. I was just looking for the tower.

 

[DronOfDestiny]

It worked several times taking off and landing, on the last flight the drone started behaving strangely. We were staying at an airbnb with a cell tower on the roof and I wanted to fly But I gave it up in an effort not to loose the drone or accidentally fly it threw someone's window.

 

[Cyberpower678]

Cell towers produce heavy interference. When I was flying in Thailand I got no more 200m range before my signal was lost when I was near one.

 

[ksull72487]

Absolutely, I flew with a ton of them. I got interference and was very spurratic in where I received. I was able fly but got the message more frequently and lost video closer than I did fly in some other directions. This is a hit or miss thing not all towers will have a big impact some will.

 

[rydfree]

Cell tower transmissions as well as other radio tower transmissions can cause damage to internal electrical devices even if not immediately apparent . . I have flown near them in the past but with only cheap foamy planes . Sometimes I noticed erratic behavior and sometimes not . You take your chances . It probably has a lot to do with how much activity it has at the moment . I've seen a TV tower take out a receiver on a RC plane in an instant from 100 yards out . Looked like it had been microwaved .
It's not that it interfers with the signal directly , it's what it does to the tiny circuits inside the craft that's the issue . Doesn't really matter the frequency you are on .

 

[rydfree]

BTW , around here a lot of cell towers look like trees . The community makes them camo the darn things !

 

[raymo]

Cell towers come in all sizes. Depends on topography and the coverage the distributor wants. How about a 300-400 foot cell tower like are installed on the prairies. These would not fly in a rural setting due to environmental constraints. The nasty ones are microwave towers where the signal is concentrated and directional. Fly into one of those beams and ... zap! The cell tower in this video is readily identified as such, even here in North America.