Range affected by phone signal

Adaaam75 · Apr 29, 2020

Hi guys,

Now I'm actually on here I can ask those niggly questions that have been bothering me for a while so here's another one...

The range of my Mav Pro is significantly less than others achieve/what has been demonstrated on Youtube etc. Even my friend who lives in a large city achieves good range but the video feed to my phone goes blocky after a certain distance and I get a loss of signal. Am I right in saying this is due to my own phone signal or is it something else? I've found the best angle to have the controller antenna at and I usually have a decent 4G signal. The drone uses Occusync and there are usually 15+ satellites so that's not the issue. Is it just the area I'm in? Is it actually the phone signal or potential interference?

Please put my mind at ease and tell me if there's anything i can do to improve range (within CAA guidelines of course!).

ratjr15 · Apr 30, 2020

Your phone's signal should have no noticeable effect if any at all. They say having wifi on can cause some interference problems, but I've never heard of the cell network causing them. There are many things you can do to improve the range, from buying the cheap reflector "dishes" that mount on the antennas to modding the firmware to boost the signal. Just search.

CactusJackSlade · Apr 30, 2020

What angle do you have your antennae? For distance they should look like the photo I attached... and yes, "reflector dishes" help, not only to concentrate the signal. but help to diffuse stray RF from behind the antennae

Meta4 · Apr 30, 2020

Adaaam75 said:
Am I right in saying this is due to my own phone signal or is it something else?

The colour of your shoes has about as much influence as your phone signal.

MAvic_South_Oz · Apr 30, 2020

Meta4 said:
The colour of your shoes has about as much influence as your phone signal.

Oh great ! I can start getting shoes other than black to fly.
I was sure black was a radiation absorbing material (RAM), favourable to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) in many situations.

OP, besides antenna position and trying to avoid urban wifi etc, LOS for signal is up there in significance.
If you are flying out low, the further out, the more trees, building, terrain (hills) etc will start to cause signal blockages.
Try flying from a high point where the LOS to the drone is clear, or if flying from a lower area, keep some altitude to maintain a strong signal.

Do you notice the signal fading on the Go4 signal meter ?

Adaaam75 · May 1, 2020

So basically I can put my phone in flight mode and it should have no bearing on the flight?

I did look at the antenna add-ons as a result of a very conclusive test demonstrated on you tube made with brass but then I saw others on Amazon that were an aluminium based and wondered if they were poor quality copies.

Either way I'll try all the above and see if the results improve [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

ratjr15 · May 2, 2020

Adaaam75 said:
So basically I can put my phone in flight mode and it should have no bearing on the flight?

I did look at the antenna add-ons as a result of a very conclusive test demonstrated on you tube made with brass but then I saw others on Amazon that were an aluminium based and wondered if they were poor quality copies.

Either way I'll try all the above and see if the results improve [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

The only thing I'd be aware of is when going in/out of airplane mode, I have lost ctc with the remote controller temporarily (scared me a bit, as ac was in the air at the time and I was still new and knew very little of how it moperated). I believe re-attaching the cable and re-opening the app solved it. Worst case, I had to restart the phone.