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Achieving maximum distance

ajohnymous

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Oct 15, 2019
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Walland, TN
I'm kinda new to drones, and got into the hobby with the Mavic Mini. I've been taking it out into the woods, a remote 65 acre piece of land with a 1 acre field in the middle. At 150 feet up, I've only been able to get it out about 1700 feet before the RC loses connection with the drone. I'm so remote out there I'm sure wifi interference isnt the issue. Is it the trees? If I went higher, would I go further? Any settings I could tweak to get more out of it? Its a great drone, but I'm a bit disappointed I cant get closer to what the DJI posted specs for distance are.
 
Imagine you could see the drone at 500m (you cant) but would it be blocked by the trees? If so YES the trees will be blocking the signal. 5.8ghz doesnt go well through "stuff" and trees will block that quite well.

If you go up you should get a bit more clear sight and you will be able to "see" it and should get out further.

Even with far less power I can get double your distance on the same frequencies but I'm in the clear and can effectively "see" the drone without any obstruction.
 
'Damp' trees with wet needles or leaves will block radio frequency even more than when dry.
 
Remember you need to be able to maintain VLOS visual line of sight.
Without that it will also affect you signal distance.
 
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No. Get into the clear as those trees will be sucking up all of your RF.
This is one of those times that the FCC model isn't as good as the CE model but even with 2.4ghz you'd still suffer.
 
...Is it the trees? If I went higher, would I go further? Any settings I could tweak to get more out of it? Its a great drone, but I'm a bit disappointed I cant get closer to what the DJI posted specs for distance are.
Trees absorb and scatter signals, another reason to keep it in VLOS. Try it at 400 feet to see if it improves.

Any distance specs from any manufacturer will be under perfect conditions (yours are not).
 
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