Distance issues

[Jon3151]

Hi, very new to drone flying and new to this webpage so hi everyone. It’s day 2 of being a pilot of my mavic mini and I love it and am enjoying Getting to learn all about it. My main concern at the minute is loss of signal issues. This has happened on both days of flying, not sure if I’m doing anything wrong but on day 1 it lost connection at 360m and day 2 around 200m. Both times I was flying around 35m altitude. Max distance is set a lot further away so not that. Both flights were in separate wide open areas with no obstructions. Any help appreciated.

 

[bumper]

Can't help directly, but keep in mind that the antenna/s need to be kept at close to right angles to the drone for max signal. Also, Europe doesn't allow the same signal strength as is permissible in the USA, so a lot of the "range reports" you can only drool over if you fly legally.

 

[Jon3151]

Thanks for the reply, I’ve been keeping the antennas at 90 degrees but was unaware of the European restrictions compared to the US. have you got any links I can read up on this. Many thanks again for your response

 

[fificap]

Hi,

Do a test with the phone or tablet in airplane mode to see if there is a difference (for me and my samsung s7 it does !).
Another trick is to manualy choose a wifi chanel on 5Ghz band , usually less busy than 2.4Ghz chanels.

Then maybe your area is "noisy"... you can do a seach on the forum about yagi antenna.

@+
Let us know

 

[Jon3151]

Hi,

Do a test with the phone or tablet in airplane mode to see if there is a difference (for me and my samsung s7 it does !).
Another trick is to manualy choose a wifi chanel on 5Ghz band , usually less busy than 2.4Ghz chanels.

Then maybe your area is "noisy"... you can do a seach on the forum about yagi antenna.

@+
Let us know

Hi thanks for the reply, I forgot to mention the flight on day 2 was with my iPhone 8 in flight mode and this was the day I lost reception at around 200m. I didn’t realise the European drones were limited to 500m but even so I’m only getting half of that. Doing research into the different bands I can fly in.and hope to get further transmission soon

 

[Shaun1983dji]

I am getting he same with my drone

 

[RichR]

Don't forget you're also legally limited to visual line of sight in UK/EU, which is less than 500m for a small drone anyway.

I get warnings about low signal at 150m unless I make sure the flat part of the antennas are pointing at the drone. Also if you're near houses with wifi, that often reduces the range.

 

[Craig Notts]

Hi, very new to drone flying and new to this webpage so hi everyone. It’s day 2 of being a pilot of my mavic mini and I love it and am enjoying Getting to learn all about it. My main concern at the minute is loss of signal issues. This has happened on both days of flying, not sure if I’m doing anything wrong but on day 1 it lost connection at 360m and day 2 around 200m. Both times I was flying around 35m altitude. Max distance is set a lot further away so not that. Both flights were in separate wide open areas with no obstructions. Any help appreciated.

Hi there these distances

Hi thanks for the reply, I forgot to mention the flight on day 2 was with my iPhone 8 in flight mode and this was the day I lost reception at around 200m. I didn’t realise the European drones were limited to 500m but even so I’m only getting half of that. Doing research into the different bands I can fly in.and hope to get further transmission soon

Hi there
These are are about the same distances that I got from stock in a town setting in with the UK CE lower powered version. The mini will do far better in the countryside maybe upto 2km it just depends from flight to flight , they all differ with varying conditions. There is a hack you can use to switch to full FCC American power which I always use. The best YouTube clip for this is on tech drone media. Type In Mavic mini FCC hack. This should double your power. I have also added in upgrade antenna called a 4hawks and this will double up again ie 4 X UK power. The furthest I have managed to fly so far is 3.25 km in the country but I can average 1.2-1.5 km in a town setting . Many on here will tut tut to this info though. Hope this helps.

 

[Shaun1983dji]

How much did it cost for the 4hawks and I can only get a few hundred feet in Distance then I lose Signal should this be happening

 

[Shaun1983dji]

And where did you get the 4hawks from thank you

 

[Craig Notts]

How much did it cost for the 4hawks and I can only get a few hundred feet in Distance then I lose Signal should this be happening

It does depend on how much WiFi interference is around your choice of flying site. If you are flying over roof tops that will hugely affect it. You will get maybe 5-10 x better distance over farmers Fields ect . The FCC hack I mentioned will also help maybe X2 but it is a bit of a nuisance to do as you will sometimes have to keep redoing it if it reverts back to normal.
You get the 4hawks from hobbymounts.co.uk .There are 2 to choose from
The smaller SR is about 120 pounds
The larger XR is about 130 pounds but more bulky.
The xr gives the greater range. Both kinds have to wired in to you controller which you can do yourself. When things get back to normal it's best to experiment with different flying sites as your results will vary greatly.

 

[DanMan32]

The higher you fly, the more range you'll get. Much less interference up there.

 

[Shaun1983dji]

Ok thank you craig

 

[Shaun1983dji]

How far do you get in Distance with just the 4hawks and how do you put your mavic mini in America mode Craig thank you

 

[Craig Notts]

How far do you get in Distance with just the 4hawks and how do you put your mavic mini in America mode Craig thank you

To be honest I always fly with the hack and 4hawks together. I seem to remember one flight when the hack had uninstalled and I lost almost half of my range but my range does vary quite a bit anyway. To get the hack look at the you tube clip on tech drone media. Type in Mavic mini FCC hack. That shows the clearest way to do it .If you are still struggling message me back and I will try to type it out for you.

 

[Shaun1983dji]

thank you Craig

 

[Shaun1983dji]

Can you still do the hack with the drone on iphone 11 or does it have to be a android phone

 

[Craig Notts]

Yes android to do the hack but then you can use iPhone afterwards to fly

 

[Arnu69]

Yeah in residential area ( I'm in London ) best I get is about 700m but when there's less people online and less WiFi interference it goes further. Certainly in rural areas I get quite a bit further. Don't forget all these people working from home in the lockdown with there laptops.

 

[Shaun1983dji]

Ok thanks Craig