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Distance of my Mavic Pro

View attachment 38970..

Im sure many of you know this already, and as @ksmusa has said, make sure you are pointed toward the drone. If the drone is behind you, so is the zone.

To clarify even further.....,

I am not convinced this is technically correct. I believe there may be asecond optimal reception zone behind the RC antenna. I am sure someone from the Drone Mods area who plays around with after market antennas can set me straight. Thunder have you torn open a a stock antenna to see if there is a directional component to them?

Aren't the stock antennas omnis? So in theory the same signal pattern and strength would radiate out in a 360 ring around each antenna perpendicular to its axis. However because their are two antennas, (presumably one to transmit and the other to receive?) then arguably they may be interference between the two in the lateral direction. This would be when the drone is directly to the left or right of the RC. But with the antennas pointed vertically and the drone down range, either in front of or behind the RC the reception would be the same would it not? So two optimal zones. Beaming out from the RC 180 degrees apart.

I just did a rough test of this. Placed the drone in font of me at 100'AGL and 3km or 10,0000' down range. With antennas orientated vertically I could not discern any change in signal strength when I rotated the RC 180 to face away from the drone (5 bars). When at 90 or 270 degrees the signal strength meter monetarily dropped from 5 to 4 bars but usually climbed back to 5 again.

To me it appears keeping the antenna at right angles to the drone is the critical thing to do. Relative direction does not seem so important.
 
I believe there may be a second optimal reception zone behind the RC antenna.

Your belief might be correct, but there is a problem with the zone behind you. Unless a person has eyes in the back of his/her head, how will (s)he know the correct angle to position the antennae so that they are perpendicular to the drone if the antennae are omnidirectional? Flying in front of you at least gives you some perspective of where the drone might be and the proper angle to direct the antenna, controller, and your hand position. Flying behind you, which is usually a bad idea because of loss of LOS anyway, will not allow you to properly aim the antennae correctly. How can you tell what is perpendicular to your antennae if you cant see the drone? I realize you did it as a test. It seems like you are getting extraordinary range at so low an altitude and so far away.
 
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I live in West Virginia mountains here in the states. I am not getting but 1 mile at best I am thinking it’s the mountains and the foliage on the trees. Or at least I hope that’s the problem. In Flatter land and on the lake I am getting like 1.2 miles but I had my antennas pointing at a 45 deg instead of vertical and I think that was the problem while at the lake and there is foliage there as well. Any input on this open for information that could help me get range with my Mavic Pro. Thanks Stingray
 
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I agree it makes much more sense to fly a drone in front of you. I am simply observing that the reception appears to be just as good when it is directly behind the antenna too. With regard to pointing the stock antenna, I reckon so long as you keep them close to vertical there is probably little difference to how you orientate them when the drone is at a significant distance. It is only going to be a few degrees above the horizon. They will be perpendicular to my drone as long as they are vertical. As long as the drone is not in the 3 or 9 position relative the RC all good.

I was actually at 167' not 100' so I exaggerated a bit. 10,000' out though as you can see below. Solid Green on the signal strength the whole way. This was reflected on the RC too.
upload_2018-5-31_12-43-45.png

upload_2018-5-31_12-41-55.png

I am fortunate that there is very little to interfere with the signal where I fly hence the decent range. Farm land and Ocean. I also know it inside/out, so I have no problem knowing the azimuth of the A/C in relation to me.

upload_2018-5-31_12-51-22.png
 
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I am only getting a mile before my controller says weak signal adjust antenna. This is happening on a lake with one or two fly over wooded area. Is this normal or something that I can fix by maybe changing frequency or something else? And I am in RC mode. Thanks for the help....
wh
I am only getting a mile before my controller says weak signal adjust antenna. This is happening on a lake with one or two fly over wooded area. Is this normal or something that I can fix by maybe changing frequency or something else? And I am in RC mode. Thanks for the help....
large water bodies reflect radio waves, when flying beyond or behind a tree forest radio signal is interrupted as we all know water flows through the body of a tree, I guess that is the reason of your signal loss

regards

Martin
 
In Mexico I could fly out across the ocean approx 2 miles without a glitch however inland I lost signal over a marina which was less than 1/2 mile away. As it turned out the problem may have been the sun as the MP went a bit crazy when the sensors were blinded by the sunshine. Also there were some communication towers in the area so one or both affected the reception. In general I have learned to disable the sensors for all but the risky shots as they seem to cause issues at the wrong times.
 
Yes I have flown in other areas with about the same resolute. Yep facing the drone with both antennas at a 45 deg facing the drone. Just seems like it should do the 3 miles that I see everyone else getting. I thought I needed to change something in my setup maybe?
Antennas should be at 90° to the drone - the LENGTH of the antenna should face the drone for the best signal .... NOT 45°.
 
I am only getting a mile before my controller says weak signal adjust antenna. This is happening on a lake with one or two fly over wooded area. Is this normal or something that I can fix by maybe changing frequency or something else? And I am in RC mode. Thanks for the help....
LOL! Just the opposite for me. The range on my mavic freaks me out! I get well over 2 miles and the signal remains strong. I only turn around when I start to freak out. I really think it is actually capable of what they say it is.
 
I have a extra controller that Titan drones installed a atlas amplifier on and it will let you fly until you have to turn around and make it back before the battery dies. Made it 13,000 feet once. Had to put Lume-X cubes on it to see the light for VLOS. I highly recommend it. I actually lost my drone in a river because of the metal in the bridge made my compasses go crazy and lost control. Couldn’t find it. So may sell my amplified controller and Lume-X cubes and DJI racing goggles and cases. Also have wires to run a line outside the window of your car and a antennae mount for the antennae that sticks to the window. Since I lost my platinum mavic I probably will sell if anyone is interested in an amazing setup.
 
Ok I have learned everything from you guys and YouTube. I am new to this and I am having a blast just a big learning curve. You guys have been a great help for sure. I will try to point the antennas straight up and see if that helps. I seen on YouTube where the guys says to point at a 45 that’s why I did it. But straight up makes more sense. Thanks
Hi, I think it depends if you're in the US or Europe. Here in Europe the controller signal is attenuated
 
Yes I have flown in other areas with about the same resolute. Yep facing the drone with both antennas at a 45 deg facing the drone. Just seems like it should do the 3 miles that I see everyone else getting. I thought I needed to change something in my setup maybe?
you might want to make sure that your antennas are at a 45° angle with the flat part facing the drone not pointing down and no you cannot change the frequency settings on the Mavic but I will Say you mentioned something about a lake keep in mind that large bodies of water and moving water creates an electromagnetic field not always the best place to test Range you want flat dry open area if you’re going to do range test and if you want to push the absolute most out of your range I have had good luck with directional extenders or better known as parabolic extenders just do your research on these before using one I have personally seen my Mavic at 26,000 feet away from me
 
I live in West Virginia mountains here in the states. I am not getting but 1 mile at best I am thinking it’s the mountains and the foliage on the trees. Or at least I hope that’s the problem. In Flatter land and on the lake I am getting like 1.2 miles but I had my antennas pointing at a 45 deg instead of vertical and I think that was the problem while at the lake and there is foliage there as well. Any input on this open for information that could help me get range with my Mavic Pro. Thanks Stingray

Every try going to the top of a mountain and fly the drone below you in the valley. To test your theory? Less mountain obstruction that way. Just a thought.
I was born in West “by God” Virginia (Nicholas county) love that place.
 
I am only getting a mile before my controller says weak signal adjust antenna. This is happening on a lake with one or two fly over wooded area. Is this normal or something that I can fix by maybe changing frequency or something else? And I am in RC mode. Thanks for the help....

I am confused.do you have good enough eyesight to see 1 mile? What about the vlos rule. I had one drone crash and when I loose sight of my DJI I get very nervous.
 
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