I know most of you guys are from the US, which allows for the FCC transmission standard. I would like to know what is your experience flying behind trees and buildings, if the signal drops quickly.
FCC mode: signal behind the trees?
- Thread starter kentdavidge
- Start date
no to mention vols
If you lose sight completely, the signal will drop very quickly. For trees, it depends on density. In the winter, without leaves is one thing. Summer in full force is another. Buildings are not as forgiving. Elevation helps in some situations IE roof inspections.
If you lose sight completely, the signal will drop very quickly. For trees, it depends on density. In the winter, without leaves is one thing. Summer in full force is another. Buildings are not as forgiving. Elevation helps in some situations IE roof inspections.
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you will probably get a few good replies from the folks who fly behind trees and buildings using a spotter
Felix le Chat
Well-Known Member
Based in Britain with one drone set to CE and two others 'adapted' to permanent FCC.
With hard barriers between the controller and drone, there is a fast drop in transmission strength followed by an immediate loss of signal. With soft barriers (trees/foliage) there is a marginally longer period of increasing/varying attenuation followed by signal loss.
Does FCC power offer a more stable control signal where physical attenuation from either hard, or soft barriers is present? If it does: it is only marginal.
Signal penetration would be best if drones could transmit on 1.2ghz, next best band for this is the 2.4ghz band, but with every WiFi/Bluetooth device on the planet shoehorned onto the 2.4ghz frequencies, signal reliability will only ever get worse.
Is there a noticeable difference with signal quality between older drones (Ocusync 2) and newer models (O3/3+/O4)? A definite YES but you'll still get signal drop with the circumstances you've described.
The ideal workaround for this would be to use the 4G dongle, which would maintain signal in heavy urban areas, but whether you could use this legally depends on what country you live in.
With signal attenuation/block: you'll lose live video feed first. Then the control signal craps out. What happens after you lose control signal? As long as you've got it set up right.. you'll be sending Frank Wang a 'thank you' card for RTH.
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CE or FCC makes little difference.
Radio waves don't pass through rock, steel, concrete etc
The water in trees and other vegetation also blocks radio signals.
If you have enough vegetation between your drone and controller, you lose signal.
DARKSeifer
Well-Known Member
Haha, no.
The difference between CE and FCC is huge, specially under 1Km radious and up to around 3Km.
From there on the performance will be more dependent on the clearness of the line of sight, distance to the ground, obstructions and interference.
IE I could reach the battery bottleneck of around 9Km with both FCC and CE, but under 1Km I don't even have to point the controller to the drone to get 4-5 bars in FCC, while on CE I need to be constantly pointing the controller and the slightest obstruction will completely kill the signal, specially past 500m.
FCC is basically the lazy mode, it has way more penetration at close range than CE, but ofc, it's not like flying with the 4G dongle, it also has its limitations.
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But it won't penetrate the impenetrable, like concrete, steel, or thick enough vegetation.
Trees covered with leaves are a real signal killer. If I'm standing in a forest, the video feed from my Mavic 3E starts flickering after only 1300 feet or so. This is less of a problem with conifer trees than deciduous since there is less water in the conifer needles.
In the winter, there is little attenuation when the leaves are off the trees.
Around my home, the houses don't block much of the signal since they are mostly dry wood. Anything with metal though and it kills the signal pretty quickly. I was only a couple of hundred feet away flying my drone around a water tower which was all welded metal and as soon as it got to the other side, I got a "signal blocked" warning, although I still had control and was glad that I made RTH higher than the tower in case I lost control.
If you are flying a Matrice drone, you can use two controllers and "hand off" control of the aircraft to another pilot on the opposite side of a building that may block your signal. Useful for facade inspections or real estate photo/video.
Felix le Chat
Well-Known Member
You can do the same 'hand-off' trick with the Mavic 2's... They're set up for dual controller operation too.
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