FCC vs CE comparison video

[Glen]

I'm about to put together a comparison video I've been slowly working on, doing test flights for max distance in my area where I usually get very bad signal interference (losing signal at 200m alt directly over head).

So what I'm going to do in this vid (and I want to know if anyone has suggestions on extra tests to include) is show test flights running my iPad mini (wifi) with GO 4 version 4.1.9 in CE mode, compared to my iPhone 6S Plus running app version 4.1.3 including FCC configs.

Mavic and RC are on .900 firmware.

So far I've recorded some tests with internet connected - I'm interested to see what happens if I don't have it on, as that seems to be a reason some stay back with firmware .700

I will test going back and forth between the two devices to see if the FCC mode switches back to CE or not each time.

I can say already that my test seems to have shown I get double the range with FCC mode. Actually I think my battery said to return home at the point I was running out of signal. But... the increased range flight was done on a different day to the first test runs, so I think I need to redo it again both on the same day to be conclusive... however several flights in the same spot on a few different days never gave me good range without horrible interference. So I was pretty confident it was the FCC mode working.

The signal interference seems to be different at various alt - sometimes worse at a higher alt... which I didn't expect at all...

Anyone got further suggestions on what they would like me to test while I'm making this vid? Or specific details they would like me to show in the vid?

 

[Haloweenhamster]

Try the 1.5w out of interest, will need sport mode on and have it full throttle

 

[Glen]

Try the 1.5w out of interest, will need sport mode on and have it full throttle

I live in Thailand, and right now it's summer, really hot and humid. So I'm staying away from anything that can lead to overheating. I've read a few posts about fear of overheating with the 1.5 boost. I would like to, but not here. Maybe when I go back to Aus in winter.

 

[Glen]

More testing today has caused me to think it was a freaky day of clear signal with no interference when I got double the range.
Doesn't seem to be any better now whatever I do with the two devices.
I tried the iPad first, 1.5k distance.
Then back to the iPhone with configs, same... but I hadn't shut down Mavvy and restarted when I changed iOS devices. So I brought her back and did a restart. Tried again, same result.

Brought iPhone back into the house and re-synced the config file through iTunes, re-tested, on airport mode just incase there's something weird going on with being online, but same results.

So now I'm pretty sure I never actually got FCC mode to work. Probably cant with .900 firmware...

 

[Glen]

Mail it down here to Tassie, i will test it for you hehe.

7.3c atm just gone midday. Freeze the you know whats off a brass monkey.

Will be interesting to see your results on video

Have you tried the 1.5 boost mode?

 

[Mako79]

Try Android if you are using Go App 4.1.0 and onwards .
FCC 1.5 boost changes (i believe) only work on Go app 4.1.0 or less.

 

[Haloweenhamster]

As soon as I have a bird able to take flight I'll see if I can get it to work, currently android 4.1.3, aircraft 900 or whatever the new core comes with, I'm thinking 2 weeks due to waiting on bits and work

 

[Glen]

No.

At the end of warranty i might look into some modding.

Has anyone got a comment on how far we can go before voiding warranty? FW rollbacks etc? I don't wanna void warranty either.

 

[Porto]

Force FCC doesn't work on ios 4.1.3. But I will stop there as we are not allowed to discuss about it here.

If you need more info on this, contact flyNfrank via private message

 

[Glen]

Force FCC doesn't work on ios 4.1.3. But I will stop there as we are not allowed to discuss about it here.

If you need more info on this, contact flyNfrank via private message

Thanks, interesting, I thought I was on the right version of the app for some reason.
Will leave it there for now then. I've PM'd flyNfrank thanks.

 

[4wd]

Maybe changing to and fro using configs file eventually confuses it.

 

[Glen]

OK I just did another round of intense testing.

Tested FCC Forced 25 with iOS 4.1.0 - RC FW .900 = no improvement and in the HD settings the signal freq was showing in the 24 range.

Downgraded FW of RC to .700 and tried again. Same results.

Deteted app from iPhone and reinstalled it as well as the configs file, same results.

Where to now? Go for drone and RC on same .700 firmware? Or try iOS app 4.0.6?

 

[luiz eduardo ribeiro]

I´m using DJI Go 4.1.0 for iOS and 0.400 firmware stock out of the box for RC and drone. Before installing the older DJI Go I had a lot of problems removing the newer version, there was always something left behind (I could go into storage settings and still see DJI Go) I then installed latest version again, erased the cache from within the app, log out and removed DJI Go using the storage settings menu. I waited a couple of minutes and then rebooted, verified that there was no more DJI Go stuff left behind and installed the 4.1.0 version. After this I rebooted again and connected to iTunes to load config files (just make sure they are the right ones with the right name, pretty easy to mix them up) using iTunes. My signal is way better, specially through obstacles like trees and buildings and range is improved I would say like 50%.

 

[Glen]

Before installing the older DJI Go I had a lot of problems removing the newer version, there was always something left behind (I could go into storage settings and still see DJI Go) I then installed latest version again, erased the cache from within the app, log out and removed DJI Go using the storage settings menu. I waited a couple of minutes and then rebooted, verified that there was no more DJI Go stuff left behind and installed the 4.1.0 version. After this I rebooted again and connected to iTunes to load config files (just make sure they are the right ones with the right name, pretty easy to mix them up) using iTunes. My signal is way better, specially through obstacles like trees and buildings and range is improved I would say like 50%.

That, my friend, is a great piece of advice! Thank you!
I will be quoting you on the other forum which doesn't have a problem with taboo subjects also! Maybe see you there! (forums.multicopterpilots. com)

 

[avielc]

Hi everyone
I'm raising this post from the dead due to my interest in the signal boost (going CE would be enough instead of the default 0.009W)
Any news about the latest version on iOS? I'm really interested to know how it goes there and if it can be done. (Came out just lately, firmware on drone 1.4.000)

Thanks!
@luiz eduardo ribeiro - I rather not personally bug you, so this mention is specifically for you since you've been testing and helping out.
Hope you can help a fellow droner here

 

[luiz eduardo ribeiro]

Hi everyone
I'm raising this post from the dead due to my interest in the signal boost (going CE would be enough instead of the default 0.009W)
Any news about the latest version on iOS? I'm really interested to know how it goes there and if it can be done. (Came out just lately, firmware on drone 1.4.000)

Thanks!
@luiz eduardo ribeiro - I rather not personally bug you, so this mention is specifically for you since you've been testing and helping out.
Hope you can help a fellow droner here

I can't say if it works on the latest firmware or not because I'm sticking to 0.400 and dji go 4.1.0. Over at other forums some people say it does not work with newer firmwares such as .1000, but there really isn't a way to find out without proper equipment for testing. I did try to use it before with dji 4.1.6 and when I connected to the RC it started beeping non stop so I reset and installed the older version. It serves me well. I can go to 4km with some trees in the way of VLOS and probably farther but it is enough, and signal close by with obstructions is way better. Just use a firmware and dji go that are concurrent and if you want to try FCC or CE try 0.400 or 0.700 with dji go 4.1.0 or 4.0.8. Just make sure you know how to do it and understand the risk of the process

 

[gnirtS]

The CE v FCC figures are about right.

6db difference in ERP which equates to 4x the power output. Throw in the inverse square law and the increased area of the transmission beam at range and you're going to come out with "a bit more than half" roughly speaking for effective CE range.

Not noticed before but the DJI site for mavic now has erp listings for SRRC (Australia) and MIC (no idea where this is but at 18dbm its the lowest of the lot). I wonder if the recent software updates added more regions than the 2 previously found in ones that support modifiable parameters.

Ive never yet lost signal in an FCC area or CE area though. CE ive not pushed past 6,000ft but at that distance i still had 3 bars and perfect video and thats in a town with the usual wifi interference.

 

[avielc]

I can't say if it works on the latest firmware or not because I'm sticking to 0.400 and dji go 4.1.0. Over at other forums some people say it does not work with newer firmwares such as .1000, but there really isn't a way to find out without proper equipment for testing. I did try to use it before with dji 4.1.6 and when I connected to the RC it started beeping non stop so I reset and installed the older version. It serves me well. I can go to 4km with some trees in the way of VLOS and probably farther but it is enough, and signal close by with obstructions is way better. Just use a firmware and dji go that are concurrent and if you want to try FCC or CE try 0.400 or 0.700 with dji go 4.1.0 or 4.0.8. Just make sure you know how to do it and understand the risk of the process

Thanks for the reply mate!
Unfortunately these version had some missing outs in terms of RAW usage and such, so it'll be a drag to go back down there.
I'm hoping there can be some new version of these files to make it work. but then again, might not.
My biggest "suffering" right now is flying next to buildings. can be quite a problem, range less matters (1.5km is more than enough in most cases, and over the sea there never is any issue.)

 

[luiz eduardo ribeiro]

Off topic here, but what kind of RAW image issues were you having with 0.400? I know 0.800 had a bug with RAW images; but I don´t think much has changed with photo since then, until the .1000 with that change to white balance (but maybe that was just for video).
Before the FCC mod if I went behind my house just 200 meters I would like signal; now it is fine. Maybe not true FCC but definitely better than stock.

 

[avielc]

You couldn't open RAW images taken between 10pm-midnight. images would get corrupted.
that was true all the way to .1000