Flight Distance Problems

[Pappiiii]

Hey there dear Pilots
I ve been wondering how far you guys can go with you mavic air 2?
I ve been flying 2 times now and at a distance of 400 meters i lost the signal....
There were a lot of trees in the area but this can not be the reason to only go 500 meters...
I checked the settings and the distance is set to : no limit

I was flying with my samsung s9+ connected with the rc via my usb-c cable. I had my mobile data on , is it maybe because of that? Or my bluetooth?

I dont know... im going to try again this evening but 450 meters is my maximum....

On the dji controller there are no antennas right?? I mean they are in the controller itself no?

Thanks for your help pilots

 

[old man mavic]

the antennas are actually in the end of the part that pulls up to hold the device and the ends have to be pointing at the drone

 

[Pappiiii]

okay... so that is not the reason then because i always pull it out....
hmmm other ideas?

 

[Pappiiii]

tried again this evening.... same thing, 400 meters in the woods and the signal is blocked....
Is it because of the trees or what?

 

[Camino Ken]

I live and fly in the forest all the time and I can confirm that trees are very good at blocking the signal. I have the M2P and not the Air2 but I think the transmission protocol is similar. it turns out that the water content in the trees make them conductive and therefore act like an RF shield attenuating the signal. The thicker and denser the leaves the worse it is.

 

[Pappiiii]

okay that is the explanation then! too bad thank you for the replies!!

 

[Dingo]

anything that breaks a straight line between you and the drone will cause signal loss

 

[naiku]

I live and fly in the forest all the time and I can confirm that trees are very good at blocking the signal. I have the M2P and not the Air2 but I think the transmission protocol is similar. it turns out that the water content in the trees make them conductive and therefore act like an RF shield attenuating the signal. The thicker and denser the leaves the worse it is.

Good to know, I upgraded from Mavic Air to an M2P and have been a little disappointed that the Air would make it further than the M2P in this area. Not a huge deal, but a little disappointing nonetheless since Occusync should be superior to the wifi Air. There are a lot of trees around me though, but, I still would have thought the M2P would make it further than the Air (flying in the same area, same height etc).

 

[Dave Maine]

No radio frequency signals, whether Occusync or other go through a wall of live trees. All you can do is get a little help at the margins where a little signal can get between;or around the branches.

 

[peterc4]

I sent my air back for the same pronlem repaired on care

 

[Pappiiii]

I sent my air back for the same pronlem repaired on care

wait what? its a problem? and now you can fly further?
so my drone is broken or whats the problem? it has nothing to do with treees?

 

[peterc4]

wait what? its a problem? and now you can fly further?
so my drone is broken or whats the problem? it has nothing to do with treees?

My air would not go further than 1000 foot it was faulty and was repaired on DJI care

 

[Pappiiii]

were you flying in open spaces? or were there woods and so on nearby?
i havent tested on open fields yet....

 

[peterc4]

didnt matter where i flew it was boroken and repaired on care

 

[Pappiiii]

So you think i should contact the dji and tell them i keep losing connection on 400 meters?

 

[peterc4]

yes deffinately

 

[hiflyer201]

are you sure that you don't have that set as maximum distance. I think that is the default setting and you have to change it. There is a slider and you don't want to have it slid to the right showing blue

 

[Rchawks]

On the subject of tree obstruction (water, sap) made me wonder if flying higher would make a different as far as range. The range on the MA2 is 6 miles according the manual. I guess that's on a flat open space with no trees?

 

[Pappiiii]

yeee that s why i am wondering ... 10 kilometers is the range!! that is soooo faaar.... and losing signal after 400 meters because of trees seems a lit odd... its not even 10% of the total distance.....
if this would happen after 2km or so i would understand...but only 400 meters???

 

[Camino Ken]

You may very well have a defective drone but I would suggest you check the range out in the wide open spaces with no radio interference. Any built up area will have signal interference and along with the trees will limit the range. I agree that 400m seems very limited unless you are talking about a lot of very dense trees and a lot of signal interference as well.