Fly high or low to keep signal?

[WNCMTNLOVER]

Newby here with another question. I'm wanting to fly in mountains. Today was around 220' altitude and started having signal issues, thankfully hot footed back safely. Reflecting on that experience, is it safer in up and down terrain to fly higher so signal has less chance of being obstructed? Thnx!

 

[Thomas B]

Newby here with another question. I'm wanting to fly in mountains. Today was around 220' altitude and started having signal issues, thankfully hot footed back safely. Reflecting on that experience, is it safer in up and down terrain to fly higher so signal has less chance of being obstructed? Thnx!

If you have VLOS you should be fine. BTW, agree with the action you took. I have found it necessary to be extra careful in mountains as the screen pic can lull you into thinking your fine even though the flight is headed into an area with obstruction to the controller signal.
Bottom line higher, within 400’ altitude, relative to the ground below the drone. is the way to go... as you suggest. Beyond that situations awareness is critical. Also be sure your antennas are directed optimally.

 

[bumper]

The high frequencies, in the gigahertz range, behave very much like a flashlight beam. Best is unobstructed line of sight. Though, just as with the light, there can be reflections off some objects that will provide some signal reception behind otherwise solid obstructions. The signal can also pass through some things that are less dense and non metallic, though with varying degrees of attenuation. Lower radio frequencies can follow the curvature of the earth, but not the WiFi frequencies.

So the non-technical answer is higher is better than lower, as it maintains line of sight better. Make sure you've set RTH altitude to something that'll work.

 

[old man mavic]

Newby here with another question. I'm wanting to fly in mountains. Today was around 220' altitude and started having signal issues, thankfully hot footed back safely. Reflecting on that experience, is it safer in up and down terrain to fly higher so signal has less chance of being obstructed? Thnx!

as Meta4 all ready said trees will absorb WIFI signals,and as you stated in another thread you were flying in a very wooded area
in order to maintain a good signal between the controller and the drone you need to have a clear line of sight between both of them,so if you were standing in dense woodland then your signal was being blocked by the trees

 

[WNCMTNLOVER]

Very helpful all, thnx!!