How the heck people get 5km+ range?

[AnzacJack]

At the risk of "beating a dead horse" and mentioning something that has been discussed "ad nauseum", flying at night with auxiliary lighting (most commonly strobes) you can maintain VLOS well past 3 miles.

Yea, we can’t do that in Australia without a waiver. No flying after last light.

 

[FlyGuy8675309]

Yea, we can’t do that in Australia without a waiver. No flying after last light.

Not sure when the "cutoff" time is in relation to official sunset/sunrise, but If you go with the Arc II quad-strobes, you can see them pretty far during twilight. During board daylight, they won't do much for you (ie they aren't visible beyond the VLOS of the drone itself).

 

[Arce101]

What does the 1080p setting do to help range? I was going to try the 720p for the video feed. But this has nothing to do with controller connectivity. I figured the lower resolution video link would be easier to transmit.

Yes 108p

Thanks for the tips all.
Some of you are getting a bit off topic though

 

[Arce101]

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[AnzacJack]

Not sure when the "cutoff" time is in relation to official sunset/sunrise, but If you go with the Arc II quad-strobes, you can see them pretty far during twilight. During board daylight, they won't do much for you (ie they aren't visible beyond the VLOS of the drone itself).

thats good to know, thanks. Ive been considering getting them, but not wanting to pay the $$ without seeing them in action. It would be mainly at day for me. I do fly at night at times (with approvals) but I like to stay "under the radar" so to speak and worried that the strobes would just draw attention to me that i may not want while trying to work.

 

[Chevyman]

I have personally flown mine 27500 ft with a stock setup. Just a side note that was also using DJI goggles. No problems whatsoever. as soon as the signal drop down to about two bars, I turned around and came back

 

[Bob4131]

Not sure when the "cutoff" time is in relation to official sunset/sunrise, but If you go with the Arc II quad-strobes, you can see them pretty far during twilight. During board daylight, they won't do much for you (ie they aren't visible beyond the VLOS of the drone itself).

In the US, you can fly from 30 minutes before official sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

 

[FlyGuy8675309]

In the US, you can fly from 30 minutes before official sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.

Civil twilight regs are for commercial operation. If you're flying recreational, you can fly any time as long as you can see the position and orientation of the AC.

 

[Former Member]

I have personally flown mine 27500 ft with a stock setup. Just a side note that was also using DJI goggles. No problems whatsoever. as soon as the signal drop down to about two bars, I turned around and came back

What were your surroundings like? Over water? Top of a mountain?

 

[Thomas B]

What were your surroundings like? Over water? Top of a mountain?

Did you have a spotter?

 

[Keule]

Civil twilight regs are for commercial operation. If you're flying recreational, you can fly any time as long as you can see the position and orientation of the AC.

Not anymore:



Source: https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreationa...ecreational_uas/media/44809_authorization.pdf

 

[FlyGuy8675309]

Not anymore:

View attachment 73911

Source: https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreationa...ecreational_uas/media/44809_authorization.pdf

No. No. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[FlyGuy8675309]

Not anymore:

View attachment 73911

Source: https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreationa...ecreational_uas/media/44809_authorization.pdf

OK. Now that I've calmed down and read the actual law and waiver certificate you linked to:

The waiver applies to only those flying from fixed sites:

"OPERATIONS AUTHORIZED Operation of an UAS, flown within visual line of sight and solely for limited recreational purposes: At fixed sites (commonly referred to as flying fields) that are established by an agreement with the FAA, as listed at FAA UAS Data Delivery Service. Operations at the listed fixed sites are authorized up to the altitudes indicated on the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) facility map (UASFM)."


For those flying in Class G airspace, there's nothing in the law that prohibits after-dark operation for rec fliers:

https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hr302/BILLS-115hr302enr.pdf (starts around page 122).