Is 500 meters normal?

[Prmath]

My Mavic Mini drops signal before 500 meters. Is that normal?

Try 1640 Feet ..... OR about 5.5 football fields

 

[Dmascot]

i guess there are going to be numerous threads on the range of the MM, as there have been in the past on other dji drones that dont have the benefit of occusync

to be perfectly honest the size of the MM means that it is going to be very hard to see at any sort of range and the fact that it has wi fi means that the range is perfectly adequate for flying VLOS

unfortunately the range quoted by DJI is not really going to be possible in real world situations but it all depends on where you are flying ,so whos to say that out in countryside, in perfect conditions that it could not be done

really if your bag is flying long distances beyond VLOS, then the MM is not the drone for you

My thing isn’t necessarily flying long distance but it gets old losing signal at 300 meters when shooting video. Today I watched a Billy Kyle Youtube video and he was able to get a distance of 7000 feet. I would be happy with half of that. I’m beginning to think my mini might have a problem.

 

[Dmascot]

Try 1640 Feet ..... OR about 5.5 football fields

I usually just multiply my meters by three to get an idea of how many feet. Not accurate but close enough.

 

[WithTheBirds]

Try 1640 Feet ..... OR about 5.5 football fields

Try why? Football pitch line boundaries are ordinarily defined using metres as the unit of measurement (or yards). It would seem metric is the prevailing and best understood system in recent times.

 

[DanMan32]

Metric is harder for us to picture here in the US. To bad Jimmy Carter was shot down trying to convert us to metric.

 

[DanMan32]

When it comes to radio signals, distance covered is very subjective to conditions. Sometimes I lose TV stations.

I don't get more than 1/2 mile or so from my home with my P3 or M2. Haven't tried the mini, but I'm not supposed to fly by my house according to FAA.

 

[Prmath]

Metric is harder for us to picture here in the US. To bad Jimmy Carter was shot down trying to convert us to metric.

Why too bad? ??‍??‍??‍??‍??‍

 

[DanMan32]

Because we'd be used to it by now and in sync with the rest of the modern world.

 

[Prmath]

Because we'd be used to it by now and in sync with the rest of the modern world.

Yes Sir, thank God we’re not afraid to use dollars and cents.

 

[chriscuk]

At least the currency is decimalised

 

[Myha]

I did some tests on Sunday afternoon.
I have been flying at this park in North Bristol, UK, for five years.
As you will see from the attached video, I lost complete contact around 500 metres. The antennas were both vertical (perpendicular to the ground).
At 1:48 into the video you will see a spectrum display of the 2.4/5.7GHz band - all green - no interference.

Other notable facts are that the higher one flies the worst the signal quality becomes.
I tried a second flight and I reached 825 metres before disconnecting, BUT this time I was flying at 60 metres and not 118 metres altitude.
It seems the radiation pattern of the antennas is a quite sharp horizontal lobe.

On another flight I was flying directly overhead at 118 metres and lost connection until I reduced to 57 metres altitude.
The antennas were horizontal and parallel to the ground - the correct orientation for overhead flights.

At 1:55 of the attached video you will see that the App displays a "Weak Signal. Adjust antennas..." message and this is at 54 metres distance!!!
Antennas were vertical orientation.

At no time was there any obstruction between the MINI and myself.
This unit definitely does not meet the CE distance specification quoted.

I love the Mini and will keep it for taking on holiday as it is very compact and I can't imagine getting into many privacy maniacs by using this as opposed to my Mavic Pro, which incidentally gives me 2.5km range at this park.

The video can be viewed on YT here:

 

[Back Country]

Can't help with your issue, but as you're asking what others are getting, I have managed a couple flights yesterday of 900m distance and one today of 1200m. I suspect had I started at a higher vantage point I could have extended the flights by a bit but these were above heavily forested areas(mostly along a river valley) and I think that direct line of transmission was quickly lost even though I was flying 60-70m in height. Very rural with minimal(pretty much zero) man made interference sources.

 

[Myha]

Can't help with your issue, but as you're asking what others are getting, I have managed a couple flights yesterday of 900m distance and one today of 1200m. I suspect had I started at a higher vantage point I could have extended the flights by a bit but these were above heavily forested areas(mostly along a river valley) and I think that direct line of transmission was quickly lost even though I was flying 60-70m in height. Very rural with minimal(pretty much zero) man made interference sources.

You are in the US or Canada so your system operates on FCC higher power ratings. Therefore you can achieve these results. I'm in the UK and operating on lower power CE ratings.

 

[Back Country]

You are in the US or Canada so your system operates on FCC higher power ratings. Therefore you can achieve these results. I'm in the UK and operating on lower power CE ratings.

Yes, right you are, I'm in Canada. Hopefully you can find a way to extend your range a bit, best of luck.

 

[Gastone360]

please, how can I switch manually from 5.8 to 2.4Hgz in the CE version app?
thanyo you very much

 

[WooZie]

chosing a channel from 1 to 13 will change in 2.4 ghz, when you choose over100 will be in 5.8

 

[DanMan32]

Note that the bandwidth of the 2.4 channels overlap into adjacent channels. That makes having only 3 non overlapping effective channels. Maybe 4 in some areas that have a couple more channels than we do.

 

[W5CI]

My Mavic Mini drops signal before 500 meters. Is that normal?

I have seen over 3000 meters on YouTube video's

 

[Drgnfli]

I usually just multiply my meters by three to get an idea of how many feet. Not accurate but close enough.

If you get into high amounts in meters there is a lot more than multiplying by 3. I have seen two conversion numbers - 3.28' in a meter & I have seen it 3.37' per meter. If someone is saying something is 5,000 meters away but you use x3 that is 15,000 ft but if you use the real multiplier of 3.37 that makes the distance 16,850' which is 1,850' farther than you are hoping to get your bird back... Just sayin' !

 

[DanMan32]

But it's a quick approximation with about a 12% error.