Long range mission over water

[mr.bill]

Hey all, I'm flying a longer than usual distance, around 3 miles, straight line. This would be over water, LOS and I'll be launching and piloting from the beach so at sea level but maybe a few feet up from the water.

My questions:

1. Should I set the Smart Controller to Dual frequency or manually set to 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz? I was considering 2.4 GHZ as I thought the longer wavelength would help over the long distance.
2. To aid reception over that long range (and avoid higher winds aloft) I was going to keep the M2P low, around 60' to 70'. Will this altitude help or hurt reception?

Thanks, all.

 

[parkgt]

Hey all, I'm flying a longer than usual distance, around 3 miles, straight line. This would be over water, LOS and I'll be launching and piloting from the beach so at sea level but maybe a few feet up from the water.

My questions:

1. Should I set the Smart Controller to Dual frequency or manually set to 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz? I was considering 2.4 GHZ as I thought the longer wavelength would help over the long distance.
2. To aid reception over that long range (and avoid higher winds aloft) I was going to keep the M2P low, around 60' to 70'. Will this altitude help or hurt reception?

Thanks, all.

Over water that height should be fine, watch the signal strength and try higher if it drops too low.

Just make sure you aren't flying with the wind going out, to that distance. Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 114292]

Hey all, I'm flying a longer than usual distance, around 3 miles, straight line. This would be over water, LOS and I'll be launching and piloting from the beach so at sea level but maybe a few feet up from the water.

My questions:

1. Should I set the Smart Controller to Dual frequency or manually set to 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz? I was considering 2.4 GHZ as I thought the longer wavelength would help over the long distance.
2. To aid reception over that long range (and avoid higher winds aloft) I was going to keep the M2P low, around 60' to 70'. Will this altitude help or hurt reception?

Thanks, all.

You should fly out and watch the signal level. tell us what you find it would be interesting.
I would never take such a high risk as that as over water even refresh won,t help.

 

[barrybcar]

Over water that height should be fine, watch the signal strength and try higher if it drops too low.

Just make sure you aren't flying into the wind going out, to that distance. Good luck!

Doesn’t he want to fly into the wind going out and with the tailwind coming back?

 

[Deleted member 114292]

Doesn’t he want to fly into the wind going out and with the tailwind coming back?

True true but if There is too much he won’t make it anyway. It really cuts down battery time.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

I would much rather not make it to that filming point, and be totally sure about making it back, than the other way around though.

Fly with nil wind, or fly out with a head wind . . . never start a flight like this with more than very minor side wind (faster battery depletion) or tailwind (very risky RTH).

 

[barrybcar]

True true but if There is too much he won’t make it anyway. It really cuts down battery time.

Yep you’re right. 6 mile round trip is pushing it to say the least.

 

[Kaydet]

The curvature of the earth over 5 miles is 16 feet, so as long as you stay 16 feet over any obstacles you should maintain line-of-sight between the drone and the controller. If sea conditions are rough then moisture in the air close to the surface could interfere with the signal, so adding a few feet would be wise.

Let us know how it goes!

Earth Curvature Calculator - Calculate the curve you should see

Accurately calculate the curvature on the ball Earth. Uses a cosine function, works for all distances in both kilometers and miles. Open source on Github.

earthcurvature.com

 

[Deleted member 114292]

The curvature of the earth over 5 miles is 16 feet, so as long as you stay 16 feet over any obstacles you should maintain line-of-sight between the drone and the controller. If sea conditions are rough then moisture in the air close to the surface could interfere with the signal, so adding a few feet would be wise.

Let us know how it goes!

Earth Curvature Calculator - Calculate the curve you should see

Accurately calculate the curvature on the ball Earth. Uses a cosine function, works for all distances in both kilometers and miles. Open source on Github.

earthcurvature.com

Rough seas usually means high winds.
Where is this to take place?

 

[parkgt]

Doesn’t he want to fly into the wind going out and with the tailwind coming back?

Your right, got that backwards thanks for correcting.

 

[Thomas B]

Over water that height should be fine, watch the signal strength and try higher if it drops too low.

Just make sure you aren't flying into the wind going out, to that distance. Good luck!

I would argue, especially on a long mission like this, that the OP should fly out into the wind while watching battery level closely.
If he flys out with the wind a false sense of security is easily perceived he will not know how long it takes to get back home. Especially critical over water.

 

[mr.bill]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Yeah, I’m definitely nervous about this flight. My longest flight to date is just over 2 miles out over water, a few minutes on site taking a few photos then back. That flight I had about half the charge left in the battery.

My winds right now look like a headwind outbound with gusts up to 16 mph At 50’ which is why I want to keep it low. Thankfully, I’ll have that tailwind inbound. I’ll keep a close eye on battery level regardless as thats my main concern. RTH will have to do its job if I lose signal. It’s happened before and worked well. I was able to reconnected while it was inbound.

If, for any reason I have doubt about proceeding during flight, I’ll just abort and head back. I do enjoy the challenge of these types of flights and will do my best to minimize risk but in the end, if it feels wrong it’s not worth losing the bird. I’ll left you all know how it goes tomorrow. Wish me luck!

 

[Deleted member 114292]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Yeah, I’m definitely nervous about this flight. My longest flight to date is just over 2 miles out over water, a few minutes on site taking a few photos then back. That flight I had about half the charge left in the battery.

My winds right now look like a headwind outbound with gusts up to 16 mph At 50’ which is why I want to keep it low. Thankfully, I’ll have that tailwind inbound. I’ll keep a close eye on battery level regardless as thats my main concern. RTH will have to do its job if I lose signal. It’s happened before and worked well. I was able to reconnected while it was inbound.

If, for any reason I have doubt about proceeding during flight, I’ll just abort and head back. I do enjoy the challenge of these types of flights and will do my best to minimize risk but in the end, if it feels wrong it’s not worth losing the bird. I’ll left you all know how it goes tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Best of luck and take some notes and report back like battery percentage after 3 miles or something like that would be interesting to know.

 

[Photoman482]

I thought the smart controller chose the best frequency depending on the situation. I’ve had mediocre reception with my SC.

 

[new2mavic]

Drone pilots here routinely fly over water. With a regular battery and no wind, M2 can do about 8 km out. No antenna mod needed. This guy flew his M2 14 km out with a double battery and Alientech panel antenna :

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2065332880434270

Be prepared to handle auto landing on the way back.

 

[jonthecourier]

I think if a flight appears difficult especially over water for a long distance, then this is maybe asking for trouble as trouble never arrives when we think it will and never the problem we thought would happen so if you value your bird stay at home.

 

[Brockrock]

This was about 6 miles round trip with a M2P. Winds were a quartering headwind from the right going outbound (approx 10 MPH), so I stayed at 60-80'. You can then see it climb to about 350' after the turn toward home where I had a pretty good tailwind. This was manually flown, no signal failure at all, and copter landed with 40% battery still. The M2P is a beast.

 

[Harold Morgan]

I have seen YouTube videos of people trying this and not taking into account they will be flying back against the wind. It is vital you ensure that either there is no wind, or the wind will be behind you on your return.

 

[offtheback]

Might be cheaper in the end to rent a boat so you don’t hear“Oh no Mr Bill!”

 

[Saigondroner]

I fly those distances quite regularly, mostly over inland waterways..not too many times from the beach, using an M2P...but NOT with the SC. (It gathers dust on the shelf....too flaky, IMHO). I have never lost a drone in ~9 years, but I have donned my catcher's mitt for the return descent. The M2P is a very capable AC, but surfside winds shift more than it may seem...IMHO, one should do all their pre-flight setup with 1 battery, and then swap in a true 100% charged battery before flight. Ensure that you have triple checked all of your fail-safe parameters, i.e. RTH ALT, Low Batt alert, and warning levels etc....and cut your power budget by 5-10%, for good measure.

3 mile range is well beyond VLOS; Binocs do not qualify. When flying long distances over land, I have spotters down range, on VHF radio.

All the best!