MA 2 w/ Smart Controller

[minijoe]

Was flying my MA2 this morning and as I got to around 2200 feet away from me the display started getting very broken up and freezing. Started coming back towards me and all was good. Went away from me in the other direction and same thing happened at around 1100 feet. Got a message to adjust antennas. Did not seem to help and screen froze. Adjusting antennas did not help. I expect more distance with the Smart Controller.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Was flying my MA2 this morning and as I got to around 2200 feet away from me the display started getting very broken up and freezing. Started coming back towards me and all was good. Went away from me in the other direction and same thing happened at around 1100 feet. Got a message to adjust antennas. Did not seem to help and screen froze. Adjusting antennas did not help. I expect more distance with the Smart Controller.

The Smart controller is very compliant on the antenna directions , however check your setting in the SC transmissions and try the Smooth Auto setting rather than the HD that it comes set on, its a huge difference in my tests.

Try to test your drone out over open water where you have a clear line of sight .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and land on the Water.

 

[minijoe]

What about standing or leaning against my car while flying, will that cause interference?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

What about standing or leaning against my car while flying, will that cause interference?

No , we fly from inside the car a lot and that has never effected the distance . Were you able to get the body of water and test with clear a visual on the drone ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Air 2 in the Rain and Land on the Water.

 

[Todd Clarke]

Make sure you don’t point the antennas straight up. I’ve had really good range with the antennas opened to the first position so the tips are facing the ground. The signal doesn’t radiate from the tips, it comes from the long part of the antennas (I wish I could explain it a bit better) but like the photo below, that way the longest part of the antenna is directly facing the drone when you hold the controller in the most comfortable position at about 45 degrees to the ground. With the antennas straight up you need to hold the controller straight up and down at 90 degrees to the ground as well which is not a comfortable position.

 

[SoonerDrone1]

Disappointed to hear that, I would expect more from a $700 piece of equipment. I'll just stick to my Samsung phone.

 

[Todd Clarke]

I easily get as good, or better reception over the standard controller using the Smart Controller. You need the antennas in the right position!! (See post above) The only things I don’t like about the Smart Controller are the price, and the Android OS. It’s a total dog’s breakfast keeping OS and App versions current, and you always seem to be at least one version behind the phone-based controllers. Don’t get me wrong, the experience of not having to connect a phone each time is very nice, and the screen is bright and crystal clear. I just wish they’d done a deal with Apple to run an iPad OS or iOS version, but I guess it would have cost $1500.00 with the ‘Apple Tax’

 

[GadgetGuy]

I easily get as good, or better reception over the standard controller using the Smart Controller. You need the antennas in the right position!! (See post above) The only things I don’t like about the Smart Controller are the price, and the Android OS. It’s a total dog’s breakfast keeping OS and App versions current, and you always seem to be at least one version behind the phone-based controllers. Don’t get me wrong, the experience of not having to connect a phone each time is very nice, and the screen is bright and crystal clear. I just wish they’d done a deal with Apple to run an iPad OS or iOS version, but I guess it would have cost $1500.00 with the ‘Apple Tax’

When you say "as good, or better reception," at what range are we talking about?

 

[Todd Clarke]

The most I’ve ever flow away from me is about 3.5km when I was trying out the range after buying the Smart Controller. It just freaked me out too much, I thought I wasn’t going to get it back!! But with both the MA2 controller with iPhone XR and the Smart Controller had no glitches in the downlink or any control issues.

 

[Dharris6891]

Last weekend I was able to get around 5400 Ft distance using my SC and MA2. I didn't have a loss of signal at that point, I lost my backdrop to be able to see my tiny black speck in the distance (I need good strobes). I was flying over a lake and sitting under a pop up canopy (when I was far enough out to keep it in sight), flying under 150' AGL. I did have to be sure to keep my antennas in the proper orientation as stated above or my signal strength indicators would go orange. The lake has very little cell coverage and we were a ways from any other source of Wi-Fi etc., so any kind of signal interference was at a minimum.