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MA2 range/signal halved when using Smart Controller?

ggg

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Hi all, I've been looking around but the only thing I seem to find are people saying they are getting the same range with the MA2 controller and the Smart Controller. I certainly don't :(

I use my MA2 to monitor sea mammals and we have an authorisation to fly long distance for that purpose only. I've pushed the MA2 to 5.5km with the original controller with no issues at all, no break in HD reception, perfect. I'm sitting on a hill at about 50m above sea level when flying it.
I tested today with my new SC, and it's terrible, or I should say it's pretty much like my original Mavic 2 Pro (Ocusync 1.0) was.
  • With MA2 controller, signal icon becomes orange (loses 2 bars) at about 4km. I am not sure when it gets red/loses full reception, but it'a definitely above 5.5km in my scenario.
  • With SC controller, signal icon becomes orange (loses 2 bars) at about 1.7km, video starts pixelating, signal gets red about 2.5km then by 3km it's pretty much unusable, communication is lost, RTH kicks in. I got the antennas facing down making a 90 degree angle with the controller.
Looking around I found out about CE vs FCC but I am in Australia and it is FCC and this is why it does so well with the MA2 Controller I guess. This thread talks about how to identify one of the other, my 1km line sits exactly on -90 and the 4km one exactly on -100, and that for both controllers (attached screenshots).

Curious to see if anyone else has experienced that or can think about what the issue could be? Thanks!
 

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Are you using 2.4ghz for the long distance flights ?
 
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Hi lannes, I just double checked and both show Dual-Band, so as I understand it it should just swithc automatically to the best channel right?

Edit: I just sent it out on 2.4. same result. Turned oragne (3 bars) after 1.2km or so, I turned back at 2km
 
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Hi all, I've been looking around but the only thing I seem to find are people saying they are getting the same range with the MA2 controller and the Smart Controller. I certainly don't :(

I use my MA2 to monitor sea mammals and we have an authorisation to fly long distance for that purpose only. I've pushed the MA2 to 5.5km with the original controller with no issues at all, no break in HD reception, perfect. I'm sitting on a hill at about 50m above sea level when flying it.
I tested today with my new SC, and it's terrible, or I should say it's pretty much like my original Mavic 2 Pro (Ocusync 1.0) was.
  • With MA2 controller, signal icon becomes orange (loses 2 bars) at about 4km. I am not sure when it gets red/loses full reception, but it'a definitely above 5.5km in my scenario.
  • With SC controller, signal icon becomes orange (loses 2 bars) at about 1.7km, video starts pixelating, signal gets red about 2.5km then by 3km it's pretty much unusable, communication is lost, RTH kicks in. I got the antennas facing down making a 90 degree angle with the controller.
Looking around I found out about CE vs FCC but I am in Australia and it is FCC and this is why it does so well with the MA2 Controller I guess. This thread talks about how to identify one of the other, my 1km line sits exactly on -90 and the 4km one exactly on -100, and that for both controllers (attached screenshots).

Curious to see if anyone else has experienced that or can think about what the issue could be? Thanks!
Try tuning using tunes aerials like a Parabolic and Yagi Uda or both as this might help stabilise the signal at that extreme range. I think there is a post here on both these aerial attachments.
 
Do you have the antenna on the SC oriented so the tips are pointing toward the ground? You want the flat parts of the antenna pointing toward your drone. Extending the antenna all the way seems to be the biggest issue people have with range.

I haven’t tried it on the SC yet, but when using my phone I always got better range when in airplane mode. If it’s an option, maybe disable wifi and BT on the SC and see if there’s any change? I plan to test this myself this week.
 
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thank you all for your input. Just wanted ot share a quick update. I think wireless might be the issue. And I'll do more testing today but as suggested by syndr0me if just disabled it and went to 3km with no break in signal or transmission. I'll test it further to confirm the behavior, but it was definitely much better than yesterday.

Also I guess I could use tunes aerials as ShadowCat suggested for sure. But initially I thought the difference beetwen the MA2 controller and the SC is too big to be true, if I am not mistaken, we should get a similar range with MA2 controller and the SC shouldn't we?
 
if I am not mistaken, we should get a similar range with MA2 controller and the SC shouldn't we?
Looking at the specs, you should expect less distance with the SC.
It also shows that 5.8 GHz giving less distance than 2.4 GHz.

Max Transmission Distance
Air 2 10 km (FCC), 6 km (CE)
Mavic 2 FCC: 10 km, CE: 6 km
Smart Controller
2.400-2.4835 GHz: 8 km (FCC), 4 km (CE)
5.725-5.850 GHz: 8 km (FCC), 2 km (CE)
 
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tested it again, wireless off, Sport mode, behavior is nearly as good as with the MA2 controller:
4 bars - around 400 meters
3 bars - starts around 1500 meters, solid from 1800 meters
2 bars - starts around 4200m, solid from 4800 meters

Also to answer your Q syndr0me, yes the antenna tips are pointing toward the ground with the flat surface of the antenas facing the drone.

Aroud 3000 meters I stopped and tried to rotate the drone right and for 4 seconds it all went red with "Aircraft not connected to RC" but after 4 seconds it went away, RTH did not even kick in. Besides that all good. Not as smooth as with the MA2 controller from my experience but I'm definitely happy with the range now! See attached screenshots at the 3km and 5km range.

I'll test again later on today with wireless on again just to confirm it's 100% the cause if the issue (just to be safe).
 

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Looking at the specs, you should expect less distance with the SC.
It also shows that 5.8 GHz giving less distance than 2.4 GHz.

Max Transmission Distance
Air 2 10 km (FCC), 6 km (CE)
Mavic 2 FCC: 10 km, CE: 6 km
Smart Controller
2.400-2.4835 GHz: 8 km (FCC), 4 km (CE)
5.725-5.850 GHz: 8 km (FCC), 2 km (CE)
thank you for that so despite the small difference, the SC shouod have no problems going to 5km...unless wireless is turned on :)
 
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tested it again, wireless off, Sport mode, behavior is nearly as good as with the MA2 controller:
4 bars - around 400 meters
3 bars - starts around 1500 meters, solid from 1800 meters
2 bars - starts around 4200m, solid from 4800 meters

Also to answer your Q syndr0me, yes the antenna tips are pointing toward the ground with the flat surface of the antenas facing the drone.

Aroud 3000 meters I stopped and tried to rotate the drone right and for 4 seconds it all went red with "Aircraft not connected to RC" but after 4 seconds it went away, RTH did not even kick in. Besides that all good. Not as smooth as with the MA2 controller from my experience but I'm definitely happy with the range now! See attached screenshots at the 3km and 5km range.

I'll test again later on today with wireless on again just to confirm it's 100% the cause if the issue (just to be safe).
That’s great feedback! I’ve only flown it with the SC on a few short trips around the neighborhood, but I typically don’t fly here due to houses, cars, people, etc. Heading to a secluded house in the mountains tomorrow and hoping to really stretch out. I’d be curious to hear if the range is improved at all if the phone in your pocket is also in airplane mode while flying with the SC with wifi and BT disabled. Try to limit all the sources of 2.4 and 5ghz noise.
 
I have put about a zillion hours on the SC in the DJI sim though. I’m excited to fly a real drone for a few days with it.
 
thank you for that so despite the small difference, the SC should have no problems going to 5km...unless wireless is turned on
No .. in your part of the world the specs indicate the range you could expect to be:
2.400-2.4835 GHz: 4 km (CE)
5.725-5.850 GHz: 2 km (CE)

You can tinker with wifi, bluetooth etc but I doubt it will really make any measurable difference.
 
Hi all, I've been looking around but the only thing I seem to find are people saying they are getting the same range with the MA2 controller and the Smart Controller. I certainly don't :(

I use my MA2 to monitor sea mammals and we have an authorisation to fly long distance for that purpose only. I've pushed the MA2 to 5.5km with the original controller with no issues at all, no break in HD reception, perfect. I'm sitting on a hill at about 50m above sea level when flying it.
I tested today with my new SC, and it's terrible, or I should say it's pretty much like my original Mavic 2 Pro (Ocusync 1.0) was.
  • With MA2 controller, signal icon becomes orange (loses 2 bars) at about 4km. I am not sure when it gets red/loses full reception, but it'a definitely above 5.5km in my scenario.
  • With SC controller, signal icon becomes orange (loses 2 bars) at about 1.7km, video starts pixelating, signal gets red about 2.5km then by 3km it's pretty much unusable, communication is lost, RTH kicks in. I got the antennas facing down making a 90 degree angle with the controller.
Looking around I found out about CE vs FCC but I am in Australia and it is FCC and this is why it does so well with the MA2 Controller I guess. This thread talks about how to identify one of the other, my 1km line sits exactly on -90 and the 4km one exactly on -100, and that for both controllers (attached screenshots).

Curious to see if anyone else has experienced that or can think about what the issue could be? Thanks!
Im getting the same problem with my m2 smart controller,with my standard m2 controller I have much better range but with smart controller it's disgusting,I need a fix for SC if possible because I've had the unit sense Jan 11 2021, thinking very hard about returning to amazon,hope dji come with a fix because I don't want to return but I'm started to fill CHEATED**$749
 
Im getting the same problem with my m2 smart controller,with my standard m2 controller I have much better range but with smart controller it's disgusting,I need a fix for SC if possible because I've had the unit sense Jan 11 2021, thinking very hard about returning to amazon,hope dji come with a fix because I don't want to return but I'm started to fill CHEATED**$749
The fix is to sell it. The inconsistency of range (I was getting half of what I get with Standard), and the jankiness of Android just is too much to deal with for such an expensive item.

returned it. They will be coming up with a new one soon since ocusync 3.0 is the new standard anyway.
 

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