Mavic 2 - Range (Is this normal?)

[JeanVos]

Hi All,

Is it normal to get only about 600-700m range in town? Slightly less or more in different directions, but never more than 1000m (1km). This was the same with my MP. And when I go to the open areas out of town I get much more....

Regards

 

[JeanVos]

I was hoping the new Occusync would make it better...

 

[covpack]

I am sure it is interference. Did some test, Out int the country, with no houses around, I have gone up to 3 miles away with no issues, and little loss of signal. (based on the bars) However, move to a rural area and as soon as I start moving from the empty spaces to over homes, the signal starts having problems. In fact, I can predict at what points those problems will happen. Overall, I found I can get further range as long as the drone is within sight of the the RC antennas. As such, If I have to fly over a huge track of homes I make sure to keep the drone within sight. I also avoid flying over such. In the country, (wide open spaces, I have less fear. I have not done any distance test as I am to paranoid and have not found any places yet. My open spaces are tend to lead to very large and tall mountains.

 

[JeanVos]

That's my problem I think. Where I fly from are no LOS to the M2; I am surrounded by double-storey buildings....

 

[AvatarWings]

That's my problem I think. Where I fly from are no LOS to the M2; I am surrounded by double-storey buildings....

Yes, that is the problem. I find the range is greatly diminished whenever there is anything between the controller and the Mavic. Even 1 tree will give me connectivity problems.

However, I flew 3 miles yesterday with no connectivity problems and there was nothing but air between the controller and the Mavic. It was also in an area with a lot of houses with WiFi.

 

[Mattanous]

Even 1 tree will give me connectivity problems.

Same

 

[Streetmagus]

OcuSync 2.0 is crazy good compared to Lightbridge. I don’t have experience with OcuSync 1.0 though.
My Phantom 4 standard only got half a mile range when I’m flying in my neighborhood, some parts less. Flying from inside the house.
With M2P, I can fly almost 2 mile radius around my house, from inside the house.

 

[ChopperLinc]

Hi All,

Is it normal to get only about 600-700m range in town? Slightly less or more in different directions, but never more than 1000m (1km). This was the same with my MP. And when I go to the open areas out of town I get much more....

Regards

I launched and transmitted from the middle of two high tension power lines and flew a mile and half away. Only lost video for a moment when I dropped too low and lost line of sight. Raised altitude and recovered video. Seems pretty good to me. I’m sure the interference is somewhat unpredictable depending on what kind of signals are present in the area.

 

[lolo780]

M2P, line of sight, stock RC with reflector on right antenna.

 

[eukaryote]

Stock M2P, at 800m in highly built up residential region along a park, signal still strong, controller reports full bars. I suspect you must have some major interference from something big like a radio tower nearby etc

 

[Kilrah]

Try 5.8GHz, might be less polluted.

 

[Pollymer]

Hello I'm quite new on the forum . Am i seeing right does that photo show 11 thousand and 65 meters with 54 percent left and all those bars. I flew 1850 m today at 120m high over field's with mavic 2 with 3 bars left. Can also get that with the mavic 1. If that's right you've got some really good signal there.

 

[Hedonist222]

Try 5.8GHz, might be less polluted.

I've set it to both

But it'd be interesting to know if dji programmed it to connection preference or quality preference.

When does the AC switch frequencies?

Does it try to maintain the frequency even if quality is low, or does it switch to the other frequency?

 

[Pollymer]

That is absolutely brilliant lolo. I’m in uk though with ce setting . Looking into getting that nld mod hopefully

 

[NorthGADronePilot]

That is my only real issue with the Mavic 2. Overall, I absolutely love the thing -- I enjoy flying it immensely. The battery life is noticeably better than the original Mavic, the sensors, speed, prop noise, photo/video quality, etc. are all clearly superior in every way. Again, my only true disappointment is in the range. 3000 ft seems to be about the limit before I start losing signal bars. Even in a wide open park space, I'm still astounded by just how limited the range truly is -- especially compared to how it's marketed.

 

[Mavic2steve]

Several weeks ago I took my zoom out to just about 1 mile and still had full bars?? I didn’t have any vegetation or buildings blocking my view. This was in upstate ny out in the countryside so minimal WiFi interference.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

It could be related to the position of the antenna on the controller. I watched a YouTube video where someone explained and then proved the point that your antennas need to be perpendicular to the drone. If the tips of the antenna point at the drone this is the weakest signal situation. It shows this in the manual as well. Just an idea.

 

[Thoraldus]

It could be related to the position of the antenna on the controller. I watched a YouTube video where someone explained and then proved the point that your antennas need to be perpendicular to the drone. If the tips of the antenna point at the drone this is the weakest signal situation. It shows this in the manual as well. Just an idea.

Absolutely correct!

As a 'rule of thumb' the relative power output difference between the antenna being perpendicular to the drone vs pointing at it can be a loss factor of 1::1/1000 or to put it in relative power output terms, 100mw to 0.1mw (-30db)

When the drone is close it is not as important, but when the drone is at some distance or with interfering structures or RF interference you will want to make sure your RC signal is as high as possible from the drones perspective.

Imagine a doughnut slipped over your antenna. You want to keep the fat part of the doughnut pointed at the drone, not the hole! (the doughnut roughly represents the antenna's radiation pattern)