TL;DR I am in Canada and my
Mini 3 Pro incorrectly operates in CE mode instead of FCC mode. It seems like a SW bug, but I have found a way to get it into FCC mode and fly it in FCC mode.
Background info…
Mini 3 Pro with the RC controller in Canada and often have serious range problems. Signal indicator drops to yellow and red with signal warnings as well as spurious interruptions with the video and controls. Problems usually start at a distance of about 300m (not exaggerating). Have had a couple of forced RTH at about 600m. And this is always at heights of more than 75m usually closer to 100m. Very scared to fly it more than a couple hundred meters away.
I recently came across some information about how to tell if you are in FCC mode or CE mode.
Simply look at the graph at the bottom of the 'Transmission' screen of the Fly app.
CE Mode: ~1km label will be at the -90 line and ~4km label will be at the -100 line
FCC Mode: ~1km label will be about -86 and ~4km label will be about -96
My normal routine for flying is to power up both the controller and the aircraft, wait until aircraft is ready and home point is set, then take off and fly. What I have found is that this will always result in being in CE mode.
By chance, I powered up both the controller and aircraft inside the house. The aircraft will acquire GPS satellites in my house next to a window, but it will take a few minutes to get to a good GPS status (GPS icon turning white after being red and yellow). When status goes white it also sets a home point. After power up when the aircraft first starts locking on to some satellites and gets a ‘rough’ position(status red or yellow), the graph shows it switching to FCC mode. BUT, as soon as it gets full GPS status and sets home point it switches back to CE mode
When trying to replicate this, I powered off the aircraft but did NOT power off the controller. I powered on the aircraft again, but this time when it got full GPS and set the home point, it actually stayed in FCC mode!!!
When replicating this sequence outside where the aircraft can quickly acquire GPS satellites, it is much harder to get it into FCC mode. But when powering up the aircraft (the second power up) when satellites are obstructed (therefore taking a lot longer to get GPS like it did in the house), it will stay in FCC mode.
When in FCC mode it behaves SO differently. Like a wet blanket being removed from the controller. One flight test I did, I could easily fly to 2000m with full bars. There were maybe a couple blips of losing 1 bar, but otherwise the signal was excellent. I could have easily gone farther than 2000m, but I was a little low on battery and it was windy so I wanted to make sure I got it back
When the wind calms down I will try the same flight path and see how far it will go.
On this same flight path when in CE mode there are numerous signal drops, losing 2 or 3 bars at 300m and I could only get to about 800m before it was continuously red and getting signal warnings.
This flight path has pretty good LOS with few obstructions between the controller and the aircraft. Just the tops of a couple of trees.