New to drones - why can’t my Mavic 3 cine go more than 1-1.5 miles?

[doublev]

DJI advertises the drone with a range of 9 miles. But sometimes i will go out 4000 feet and lose signal. The most I have been able to go is 1.5 miles.

Yesterday at around 4000 feet signal was lost and it came back to the home point.

What are the real world numbers on range and should i tweak some settings to improve the range?

Thanks!

 

[KLRSKIR]

Your range issues are probably due to your surroundings, both physical and invisible. In an open field with zero trees nor structures I can get advertised distances from my Cine. The minute I try to fly from an area with trees (not yet leafed out for the summer even) my distances are greatly reduced.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

The capabilities in marketing materials are always "ideal conditions". Your mileage may and probably will vary.

 

[vindibona1]

Paper specs are almost always listed under the very most ideal conditions. All my batteries have a "flight time" listed, but I'm lucky if I get 80% of the rated flight time and often far less. Optimal distance requires direct line from controller to drone, interference and wind.

 

[f13dfx]

DJI advertises the drone with a range of 9 miles. But sometimes i will go out 4000 feet and lose signal. The most I have been able to go is 1.5 miles.

Yesterday at around 4000 feet signal was lost and it came back to the home point.

What are the real world numbers on range and should i tweak some settings to improve the range?

Thanks!

Can you describe your flying environment (urban, rural, etc.)? How high AGL do you normally fly. What was the weather at the time you flew? Did you use UAV Forecast app to monitor flight conditions & visible satellites at the time of your flight? Are you using the RC PRO controller? This will give responders a better idea of why you lost the signal on your Mavic 3 Cine.

 

[MS Coast]

DJI advertises the drone with a range of 9 miles. But sometimes i will go out 4000 feet and lose signal. The most I have been able to go is 1.5 miles.

Yesterday at around 4000 feet signal was lost and it came back to the home point.

What are the real world numbers on range and should i tweak some settings to improve the range?

Thanks!

Hello and welcome to the discussion board.

I'm guessing that you're a new drone owner. Since there's nothing in the manuals and materials from DJI to tell new pilots of the federal requirements, I thought I'd mention the FAA's free TRUST exam and certificate. It's required for all non-toy drone operators in the U.S. There's a brief online exam, but it's quick and simple and it's set up to be no-fail. A quick review of a couple of screens of information is adequate to pass it on the first time.

The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST)

www.faa.gov

Enjoy that new Mavic 3 and share some photos, videos, and experiences here.

 

[doublev]

Thank you all for the responses. I live in a populated city but I am on top of a hill so when I fly my drone out a mile I hit water and it is there I am hoping to go out another one to get some cool videos and photos. Sometimes I can go out 1.5 mile and other times not even a mile. The weather is great, no issues, good visibility, and technically i am within line of sight (of course, kind of hard to see a drone that far out -- but there is no obstruction.. so i can see the sky surrounding the drone).

So the only negative is maybe there is interference with all of the homes and electricity and everything? does that really make sense when you are 200' above all of this stuff? Are there any tweaks or settings? I wasnt expecting to go 9 miles out.. but i really thought I could go 2 miles which would get me some real cool video and pics. I am an avid photographer and I bought the 3 cine for the video and the range. Video seems to be great.. but i need to be comfortable that it can go out 2-3 mile so i can actually use it. I really hope i can tweak some setting somewhere?

 

[GadgetGuy]

Thank you all for the responses. I live in a populated city but I am on top of a hill so when I fly my drone out a mile I hit water and it is there I am hoping to go out another one to get some cool videos and photos. Sometimes I can go out 1.5 mile and other times not even a mile. The weather is great, no issues, good visibility, and technically i am within line of sight (of course, kind of hard to see a drone that far out -- but there is no obstruction.. so i can see the sky surrounding the drone).

So the only negative is maybe there is interference with all of the homes and electricity and everything? does that really make sense when you are 200' above all of this stuff? Are there any tweaks or settings? I wasnt expecting to go 9 miles out.. but i really thought I could go 2 miles which would get me some real cool video and pics. I am an avid photographer and I bought the 3 cine for the video and the range. Video seems to be great.. but i need to be comfortable that it can go out 2-3 mile so i can actually use it. I really hope i can tweak some setting somewhere?

If you are using the RC-Pro, as you should be with the Cine version, it has 4x the power output of the RC-N1. The higher above the ground, the less interference. If you live in Las Vegas, I can't imagine anywhere more congested with wifi at 200 feet AGL! Use the 7x telephoto for reaching subjects further away, or ascend up to 400 feet AGL to improve signal stability over heavily congested wifi areas.

 

[doublev]

If you are using the RC-Pro, as you should be with the Cine version, it has 4x the power output of the RC-N1. The higher above the ground, the less interference. If you live in Las Vegas, I can't imagine anywhere more congested with wifi at 200 feet AGL! Use the 7x telephoto for reaching subjects further away, or ascend up to 400 feet AGL to improve signal stability over heavily congested wifi areas.

Yes, the RC-Pro. I really like this Mavic 3 Cine and all that you get. But I wonder if it is made for urban areas. I was telling my wife we should go to Iceland so i could take some great videos and enjoy the drone.. but does it really go 9 miles??

I live in Las Vegas. But it is not fun using the drone in Vegas. I tried a total of 4-5 times and quit... it sucked. So I save it for when I travel... Right now I am in California and am having these issues.

In Las Vegas I cant even go 2500 feet. It is challenging there because I get approval to fly with AirHub but the restriction is 100ft -- some of those newer electrical poles look like they are 100 feet. (they probably are 60-70 feet but I dont want to find out). Once i flew within two blocks of restricted space (max height 0ft) and the drone went crazy. I definitely was NOT in the restricted space. Most of Vegas is blanketed by restricted space and I happen to be lucky that i live outside of the 0ft height zone.

I think Las Vegas is an absolute no for drones unless you are out in the desert. It makes sense -- this is why you will never see a drone on the strip. If you try it... your drone will go crazy. This is at least what I thought.. otherwise i cant explain why my drone became uncontrollable. I like to think the city was protecting the airspace and i just got close even though i didnt enter the airspace. So Vegas is no. Maybe if i was into just flying in circles or something.. but i want to go out and take some cool videos...

I am close but outside of the 5 mile radius of an airport in California where i am at now and i use AirHub and get approval to 200ft (if i go within the first section of the 5 mile radius). This is why i stay at 200ft. Just in case i enter the airspace i dont want to break any rules.

Still... I think either DJI is completely off with the 9miles (3 miles is my guess of what it should be) or these cities with airports are jamming the drones?

But again i ask.. are there any settings for this? I remember racing RC cars when I was a kid (a loong time ago) you had different frequencies to use and you had to make sure you didnt use the same frequency as someone else. Is there anything on these drones today to adjust these type of settings?

 

[Deleted member 93449]

The FAA regulation isn't just expressing that the drone be in line of sight (no obstructions between you and the drone) but that you can actually see the drone at that distance. You might have great eyesight and really be able to see the drone at 1-1.5 miles but no one but superman can see that drone at 3+ miles. For that matter, as a part 61 pilot, I find it VERY challenging seeing a fully size C-172 at nine miles.

As for the actual range, as others have said it is very much dependent on the environment and what might be in the environment that impacts the signal.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

So the only negative is maybe there is interference with all of the homes and electricity and everything? does that really make sense when you are 200' above all of this stuff?

Yes, but it's not interference around your location, but what ever is between your controller and the drone. Even if that interference is not neither either, it could between transmitter/receivers.

I don't really know, however. There could be some kind of transmission there that's not normal for standard municipalities, like either military or FAA radar.

I'm not really surprised about problems within Vegas and I would not be shocked if they purposefully block drone transmissions (short range). Vegas is a lot like Disneyland, full of and fully depended on tourism. They might have nipped that in the bud long ago in a way that other locales would have found difficult to do without squabbling, but I don't really know.

Chris

 

[Meta4]

DJI advertises the drone with a range of 9 miles. But sometimes i will go out 4000 feet and lose signal. The most I have been able to go is 1.5 miles.

Maximum range can only be achieved well away from all sources of interference.
You would need to be out in the desert or over the ocean for that.

 

[GadgetGuy]

But again i ask.. are there any settings for this? I remember racing RC cars when I was a kid (a loong time ago) you had different frequencies to use and you had to make sure you didnt use the same frequency as someone else. Is there anything on these drones today to adjust these type of settings?

The only relevant app settings are choosing which transmission bands are used and how. The default is Auto switching between 2.4 and 5.8 and auto channel selection. You can also manually select exclusively 5.8 or or exclusively 2.4, either in Auto or by selecting a specific channel. On the P4P, Auto 5.8 was the best urban setting. I haven't had any significant issues with the RC-Pro in the default Auto switching setting, because of its greater power output. However, you might try experimenting among the frequency settings, as the interference is also visible in the app in a chart, allowing you to see the effect of any changes, if you select a specific channel in one of the two available bands.

 

[Starz]

my drone became uncontrollable.

May have had something to do with your takeoff point. DJI drones aren’t happy around ferrous metals.

 

[Eagle Eye 62]

Your range issues are probably due to your surroundings, both physical and invisible. In an open field with zero trees nor structures I can get advertised distances from my Cine. The minute I try to fly from an area with trees (not yet leafed out for the summer even) my distances are greatly reduced.

This is pretty much exactly what I am seeing. Surprisingly, I was able to get strong signal when flying through and around tall buildings from the center of the city. Also, your altitude makes a difference as well, the higher you fly the better range you will get. It is pretty much totally dependent on where you are flying and milage will definitely vary.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Also: a common mistake to make (I still make it) is improper antenna orientation. This can reduce transmission performance. Be sure the flat sides of the antenna blades are toward the aircraft, not the points.

Chris

 

[Howard70]

Hello Doublev:

When I have connection problems between my RC Pro and Mavic 3, I use @GadgetGuy’s solution listed above and adjust the transmission settings to 5.8 GHz. Definitely helps in my situation.

Howard

 

[BigAl07]

DJI advertises the drone with a range of 9 miles. But sometimes i will go out 4000 feet and lose signal. The most I have been able to go is 1.5 miles.

Yesterday at around 4000 feet signal was lost and it came back to the home point.

What are the real world numbers on range and should i tweak some settings to improve the range?

Thanks!

How are you able to stay legal in terms of the FAA flying anywhere beyond a few hundred yards? Keep in mind, VLOS isn't the same as Line Of Sight. You can see from here to the moon (Line of Sight) but Visible Line Of Sight is being able to see, know position/orientation of aircraft, and be able to See & Avoid other AIRCRAFT in the area.

Anything less is irresponsible, reckless, and absolutely illegal without a doubt.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

How are you able to stay legal in terms of the FAA flying anywhere beyond a few hundred yards? Keep in mind, VLOS isn't the same as Line Of Sight. You can see from here to the moon (Line of Sight) but Visible Line Of Sight is being able to see, know position/orientation of aircraft, and be able to See & Avoid other AIRCRAFT in the area.

Anything less is irresponsible, reckless, and absolutely illegal without a doubt.

This is probably a topic that would (and probably already has) fill a thread of it's own, but I believe that there is room in the middle for reasonable lack of adherence (whether or not it fits the rules of current written laws) .

Pushing aside the boneheads that purposefully don't bother trying to keep VLOS, how about this example:

1. Launch into the air
2. Fly out to some fair distance where the craft is tiny in the sky, but you kept your visual lock on the craft with your eyes
3. Stop the aircraft there, still being able to see it
4. Look down at the controller (as we must from time to time)
5. Look back up, but cannot find the aircraft again with your eyes, even though it has not moved and (as you can see from the feed on your device) has not fallen out of the sky.

At that point, you just can't see it—at least not right away and without a lot of effort—because the craft is small. YES of course at that point you could and should come back until you reacquire VLOS, but for that moment, you are out of compliance to the VLOS rule. Are you irresponsible and reckless (even though technically illegal)? Not in my mind.

Now take a fantasy scenario where some fictional official drone cop comes up and asks you to point into the sky to prove you know where the drone is, but you can't so he gives you a citation with a fine. I believe that in this fantasy, you could probably make a case in a court of law that you made all reasonable effect to keep VLOS.

Al, I'm not disagreeing with you, but making the case for there being a middle ground here, showing that it's not always black and white. Because I've experienced the above "look down and it's gone" scenario countless times.

Eh?

Chris

 

[doublev]

How are you able to stay legal in terms of the FAA flying anywhere beyond a few hundred yards? Keep in mind, VLOS isn't the same as Line Of Sight. You can see from here to the moon (Line of Sight) but Visible Line Of Sight is being able to see, know position/orientation of aircraft, and be able to See & Avoid other AIRCRAFT in the area.

Anything less is irresponsible, reckless, and absolutely illegal without a doubt.

If visibility is 6-10 miles (we can see to the moon but we can't really see across a city) and the drone is 1.5 miles out and I have full view of where it is then I consider that I am within VLOS. The drone is a tiny speck and I meet the FAA goal to ensure that I can see where my drone is and be able to avoid aircraft.