So been flying within my limits as to see the mini. But today wanted to take a run over a area somewhat far away. Loosing signal around 2000 feet or around there. Height was about 150 feet in the air. Granted I don’t plan to fly far out but I should be able to get to 1 mile no issues.
Range on mavic mini
- Thread starter Sticksandgrips
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Decal Josh
Active Member
There is a MM long range test "Dustin Dunnill" on YouTube. It's pretty impressive, to say the least.
Yea I seen one go 3.8 miles I can’t even get to 1 mile. Seems a little off for some reason granted I live in New Jersey and I am sure there is a lot of interference. But I would expect more than 2210 feet before losing video feed. Am I wrong in thinking this.
2424ft our lost everything and it went into return to home. 180 ft up from my location. Everything was downhill from there
Not necessarily wrong... but can you see the bird at 2000 ft?
Like said it the original post I typically keep in limits so I can see it. Wanted to check a fishing hole I used to frequent. That being said it is all
Over the woods. So it would be on me. Yes I would not have line of site. But then again I would say 90% of people are breaking those rules to see something or get to a certain spot.
dirkclod
Well-Known Member
Yea I was actually making sure I was point toward the drone the entire time. Could have just been location who knows. Even tried to adjust the antennas to regain a good signal but with no luck. Learning curve I guess being new to flying the drone. Other than that I am super impressed with how the mavic mini handles all
Situations. Really getting confident with it.
just want my depth perception to get better with flying closer to things.
Depth perception via the drone 2D video feed is essentially nil. Use caution when approaching any object. Enjoy your mini.
The two main reasons for less than maximum range is signal interference and obstacles. If there are other radio frequency signals in the vicinity of either the controller or the drone it will reduce the range. These are not just WiFi, they can be cellular, police bands, TV/radio, etc. Frequency plays a role in that signals in the range of 2-6 GHz will be a bigger issue. In congested areas these can be quite significant because they add up. The total interference signal is the sum of all the individual signals.
The second issue is obstacles and not all obstacles are equal. They attenuate the signal primarily dependent on their conductivity. In other words it depends on how well they conduct electricity. Metal and water are the most effective in attenuating or blocking the signal. Trees are a obvious culprit due to the water content contained in the leaves. Metal buildings are worse than wooden structures.
One last concept to consider is line of sight (LOS). This is related but different than visual line of sight (VLOS). LOS means you can draw a straight line between the controller antenna and the drones antenna. VLOS adds an additional requirement that you can maintain visual contact with the unaided eye (except for glasses). If there are obstacles between the controller and the LOS of the drone the signal will be attenuated.
In your case, it might be a combination of both.
dirkclod
Well-Known Member
What little I have flew mine I don’t like the WiFi bars don’t do
like my WiFi Phantoms did. You could adjust aim by watching them. Might can the mini just havn’t figured out
how yet but like I said I havn’t been able to mess with it much.
like my WiFi Phantoms did. You could adjust aim by watching them. Might can the mini just havn’t figured out
how yet but like I said I havn’t been able to mess with it much.
To make it simple ... beside WiFi polluted area the most degrading is going out of LOS. The meaning of line of sight (LOS) is not VISUAL line of sight (VLOS) it's an unobstructed line to your object.
So if I look at your launch spot ... which should be from here somewhere, right?
... and then assume that you were standing to the right in the field ... about 164ft from the tree line to the left. The trees perhaps were like 98ft high ...
You from this spot flew at an altitude of 179ft to a distance of 2424ft ... In order to stay in LOS at that distance you needed actually to be on a 1456,5ft altitude.
On the altitude you flew (179ft) you left LOS already at a distance of 298ft.
Below drawing isn't in a correct scale but should make it more visual ... so considering this, a distance of 2424ft & 179ft in the air is quite good actually.
*EDIT*
Just found a rather good & deep explanation over at the DJI Forum regarding the RC message we all drone fliers get on our screens when we are out and flying from time to time ... "Strong Interference Detected"
A bit of a hefty text mass, but well worth reading --> Understanding Range and "Strong Interference Detected"
Last edited:
cgmaxed
Well-Known Member
Regarding Mavic Mini Range: I installed 2 flat panel antennas and put a 2 watt 2.4 ghz amplifier on the left antenna. I easily get 3000 feet (about 0.6 miles) range at 150-200 ft elevation. It's starts breaking up after 3,000 ft, then loses connection at 3,500 ft. There are trees and houses between myself and the Mini. On the beach, over open water it gets up to 1.5, maybe 2 miles max. Gotta stay at somewhat low altitudes due to the Mini's poor tolerance to wind. Of course, it returns home when connection is lost. In the areas with trees and homes, I pick the signal back up at around 3,100 ft. Note again, I put 2 inexpensive flat panel antennas on the remote controller. This required me to take apart the remote and install SMA connectors. Then I attached a 2w, 2.4ghz amplifier to the left flat panel antenna. It's an OK setup I guess. Not very expensive to do. Taking apart the remote was my biggest worry. But, I succeeded. By the way, because the Mini is so sensitive to wind, I always do a test flight backwards from the forward route I take. If the speeds are the same backward and forward I will return home at 55% battery (from 100%). If the backward speed or speed to homepoint is significantly slower, I return home at 65 or 70% battery depending on how strong the wind is.
cgmaxed
Well-Known Member
With a decent lightweight high lumen Bicycle LED light Velcro'd to the drone the MavMini stays visible in most circumstances.
dirkclod
Well-Known Member
Really hadn’t Tested this Mini out like I have my others but did run my
first one out after I got it and could have went further but turned back
at 63% because I wasn’t sure about battery drainage on it .
This thing is just to light to try much here as where I fly winds can come up quick. Course I just find a place to land and go get whatever when testing .I test from a log landing over cut overs on our hunting lease.
first one out after I got it and could have went further but turned back
at 63% because I wasn’t sure about battery drainage on it .
This thing is just to light to try much here as where I fly winds can come up quick. Course I just find a place to land and go get whatever when testing .I test from a log landing over cut overs on our hunting lease.
cgmaxed
Well-Known Member
Just so you know and others that read this post. I own the mini, air 2 and the mavic pro and zoom. The best Drone in my opinion is the MAVIC 2 AIR. The Mav 2 Air is a no brainer, especially up against the Mav 2 Zoom. The Air 2's digital zoom is excellent and adequate. The only reason I like the Mav 2 Pro is that it can tolerate a little more wind and It Has a One inch CMOS sensor, allowing it too see more detail and color in low light situations. Why DJI could update the Air 2's firmware , giving it 4x digital zoom, and not doing this for the Mav 2 Pro is strange. But still, those of you on a budget and with a little modification to the antenna system, THE MAVIC MINI is a very capable alternative. It just can't be flown in high winds. Especially, if the wind is blowing against the Mini on it's return flight. I lost one because the wind caused such a battery drain, and having no place to land , but a swamp, it was lost.
Don’t know why this thread was drug up this morning after being dormant for 9 months.....
We all have our opinions... for me I’ll take my M2P over all others... except family gatherings where I often use my Spark.
dirkclod
Well-Known Member
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