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Transmission Signal Question

Winfamy

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Age
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So I just received my brand new Mavic Air 2 about 3 weeks ago and have only flown it a few times, it flies great and the live feed is incredible, when I went about 3500 feet out I noticed small break ups here and there in my footage and had 3 out of 5 bars on the signal, is this normal or do I just live in a congested area?

My Phantom 4, Spark, and Phantom 3 Standard all get really choppy after about 1000 feet away and sometimes lose signal, I’m starting to think maybe it’s just my area, this Mavic Air 2 has by far completely beaten all my other drones in range but it’s still significantly less of range than what the box says, just curious.
 
Companies do that. My walkie talkie is supposed to get over a 50 mile range. It gets 3 miles and I got a license to talk 3 miles. I live in the sticks. I thought it would do better. Lol.
 
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Companies do that. My walkie talkie is supposed to get over a 50 mile range. It gets 3 miles and I got a license to talk 3 miles. I live in the sticks. I thought it would do better. Lol.
Yeah, I think they use crazy non interference line of sight type of testing to get the absolute best results while in the middle of no where so they can legally put a number on a box.
 
3500 feet is pretty good. I'm lucky to get 3000 lately, I was getting ~3600+ in the winter when the leaves were off the trees.
 
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There are many causes for not reaching the specified maximum transmission range.

Obstacles - the more dense the obstacle the more the attenuation. Trees block some of the signal and dense objects (buildings, hills, etc) block a lot of the signal.

Competing signals in the same frequency band, mostly WiFi and cellular.

Humidity - water vapor in the air absorbs RF energy.

Signal Reflections - Any large metal objects nearby can also reflect the signal and subtract from the signal strength. Called multi-path interference.

Antenna Position - The position of the antennae relative to the drone can also affect how much signal is transmitted and received.

Broadcast Stations - high power commercial (AM, FM, etc) or private (HAM) transmission can interfere but is strongly a factor of distance to the tower.

Other miscellaneous- Smog, dust, other electromagnetic signals, temperature, manufacturing variations, etc.
 
There are many causes for not reaching the specified maximum transmission range.

Obstacles - the more dense the obstacle the more the attenuation. Trees block some of the signal and dense objects (buildings, hills, etc) block a lot of the signal.

Competing signals in the same frequency band, mostly WiFi and cellular.

Humidity - water vapor in the air absorbs RF energy.

Signal Reflections - Any large metal objects nearby can also reflect the signal and subtract from the signal strength. Called multi-path interference.

Antenna Position - The position of the antennae relative to the drone can also affect how much signal is transmitted and received.

Broadcast Stations - high power commercial (AM, FM, etc) or private (HAM) transmission can interfere but is strongly a factor of distance to the tower.

Other miscellaneous- Smog, dust, other electromagnetic signals, temperature, manufacturing variations, etc.
So I’m guessing since I have a fire department in my neighborhood, a massive police station accross the street with a huge cell tower looking thing, and an airport 2 miles away, this all affects my signal the most? Since there’s so many competing signals. Would that sound right?
 
3500 feet is pretty good. I'm lucky to get 3000 lately, I was getting ~3600+ in the winter when the leaves were off the trees.
That’s actually really interesting how something as simple as leaves can affect range like that, good to note for sure, I always try to avoid trees in front of the controller but it’s not always possible depending on where I fly, thank you for your response!! I never really thought about that too much
 
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So I’m guessing since I have a fire department in my neighborhood, a massive police station accross the street with a huge cell tower looking thing, and an airport 2 miles away, this all affects my signal the most? Since there’s so many competing signals. Would that sound right?
It’s possible. It is hard to determine which specific signals are the problem. Police and fire use lower frequencies so probably will have a less effect than WiFi and cellular but still could have an impact. The airport is less of a problem due to distance.

Line of sight obstacles have the biggest impact on range.
 
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