Video Signal Range ~ Normal?

[Jumpyman]

While the Mavic 2 Pro that I got from Fbook Mplace is "in the shop" with a Gimbal Issue, I got a Mavic 2 Pro off of Ebay with a 30 day return policy to fly in the mean time with the intent that it might be nice to have a "backkup". It looks to be in great shape, flys nicely, smooth gimbal, etc. BUT I noticed the range isn't at all what I expected from a "new" drone (compared to my Phantom 3 Advanced). I'm flying 500' - 1000' out and my Video Signal is already losing a bar. . I've gone 2000', LOS with maybe a few trees and the video "glitched" so I spun around and headed back. I came in the house and checked the video signal graph. Am I correct that the LOWER the number is, the stronger the signal? -70 dBm is stronger than -100 dBm? Here are some screenshots of my video signal graph with the drone sitting 5' from me in the living room. I'll also try changing the setting to Manual at 2.8 ghz (if it's anything like Wifi, the higher frequencies have greater bandwidth but don't have the range of the lower frequencies). If there's an issue with the range of this drone, I'd like to return it while I have the chance ~ thanks in advance! PS I'm using a Smart Controller and am NOT pointing the antennas AT the drone. . I understand that Parallel to the drone is best but, of course, I tried various antenna positions. . little to no effect. .

 

[Cafguy]

Where are you flying? is there something around you like a wi-fi signal that could interfere 5ghz is best if you have choppy video BUT you will lose control range alot!! 5ghz is simply less crowded and you can stream video better on it kinda its rarely used because of the control range thing.
you should be getting better range but I dont think its the Drone.

 

[Jumpyman]

Where are you flying? is there something around you like a wi-fi signal that could interfere 5ghz is best if you have choppy video BUT you will lose control range alot!! 5ghz is simply less crowded and you can stream video better on it kinda its rarely used because of the control range thing.
you should be getting better range but I dont think its the Drone.

Hey Cafguy ~ It's right around my house. . I haven't flown it anywhere else. . I guess the thing to do would be go somewhere where theres NOTHING else around and check it. I don't like using my phone but I downloaded the app for my iPhone and got THAT all hooked up just in case there was something weird with the Smart Controller. . SLIGHTLY better but still dropped that first Video Signal bar not much farther out. I'll be getting my original Mavic 2 back tomorrow and I can't wait to give THAT a shot and see. . if it's the same, then I'd guess it's either the conditions where I'm flying or it's the controller. Any other ideas are welcomed. Thanks again.

 

[mavic3usa]

If it means anything, my old M2Z plus SC used to pull in 10,000' without blinking. I could barely see it an inch above the tree line.

 

[Jumpyman]

If it means anything, my old M2Z plus SC used to pull in 10,000' without blinking. I could barely see it an inch above the tree line.

Wow. . okay. . that's kinda what I was expecting. . thanks for the input Mavic3usa and I'll see what the other M2P with SC does tomorrow and report back.

 

[Cafguy]

IT could be the controller sure. BUT Hey...I was thinking, With My whoops I only use my goggles (DJI goggles 2) , and when I try to listen to music with the phone in my pocket, I sometimes....well mostly, get choppy video back from the Drone. The whoops not a DJI (Geps) BUT They use OCCUSYNC (DJI Air units). so I would expect the same behavior from the Drones.
You should be getting better range. Have you had a hard landing? Is one of your landing legs off kilter any? If so its actually a cheap and easy fix...........If you hurry.

 

[Felix le Chat]

With the Mavic 2's: you have Ocusync 2 which isn't as tolerant with WiFi noise, which over the last 5 years has become much more of a problem, even in semi-rural and rural areas (loads more 2.4gHz and 5+ gHz personal and household gizmos and WiFi boosters).

As an example: wireless/Bluetooth headphones, earbuds and in-ear hands-free units linked to the phones in almost everyone's pockets, all of which have a strong signal up to 30 feet away. Not that much of a problem until you have a couple of hundred overlapping individual signals in relatively close proximity... then the FHSS on every individual device (including your drone) is going to be jumping around like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Secondly: certain Mavic 2's developed a signal problem after updating the firmware past v.0670, if you search this forum and others, you will find many references to control signal problems after upgrade to .0770/.0772 firmware. This happened with my Mavic 2 Zoom: but not my Mav.2 Pro (which I deliberately left on .0670).

 

[Jumpyman]

IT could be the controller sure. BUT Hey...I was thinking, With My whoops I only use my goggles (DJI goggles 2) , and when I try to listen to music with the phone in my pocket, I sometimes....well mostly, get choppy video back from the Drone. The whoops not a DJI (Geps) BUT They use OCCUSYNC (DJI Air units). so I would expect the same behavior from the Drones.
You should be getting better range. Have you had a hard landing? Is one of your landing legs off kilter any? If so its actually a cheap and easy fix...........If you hurry.

Hey Cafguy ~ This is a used drone off of Ebay. . it doesn't LOOK damaged. . and I've only had it a few weeks. I'm not quite getting the connection between listening to music on your phone and getting choppy video? Is the music coming from the phones speaker or are you bluetooth/WiFi connected to earbuds and you're saying it could be interference? I'm using the Smart Remote. . have wifi and Bluetooth turned off on the Smart Remote and my phone is nowhere near me. I haven't had a hard landing but possibly the previous user did? Again, there's no visible damage but is there anything I can somewhat easily check? What's the fix if it DID have a hard landing? I'll be getting myPP other M2P back today. . I'll fly it with the SM as well as the standard controller to see if the range is the same as this one. If so, I'll move to a completely different location and see what results I get. Thanks! PS Did anyone look at the 2 screenshots I posted? Is that LOW signal strength or HIGH signal strength? Here they are again and thanks again!

 

[Jumpyman]

With the Mavic 2's: you have Ocusync 2 which isn't as tolerant with WiFi noise, which over the last 5 years has become much more of a problem, even in semi-rural and rural areas (loads more 2.4gHz and 5+ gHz personal and household gizmos and WiFi boosters).

As an example: wireless/Bluetooth headphones, earbuds and in-ear hands-free units linked to the phones in almost everyone's pockets, all of which have a strong signal up to 30 feet away. Not that much of a problem until you have a couple of hundred overlapping individual signals in relatively close proximity... then the FHSS on every individual device (including your drone) is going to be jumping around like a cat on a hot tin roof.

Secondly: certain Mavic 2's developed a signal problem after updating the firmware past v.0670, if you search this forum and others, you will find many references to control signal problems after upgrade to .0770/.0772 firmware. This happened with my Mavic 2 Zoom: but not my Mav.2 Pro (which I deliberately left on .0670).

Hey Felix. .thanks for the input. Is there any way I can see if my drone IS jumping around looking for a good, clean channel? (FHSS) Judging from the 2 screenshots I posted (here again) that's in my Living room. Is that a GOOD signal or a POOR signal? I'd think 5 feet from me it should be a really STRONG signal. . .Stupid question but is there any way for me to revert back to .0670 Firmware? If not with the board in this one, possibly a new one? I learned too late on my Phantom to not just randomly hit "update firmware". . .I'd love to find a M2P pre-.0770. . I'm getting my other M2P back today. . I'll test it with the Smart Controller and the standard controller and, if I get the same results, then I'll move to a completely different location, preferably in the middle of nowhere and see what I get. Thanks again.

 

[Cafguy]

YES everytime I stream music thru my phone the video reception gets lots worse.
If the Drone landed hard enough it could have simply dislodged one of the antenna cables that are in the landing leg. For your model I don't remember if the antennas are back or front. if the wire is dislodged you simply need to reconnect or solder it back in place. IF the antenna wire was damaged you will have to buy an entire new ARM and replace that. This requires you to de-solder the old arm from the drone and attach a new arm. Not really that hard to do BUT DJI Parts are going FAST!!!

Your first photo shows a good signal. BUT here is something you can try **OR MAYBE the previous owner did this and you are now on a bad channel** ........... see below:

• Access the image transmission settings in your DJI app (e.g., DJI Fly or DJI Go 4).
• The app usually tries to select the best channel automatically.
• You can manually select a channel to avoid interference.
• Observe the channel graph - channels marked in green indicate stable connections, while red signifies unstable channels.
• Choose a clear channel, ideally with a green bar or no bar, and avoid channels with tall red lines indicating strong interference.

 

[Jumpyman]

YES everytime I stream music thru my phone the video reception gets lots worse.
If the Drone landed hard enough it could have simply dislodged one of the antenna cables that are in the landing leg. For your model I don't remember if the antennas are back or front. if the wire is dislodged you simply need to reconnect or solder it back in place. IF the antenna wire was damaged you will have to buy an entire new ARM and replace that. This requires you to de-solder the old arm from the drone and attach a new arm. Not really that hard to do BUT DJI Parts are going FAST!!!

Your first photo shows a good signal. BUT here is something you can try **OR MAYBE the previous owner did this and you are now on a bad channel** ........... see below:

• Access the image transmission settings in your DJI app (e.g., DJI Fly or DJI Go 4).
• The app usually tries to select the best channel automatically.
• You can manually select a channel to avoid interference.
• Observe the channel graph - channels marked in green indicate stable connections, while red signifies unstable channels.
• Choose a clear channel, ideally with a green bar or no bar, and avoid channels with tall red lines indicating strong interference.

Hey Cafguy ~ Thanks again for the guidance. Guess I can Youtube "mavic 2 antenna check or replacement" to see how I can check that. In DJI Go 4 I don't see the green or red bars that I used to see when I'd connect to my Phantom. . it's just that horizontal graph that, if you select "custom channel" you can then "slide" the box left or right to pick a channel unless I'm missing something? (see my posted screenshots). It seems that the color of the line in the graph indicates how "clean" the channel is? FYI I just got back from a ride and had the drone with me. . I saw a relatively open area. . decided to send it up and fly it away a bit to see about the signal. . this time I was about 300' high and got about 750' away and was not only dropping Video signal by 1 bar or more but also by control signal was dropping by 1 and sometimes 2 bars so I got a bit concerned and spun around and came back. . as I don't know how quickly it'll go from 3-4 bars to 0-1 and initiate a RTH which I've NEVER done. WTH? Guess I'll know more this afternoon when the other drone arrives. . .realistically, it's nice to be able to get up high and get beautiful panoramic views but most of the stuff I'll be using it for is relatively close proximity. .maybe I shouldn't be so concerned about it? Here's a screenshot with the distance, 1 bar down on both Video and Control Signal. PS Felix mentioned that once he updated his firmware from .0670 to .0770 that his range suffered. I'd think this would be a universal thing with anyone that is using .0770, right? Anyone else using a Mavic 2 Pro with .0770 or newer with range issues?

 

[Cafguy]

If you are concerned you might want to get a simple cheap extender for your controller. They look cheap and gimmivky BUT they work pretty well.
Something is happening for you to be getting so little range in the middle of no-where I am leaning towards a hard landing or broken connection.

PS Felix mentioned that once he updated his firmware from .0670 to .0770 that his range suffered. I'd think this would be a universal thing with anyone that is using .0770, right?

Not necessarily and Felix le Chat Knows Drones...I would certainly look into it.

 

[Jumpyman]

SO. .just for ha-ha's, I was going to pull the bottom cover to see if there might be a loose antenna wire or something obvious. . as MY luck would have it. .the LAST screw of 6 that I was trying to remove has solder or something filling the allen head so I can't remove it. . I can see from my other Mavic 2 Pro that this isn't normal and it's been tampered with. . .WTH? I can't win here. .

 

[Cafguy]

That something is epoxy and DJI uses it to see if you tampered with the Drone for warranty purposes. A very little heat from a heatgun and a small awl will remove it....and any warranty.

 

[Jumpyman]

That something is epoxy and DJI uses it to see if you tampered with the Drone for warranty purposes. A very little heat from a heatgun and a small awl will remove it....and any warranty.

Hmmm. . it's not on my other (original with gimbal issue) M2P. . guessing that one must've been disassembled at some point?

 

[Cafguy]

Hmmm. . it's not on my other (original with gimbal issue) M2P. . guessing that one must've been disassembled at some point?

It flakes off after awhile anyway. PS sometimes they dont use much just enough that your tool will strip it tho CHECK CAREFULLY before you turn! IF you do strip a screw use a torx that will insert into the striped screw that will remove it.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Hey Felix. .thanks for the input. Is there any way I can see if my drone IS jumping around looking for a good, clean channel? (FHSS) Judging from the 2 screenshots I posted (here again) that's in my Living room. Is that a GOOD signal or a POOR signal? I'd think 5 feet from me it should be a really STRONG signal. . .Stupid question but is there any way for me to revert back to .0670 Firmware? If not with the board in this one, possibly a new one? I learned too late on my Phantom to not just randomly hit "update firmware". . .I'd love to find a M2P pre-.0770. . I'm getting my other M2P back today. . I'll test it with the Smart Controller and the standard controller and, if I get the same results, then I'll move to a completely different location, preferably in the middle of nowhere and see what I get. Thanks again.

You're most welcome. Thank you for the courtesy.

The screenshots show a surprisingly good signal for your living room, come tomorrow, I'll post a screenshot of my Mav.2 Z signal in my own home.... it's like a relief map of the Himalayas.

From a personal viewpoint: I haven't found a safe way to revert to .0670 because of the ARB, which was set to '1' with .0670 and rose to '2' with .0770.... there are claims of being able to weasel round the ARB lockout, but I won't risk bricking one of the best drones DJI has made.

Some of the Mavic 2's remain good on long-range transmission, but a minority have ended up with serious problems, usually exclusively on the 2.4-2.48gHz transmission band. I found 3 ways of mitigating the shortcoming.

a) change my flying habits by only TOAL-ing from a position close to the intended photo target (less than or equal to a quarter mile... preferably a lot less),

b) manually selecting the 5.8gHz band before takeoff, and

c) applying the Drone-Hacks FCC BOOST hack: which kicks both 2.4 and 5.8 from +26db to +30db (the absolute legal maximum unlicensed transmitter strength in the US).

Not perfect: but I still get the use of a rock-solid, reliable drone up to about three quarters of a mile (the furthest I've ever sent the drone out away from me... only the once: to check where I could expect to see signal attenuation/dropout).

 

[Jumpyman]

You're most welcome. Thank you for the courtesy.

The screenshots show a surprisingly good signal for your living room, come tomorrow, I'll post a screenshot of my Mav.2 Z signal in my own home.... it's like a relief map of the Himalayas.

From a personal viewpoint: I haven't found a safe way to revert to .0670 because of the ARB, which was set to '1' with .0670 and rose to '2' with .0770.... there are claims of being able to weasel round the ARB lockout, but I won't risk bricking one of the best drones DJI has made.

Some of the Mavic 2's remain good on long-range transmission, but a minority have ended up with serious problems, usually exclusively on the 2.4-2.48gHz transmission band. I found 3 ways of mitigating the shortcoming.

a) change my flying habits by only TOAL-ing from a position close to the intended photo target (less than or equal to a quarter mile... preferably a lot less),

b) manually selecting the 5.8gHz band before takeoff, and

c) applying the Drone-Hacks FCC BOOST hack: which kicks both 2.4 and 5.8 from +26db to +30db (the absolute legal maximum unlicensed transmitter strength in the US).

Not perfect: but I still get the use of a rock-solid, reliable drone up to about three quarters of a mile (the furthest I've ever sent the drone out away from me... only the once: to check where I could expect to see signal attenuation/dropout).

Hey Felix!
First, thanks so much for the reply and for the valued Info! It's going to take me a little while to do some Googling to figure out exactly what you're saying But I'm learning. . Might be a bit early to start asking questions before I completely understand your reply, BUT:

1) if MY signal is so great in my living room, why does it drop off so fast outside? I've tried manually switching to 2.8 gHz thinking, if it's like my WiFi, lower frequency = less bandwidth BUT stronger signal while higher frequency - more bandwidth and less range. (much like high and low frequencies with speakers ~ High frequencies are very directional and fade faster than lower frequencies (VLF transmitters on subs. . ). I'll give the 5.8 a shot.

2) Judging from your response, the risk of trying to roll back the firmware is greater than the potential gain so I'll forget about that.

3) My other thread (Mavic 2 Pro ~ Returned with Firmware Update :-( Now What?) deals with my other Mavic 2 pro that had a gimbal issue and was sent for repair. It went out with .0770 firmware and came back today with .0797 so NOW, if I don't update the firmware on my smart controller, it's incompatible! My question is is there any reason NOT to update the firmware on my controller(s) that now have version .0072? Or should I avoid that at all costs?

Thanks again for your valued input ~ I feel like I got hit with 2 pretty big issues all at once and I may just need to slow down and think a bit more before I do anything irreversible. Thanks!

 

[Felix le Chat]

Hey Felix!
First, thanks so much for the reply and for the valued Info! It's going to take me a little while to do some Googling to figure out exactly what you're saying But I'm learning. . Might be a bit early to start asking questions before I completely understand your reply, BUT:

1) if MY signal is so great in my living room, why does it drop off so fast outside? I've tried manually switching to 2.8 gHz thinking, if it's like my WiFi, lower frequency = less bandwidth BUT stronger signal while higher frequency - more bandwidth and less range. (much like high and low frequencies with speakers ~ High frequencies are very directional and fade faster than lower frequencies (VLF transmitters on subs. . ). I'll give the 5.8 a shot.

2) Judging from your response, the risk of trying to roll back the firmware is greater than the potential gain so I'll forget about that.

3) My other thread (Mavic 2 Pro ~ Returned with Firmware Update :-( Now What?) deals with my other Mavic 2 pro that had a gimbal issue and was sent for repair. It went out with .0770 firmware and came back today with .0797 so NOW, if I don't update the firmware on my smart controller, it's incompatible! My question is is there any reason NOT to update the firmware on my controller(s) that now have version .0072? Or should I avoid that at all costs?

Thanks again for your valued input ~ I feel like I got hit with 2 pretty big issues all at once and I may just need to slow down and think a bit more before I do anything irreversible. Thanks!

Sorry if the acronyms get a bit confusing, I'm used to them, so it's an unconscious habit.

The 2.4gHz frequency is the 'pirate' band used by almost every other WiFi gizmo sold to us gadget addicts worldwide, so it's also the band most susceptible to interference. 5.8gHz is still relatively 'clean'. The relatively clean signal trace you're seeing in your own home is down to the fact that the majority contributor to WiFi noise there is one main item: your broadband router. You're far enough away from other external signals for them not to add noticeably to the problem.

1.2gHz would have been ideal for both massive range and penetration, but that's a bandwidth already spoken for, so we're screwed. Yes, 5.8gHz is is very directional and is a 'bouncer', so you will suffer greater object attenuation from solid objects and soggy stuff (trees, shrubs, leaves etc ), but if you tailor your flying habits to take this into account: you'll have an excellent control signal.

As far as the hackers who reckon they've managed to break Anti RollBack: personally, I'll leave that until the hard evidence is obvious through the positive experience of a great many others (I didn't even consider Drone-Hacks until I'd done over 18 months consecutive research).

Since I was already screwed by updating the Zoom from .0670: I couldn't see a reason not to take it up to .0797, so that's what it's on at present, but with the D-H tweaks installed and it won't be updated any further. I haven't noticed any additional buggy business, so I'd consider .0797 a safe stop point. You should be able to update to comparable RM500 firmware without any problem. The update process should offer you the choice to upgrade to latest version, or choose an earlier version, try a version below the current one.

Addendum

I don't own an RM500 (Smart controller), I use the original RC1A/B coupled with a Lenovo M10+ gen3 tablet and use Assistant 2 and a Windows PC to link both the drone and controllers to the computer, but I would imagine that the Smart controller will link up with Assistant 2 in the same way. I'm sure that anyone else with a Smart controller (RM500) will put me right if I'm mistaken.

 

[Jumpyman]

Sorry if the acronyms get a bit confusing, I'm used to them, so it's an unconscious habit.

The 2.4gHz frequency is the 'pirate' band used by almost every other WiFi gizmo sold to us gadget addicts worldwide, so it's also the band most susceptible to interference. 5.8gHz is still relatively 'clean'. The relatively clean signal trace you're seeing in your own home is down to the fact that the majority contributor to WiFi noise there is one main item: your broadband router. You're far enough away from other external signals for them not to add noticeably to the problem.

1.2gHz would have been ideal for both massive range and penetration, but that's a bandwidth already spoken for, so we're screwed. Yes, 5.8gHz is is very directional and is a 'bouncer', so you will suffer greater object attenuation from solid objects and soggy stuff (trees, shrubs, leaves etc ), but if you tailor your flying habits to take this into account: you'll have an excellent control signal.

As far as the hackers who reckon they've managed to break Anti RollBack: personally, I'll leave that until the hard evidence is obvious through the positive experience of a great many others (I didn't even consider Drone-Hacks until I'd done over 18 months consecutive research).

Since I was already screwed by updating the Zoom from .0670: I couldn't see a reason not to take it up to .0797, so that's what it's on at present, but with the D-H tweaks installed and it won't be updated any further. I haven't noticed any additional buggy business, so I'd consider .0797 a safe stop point. You should be able to update to comparable RM500 firmware without any problem. The update process should offer you the choice to upgrade to latest version, or choose an earlier version, try a version below the current one.

Addendum

I don't own an RM500 (Smart controller), I use the original RC1A/B coupled with a Lenovo M10+ gen3 tablet and use Assistant 2 and a Windows PC to link both the drone and controllers to the computer, but I would imagine that the Smart controller will link up with Assistant 2 in the same way. I'm sure that anyone else with a Smart controller (RM500) will put me right if I'm mistaken.

Hey Felix!
Not at all. . like I said, I'm learning. . Googled a bit. . ARB? Anti-Rollback? TOAL? Didn't even Google. .figure Take Off And Landing makes the most sense. . and I agree. And, if you're okay with Drone Hacks then I guess I would be too, but again, I'm gonna just leave it alone for a while and fly within it's abilities for now. As for the RM500, I'm gonna leave that as well as my "M2P #2" is still on .0770 (the one with the range issue) so I'll continue to use that with the RM500 for now and I'll update my original M2P controller to .0797 so I can see how "M2P #1 (the one that had the GIMBAL issue and I just got back today with the firmware update) does since I've never really flown it more than a hundred feet away since it didn't have a camera. Also, in all of my free time () I'll check out exactly what Assistant 2 is on Youtube. . some kind of interface between Drone and Computer I'm guessing? Thanks again so much Felix for input on this stuff. . really helps from someone that's been there! . PS Curious, what kind of range were you getting from your M2 Zoom before the update from .0670 and what did it diminish to?