Dang leaves!!

[A.O.]

So spring/early summer is in full bloom here in the Paradise state which means the deciduous trees are all leaved out once again, BUT, that limits the places I can fly to. Where I fly there is a lot of woods with trails, and open fields etc. I used to be able (winter) to fly over the trees and then drop down into one of these fields or trails and fly around but not any more! If I'm up over the woods and swoop down into a field I lose signal as soon as I dip below tree line, didn't used to be that way and the dang leaves are the only thing I can think of to cause this "new" problem. Oh well, I'm still learning!

 

[dirkclod]

Yes foliage will make any of them loose signal if there say
lots of trees between the 2 of you. Just make sure you do have your RTH set high enough to clear them if your flying over then dropping down. If flying down those trails set it to hover.

 

[PTMC]

I’ve noticed that as well, once spring hits it feels like a trees that were a non issue in winter are sucking up all the RF! Also, I’ve noted reports of people thinking they are having range problems with the Mavics tic up in the spring.

 

[A.O.]

Yes foliage will make any of them loose signal if there say
lots of trees between the 2 of you. Just make sure you do have your RTH set high enough to clear them if your flying over then dropping down. If flying down those trails set it to hover.

Yes and yes... Almost screwed up a couple times but survived..

 

[rktman]

If you can get above the tree tops yourself where you are positioned flying it helps a ton! Reduces the length of foliage the signal has to pass through by a great deal. Usually not practical, but if it is keep in mind… you can have an amazing flight down in the trees if you can sit up on the hillside above them.

 

[A.O.]

If you can get above the tree tops yourself where you are positioned flying it helps a ton! Reduces the length of foliage the signal has to pass through by a great deal. Usually not practical, but if it is keep in mind… you can have an amazing flight down in the trees if you can sit up on the hillside above them.

Well I do not have a hillside to sit on, but here is that back field I was talking about, I can go back there and sit up in my shooting tower and have access to the whole field and some of the trails close by. This is one of the early flights with the new FPV.

 

[rktman]

One more thing, you don't have to get way above the tree tops, just slightly above the plane of the tree tops. It could be a shallow angle. Even a shallow angle will eliminate 90% of the foliage the signal has to go through.

 

[thetechnobear]

Does forcing it into 2.4ghz help?
( I get much better penetration and range with 2.4 ghz)

 

[A.O.]

Does forcing it into 2.4ghz help?
( I get much better penetration and range with 2.4 ghz)

Uh oh... how do I force it to 2.4ghz? I'll give it a try.

 

[thetechnobear]

Settings -> Transmitter , set to Manual , then 2.4ghz
you can also lower the bandwidth to 20Mb (from 40mb), that doesn't seem to reduce video quality, as far as I could tell.


Its seems to be that DJI is defaulting to 5ghz, which is better where you have alot of interference (things like wifi), but doesn't have same range/penetration.
so if you are out in the sticks 2.4 seems better.

it may be in a future firmware update, the auto mode coudl do a better job in detecting which is more suitable, or perhaps could even switch mid-flight.
but for now, I've kept mine locked to 2.4 ghz


note: I think this is more noticable to those of us in CE region, since we are using lower power, so 5ghz can be limited to sub 500m (!) even in reasonable conditions .. but 2.4ghz is really very good (even without the power hacks)
outside of CE, I don't know how much difference it makes, but worth a try !

 

[A.O.]

Settings -> Transmitter , set to Manual , then 2.4ghz
you can also lower the bandwidth to 20Mb (from 40mb), that doesn't seem to reduce video quality, as far as I could tell.


Its seems to be that DJI is defaulting to 5ghz, which is better where you have alot of interference (things like wifi), but doesn't have same range/penetration.
so if you are out in the sticks 2.4 seems better.

it may be in a future firmware update, the auto mode coudl do a better job in detecting which is more suitable, or perhaps could even switch mid-flight.
but for now, I've kept mine locked to 2.4 ghz


note: I think this is more noticable to those of us in CE region, since we are using lower power, so 5ghz can be limited to sub 500m (!) even in reasonable conditions .. but 2.4ghz is really very good (even without the power hacks)
outside of CE, I don't know how much difference it makes, but worth a try !

Sorry... CE region?

Oh, and thanks I'll try it.

 

[thetechnobear]

CE = Europe
FCC = US/Canada etc.

in CE we have laws that mean transmissions on the 2.4/5ghz bands are much lower power output.
so DJI have to follow this.

 

[A.O.]

CE = Europe
FCC = US/Canada etc.

in CE we have laws that mean transmissions on the 2.4/5ghz bands are much lower power output.
so DJI have to follow this.

I was under the impression that the drone would "look" for the best one and use it, no?

 

[thetechnobear]

it should do BUT in practice it does not appear to....

without fail, if I put it in AUTO. I get much less range than if I put it in 2.4ghz.
so its obviously picking 5 ghz (if I manually select 5ghz, I also get poor range)

there is zero interference where I like, so no need for 5ghz.

thats why I said, perhaps a firmware update may change this - it may be a bug.
(or perhaps DJI have other reasons to choose 5ghz that we dont know e.g. majority of users flying in cities?)



anyway, upshot is , just try it...
if it doesn't help you, you can just put back in AUTO and forget it.

if it helps, then just bare in mind IF you fly in an area with lots of wifi etc, then you might want to switch back to AUTO. (even if you don't you'll get worst range , so can land then change it - no big issue)

 

[A.O.]

it should do BUT in practice it does not appear to....

without fail, if I put it in AUTO. I get much less range than if I put it in 2.4ghz.
so its obviously picking 5 ghz (if I manually select 5ghz, I also get poor range)

there is zero interference where I like, so no need for 5ghz.

thats why I said, perhaps a firmware update may change this - it may be a bug.
(or perhaps DJI have other reasons to choose 5ghz that we dont know e.g. majority of users flying in cities?)

Thanks, I'm out in the middle of nowhere also so not much interference here either, I will try this next time I fly.