3 ms·

As always with radio, it's mostly about unobstructed line of sight and the gain in your antenna system. Indeed. If you grow up with your most common radio int

by causi 5y ago

As always with radio, it's mostly about unobstructed line of sight and the gain in your antenna system. Indeed. If you grow up with your most common radio interactions being an FM car radio and a dumbphone, you get the impression it's entirely about range. Then you buy a drone and find out one pine needle shaves 50% off of your signal strength.

genewitch 5y ago
the mavic 2 series of drones by DJI don't have this issue, but the tradeoff is the controller weighs like 40 pounds, because it's a quite powerful wireless access point. Every other drone i've owned that supported video used an android or ios device to connect to the drone via wifi (drone presents as a WAP). iirc the claimed range is around 8km on the one i have, about 5 miles. I have assuredly gone well over 2km with no issues with control or video feed. This was over a straight highway. I routinely fly around a kilometer away, and the only issues i have is if i launch from an extremely dense patch of pine trees, and only at about 800-900 meters, i will lose video (artifacting for a second), but not control. It's never had to RTH. In case you're curious about city usage, i have a friend that has one he launches from a culdesac in Orange County and can fly in nearly any direction for about 8 minutes* before he hits a geofence, the drone still functions normally. If there is any issues, he can just fly higher. The newest newest DJI stuff claims even more ridiculous range, 15km+ over open water, for instance. If i hadn't used it myself, i wouldn't have believed it, it sounds like BS. * this is 5-7km depending on the tailwind
- exikyut 5y ago
  40 pounds?!?! Really?! That's 18kg. That's really awesome though.
  - genewitch 5y ago
    about 650 grams, actually. I went and weighed it, just now. the controller itself is 390g, plus the phone.
- causi 5y ago
  but the tradeoff is the controller weighs like 40 pounds, because it's a quite powerful wireless access point. Every other drone i've owned that supported video used an android or ios device to connect to the drone via wifi (drone presents as a WAP). That is not accurate. The modified wi-fi some DJI drones use is not reliant on the smartphone/tablet attached to the controller. It's strictly between the drone and the controller, which passes data on to the phone via USB. The drones can be switched into AP mode for faster media downloads, but at that point they lose connection with the controller. Ocusync controllers weigh 390 grams, and that isn't that much considering their build quality and the fact they have two 18650 cells inside.

by causi 5y ago

genewitch 5y ago

the mavic 2 series of drones by DJI don't have this issue, but the tradeoff is the controller weighs like 40 pounds, because it's a quite powerful wireless access point. Every other drone i've owned that supported video used an android or ios device to connect to the drone via wifi (drone presents as a WAP). iirc the claimed range is around 8km on the one i have, about 5 miles. I have assuredly gone well over 2km with no issues with control or video feed. This was over a straight highway. I routinely fly around a kilometer away, and the only issues i have is if i launch from an extremely dense patch of pine trees, and only at about 800-900 meters, i will lose video (artifacting for a second), but not control. It's never had to RTH. In case you're curious about city usage, i have a friend that has one he launches from a culdesac in Orange County and can fly in nearly any direction for about 8 minutes* before he hits a geofence, the drone still functions normally. If there is any issues, he can just fly higher. The newest newest DJI stuff claims even more ridiculous range, 15km+ over open water, for instance. If i hadn't used it myself, i wouldn't have believed it, it sounds like BS. * this is 5-7km depending on the tailwind

exikyut 5y ago
40 pounds?!?! Really?! That's 18kg. That's really awesome though.
- genewitch 5y ago
  about 650 grams, actually. I went and weighed it, just now. the controller itself is 390g, plus the phone.
causi 5y ago
but the tradeoff is the controller weighs like 40 pounds, because it's a quite powerful wireless access point. Every other drone i've owned that supported video used an android or ios device to connect to the drone via wifi (drone presents as a WAP). That is not accurate. The modified wi-fi some DJI drones use is not reliant on the smartphone/tablet attached to the controller. It's strictly between the drone and the controller, which passes data on to the phone via USB. The drones can be switched into AP mode for faster media downloads, but at that point they lose connection with the controller. Ocusync controllers weigh 390 grams, and that isn't that much considering their build quality and the fact they have two 18650 cells inside.