Can't calibrate GPS, only 5 sats on controller

[PaulEden]

We've successfully cleaned the pots on the sticks of our controller and hardware monitor shows them smoothly working and showing full deflection. Very pleased with that.
We decided that we'd calibrate the GPS while we are in a housekeeping frame of mind, but clicking calibrate compass does nothing. It makes a little click noise when I press start, but nothing else happens.
The drone shows 14 satellites but the controller shows 5 or 6. Is this what is stopping a calibration?
Lights are 2 white at the front, 2 flashing purple at the back and red on left and green on right.
There's no camera attached as it's away for repair and some searches show that the camera needs to be attached for calibration, but the fact the controller shows many fewer satellites than the drone concerns me a lot.

 

[PaulEden]

Oh .. the manual says the camera must be attached...
But that leads me onto the follow-up question, why is the controller getting so few satellites? We've had the controller apart to clean the pots - is it likely we damaged the GPS receiver while we were inside it?

 

[Steve Carr]

It is common for the ST16 to display fewer sats than the H or H Plus. Part of the reason is the location of the GPS antenna on the controller. It's near the bottom of the controller below the screen. Your body can easily block the signal from many satellites. When I place the controller in an open area with a clear view of the sky it will acquire about 18.
Try that before opening the ST16 to check the antenna connections.

 

[PaulEden]

A quick update. Our new camera arrived from Yuneec Skins and we put it on the drone and recalibrated the GPS - all went well. The controller is picking up enough satellites to show green numbers, it just takes time.