Reliable flight distance

[Alxy]

Hi everybody,

From the experience of seasoned H owners, what is the distance of reliable flight in an area not far away from town, meaning with some possible signal interference, some trees around, some electrical lines? So you would say that "at disastance X I am sure I will have good signal, but beyond that I do not know".

 

[PatR]

As far as you can see it well enough to control it. Pretty much as it states in the operating instructions, it is designed to be a LOS aircraft. The use of WiFi as a transmission medium pretty much restricts it to that.

 

[ricmitch]

Keeping the H in line of sight is safest. But keep in mind when anything gets between the st-16 antena and the h you can start to lose signal. Trees can cause loss of signal, I have lost video before, If you notice lag or pixelation stop flying, meaning let go of the joysticks. I would then only use the throttle to gain altitude to get your line of sight and signal back.

Any time I have lost signal it has been video first. The RC signal seems to keep working a bit longer.
The H is probably still flying so that is why I say let go of the sticks, because you wont know what it is fling into without video if you are not in line of sight.

The H will hover in place then like I said go for altitude. Also always set your return to home altitude high enough to clear anything in the way of the return path.

Also take into consideration of the wind direction. If you fly out with the wind and use half of your battery up you will return back flying against the wind, using more power to get home. You may not make it all the way back home before the H starts to auto land.

You may end up in a lake or forest or whatever. I always get home before my first battery warning to be safe. Also try to maintain line of sight is is the safest way to fly

 

[R12NDS]

I had heard that 5.8ghz only works to 200 metres..although the manual says different.

I did get a black screen from the video downlink at 250 feet...but dont know if that was a one off?

 

[Alxy]

As far as you can see it well enough to control it. Pretty much as it states in the operating instructions, it is designed to be a LOS aircraft. The use of WiFi as a transmission medium pretty much restricts it to that.

May be it is somewhat an overstatement, but I think nobody flies such drones line of sight (LOS).
Parrot Bebop 2 has Wi-Fi link with dedicated controller and it has 2km stated range, so Wi-Fi is good for much further distances. H has 1.6km in specs. I am sure it can be pushed to this distance in perfect conditions.
May be I it is not scientific answer, but I will give an example that with other *big" drones I have or used I could fly 800m without worrying, but beyond that I could get different results. So what is "no worries" distance for H?

 

[PatR]

I had heard that 5.8ghz only works to 200 metres..although the manual says different.

I did get a black screen from the video downlink at 250 feet...but dont know if that was a one off?

Depending on what's being used, 5.8 can get out distances measured in miles. That would be using a dedicated video transmitter and receiver system. Those of us that are builders have had them for a long time. WiFi is not now, nor has it ever been, a long range carrier. Bear in mind that legally we have to maintain operational line of sight with the aircraft. When used within the confines of the law WiFi broadcast on 5.8 is just fine. It's those that want to fly their H much further than they can see it that have problems, and those problems are completely self induced because they are trying to use the H in a manner for which it was not designed. Understand that at long ranges interference is quite possible. FCC law requires that amateur radio systems accept interference, but not generate any.

The term line of sight (LOS) covers more than just being able to see your aircraft. It is also relative to your system components being able to see each other. That path must be kept clear of obstructions. If a tree or other object comes between the aircraft and the transmitter, LOS has been lost and problems can occur. As the operator you have to be smarter than the aircraft, it will only go where you tell it to

 

[FlushVision]

Hi everybody,

From the experience of seasoned H owners, what is the distance of reliable flight in an area not far away from town, meaning with some possible signal interference, some trees around, some electrical lines? So you would say that "at disastance X I am sure I will have good signal, but beyond that I do not know".

Much depends on the type and strength of interference and, to some extent, which versions of firmware you are using...whether it be the EU version, or the american version. Although keep in mind that the EU version won't necessarily mean that you will lose the Wi-Fi signal earlier since the EU version allows for channel switching.

All I can say with any certainty is that I have never had any issues with loss of signal while in VLOS flying in a location similar to what you describe nor in areas with far less forgiving conditions. So, there are no guarantees, but I would suggest that you would be good for up to 1400 ft if my experiences are anything to go by.

But you must make your own choices. Just because I've not had issues while within my maximum VLOS does not grantee you won't. There are many variable to consider. I've seen reports of signal loss at shorter distances, and I can point to reports of people being able to fly a couple of kilometers away. All I will say is fly in VLOS and you 'should' be O.K.

 

[PatR]

May be it is somewhat an overstatement, but I think nobody flies such drones line of sight (LOS).
Parrot Bebop 2 has Wi-Fi link with dedicated controller and it has 2km stated range, so Wi-Fi is good for much further distances. H has 1.6km in specs. I am sure it can be pushed to this distance in perfect conditions.
May be I it is not scientific answer, but I will give an example that with other *big" drones I have or used I could fly 800m without worrying, but beyond that I could get different results. So what is "no worries" distance for H?

I gave you the legal answer. If you want to fly beyond LOS, every thing is on you. That manufacturers post range distances is on them. Call them to obtain a hard number. I fly "big drones" too, and all of them are limited to LOS regardless of how far the system can effectively broadcast. BTW, there is no such thing as a "no worries" distance. When conditions are right you can drop link at any range.

 

[FlushVision]

May be it is somewhat an overstatement, but I think nobody flies such drones line of sight (LOS).
Parrot Bebop 2 has Wi-Fi link with dedicated controller and it has 2km stated range, so Wi-Fi is good for much further distances. H has 1.6km in specs. I am sure it can be pushed to this distance in perfect conditions.
May be I it is not scientific answer, but I will give an example that with other *big" drones I have or used I could fly 800m without worrying, but beyond that I could get different results. So what is "no worries" distance for H?

I fly exclusively Line Of Site and so do a lot of people I know so you are wrong on that count. You sound like a guy that is well in the habit of flying beyond LOS. That's your business and the consequences of that if something goes wrong is on you. I will only give advice regarding operations carried out in LOS because that's where my experience lies.
My experience says that you 'should' be OK if within LOS, but there are no 'no worries' distances for the H...or any other consumer UAV for that matter.

 

[Murray Martz]

Hi everybody,

From the experience of seasoned H owners, what is the distance of reliable flight in an area not far away from town, meaning with some possible signal interference, some trees around, some electrical lines? So you would say that "at disastance X I am sure I will have good signal, but beyond that I do not know".

My question is this.
With each country making it harder and harder to fly a drone, especially with people blatantly breaking the rules/laws, why would you want to add to the problem by breaking the rules/laws that are already making it harder for us?

The only acceptable distance to fly, is VLOS. Anything else is just adding fuel to the fire.

 

[nechsproject]

In my experience, environment is the biggest factor here. When I fly from my house I can only get a few blocks away if there is anything in between the controller and the drone, but when I change locations to a more remote area I can get well over a half mile. I also fly a phantom 3 and it is the same story I can get a 1/4 mile away and it goes into RTH mode. That is LOS as well.

 

[FlushVision]

In my experience, environment is the biggest factor here. When I fly from my house I can only get a few blocks away if there is anything in between the controller and the drone, but when I change locations to a more remote area I can get well over a half mile. I also fly a phantom 3 and it is the same story I can get a 1/4 mile away and it goes into RTH mode. That is LOS as well.

You've got pretty good eyesight if you can still see a Phantom 3 well enough to have situational awareness over a quarter of a mile. I'm not saying you don't, but my 61 year old eyes can't see my Phantom well enough over that distance.

 

[PatR]

At 1300' you're flying the H through the camera. You might be able to see a speck in the sky but it is not possible to establish orientation.

 

[nechsproject]

You've got pretty good eyesight if you can still see a Phantom 3 well enough to have situational awareness over a quarter of a mile. I'm not saying you don't, but my 61 year old eyes can't see my Phantom well enough over that distance.

Yes indeed, hard to see but can tell she is still in the air, only got about half that mileage on my eyes now. I hope that I am still flying when I am 61. But what it boils down to is that my environment kills the range more than anything. I have driven a few blocks around my home and with wifi analyzer and it is amazing these drones can even lift off

 

[nechsproject]

At 1300' you're flying the H through the camera. You might be able to see a speck in the sky but it is not possible to establish orientation.

I know that Smart Mode has saved my bacon more than once. But the H is sure a lot easier to see than the P3 at those distances. I still cant believe some of these guys are flying them way out VLOS, I get so shaky when I have to look at the screen for more than a few seconds to get orientation

 

[FlushVision]

I know that Smart Mode has saved my bacon more than once. But the H is sure a lot easier to see than the P3 at those distances. I still cant believe some of these guys are flying them way out VLOS, I get so shaky when I have to look at the screen for more than a few seconds to get orientation

Yes. The H is far easier to see than a Phantom since they are bigger and blacker, so a H will still be in LOS at greater distances than a Phantom would.

 

[PatR]

Just an observation, but there seems to be some discrepancies between how people define LOS and controlling the aircraft using LOS. That might be a fun discussion for another thread.

 

[PatR]

I know that Smart Mode has saved my bacon more than once.

If you haven't already done so, just for the heck of it try "flying the arrow" when in Angle mode and see how that works out for you. Take it out a ways at some off angle, spin the aircraft a rotation or three, then look at the green arrow on the screen. Push the right stick the direction the arrow is pointing and see where it takes the H

 

[nechsproject]

If you haven't already done so, just for the heck of it try "flying the arrow" when in Angle mode and see how that works out for you. Take it out a ways at some off angle, spin the aircraft a rotation or three, then look at the green arrow on the screen. Push the right stick the direction the arrow is pointing and see where it takes the H

I will give that a shot. I try to stay out of Smart mode as much as possible.

 

[htperry]

LOS, on a backdrop of clouds and with strobe on, I can see my Typhoon h as a speck at nearly 3000 feet. I have the ITELITE DBS antenna on the ST-16+ controller and have no loss of video or control. The signal is usually 4-5 bars control and at least 3 on video at that distance. I don't fly BLOS and have never tried to see just how far it will go. I use the DBS antenna for signal reliability.

 

[Robert Brooks]

Easily over a mile out and up, I've replaced the pigtails in the ground station and use fpvlr antennas on all 3 of the ground station + external on the H also using the upgraded pigtail wire. I've done 1 test way out of sight after the upgrades but always fly LOS regularly. Never had the st16 screen black out or even fuzzy.