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St16s range?

Ok so here's the update,, so I went to a pretty open area I took the washers off my st16s and went for a fly. Well I can say that I definitely went further on this flight it went 2000 ft until it went to 1 bar on the signal but I don't know if it was the washers or the area or both. That being said why can't I reach 4000 ft like people are talking on here? And also I'm having shaky videos at most of the time when I play them back there very clear but shaky. Do you think it's because I have it at 4k with 20 fps? Should I have it on higher fps like 50? Any info on all this I appreciate thanks all.
 
Are you losing control and getting RTH, or are you thinking seeing "1-bar" is the limit of the range?

Generally you will video first, well before losing the control signal. I can get ~3,000 feet with the flat patch antenna (video) before it freezes.
 
At the 1 bar I was getting freezing on the video and as far as control of the bird I could barely see if I had control I could still see it but it was small.. Lol so that's where I'm at
 
Curious to know how you progress. I just got a 4Hawks antenna too & flew on Saturday. My video started glitching on me about 1500' out. Tonight I removed the washer on the video antenna connector only, not the other 2 control antennas, & will see how it goes next time.
 
A small point needs to be made here. If it was almost too small to see at 2000’, why is obtaining 4’000’ of any value? If you can’t see it well enough to effectively control it without using the camera at half that distance any distance beyond the 2,000’ you can barely see it is both illegal and dangerous.
 
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That's not the point at all patr,, the point is if you've read through all of my post I've said,, quote,, other people are getting 4000 ft I was only getting out 200 or so feet and had issues.. So I'm sitting here trying to compare my bird with others thinking something must be wrong with my setup. So I figured, ld better get asking what's going on with all of this and if I cant get it in comparison with others I probably need to call yuneek.
 
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Hello Kellyr, I think it's definitely better but I found that you need to be pointing at the bird at all times and adjusting the head helps also to different angles.
 
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Just to make it clear to anyone trying to help me here and I'm saying this out of the kindness of my heart, I'm not trying to fly to another state with my drone I just bought it recently and I'm seeing on here and other places people are getting much better results with there's so I'm simply trying to find out why mine isn't and if I cant fix it then it needs to go in for service before it takes off from me and does become dangerous I'm simply trying to avoid any accidents or lose of my drone that's it.
 
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if I cant fix it then it needs to go in for service before it takes off from me and does become dangerous I'm simply trying to avoid any accidents or lose of my drone that's it.
As I mentioned earlier, there are so many variables it's very difficult to determine if there is a problem or not.
200' is certainly a problem, but 2000' may or may not be a problem depending on conditions and the area.
Have you checked to see if you are running the most current firmware?

Regarding loss of control, as long as you waited on the ground long enough for the Plus to record the home point there is no worry about loosing control. The H and Q series drones automatically fly toward the home point when the control signal is lost. If you aren't sure you still have control, ALWAYS change to Home Mode. When it gets close enough to judge the orientation, switch back to Angle Mode. When flying the Plus I prefer to select the controller as the home point so there is no need to record a takeoff point.

I have found that flying in the evening yields a stronger video signal. Flying mid-day seems to be the worst time.
 
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Thanks again Steve Carr, I was actually thinking about the day, night, mid-day thing so I'm going out this morning for a couple of test to see what happens. I really appreciate all the help. Until later have a good day.
 
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Hello Kellyr, I think it's definitely better but I found that you need to be pointing at the bird at all times and adjusting the head helps also to different angles.


Yes, because you are using a higher gain antenna that is much more directional than the stock antennas.

Side note: in the US it is prohibited by FCC Part 15.203 to change the antennas to anything other than the same type used to certify the device. However, FCC seems completely disinterested in enforcing this regulation. Just keep in mind that in the event of an incident where you might end up in court using illegally modified equipment does not work in your favor. Not lecturing, just informing.
 
Well that's interesting you talk about that because I went for a morning flight this morning and used all factory equipment and today I've had the best results than I've had so far, so as far as I'm concerned this 4hawks antenna is not better in my case so I won't be using it no more! It might of been because I flew in the morning I don't know but I tried using both this morning and the stock antennas definitely works better for me and that's with the square 5g antenna instead of the mushroom one so to conclude this whole discussion I started I definitely got results with everyones input and trial and error Thank you all for the information I hope this helps someone else that is experiencing the same issue.

On a side note:
I did get a message twice this morning that I never seen before and it said, (check for geomagnetic interference) can someone chime in on this? I didn't see any changes in flight or anything for that matter but I want to know what it means. Thanks again.
 
Probably not as we don’t know if one is more accurate than another.

I have two Apps on the phone used at different times; Solar Sphere for a quick check and UAV Forecast for doing flight planning. Right now Solar Sphere is reporting a KP index of 4 while UAV Forecast is reporting an index of 2.

I have no doubt I could check a few more reporting services and come up with several more different values hoping to arrive at some sort of consensus.
 
In theory below 4. I say in theory because there is no objective evidence establishing Kp index having any effect on low altitude, operator line of sight drone operations. It has never been an issue with radio controlled aircraft on 53MHz, 72MXz, or 2.4MHz model aircraft systems. Having flown RC for well over 45 years I can assure that “radio failures” I’ve experienced during that time were usually my fault for one reason or another. Shoot, I wasn’t even aware of Kp index until a couple years ago.

Our multirotors use common design 2.4MHz RC transmitters and receivers that function the same as RC fixed and rotary wing systems. Perhaps of equal value is that we don’t need GPS at all to operate our aircraft safely, we only have to be more attentive to direction and position control and as long as we can see it we can control it.

Most of the consumer drone systems default to a “Manual- Atti-Stabilized“ type mode when GPS (in and of itself) fails, leaving the aircraft fully controllable afterwards. The only “danger”, if we wanted to call it that, is the aircraft will drift in the direction the wind is blowing. If left in a hover the altitude will hold but the lateral position will “drift” off course in the direction and speed of the wind. In lateral flight we have to input a little angular correction to offset for wind. Had we been flying an automated flight plan the aircraft could no longer follow it if GPS failed, we would have to assume manual directional control.

With all that you might have concluded I don’t put much stock in the Kp index thing. Personally, I don’t bother looking it up. We flew every day and night for many hours at a time in Iraq, Afghanistan, at sea, and other places at distances many miles further than multirotors can be flown with no concern for Kp index, ever. Sure, GPS failures happened from time to time but the solution was the same then as it is now; fly the aircraft manually. Sure, it was a bit of work flying something back from 30-70-150 miles out with no position fix and only the camera and compass heading to use for location and direction reference but people trained for that and dealt with it. Much, much easier with an aircraft we can see when flying them.
 
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