Was I Boondoggled?

[QuadSquad]

Have not tried it yet. I got it to remedy the RTH's and video sig losses that I was getting when flying less than 3/4 of a mile. I don't have the stones to attempt the distances some of you do.

To ease your worry about pushing the limits.... fly out 100 ft, and hover 1-2 ft above the ground. Then, turn the controller off. This is what will happen when you fly out of range. Oh, and make sure you set RTH altitude at 400'.

 

[Tufargon]

To ease your worry about pushing the limits.... fly out 100 ft, and hover 1-2 ft above the ground. Then, turn the controller off. This is what will happen when you fly out of range. Oh, and make sure you set RTH altitude at 400'.

I did this at 200 feet up and about 1000 feet out to show my friends how reliable the XSP is. I shut it off and put the controller on the ground. It came right home.

 

[QuadSquad]

I did this at 200 feet up and about 1000 feet out to show my friends how reliable the XSP is. I shut it off and put the controller on the ground. It came right home.

Yup.... It's about the only thing that REALLY works in the FW.

 

[QuadSquad]

I'm about ready to sell mine, if I can't get more stable time out of it. Costing me too much money.

 

[Hilander]

2.5 miles on average from most users that have bought this antenna with solid 4-5 bars for video and RC

If this is true then this antenna would be well worth the money.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Well there are people who are getting 2.5 miles with just the stock antennas. How the heck they managed that is beyond me.

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[Hilander]

Well there are people who are getting 2.5 miles with just the stock antennas. How the heck they managed that is beyond me.

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So far the most I was brave enough to dare was a little over half a mile. Am I correct in assuming that if I brave it out and see how far I go that if I lose connection she will return to home? And if so can I take control of it when I regain connection or does it continue to go home regardless. I never yet lost connection and am afraid to purposely do so. I do have the remote set to 200 ft. for RTH in case I would lose connection.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

It will RTH if you lose RC connection. It seems like for ever but yes it comes back. Once you have connection again you can cancel the RTH and take control again.

 

[intrepidusa]

So far the most I was brave enough to dare was a little over half a mile. Am I correct in assuming that if I brave it out and see how far I go that if I lose connection she will return to home? And if so can I take control of it when I regain connection or does it continue to go home regardless. I never yet lost connection and am afraid to purposely do so. I do have the remote set to 200 ft. for RTH in case I would lose connection.

Friendly reminder, you can't see during a disconnect and upon reconnect you need to quickly get oriented. I always set my RTH height to max 399 ft "just in case". The drone takes a direct path to home, if you fly out on a different path and don't see that antenna tower on the way out you could wind up hitting it on RTH...better safe than sorry (saw this happen in a YouTube video like 3 months ago while researching but don't have/remember the link)

 

[DroneDude]

In addition to reducing the risk of flying into something during RTH flights, another good reason to set a high RTH altitude is that the maximum communication range is generally much farther at high drone altitudes. If communication is lost flying below 400 feet there is a good chance that it will be re-gained and you will be able to re-gain manual control when the drone automatically climbs higher.

Of course it isn't always an option, but in most cases elevating the height of the remote control unit will increase the maximum communication range even more than increasing the height of the drone due to the shadowing effects of local obstructions. Simply standing on the bed of pickup truck, on top of a picnic table, or anything else that may be available to raise the control unit a few feet higher above ground will greatly increase the maximum control range in most cases.

 

[intrepidusa]

Good points made by @DroneDude.

 

[Hilander]

Yes, thanks for that info from both of you. I will definitely increase my RTH altitude to be on the safe side.