max range (height for 2.4ghz)

[farmerfred]

Hi,

What would be the safe height that you can control your multi rotor? Im not discussing legality here just radio range. I have read a few people say 1 mile in range which would also be height. Therefore 5200 feet should still be controllable?! In order to do this I would have my antenna pointed perpendicular to the controller for best coverage.

After I lost my original f550 in a flyaway i'm concerned about going too high again!

If I do a range test at 30 paces and get a good response then I should be in control at over a mile shouldn't I? In any direction?!

 

[OneStopRC]

Are you flying fpv or los?

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Sent from my electronic telecommunications thingy majiggy, using my fingers and stuff.

 

[farmerfred]

Line of sight only at the moment… I'll eventually be doing FPV with the AVL58 but I more interested what range the transmitter has? What I can't understand is that 1mile is approx 5000ft and nobody seems to have control above 1/2000ft?!?!

 

[tahoejmfc]

if you lost one already, why would you try again to loose one? you need to go google images "antenna donut" and understand the position of your transmitter antenna will greatly affect your range.

Quote - "If I do a range test at 30 paces and get a good response then I should be in control at over a mile shouldn't I? In any direction?!
answer - absolutely not, your antenna position is going to be the limiting factor.

 

[farmerfred]

The range test on a spectrum transmitter is design to test exactly that - that your antenna position is ok for the full range. It reduces the power to compare the range at 30 paces against full power and full range...

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

I get 2km (2000m/6500ft) with my Spektrum gear. Don't point the point of the antenna at the aircraft, the signal comes out the sides (long parts), sorry if you knew this. And make sure your receiver is in a good position and in clear air and look to see which positions would block the signal (for me left side towards me is slightly blocked). A fly away is caused by incorrect setup, I'd look into that first. And have failsafe set up and check it works in the assistant.

I have to mention legality. In the UK its 400ft (122m) vertically, and for a reason!

 

[OneStopRC]

I would not feel comfortable flying more then 400ft with los, if you are concerned about range, get into the assistant software and set up your box, when I say box I do not know the technical name for it but you can set up walls and a ceiling.
Never fly more then you can see, orientation is easily lost when further out then a few hundred feet. When you go fpv, you could use something like ezuhf to give you 6 miles plus. The main thing is, learn to walk before you can run and keep it at a safe altitude.
Did you not have failsafe working? Running with a GoPro running wireless on the unit?

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Sent from my electronic telecommunications thingy majiggy, using my fingers and stuff.

 

[DucktileMedia]

I was always told my typical 2.4 radio is safe for about 2500'. With any given claimed distance at least cut it in half. Ever seen a motorola talk about actually go 22 miles? No! They go maybe a mile line of sight. I feel if you're going over 2000' you should be on UHF anyways.

 

[R6Media]

I think I read somewhere in specs that the AVL58 is only good for about 3/4 of a mile.
If you want to go farther than that with FPV you might want to consider a different video transmitter.

I cant answer your other question based on experience but I've seen videos of guys in the desert chasing a car down a straight highway for what seemed like miles.
I'm not willing to test the theory. A couple weeks back I took my 550 probably just shy of a half mile away (not high) and I lost pitch and roll authority. It just sat there in a hover over some trees. I couldn't see it but my cam confirmed my position. I could yaw and climb/descend only. Probably just some sudden glitch. I hit my failsafe switch and it came right back. Awesome.
If IrisAerial is correct, his statement aligns with my experience of nearly 2500' but don't jsut go with that. I just now wondered to myself if I have limits set in my Naza software..... I'll have to check.
Good luck

 

[OneStopRC]

As R6Media and myself was saying, you can set within the assistant software (now I can look at it), under advanced there is a tab called limits, you can set a ceiling (max Height) and Walls (Max Radius).

Now, if you did loose orientation because of LOS distance, maybe your radio did go out of range? if this did happen why did your failsafe not engage? I presume you have a failsafe just in case your radio fails, reception is lost Etc? Now if your radio did go out of range, maybe the wind carried it on and away from you... Hard to say without any footage, just speculating.

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

It's only with failsafe enabled that you can test your true range. I actually went in practice 2km (2000m/6500ft) (OSD). Failsafe kicked in and brought her home. Yes it's scary but at least you know your limits and I definitely shouldn't have any issues at 500m if it went 2000m.

This is with UK gear.

 

[buckers]

Don't forget guys ( and I'm sure you haven't), that comments from "over the water" are referring to USA Spektrum gear, which has higher output power than the European stuff, so consider that when trying to compare possible flight distances.
HTH

 

[OneStopRC]

Quote - "If I do a range test at 30 paces and get a good response then I should be in control at over a mile shouldn't I? In any direction?!
answer - absolutely not, your antenna position is going to be the limiting factor.

You should also take into consideration the environment around you, trees, buildings among some of the items around will affect your signal, over populated areas with lots of WiFi will also affect your signal quality.

The pointing of certain antennas will do nothing, most standard antennas are designed as an omni-directional antenna, where the antenna radiates on an horizontal plane, very little is transmitted vertically hence the antenna has to be pointing up at all times. Some antennas like the Yagi types are directional and are designed to be pointed in the immediate direction of the receiver, but these are seldom used for transmission because of the moving vehicle. Just keep in mind, antennas need to point up or down, up on the radio normally and Up or down on the RX, not side to side, not front to back but UP or DOWN.