RANGE!! Whats your distance

[Tim Houston]

Was out flying the other night, yeah I'm a bad kid I know. Was trying to get this shot of a Hindu temple at night. I found myself at about 1380' away from my Inspire when the camera signal started to lose its connectivity. Being that I am not a RF pro, I had a set of power lines (12kv maybe) between the unit and myself. I am just wondering if that would impact my video distance. FYI, on the play back the video was still flawless. In a better setting, what type of range is everyone getting out there?

 

[Benjamin Kenobi]

Hey Tim,

Well that's around 420m so a little bit short.

Power lines do cause some local magnetic interference but shouldn't really affect the range unless they are directly between you and the aircraft.

Humidity also reduces the signal.

Also, the position of the antennas on the aircraft. I'm not sure where they are on the Inspire but there are dead or low signal spots on most aircraft depending on which direction the aircraft is pointed. Try flying out to the same distance in your test location and slowly turn the aircraft around to look for weak signal directions. Mine is actually nose towards me as the gimbal slightly blocks the video signal.

Hope this helps.

 

[Betelgeuse]

DJI's official statement of range for the Inspire is 2km or about a mile.
420m was VERY short range.
As Kenobi said, many factors can influence that. I would start by checking the batteries in the controller.
Nothing will limit your range like weak Transmitter batteries.

Having the power lines between you and the Inspire also probably didn't help at all.

Finally, you may have been standing in an area where there was interference from underground cables or a frequency hot spot from a nearby or distant tower of some sort. Large steel or concrete object nearby?

 

[BogotaMatt]

We've sent ours to over 1km on open ground, no problem at all.