Noob from Cape Town South Africa

[droffarc]

Only recently got interested in drones. Bought a toy or three and practiced in my bedroom having a number of spectacular crashes till I got up the courage to get the spark after doing some research : must have gps hold, rth, obstacle sensor and a l l.
Flown three times, first one was very hesitant in a local park, second was great in a farm field and the third was in a field beside the road near Philadelphia (no not pa). This turned out to be an adventure. Lift off was fine, yawed around to get a selfie then lost gps! The spark did a dance as I tried to suppress my surprise and get a grip. I watched in horror as it flew into and went down in a field beside the road. Climbing through a barbed wire fence is not my favourite sport, then wading waist deep in foliage, calling and whistling for sparky all the while. If it was not for the flashing lights I would probably still be searching!
But it was fun and I'm learning from youtube and the forums.
Btw my avatar is a hoverfly[emoji219]

 

[Spark 317]

Hello from the Hoosier Heartland, droffarc.

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Hello,
It is a pleasure to welcome you to the SparkPilots forum.
I hope that you will be able to use the forum to further your safety knowledge and for the exchange of innovative ideas and as a resource for current developments in DJI Spark quadcopter’s.
Enjoy the forum!

 

[guppy1]

Welcome, and get use to that it is going to happen a lot and you will get use to fly without GPS( atti mode) Gain height and some times GPS comes back.
Cheers

 

[droffarc]

Welcome, and get use to that it is going to happen a lot and you will get use to fly without GPS( atti mode) Gain height and some times GPS comes back.
Cheers

So I am practicing atti indoors with tripod mode on and object avoidance off. All went rather well except for a small upset in a narrow passage yawing - got a bit of propwash [emoji219]

 

[Faithley]

Hey welcome. I'm also from cape Town currently living in chatsworth quite near to Philadelphia

 

[droffarc]

Hey, I know Chatsworth, on the way to Mal mens burggggy. Nice area, I guess you have less wind out there.

 

[Faithley]

Not a chance I haven't flown my sparky for about a week now. Wind is terrible and I constantly loose gps and sometimes get compass error. I'm using my phone, don't have a remote, wish I had one though.

 

[droffarc]

And the south easter is on its way!

 

[Faithley]

I'll wait for better weather rather. Lost my spark once because of a little strong wind, luckily I found it with the help of "find my drone" so I'll wait till the south easter lays down to rest.

 

[Spark 317]

All went rather well except for a small upset in a narrow passage yawing - got a bit of propwash

Be mindful of the ceiling too.

When I received my Spark last year, I flew mine inside, with the prop guards, and got too close to the ceiling.

Oh boy, that was fun.

The prop wash sucked it up tight and the spark looked like an upside down air hockey puck skittering around the ceiling until it went to the wall , disrupting the air flow, and slowly crashing to the floor with no damage.

I was kind of giggling and worried at the same time as this was my first drone and thought, 'Well, that was fun'.

 

[Faithley]

I had it without prop gaurds in a hall but with avoidance system on and it stopped before it went further up and I got the beeping sound. Even when I pressed up to see what would happen it didn't want to go further. So it seems the avoidance system covers for that

 

[macros999]

The best advice I can give you is do a proper compass calibration far away from everything.... I am from Jhb, and mine dropped into atti frequent, until I properly calibrated the compass. 40 flights later, not a single atti incident...

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Welcome and thanks for sharing. I must admit I chuckled when I saw your facial expression in that shot you shared... Droner's face .... been there, done that, need the T-Shirt

Greetings from Canada eh!

 

[droffarc]

Are there any other Western Cape Spark Fliers around?
I would like to contact
Thanks

 

[TimmyG]

Are there any other Western Cape Spark Fliers around?
I would like to contact
Thanks

Yes. I'm in Tokai. Bought my spark a week and a half ago. It's good fun. I'd recommend that you download the DJI GO 4 mod app as it unlocks a bunch of features and forces your remote into FCC mode so the range is a lot better

 

[droffarc]

Yes. I'm in Tokai. Bought my spark a week and a half ago. It's good fun. I'd recommend that you download the DJI GO 4 mod app as it unlocks a bunch of features and forces your remote into FCC mode so the range is a lot better

Hi in Tokai
I'm in Strand.
Yep, i'm having range trouble - 75m and the signal is lost, fortunately it returns.
I'm taking it back to drone world because of this. Fix it or refund.
I specifically want to do photography and dare not send it too far.
I dont want tobtry the mod in case my warranty is affected.

 

[guppy1]

Hi, I do fly in the Strand and offen on the beach. I get 1-2Km on range towards the unpopulated area (towards the Danel fence) If I go towards the buildup area towards the flats I get 300 meters. I use FCC very happy as I normally do not go beyond that.