Question on satellites and home lock

[Highflyer]

I bought my Spark November last year and haven't been able to fly it yet due to weather and now we're dealing with the melting snow and flooding. I have been messing with it indoors flying it around a little it has been in Atti mode today I flew it around in the house and it showed 11 satellites and home locked in I thought it was odd since I started out in the kitchen surrounded by appliances, fluorescent lighting, my laptop up and running, cell phone range extender, and tv on and blue tooth devices running. So I was wondering how I can get the sats and home lock and everything else running right with all that interference?? I'm not worried or concerned about it just curious.


Jeff

 

[lmel2005]

I bought my Spark November last year and haven't been able to fly it yet due to weather and now we're dealing with the melting snow and flooding. I have been messing with it indoors flying it around a little it has been in Atti mode today I flew it around in the house and it showed 11 satellites and home locked in I thought it was odd since I started out in the kitchen surrounded by appliances, fluorescent lighting, my laptop up and running, cell phone range extender, and tv on and blue tooth devices running. So I was wondering how I can get the sats and home lock and everything else running right with all that interference?? I'm not worried or concerned about it just curious.


Jeff

Signal of satellites depends on visibility, and doesn't interfere with lower frequency signals.

For positioning, 4 GPS satellites are enough, but accuracy is better using signal of over 10 satellites from different positioning systems.

 

[Spark 317]

All of that stuff running shouldn't effect the GPS signal.

The GPS signals come down from the satellites and may penetrate the roof and windows for the Spark to see.

When I got my first GPS unit (Garmin GPS 3 plus) it would not pick up anything while inside.
Today's GPS units are better and may work while inside if the signals are strong enough.

Just don't hit the RTH button if it does have a Home Point inside.

Yikes!?

 

[nilanjan118]

So I was wondering how I can get the sats and home lock and everything else running right with all that interference?? I'm not worried or concerned about it just curious.

It is possible to get GPS reception indoors. It doesn't have to come through your roof always. Even a small window may be enough. But I don't think such reception would be stable. Regarding interference from home appliances, I can only say that interference is not something which comes with a knock on the door. I have flown in semi-urban areas with no interference at all. There is also a mobile tower right next to my apartment and I see no noticeable issue when flying near it. But at the same time, I have also found in one case that my video feed was quite choppy when I was near an isolated house in the middle of nowhere. Now I don't know what was cooking inside that house but I am just trying to say that interference is difficult predict in advance. The key is to fly within VLOS and keep an eye on the RC signal strength at the same time.

 

[hiflyer]

Like Spark said ..don't hit the return home..double yikes..
I fly mine in the house with only my phone and it always eventually announces that it has found the home point. I've really never paid enough attention to the phone to see how many sats it has.
My brother lives near KLAX ..Los Angeles International ..and 5000 feet below the Class B airspace. My drone wouldn't even start in his house the one time I tried it.
Sometimes it takes a little longer than other times outside to locate the home point but it really does have a pretty fast GPS. Do make sure you have the home point before launching.

 

[Highflyer]

Thanks, guys for the info ?

Jeff