Spark distance with remote

[Sparky5332]

I went out this afternoon and flew over the lake. At first I was just flying close to the shore then I thought let's see how far I can go. My previous distance record was just over 700 meters (a little under half a mile) which was also over water. At 700 meters connection was shotty and I brought it back. Today I went out, sport mode, guns blazing! 500 meters... 750 meters.... 1000 meters! Omg, no problems! I pressed on. I double checked my height, adjust up a little bit and keep going, 1400 meters. Get the video warning so I adjust the antennae and it clears up, I keep on going. 1800, 1900, 2000! 2 kilometers! Omg! Video warning again, keep going, I don't need video. 2100, 2200, 2300! I can't believe it! 2400! I start losing connection, but I see 2400, 2420, 2430, 2440, connection quits..... Gone. No video, no connection. Nothing. I hold my RTH button and wait. My connection comes back, thankfully. It's coming home and it's now a race against the battery. I'm holding my joystick up to keep the speed up and I wait. I don't know where Jerome is, what direction to look.... Finally I hear Jerome coming overhead and get him back over dry land with 17% left.

I couldn't believe my eyes! 2,462 meters (1.5 miles)

What is the furthest you've taken your drone?

 

[goooins]

2.1 miles

 

[Sparky5332]

2.1 miles

That's amazing

 

[goooins]

That's amazing

I was on a commercial rooftop. So, I cheated.

 

[Sparky5332]

I was on a commercial rooftop. So, I cheated.

Even still. I was in front of a friend's house, no more than 20 feet away and lost connection completely.

 

[Heckmaniac]

14,588 ft away (2.76 miles) out - 5.5+ miles round trip. Did another run 15,136 ft out but ran out of battery coming back - came up short by 450 feet. Stock Spark, controller, battery, OTG cable to android phone and passive parabolic range extender dish on antenna.

 

[Sparky5332]

14,588 ft away (2.76 miles) out - 5.5+ miles round trip. Did another run 15,136 ft out but ran out of battery coming back - came up short by 450 feet. Stock Spark, controller, battery, OTG cable to android phone and passive parabolic range extender dish on antenna.

Wow!

 

[Heckmaniac]

Went out 15,134 ft - came back and fell just short (see pic of where I was when battery hit 0%) flew for about 75-80 seconds more and then dropped out of the sky. As fate had it - landed on a small offshore island. 5 days and two thunderstorms later, I borrowed a kyak and hip waders and did a rescue mission. Used the DJI Go 4 "Find My Drone" app and it got me to within a few feet of where I found it - mostly submerged in muddy water. I brought home, cleaned externally, put in rice for 3 days and after several attempts it came back alive! Been going strong now for 3 weeks since the crash - just amazed at the durability and especially the Find My Drone app.

 

[znap101]

Went out 15,134 ft - came back and fell just short (see pic of where I was when battery hit 0%) flew for about 75-80 seconds more and then dropped out of the sky. As fate had it - landed on a small offshore island. 5 days and two thunderstorms later, I borrowed a kyak and hip waders and did a rescue mission. Used the DJI Go 4 "Find My Drone" app and it got me to within a few feet of where I found it - mostly submerged in muddy water. I brought home, cleaned externally, put in rice for 3 days and after several attempts it came back alive! Been going strong now for 3 weeks since the crash - just amazed at the durability and especially the Find My Drone app.

Whoa that’s crazy were you using Wi-Fi extender or just RC?

 

[Heckmaniac]

Whoa that’s crazy were you using Wi-Fi extender or just RC?

Stock RC and battery - just used cheap $8 passive parabolic range extender dish that you slip onto the antenna - it truely extends your range probably close to doubling it, by directing all the signal towards where you point the controller (which needs to be in the same line and direction as the drone). I would have made it if the wind was a little lighter and the fact that when you hit 12 or 13% battery the drone automatically comes out of sport mode and lowers speed to 11-12 mph and tries to land - and although you can override the landing by manually pushing the remote stick up, you can't increase the speed (which ultimately caused me to come up short).

 

[alekaras]

Stock RC and battery - just used cheap $8 passive parabolic range extender dish that you slip onto the antenna - it truely extends your range probably close to doubling it, by directing all the signal towards where you point the controller (which needs to be in the same line and direction as the drone). I would have made it if the wind was a little lighter and the fact that when you hit 12 or 13% battery the drone automatically comes out of sport mode and lowers speed to 11-12 mph and tries to land - and although you can override the landing by manually pushing the remote stick up, you can't increase the speed (which ultimately caused me to come up short).

Yeah, that is super annoying. It's much more efficient to come back in Sport mode than in normal mode. You waste more power, but you get more distance per power unit.

 

[pmshop]

Here is my initial range check with iOS, OTG and antenna reflectors:

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[Ron_Dog]

The farthest I've ever made was 8400 feet with reflectors? I have used a OTG and never seen any difference? Most of the time I will average around 8000 feet before getting signal loss. Location must make a big diffrence?

 

[Heckmaniac]

It comes down to holding the remote with the range extender dish pointed in direct line at the drone and not having anything including trees or buildings that would break the line of sight with the drone (so keep around 325 feet). I consistently get 12 to 13,000 feet, a couple times went well over 14,000 and only one time did I get 15,100 ft away (14 +15 k you need to make sure you have enough battery to get back ) The 15,000 foot flight I don't have video of since the battery ran out and corrupted the video file. I do have one of the 14,000 foot flights on an unlisted YouTube link. I'm not that great at video editing so haven't made it public. I either have the full HD video or the screen recording (lower quality) showing all of the telematics during the flight. If anyone wants to see it happy to share.