Spark range on 5.8GHz better than 2.4GHz or OTG

[Pac]

Very interesting. Can you tell me how I can switch to 2.4Ghz in the App (iOS)?
The Wifi Icon in the App shows me 5.8 - is this the link between Smartphone and RC or RC and Spark?
If I plug in the OTG, the symbol gets greyed out.

 

[nicholas hickman]

anyone tried this in the EU?

 

[Wombatclay]

I've done plenty of testing.... with otg I get real time FPV and great range (2.1km), wireless 2.4ghz I can get 2km range but very leggy with video and controls... 5.8ghz could only get to 700m but when using otg and doing range testing you can see the flip from 5.8ghz to 2.4ghz. Video will go almost broken at 700m then bang clears right back up again.

 

[Dronason]

Very interesting. Can you tell me how I can switch to 2.4Ghz in the App (iOS)?
The Wifi Icon in the App shows me 5.8 - is this the link between Smartphone and RC or RC and Spark?
If I plug in the OTG, the symbol gets greyed out.

You need to be connected with wifi to the RC. With OTG it is the Spark that decide at start.
What is shown in the app is the band used for RC to Spark. If not using OTG, then the link device to RC is the other one.
Yes, OTG is made normally for the DJI googles and not all functions are available. If you use OTG and want to change the band, you need to first use wifi, select the band and then plug your OTG cable.

 

[Dronason]

anyone tried this in the EU?

Got about 1000 meters with 2.4G or 5.8G with OTG and windsurfer antenna reflectors, this is open field.
OTG is not that important, what is important is to turn-off any bluetooth devices, especially if you want to use the 2.4G as link to the Spark.

 

[nicholas hickman]

Got about 1000 meters with 2.4G or 5.8G with OTG and windsurfer antenna reflectors, this is open field.
OTG is not that important, what is important is to turn-off any bluetooth devices, especially if you want to use the 2.4G as link to the Spark.

I've found I get inconsistent results but I imagine local WiFi can have an impact on performance I have some parabolic extenders and tend to favour OTG and phone with WiFi disabled. I have to say I very rarely fly beyond 500/600m with any of my drones so range isn't my main concern, rather signal quality.

As a side note I will say how impressed I am every time I fly the spark at how solid and stable it is in flight, my Autel slides and drifts like a Giraffe on roller skates in comparison.

 

[Dronason]

I've found I get inconsistent results but I imagine local WiFi can have an impact on performance I have some parabolic extenders and tend to favour OTG and phone with WiFi disabled. I have to say I very rarely fly beyond 500/600m with any of my drones so range isn't my main concern, rather signal quality.

As a side note I will say how impressed I am every time I fly the spark at how solid and stable it is in flight, my Autel slides and drifts like a Giraffe on roller skates in comparison.

Yes, if you are within good link range it is very enjoyable with some fun in sport mode at the end
It is exactly what I was expecting from my Hubsan H501s but with the Spark, everything works really nice as expected.

 

[Lancelot]

I always thought I am already somewhere near 500m until I open my flight records and I am nowhere near that. I tried 2 days ago (in EU yes) on an open field what my max range is. No OTG, screen says 5.8ghz, no bluetooth whatsoever near it
The result: the video gets very choppy after 250m and i didnt dare to go further after about 350m as it lost signals now and then.

 

[Dronason]

I always thought I am already somewhere near 500m until I open my flight records and I am nowhere near that. I tried 2 days ago (in EU yes) on an open field what my max range is. No OTG, screen says 5.8ghz, no bluetooth whatsoever near it
The result: the video gets very choppy after 250m and i didnt dare to go further after about 350m as it lost signals now and then.

Was it really in open field (out of urban area) ? From my observation, if there is no wifi at all in the area it uses 2.4G for the link. Did you have a way to check if there are wifi nearby (like android "Wifi Analyzer") ? In urban area, the range is really reduced.

 

[Lancelot]

It was a farm around 1km long, 500m wide. Air is clear and no electrical pole or anything nearby.

 

[Dronason]

Strange, in my case there was nothing around 2 km at least.

 

[Wombatclay]

5.8ghz has limited range but high transmission rate. 2.4ghz is the one you want to use for range or otg with the phone in flight mode. Guarantee 800m like that.

 

[Lancelot]

yeah still waiting for my otg cable to arrive.
do you know how to switch it from 5.8 to 2.4?

 

[Dronason]

yeah still waiting for my otg cable to arrive.
do you know how to switch it from 5.8 to 2.4?

You need first to be connected by wifi and set the band if needed (in really free from BT/wifi, the Spark will choose 2.4G), then disconnect from wifi and connect the OTG.

 

[Ricardo BR]

Absolutely no lag in the video until I reach the 1.2 mile mark. Once I reached the max distance, the video froze for a couple of seconds and I got message 'Lost video connection' when the AC started RTH automatically. This was so smooth in 5.8GHz. In contrast, for other two flights, I experienced some lag in video, pixelated, b&w video before RTH began, also I saw 'RC connection lost' message in one of the later flights.
If you look into the notifications log, you will see there is just 2 sec loss of connection before RTH in first flight vs 11-12 sec data loss in later 2 flights.

I cam only reach 500m and then a message of weak or lost sinal appears. Flights are at open space, top of hill so no obstacles and I use RC Wifi (no cable).
I haven't tried to go beyond. RTH worked well.
Have you experienced such problems as well?
How can I check if my RC to AC communication is in FCC or in CE?

Tks

 

[webvan]

5.8ghz has limited range but high transmission rate. 2.4ghz is the one you want to use for range or otg with the phone in flight mode. Guarantee 800m like that.

It's been a while since this was posted but rather than starting a new thread after some observations while flying yesterday I'll just update this one ;-)

I've been flying with 5.8 in FCC since 2017 after finding 2.4 very laggy a few times but yesterday I forced 2.4 and was amazed by the range in direct LOS. Easily got 2k with no dropped frames vs 1.2k with 5.8. HOWEVER as soon as there's the smallest interference, like trees, 2.4 ghz is a disaster whereas 5.8 ghz can "punch through" a little bit. Hope this helps ;-)