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Spark's range?

kaybreeze

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Aug 4, 2017
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3
Hello,

I recently got myself a Spark and was able to fly it a bit in these last few days. I already have a Mavic, which is a wonderful drone, but I liked the compactness of the Spark. Anyway, I read a bit about range before purchasing the Spark and I came to understand that while it's nowhere near the range of the Mavic (which is fantastic) it's still good.

But, now that I've been trying it out a bit I'm not very impressed at all. At about 60-70m height I get stutter/delays on the screen and sometimes "weak image transmission"-warning. Am I doing something wrong here or is that how it is?

Flying with the RC, latest Spark firmware and DJI GO 4 4.1.20 with iPhone 8+ (latest iOS)
 
I have the same setup and don’t have that issue even at 380 feet. I make sure I am in airplane mode, and do not disturb -WiFi on and have killed all other running apps on my phone before launching.
 
Hello,

I recently got myself a Spark and was able to fly it a bit in these last few days. I already have a Mavic, which is a wonderful drone, but I liked the compactness of the Spark. Anyway, I read a bit about range before purchasing the Spark and I came to understand that while it's nowhere near the range of the Mavic (which is fantastic) it's still good.

But, now that I've been trying it out a bit I'm not very impressed at all. At about 60-70m height I get stutter/delays on the screen and sometimes "weak image transmission"-warning. Am I doing something wrong here or is that how it is?

Flying with the RC, latest Spark firmware and DJI GO 4 4.1.20 with iPhone 8+ (latest iOS)


The latest version of the Go 4 App for IOS is 4.1.22. The only time I have ever seen "Weak Transmission signal" is when I use the OTG cable. With that said, can you verify that everything is updated including firmware? Also are you near anything that can cause interference?
 
Bluetooth near the remote will kill the streaming video, from what I've found.
 
I've flown it both in Airplane-mode and with cell signal on, seems to make no difference.

When I flew, the DJI GO 4 that is out now wasn't released yet. I don't use an OTG-cable. All firmwares (both Spark and batteries) has been updated. I have flown both close to/on a beach and in a large garden relatively far from the main house so don't think there should be any interference.

Airplane mode turns off the bluetooth.

I fly on the 5.8GHz-band, should I be?
 
My experience varies widely depending on location and potential interference. I am fully upgraded with all firmware and use the new iPhone X. I was flying from inside my parked car (it was really cold outside) over open water and got to 1.91 km or over 6200 feet (altitude was below 150 feet). My signal was intermittent (not completely lost) and I turned around and flew home. Today I was flying in a open area in the middle of a city (high rise buildings on all four sides) just flying below 20 feet to test out some things and signal was coming in and out and interference warnings were coming up only flying 30 feet away.

So it is safe to say that the Spark is really impacted by interference, but when there is none it flies as far as advertised.
 
I don't fly my Spark very much. When I do, I fly in my immediate neighborhood and I get terrible interference. Perfect when I'm in an open field
 
Hello,

I recently got myself a Spark and was able to fly it a bit in these last few days. I already have a Mavic, which is a wonderful drone, but I liked the compactness of the Spark. Anyway, I read a bit about range before purchasing the Spark and I came to understand that while it's nowhere near the range of the Mavic (which is fantastic) it's still good.

But, now that I've been trying it out a bit I'm not very impressed at all. At about 60-70m height I get stutter/delays on the screen and sometimes "weak image transmission"-warning. Am I doing something wrong here or is that how it is?

Flying with the RC, latest Spark firmware and DJI GO 4 4.1.20 with iPhone 8+ (latest iOS)

try switching up the channels and frequency of the wifi signal
 
I too have found there are many variables that may affect range. In my experience, I've found that very dense WiFi areas have the biggest affect on range for me.

I've found that having features turned on my Iphone, or having my Ipad tethered to my Iphone via hot spot, bluetooth on, wearing my Apple watch has had zero impact on my range or connectivity.

I've flown my Spark from my house to the park a few blocks away as high as 400' and had no issues what so ever. Then I've flown the same route other times, get a block away and its giving me a weak signal message.
 
ignore (weak imaged transmission) when connected to Otg. on my ipad i will ignore. so far i flew 1050m .looks it can go further. however i return home.

 
I personally dismayed that DJI haven't exactly been up front with their advertising about range in the EU. Whilst I understand it's governed by transmission power limits I feel they should set people's expectations in the main advertising, not in the small print
 
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If you live in a CE country (Europe, Australia, etc) then the Sparks transmission power is reduced due to local regulations. The stated 2km range is reduced to a stated 500m, but in reality I've never seen more than about 200m in perfect conditions before getting issues.
 
I've not seen a single dji advert in print or online which mentions transmitter power (range) reduction. Ideal situation for me would be a developer like Cavu building the range hack into their app
 
In Australia the best I've got is 720m. That was over a river. Dropped out when I approached a housing estate. I noticed the transmission started on 5.8Ghz and automatically dropped to 2.4Ghz after about 300m.

For comparison, the best range from my Mavic in similar conditions is 2700km.
 
The
I've not seen a single dji advert in print or online which mentions transmitter power (range) reduction. Ideal situation for me would be a developer like Cavu building the range hack into their app

The FCC and CE power and ranges are stated in the Specs on the DJI site, as well as I'm all the manuals. Spark – Specs, FAQ, Tutorials and Downloads

There is a patches DJI Go4 app that forces FCC mode, but I don't know the rules here about talking about it?
 
The


The FCC and CE power and ranges are stated in the Specs on the DJI site, as well as I'm all the manuals. Spark – Specs, FAQ, Tutorials and Downloads

There is a patches DJI Go4 app that forces FCC mode, but I don't know the rules here about talking about it?
There's a whole thread about the Go4mod app so there's no issues talking about it. I appreciate what you are saying about the specs being in the literature, but who reads the small print for anything?
 
If you want to have a much more reliable video signal then your best option in a CE country is to force the rc and spark to operate in FCC mode. Easy to do to and no impact on warranty (I’ve tested that already).
 

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