Isn't the signal supposed to be "better"?

[uberamd]

So here I am, flying my hours old Evo II Pro V2, scratching my head as to why I have 4/5 RC and Video strength 14 feet from the drone with the flat part of the antenna pointing directly at it:




Frequency selection was set to automatic. But it seems that for 99% of the time this guy has been in the air, signal strength is under 5 bars. That seems... odd. Even the screenshot here doesn't look all that clear given how close I was... I'm in an open park. No wifi interference anywhere near me.

 

[herein2021]

So here I am, flying my hours old Evo II Pro V2, scratching my head as to why I have 4/5 RC and Video strength 14 feet from the drone with the flat part of the antenna pointing directly at it:

View attachment 11569


Frequency selection was set to automatic. But it seems that for 99% of the time this guy has been in the air, signal strength is under 5 bars. That seems... odd. Even the screenshot here doesn't look all that clear given how close I was... I'm in an open park. No wifi interference anywhere near me.

Supposed to be is the key word there; just like the EVO II is supposed to be able to fly for 40min. Besides the marketing hype however, I would not put too much faith in those bars, you literally could even have been too close to the point to where the feedback from the drone and transmitter were affecting the signal.

I am no expert at wireless technology but I know from experience that if a wireless transmitter and receiver are too close that you can have issues. I have wireless flashes that are highly unreliable unless they are at least 10-20' from the wireless flash trigger and they use a fraction of the transmitting power that drones use.

Also, if you were using a cell phone, was your cell phone in airplane mode? I always have my iPad mini in airplane mode when flying and I also put my cell phone in airplane mode even though its in my pocket or car. Last but not least, you may think there is no wifi, but were any cell towers nearby? Cell towers cause more interference than most wifi.

I can tell you that my EVO II 6K V1's range in perfect conditions is only limited to battery life. I have flown over open ocean 100' AGL for 5 miles out and back and landed with 10% battery life remaining. No other conditions lets me get that kind of range with the stock controller. Average in an urban setting is around 2000' at 300' AGL.

 

[ssb73q]

Hi, an update from Autel yesterday said that the duel transmission system of both the V1 and V2 EVO ll are the same.

Regards,
Richard

 

[BlairAir]

The V1 isn't "Dual" anything. It's straight up 2.4 Ghz. My observations on my V2. Yes, it's 2.4 Ghz/5.8 Ghz - but by default, every flight is starts in 2.4. You have to go into settings, image transmission and switch to "Auto" at which point both spectrums come up and it will always switch to 5.8 with the drone right next to controller (at least "always" in my experience - I guess interference on the spectrum could prevent it switching over)

Knowing that 5.8 Ghz is faster and "wider" bandwidth, that's great, but 5.8 does not work as well over longer distance scenarios, in general. In fact 900 mhz is known to handle amazing distances, but with slow data rates. See the pattern? I'm no radio geek, I just know these general concepts on spectrum. I think the biggest potential issue that Autel will need to meet is switching bands. I sent the E2P down a long water reservoir (almost 2 miles) in 2.4 mode, and as usual got great transmission both control and video. But when I tried "Auto" - it fell short and initiated an RTH at about a mile. It never switched out of 5.8 when signal got weak. I did not try 5.8 only, just 2.4 and auto. It would have expected it to switch bands, as well as try different parts of the spectrum. Whatever radio adjustments it made, it did NOT switch bands. So that seems like it could be improved. This is what Occusync is known to do really well, and I expect Autel can tune this better. Keeping an eye out for new FW updates, since V2 only has the one update so far.

I expect more distance from the V2 Smart Controller since they have an additional 4 Kilometers range on the specs. But I would have to actually GET it from Autel to test these claims, and to date they just keep mum, and the resellers keep moving the date back. End of August has come and gone. "After Labor Day" still works. Everything is after labor day. Easter is after labor day. Sigh,