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Simple but vital tip to dramatically increase range & performance

Joined
Jan 18, 2014
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Location
Christchurch, New Zealand
image.jpg Hi All,

I posted a video here of a flight I took a couple of days back where my I1 exceeded 2500m. I felt at the time that I could have flown it further but that would have involved climbing over 150m which exceeds the regs in this part of the world. The flight was over some semi-rural areas but also passing over residential neighbourhoods so there was also a reasonable risk of RFI pollution affecting range.

What struck me the most after this very successful range test was the difference in range and performance from only days earlier when I would get weak signal warnings and signal drop off at 700m +\-.

It may sound blindingly obvious but I discovered the only difference between achieving disappointing range and poor video performance and really great range and performance was the way I held and positioned the controller and an awareness of antenna positioning in relation to the aircraft position on the horizon.

It sounds simple right, and it's really staring you in the face but when you put the correct techniques into play to get the best performance you actually need to hold the controller on a quite upright position with the antenna pointing vertically. Because of the positioning of the monitor in this whole arrangement needs to be quite vertical to avoid excessive sun glare you end up holding the whole unit quite high, which gets quite tiring on the arms.

These two photos demonstrate the correct antenna positioning for optimal range on the controller and then the best position to hold the controller in to ensure strong and consistent video quality. Turning to face your Inspire as it soars horizontally across the skyline is really important too. If you are out at anything over 1500m range a few degrees variation in the position you're facing the antenna can make hundreds or even thousands of metres difference to the range you'll achieve and most definitely the strength and fluidity of the video signal.

I believe that to really enjoy your Inspire you have to know what it's limts are. I've learned to love and trust my old Phantom 2 which has flown literally hundreds of kilometres into and out of some amazing places. I know I can fly it over 4000m and just get back on a battery. To me it's really important to use these things to the limits of their capabilities and endurance and as such I now set about pushing my Inspire so I can learn to trust and therefore enjoy it to the maximum. My thoughts are that if users, novice and expert are able to improve their enjoyment of the a Inspires they fly by only making a few minor adjustments to the way they hold and face their controller then that would be just dandy!

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Thank u Pete.
I experience the 700m glitching and fade out too with lazy controller handling.
ill employ this technique
cheers
 
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I tried this also when my video signal started cutting out, I pulled the RC up and the signal came back..... Freaked me smooth out.
 

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