Does this sound about right....

Cal Dawson · Jan 16, 2016

Clear view of the solo 70 meters Altitude, Distance was 874 meters away with stock antenna before loss of signal and RTH. Antennas were at the 5 and 7 o'clock positions. Is there anything I can do to improve this?

Thanks

MachWun · Jan 16, 2016

874 meters is damn close to a half mile...which is what I believe the solo is rated for; .8km there are 2 antenna I have been reading about on this forum the past 3 days since I've gotten my solo, the fpvlr and the alpha set.

Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk

erikgraham · Jan 16, 2016

Cal Dawson said:
Clear view of the solo 70 meters Altitude, Distance was 874 meters away with stock antenna before loss of signal and RTH. Antennas were at the 5 and 7 o'clock positions. Is there anything I can do to improve this?

Flying in an area with less wifi interference will get you more distance.

For antennae, the FPVLRs seem to be the most popular replacement around here. If you do get replacement antennae, be aware that they achieve extra distance by being directional. That means you have to be more conscious of keeping them pointed at the Solo. The stock antennae are omni directional.

You can also use ground control software, like Tower (Android) or Mission Planner (Windows), to send your Solo on a mission that takes it beyond the range of your controller, provided you tweak a parameter that unlocks that capability - otherwise the default RTL (return to launch) will kick in, even on an auto mission.

Arron Hage · Jan 16, 2016

getting great results with the FPLVLRs, consistently near double the range of the stock antennas!

Cosber · Jan 16, 2016

Cal Dawson said:
Clear view of the solo 70 meters Altitude, Distance was 874 meters away with stock antenna before loss of signal and RTH. Antennas were at the 5 and 7 o'clock positions. Is there anything I can do to improve this?

Thanks

I've said this before, so one more time won't hurt. We are bound by line of sight. Can you see your drone with your eyes at 1/2 mile? Probably. Do you think you can see it 3/4 mile? 1 mile? I bet not. Go ahead and spend $150 on the FPVLR if you don't care about the law or money. I recommend the Alpha's. $20 each. Gave me twice the distance as the stock, which is too far for my poor eyes, but I don't worry about weak signal and RTH when it's not all that far away.

erikgraham · Jan 16, 2016

Cosber said:
I've said this before, so one more time won't hurt. We are bound by line of sight. Can you see your drone with your eyes at 1/2 mile? Probably. Do you think you can see it 3/4 mile? 1 mile? I bet not. Go ahead and spend $150 on the FPVLR if you don't care about the law or money. I recommend the Alpha's. $20 each. Gave me twice the distance as the stock, which is too far for my poor eyes, but I don't worry about weak signal and RTH when it's not all that far away.

You are of course 1000% right, but don't forget that it's not only about range. Something like the FPVLRs are also good for punching though foliage, or overcoming a crowded wifi environment.

Cal Dawson · Jan 17, 2016

I may need to look at the FPVLR's or possibly an update to the WiFi cards. I wonder if 3DR are working on an update for longer range...

Maddog · Jan 18, 2016

Cosber said:
I've said this before, so one more time won't hurt. We are bound by line of sight. Can you see your drone with your eyes at 1/2 mile? Probably. Do you think you can see it 3/4 mile? 1 mile? I bet not. Go ahead and spend $150 on the FPVLR if you don't care about the law or money. I recommend the Alpha's. $20 each. Gave me twice the distance as the stock, which is too far for my poor eyes, but I don't worry about weak signal and RTH when it's not all that far away.

I can't see Solo beyond about 500'!

Cosber · Jan 19, 2016

And I thought I was blind!

Maddog · Jan 19, 2016

Cosber said:
And I thought I was blind!

I'm blind in one eye and can't see out of the other...

DonatoBoca · Jan 19, 2016

erikgraham said:
You are of course 1000% right, but don't forget that it's not only about range. Something like the FPVLRs are also good for punching though foliage, or overcoming a crowded wifi environment.

You are correct. I am in law enforcement and we fly tre solo indoor while we are outside and FPVLR provides us with best penetration. We get ours in amazon for 128

erikgraham · Jan 19, 2016

DonatoBoca said:
You are correct. I am in law enforcement and we fly tre solo indoor while we are outside and FPVLR provides us with best penetration. We get ours in amazon for 128

I think it's pretty cool that law enforcement flies the Solo. Makes sense I guess because you can actually get support from 3DR. Do it yourselfers can tinker and make their own repairs, but If I were approving a drone purchase for a police department, I'd want to be sure the supplier provides support.

Anyway, lost you on the last sentence of your post. "We get ours in amazon for 128" - huh???

Maddog · Jan 19, 2016

erikgraham said:
I think it's pretty cool that law enforcement flies the Solo. Makes sense I guess because you can actually get support from 3DR. Do it yourselfers can tinker and make their own repairs, but If I were approving a drone purchase for a police department, I'd want to be sure the supplier provides support.

Anyway, lost you on the last sentence of your post. "We get ours in amazon for 128" - huh???

I think he means they buy the FPVLR on Amazon for $128. I just checked and you can buy the "real" FPVLR for $128.

I'm wondering what he meant about flying Solo indoors while they are outside? Sounds interesting!

PdxSteve · Jan 20, 2016

They should use drones instead of cars for high speed pursuits and tracking. I'm sure that's coming

Maddog · Jan 20, 2016

PdxSteve said:
They should use drones instead of cars for high speed pursuits and tracking. I'm sure that's coming

Probably need more speed & battery time.

PdxSteve · Jan 20, 2016

They could just use ARGUS

Now THAT I'm sure is coming. Need one flying over every major city lol. Pretty cool what you can do with some cell phone cameras. 1.8 billion pixels. This was 3 years ago. Imagine what they are doing now

Want to see what someone did a year ago and retrace their steps? No problem.

Maddog · Jan 20, 2016

PdxSteve said:
They could just use ARGUS Now THAT I'm sure is coming. Need one flying over every major city lol. Pretty cool what you can do with some cell phone cameras. 1.8 billion pixels. This was 3 years ago. Imagine what they are doing now Want to see what someone did a year ago and retrace their steps? No problem.

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I saw that some time ago-pretty cool!

BlackHawk · Jan 20, 2016

Cosber said:
I've said this before, so one more time won't hurt. We are bound by line of sight. Can you see your drone with your eyes at 1/2 mile? Probably. Do you think you can see it 3/4 mile? 1 mile? I bet not. Go ahead and spend $150 on the FPVLR if you don't care about the law or money. I recommend the Alpha's. $20 each. Gave me twice the distance as the stock, which is too far for my poor eyes, but I don't worry about weak signal and RTH when it's not all that far away.

LOL. I just came across your review on Amazon.