Lost signal, RTH, lessons in where you take off.

[Mike Lanzetta]

I was flying over a lake (cool tower where kids were jumping off!) and the controller told me I lost signal. I wasn't 80' up, or more than 300' away.

RTH was initiated. I looked at the controller and it said "Waiting for Solo". Anyone know what happened?

Anyway, it stopped, went up to the assigned 90 feet or so, came straight above take off point, hovered for a moment, then started to descend. OH SHIT, I'm under a tree! Panic. I kept hitting Fly, but all i saw was Waiting for Solo. More panic, as I could foresee Solo descending on the tree and then falling to its death.

Good news, it was *just* outside the reach of the branches. I had NO control of it, but it came down beautifully and landed.

LESSON: Always take off with direct clearance above you, because if things go south, your Solo is coming straight down from where you took off.

 

[pyrate]

move out from under the bird, with your antennas in the correct position directly overhead is the worst spot for signal

 

[Mike Lanzetta]

move out from under the bird, with your antennas in the correct position directly overhead is the worst spot for signal

Thanks, but the drone was about 300' away at 80' high. It lost signal, and never regained signal all the way back to home.

 

[nuggetz]

Why would you power up under a tree or anywhere near a tree??? Solo is almost idiot proof as long as you power up in a place that has a clear view of the sky- away from trees etc. If it establishes a good gps lock there then it will come home pretty much right on that spot. I tested this a few times this past week and marking the takeoff point and I swear she landed right on that spot everytime I told it to return home. Made me happy


One thing I wondered about tho.. Let's say you have good gps lock on power up but loose gps mid flight somewhere. What does solo do in that situation? Will it just hover or land? If it doesn't know where it is then it has no idea which way home is. I wonder if some logic could be put it for it to fly in the opposite direction it was currently travelling in with the hope of it reaching a position where it once had good gps reception. I think it would be possible for it to know which way it's going based on compass logging or something.. And then maybe slowly fly the other way or something. Just throwing out ideas.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[Jubalr]

Why would you power up under a tree or anywhere near a tree??? Solo is almost idiot proof as long as you power up in a place that has a clear view of the sky- away from trees etc. If it establishes a good gps lock there then it will come home pretty much right on that spot. I tested this a few times this past week and marking the takeoff point and I swear she landed right on that spot everytime I told it to return home. Made me happy


One thing I wondered about tho.. Let's say you have good gps lock on power up but loose gps mid flight somewhere. What does solo do in that situation? Will it just hover or land? If it doesn't know where it is then it has no idea which way home is. I wonder if some logic could be put it for it to fly in the opposite direction it was currently travelling in with the hope of it reaching a position where it once had good gps reception. I think it would be possible for it to know which way it's going based on compass logging or something.. And then maybe slowly fly the other way or something. Just throwing out ideas.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

Loss of controller signal= RTL
Loss of controller AND GPS= land
Loss of GPS= Manual mode.

 

[ChrisM101]

I was flying over a lake (cool tower where kids were jumping off!) and the controller told me I lost signal. I wasn't 80' up, or more than 300' away.

RTH was initiated. I looked at the controller and it said "Waiting for Solo". Anyone know what happened?

Anyway, it stopped, went up to the assigned 90 feet or so, came straight above take off point, hovered for a moment, then started to descend. OH SHIT, I'm under a tree! Panic. I kept hitting Fly, but all i saw was Waiting for Solo. More panic, as I could foresee Solo descending on the tree and then falling to its death.

Good news, it was *just* outside the reach of the branches. I had NO control of it, but it came down beautifully and landed.

LESSON: Always take off with direct clearance above you, because if things go south, your Solo is coming straight down from where you took off.

Although it happens quick, you should have been able to regain control especially at 300 ft? any reason as to why it didnt reconnect? you need to submit a ticket. let them work these issues out.
Further more reading some of the updates notes, it appears that in the event you lose it and cant get it back that a controller reboot can sometimes help, but at 300 ft you dont have time for that.

 

[Mike Lanzetta]

Why would you power up under a tree or anywhere near a tree??? Solo is almost idiot proof as long as you power up in a place that has a clear view of the sky- away from trees etc. If it establishes a good gps lock there then it will come home pretty much right on that spot. I tested this a few times this past week and marking the takeoff point and I swear she landed right on that spot everytime I told it to return home. Made me happy


One thing I wondered about tho.. Let's say you have good gps lock on power up but loose gps mid flight somewhere. What does solo do in that situation? Will it just hover or land? If it doesn't know where it is then it has no idea which way home is. I wonder if some logic could be put it for it to fly in the opposite direction it was currently travelling in with the hope of it reaching a position where it once had good gps reception. I think it would be possible for it to know which way it's going based on compass logging or something.. And then maybe slowly fly the other way or something. Just throwing out ideas.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

Why would I power up near a tree? Because I'm dumb. That's why I labelled this Lessons Learned.

Kids: Don't power up near trees!!

 

[Mike Lanzetta]

Although it happens quick, you should have been able to regain control especially at 300 ft? any reason as to why it didnt reconnect? you need to submit a ticket. let them work these issues out.
Further more reading some of the updates notes, it appears that in the event you lose it and cant get it back that a controller reboot can sometimes help, but at 300 ft you dont have time for that.

Thanks for the reply. I have no idea why it didn't connect. I had 25% battery and was too rattled to fly any more.

How do I "submit a ticket"?

 

[ChrisM101]

Thanks for the reply. I have no idea why it didn't connect. I had 25% battery and was too rattled to fly any more.

How do I "submit a ticket"?

Open app hit support then look lower rt contact us. Then log a trouble ticket

 

[nuggetz]

Thanks for the reply. I have no idea why it didn't connect. I had 25% battery and was too rattled to fly any more.

How do I "submit a ticket"?

Right thru the app under support.. Solo app

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

 

[Earldgrayjr]

Right thru the app under support.. Solo app

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

IMHO You learned a valuable lesson, with free admission Whew.... Sometimes you get lucky. Other times not....

Another great thing to do is get the WiFi analyzer app. It is a good tool to see what is going on in the radio spectrum you are in. I always check before flying just to see what else is out there. I am often amazed at what I see when I open this. Sometimes I am surprised by how crowded things are, and other times I am amazed at how vacant it is....

Also be wary of other strong radio signals even "in theory" ouside the WiFi bands Things such as cell towers, HAM antennas, Microwave, and large metal water tanks (anything that can effect radio) should be at least a very large red flag.

Pay attention to your antennas. Make sure they are tight. As I mentioned earlier, the radio signal around your antennas is donut shaped with the antenna as the axis (of the donut hole). The same goes for the antenna in the Solo legs. Notice they are slightly tilted. That is why they want you tio tilt the controller antennas. In the end you want the donuts to overlap.

Assuming you find problems with your environment, you can also implement the hostapd.conf mod (now a handy app). Among afew other things, it opens up the Solo to use other WiFi channels other than the stock 6 and 11. This helps in crowded environments.

Last but not least, you could consider the FPVLR antenna. In essence it chnages the shape of the radio signal to a half dome (away from the antenna) and gives that signal strength, which helps with penetration (through trees etc.)

Hope this helps...

 

[Mike Lanzetta]

IMHO You learned a valuable lesson, with free admission Whew.... Sometimes you get lucky. Other times not....

Another great thing to do is get the WiFi analyzer app. It is a good tool to see what is going on in the radio spectrum you are in. I always check before flying just to see what else is out there. I am often amazed at what I see when I open this. Sometimes I am surprised by how crowded things are, and other times I am amazed at how vacant it is....

Also be wary of other strong radio signals even "in theory" ouside the WiFi bands Things such as cell towers, HAM antennas, Microwave, and large metal water tanks (anything that can effect radio) should be at least a very large red flag.

Pay attention to your antennas. Make sure they are tight. As I mentioned earlier, the radio signal around your antennas is donut shaped with the antenna as the axis (of the donut hole). The same goes for the antenna in the Solo legs. Notice they are slightly tilted. That is why they want you tio tilt the controller antennas. In the end you want the donuts to overlap.

Assuming you find problems with your environment, you can also implement the hostapd.conf mod (now a handy app). Among afew other things, it opens up the Solo to use other WiFi channels other than the stock 6 and 11. This helps in crowded environments.

Last but not least, you could consider the FPVLR antenna. In essence it chnages the shape of the radio signal to a half dome (away from the antenna) and gives that signal strength, which helps with penetration (through trees etc.)

Hope this helps...

Great info! Thanks!

 

[Earldgrayjr]

Great info! Thanks!

No problem. FYI, there are also boosters (for the controller) and WiFi card replacements (for both controller and Solo) that can also add range, but they will void warranty. People using those are getting several miles.