SOLO Range Question

Franklin Marquette · Jun 23, 2016

So I just got my new solo with the gimbal. I am in a fairly rural area (6 miles from a 9000 person town). I am fairly close to a military base (within 2 miles). I took it for a test run today and the video feed cut out at 756ft and then the controller lost signal. For the most part the feed had very little lag. At about 500ft the feed started to pause and lag occasionally. What is the best setup to buy to increase the range and fix this lagging issue? Also because I just got it what settings should I adjust to begin with?

Thanks!

Franklin Marquette · Jun 24, 2016

Do I want an amp and an upgrade antennae? Is upgrading both wifi cards worth it? I want to do a serious range increase (mostly for more reliability) but I dont want to do more than is necessary.

Franklin Marquette · Jun 24, 2016

I could go with dual sunham amps and fpvlr antennae. Or dual amps and stock antennaes or alphas. I could do all that AND also upgrade the wifi cards. I just dont want to overspend on stuff thats not worth it. I would like to have the ability to go out 2.5 miles SOLIDLY. This means a clean minimum lag video feed and no rth. Whatever I need to achieve this I will get.

Maddog · Jun 28, 2016

I would submit a trouble ticket to 3DR first and see if it's a malfunction. That range is way too short.

If they say there is no problem, something like the FPVLR antenna is easy to install and you can quickly see if it gives you what you want. (About $130) I think the antenna provides more benefit than the wifi cards.

Changing wifi cards will cost $50 each and requires installing in the controller and Solo.

https://fpvlr.com/store/

NYG · Jun 28, 2016

Stock should do better than that in a rural area. That type of range is closer to stock in urban setting.

Franklin Marquette · Jun 28, 2016

I emailed them last week Friday they have yet to reply. The weird part is I took it out to Fargo ND (a large metropolis) and I got 5000 ft out of it stock. Then took it into the town I live by and got 2000 then took it back to my house and got 900 still when I was on top of my roof. There's obviously some serious interference somewhere by where I live

Area Solo · Jun 29, 2016

Be careful being within 2 miles of a military base. They might shoot it out of the sky.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

NYG · Jun 29, 2016

Franklin Marquette said:
I emailed them last week Friday they have yet to reply. The weird part is I took it out to Fargo ND (a large metropolis) and I got 5000 ft out of it stock. Then took it into the town I live by and got 2000 then took it back to my house and got 900 still when I was on top of my roof. There's obviously some serious interference somewhere by where I live

If you were able to get 5000' and 2000' at different locations then I would assume your hardware is OK. That's good distance for stock. I would first try better antennas on the controller. I'm not sure how far you want to fly but after trying different antennas you can decide if you want new Wifi cards or boosters etc. You can also do software mods/driver patching too. It's all personal preference but there are a number of ways to increase range.

You should use utility software to see what channel Solo is operating on and see if there are any strong signals nearby.

Don H. · Jun 29, 2016

Is it the same in all directions or only one? My guess is that the base has some rf interference radiating from it. Is it a radar installation?

Marich · Jun 29, 2016

Don H. said:
Is it the same in all directions or only one? My guess is that the base has some rf interference radiating from it. Is it a radar installation?

It's entirely possible! When it comes to living near military bases that have lots of things that fly, I think I've pretty much got it covered - I live only a few miles from Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
In all my years of RC flying here, I've experienced absolutely inexplicable occurrences quite often. Strangely enough, though, range has never been affected either positively or negatively.

Franklin Marquette · Jun 29, 2016

Okay that helps a lot thanks guys! Also anywhere I go SOLO only ever gets about 7 or 8 sats and takes forever to get a lock - once when it was fairly cloudy out it lost GPS and now I'm scared it will do that when I really need it - will the cardboard mod help with that?

Also SOLO seems to take an excessive amount of time "calibrating sensors" - why? (Like maybe a minute or two - sometimes I have to restart the thing)

Thanks for all the help!