Solo Range

bill wykle · Jul 20, 2015

Was just flying the Solo with the stock antennas and reached 950' according to the app.. Since I was up about 350ft, does this mean I only went out about 600ft? I guess what I am asking, is the distance how far the Solo is from the remote itself?

KRVer · Jul 20, 2015

rrmccabe said:
I might be mixing up aircraft but wasn't the default setting on the solo set to unlimited distance (not elevation) and only limited if you turned on the safety distance feature?

You're correct, Solo out-of-the box does not have any range limitations placed on it, only altitude. There IS a setting for this in the parameters, but there is another setting that is, by default, set to only enforce the altitude fence. Your distance, from the factory, is only limited by your wifi connection to the controller.

KRVer · Jul 20, 2015

Sarah B said:
I was at 500-700 feet with the stock antennae. If you move the sticks quickly when you lose connectivity, RTH will not initiate before you regain control.

I bought the FPVLR antennae. Range now is about 2,500 feet, in a very wifi-congested area.

Sarah - This is encouraging as we are getting about the same range you were experiencing and we are in a very wifi congested area as well -- we're definitely looking for a stronger, more solid wifi connection even for short range -- had my eye on the FPVLR's but was waiting until Tony got back from his vacation before ordering.

KRVer · Jul 20, 2015

bill wykle said:
Was just flying the Solo with the stock antennas and reached 950' according to the app.. Since I was up about 350ft, does this mean I only went out about 600ft? I guess what I am asking, is the distance how far the Solo is from the remote itself?

No, your 950' was distance from home to the location of the solo as if it was sitting at the same altitude as your home location. Someone else can do the math, but you were 950' out and 350' up from home.

bill wykle · Jul 20, 2015

Not too bad at all, but I see myself wanting to push the limits and see just how far the Solo can go. Good thing it has the RTH feature, I lost the WiFi all together and the unit cam home.

rrmccabe · Jul 20, 2015

They will go a long way. Chuck went 2 1/2 miles with the Solo and the DBS panel antenna. My panel should ship this week and would expect similar numbers. I have one coming for my P3 and Solo.

Adimuzio513 · Jul 20, 2015

rrmccabe said:
They will go a long way. Chuck went 2 1/2 miles with the Solo and the DBS panel antenna. My panel should ship this week and would expect similar numbers. I have one coming for my P3 and Solo.

Glad to see you still sticking around buddy this place and solo would lose a very active and knowledgable supporter if you threw in the towel.

What antenna are you using now are you still on stocks so far until your dbs panel gets there.

rrmccabe · Jul 20, 2015

Yea I might just stay as I like the solo guys better than phantom guys

Still running stock. 4000 feet is common for me.

Speaking of range. Chuck just took the p3 5.25 miles on one of his panels! So 10.5 round trip.

Adimuzio513 · Jul 20, 2015

Wow upgraded battery I'm assuming too

Adimuzio513 · Jul 20, 2015

4000 on stock I don't think there's any undeveloped land that I'd even have a chance at getting that near me. I'll have to take a drive and find somewhere to do some real testing. What's your rssi usually max out at before Rth I get nervous in the 60s more times than not.

Adimuzio513 · Jul 20, 2015

Yea no matter what evidence there is or isn't it seems it's different crowds for sure.

jjs357 · Jul 20, 2015

Francisco A from 3DR tech support is helping me debug some controller disconnect issues I have been having. He just wrote the following: "Also you may want to check the WiFi environment, if you are using Android (haven't found a good one on my iPad yet) there's this cool App called "WiFi Analyzer" by Kevin Yuan, we usually check our environment to scan for WiFi signals on the area". I downloaded this program to my Nexus 7 2013 edition and seems to work well. People with Controller disconnects might want to use this program at their flying location to see what kinds of WiFi interference might be present there. I plan on doing this tomorrow when I fly again.

Adimuzio513 · Jul 21, 2015

Yea he's the same one that answered my support ticket I use that same app and it does work well. It even shows hidden networks, signal strength, and the channel their on very useful app for solo and to pick the least used channel on your router as well. Between that and I think it's called Sam for solar activity you get a great idea of what your up against.

bill wykle · Jul 21, 2015

I have found that the Solo pretty much needs line of site to the controller. Since I have been flying at an altitude of 350', and staying in the line of site, I have been able to get to 900' away. Ill keep pushing it as I get more comfortable.

Jorge L Jurado · Jul 21, 2015

Is there any antenna that looks like the stock one and that would give a better range?

Thank You

bill wykle · Jul 21, 2015

Check out the 1st page to this discussion. You will find a few links to antennas, one of which is to amazon that looks simular to the stock.

rrmccabe · Jul 21, 2015

I personally would not mess with another vertical radiator as a replacement. Very minimal change. Get something directional with some gain.

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Jorge L Jurado · Jul 21, 2015

bill, yes I checked the amazon antenna from the first few posts but another member said he got it and it was a waste of money.

rrmccabe, I know but those are ugly looking and the remote looks very weird. would like something like the stock ones but of course with a good gain.

rrmccabe · Jul 21, 2015

Jorge L Jurado said:
bill, yes I checked the amazon antenna from the first few posts but another member said he got it and it was a waste of money.

rrmccabe, I know but those are ugly looking and the remote looks very weird. would like something like the stock ones but of course with a good gain.

The problem is you can't get decent gain. Antennas don't increase power they can only get gain by redirecting it. So without something directional it's not worth doing.

What kind of range are you looking for?

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Jorge L Jurado · Jul 21, 2015

Not sure what range, the better I can get with a nice looking antenna, hahahahaha.

rrmccabe said:
The problem is you can't get decent gain. Antennas don't increase power they can only get gain by redirecting it. So without something directional it's not worth doing.

What kind of range are you looking for?

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