Terrible range on 3DR telemetry transmitter

[SteveKay]

Hi all. I'm new to the forum so please bare with me if this has been covered. I couldn't find it anywhere on the forum. I recently bought an Iris+ and and overall it's fantastic. I tried to use the droid planner 3 app today with the telemetry radio and if I go more than 3 or 4 metres away, it says "data link lost, check connection". Now I've used the transmitter on a laptop with no issues at all so I know the fault doesn't lie there. I can't see why the fault would lie with the phone either as it establishes the link perfectly well, it just gives a terrible signal percentage. I've attached a photo below to illustrate my point. You can see the drone in the picture and the signal strength percentage on the top right of the screen. If anyone could think of a possible cause and, more importantly, a solution it would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Steve

 

[Gary Seven]

Welcome to multirotorforums, dude! As of yet I do not have the Iris+ in my greedy little hands, but let me suggest some avenues you should explore.

First, try posting your question in the Multirotorforums subforum, "3D Robotics." Second, if no one here can help I highly suggest you take your issue to folks over at DIY Drones. Here's a link to the Iris+ forum:

http://diydrones.com/group/iris

Also, I've been reading tons of posts the last few weeks or so with people having the same issue. It might be a good idea to contact 3D Robotics directly to see if they can help.

Last but certainly not least, the earth has been experiencing a very high K-index over the past few days which could in some cases explain why RF performance has been less than stellar. Take a looky here:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index

Hope this helps at least a little and hopefully the more 3DR/APM informed can chime in here. Good luck, young jedi.

 

[SteveKay]

Thanks Gary. Its much appreciated. I'll have a look at what you suggested. Hopefully it's s minor software issue that is easily rectified.

 

[JoeBob]

The telemetry radios are not meant to replace your TX. The are just for TELEMETRY. ie - upload flight plans and set-up. 3 to 4 meters is all you need.

 

[SteveKay]

Thanks for the reply Joebob. It has to be greater than 3 to 4 metres as you can't use follow me mode otherwise. Other people have a range of up to 100 metres with it. I've just upped the power on the vehicle side radio so hopefully that will solve the issue

 

[JoeBob]

You're right.
This should help:

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/going-for-distance-on-the-3dr-telemetry-modules

 

[SteveKay]

Thanks Joebob. Someone suggested trying the original droid planner instead of tower or DP2. It allegedly solves the range issues. I'm going to try it tonight

 

[Bartman]

steve...you're using the stock antennae?

 

[SteveKay]

I am indeed. I only need the distance out to a few hundred meters for the follow me mode. I had a look for 433 MHz patch antennas but couldn't find any