Nice job. Here's what the DJI Support says regarding transmission distance for the remote to the Spark. Note that max distance is the same for either 2.4 or 5GHz wiFi setting. 2000 meters or over 6,500 feet - more than a mile. The OTG cable helps with potential latency between the received video signal from the controller to the phone display. I always use the OTG and turn off wiFi on my phone just to eliminate any possibility of interference. What is the maximum transmission distance? (1) If the aircraft is connected with the remote controller: a. The remote controller is operating at 2.4 GHz (Unobstructed, free of interference) : FCC Compliant: 2000 meters; b. The remote controller is operating at 5.8 GHz (Unobstructed, free of interference) : FCC Compliant: 2000 meters; (2) If the aircraft is connected with DJI GO 4 via Wi-Fi: Within 100 meters at a height of 50 meters.
Oh man, thank you for explanation... I use FCC mode with wifi connection, you know what...not more than 300m distance and 50m height and spark RTH always...
Hi Dustin, I'm following your videos, quite interesting. Here comes some hints to get better range test results, coming from my experience with a Bebop2: 1) ensure you are in 2.4Ghz as you did 2) ensure is remote control but not the phone the one connected to the drone (maybe that is what you mean "spark must be in RC mode") 3) get 100meters high (330feet) 4) check if transmitter uses higher power in different countries (power is regulated by law) if so..... try to say Spark you're in that country 5) check if Spark antenna are in front or back, and fly accordingly forward or backwards and 6) please please, don't do tests over forest or sea, try better some space where drone is easy to rescue (following a land track, for example) For sure next test will yield better results.
you can take the controller apart and look for the piazo speaker and de-solder it. There is another way to disable the beep, but you would have to hack it and then turn it off within its parameters.
Hi Dustin doing the covit lock down and really enjoying your great videos the spark still punches above it weight even now pity about the battery life and all that stuff 👍👍👍
Thanks for sharing. I always thought you had better video with the 5.8 and better overall range with the 2.4. Once again we learn something from your flights.
Well done Dustin, alot of people over in my neck of the woods (UK) have said 2.4 is the better frequency but as you have just proved, it's not! 2.4 is ok with rc planes and racing quads, but not with the Spark, thanks for taking the time and trouble to do these vids for us! 👍👍
the 2.4 or 5.8Ghz selection is the connection between the controller and the phone, thats why it disappears when you plug the cable in. the connection between the controller and the drone is RC, hence the distance of 10000+ft in your previous video with the dishes.
When the wifi symbol is still shown in the app this means your controller is connected with the phone over wifi. When OTG takes over the wifi symbol gets blank in the app. You did not switch off the wifi of the phone before take off.
I've read a lot of guys saying that you get better range using 2.4ghz, but I've never bothered to try. I've gone out beyond a mile with 5.8ghz stock using the OTG, and that's far enough for me. Generally, I shoot video less than 1000 feet away, so the distance isn't that big a deal. I suppose you could do without the OTG cable .. go strictly wi-fi, use Litchi (which won't work with an OTG cable) and put in Airplane mode and give it another try. I think the limiting factor on the Spark is the battery size anyway. You're not going to get too much over 2 miles and be able to get home safely with such a small battery. Thanks for the report .. I'm sure others will put up posts that they went 4.8 miles on 2.4ghz, but I'd have to see it to believe it. Mahalo ...
Yes, battery determines distance. No difference when flying in 2.4 or 5.8, I can certainly recommend the Spark for reliability and speed of acquiring satellites on top or down under.
2.4 and 5.8 does determine distance. The 5 GHz band has a shorter range compared to a 2.4 GHz band because in radio frequencies, the higher the frequency the shorter its range.
Great channel! I've been doing RC reviews for 10 years now and yo have a channel I really like to watch! Great information and content! Keep up the great stuff! -Pete
7 лет назад
2.4Ghz is more used because WiFi(internet) mostly uses 2.4Ghz, so in theory 5.8Ghz should be better because there is much less interference, but there is also fact that 5.8Ghz isnt that good going thru objects, so by that 2.4Ghz channel has a better range. But you are on the mountain so there isnt walls of any sort or any other object blocking signal(except trees) so once again in therory 5.8Ghz should be better. Sorry for the long post and a lot of buts. And you are awesome.
put your phone in airplane mode and use OTG only it works better. if you forget to use airplane mode and you linked your phone to RC via wifi in past your phone and the app prioritizing using wifi together even with a cable plugged in. side note to guy you are responding to above us: 2.4ghz is superior outdoors away from interference, it takes less energy to propagate outdoors and have a much larger wavelength which helps it out as well, it is also most efficient band to use on dual band antennas like the DJi antennas and its a reason occusync and lightbridge 2 use 2.4Ghz band as well.. 5.8Ghz takes more energy in the same package to propagate, not to say it wont go as far or anything, conditions do apply. but it does seem that Dji last update has slightly decreased the effectiveness of 2.4Ghz wifi scanning and hopping in favor of better 5.8Ghz channel hopping with the RC. not sure if thats 100% true either.
You can only select the channel for your phone-controller connection. With controller bound to the drone it's not using regular wifi and you tested this same connection again. Also your otg was just charging your controller, no connection there.
Michael Steven Think what he meant is that the phone was still connected to controller via WiFi regardless of plugging in OTG, think you have to disconnect phone WiFi from controller as it won’t automatically switch to OTG when it’s already connected via WiFi if you know what I mean.
I just put mine in 2.4 I don't have to do all that stuff but I get 7500 feet qith a cable on 5.8...I think 5.8 does better and is faster. Idk why people say use 2.4...but anyways I been wondering about if a spark tells me where I'm pointing my remote and u finally showed me thanks
My boyfriend has the spark and got the otg cable. When he plugs it up it doesn't show like his height and mph and battery but it works with it. Any idea how to fix it?
Dustin, try an higher flight of the drone, because on that frequency the drone and controler need visible connection, Trees and buidings mute and disturb the connection.
Thanks for the video! Aren't we talking two different animals? Wifi is used for video transmission and R/C signal (Digital PCM) is used for controlling the aircraft. I am not sure about the Spark though. Is the aircraft controlled by wifi or r/c signal? I have drones that the wifi signal will interfere with the r/c signal sometimes. I try to make sure they are operating at different frequencies ie; 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz. I have better luck with interference doing that. Also if I may procrastinate ;-), as an old pilot we should all do a preflight check list. In my experience it has saved the bacon on many occasions for me. A simple list can go a long way. Always a pleasure to watch your videos!
The spark now auto switches 2.4 and 5.8. Would be cool to see another range test pt.6 lol. There is an app to stop the beeps. Not sure on the name of it, the beeps dont bother me
You made me pull the trigger on one of these guys, cool little aerial quads. But Dustin can you do a review on the TBS new rtf? They have cool products now I guess 🤘
How much difference would it have made in the distance if you were in different setting such as level terrain in a neighborhood? Nice demo though for the Spark. Thinking of buying one.
I don't understand why you'd get better range on 2.8... it's lower??? I'd think I'd be the opposite!! I'm still very very impressed with the range.. I literally just un-boxed my Spark from Santey Clause!! I believe I watched every video about it on RU-vid.. This is my first Drone that costs more than $20.00 lol... I'm pretty excited about tomorrow so I can fly it.
@@Thatguybash Dude, I absolutely love it... Perfect drone for a beginner plus it's amazing... It's so easy to fly and when I'm ready I can switch to sport mode... As I'm learning on my spark I'm already building a racing drone. I'm buying piece by piece so I got time to master the spark... But I'll never not fly my spark cause it's just that good! If ya don't have one I suggest buying one, you will not be disappointed
Hi, My drone range is defaulted to 100m. When I try to change the distance it would not let me. Do you have any idea how to change the range and save it to the RC?
Quick question, is precision landing automatic or is there an option to turn it on? As long as you fly up to atleast 30ft on liftoff you should be set to my understanding? Thanks! Love ur videos btw, the locations and detailed explanations are the best 🙌🏼🙌🏼
With recent updates, if you auto takeoff you have the choice. If you manually launch take it up 30ft like you said and it should activate automatically 👍
I dont know if you're still wondering but you should use 5.8ghz in the city because 2.4 is used by wifi networks so there would be an extreme amount of interference
@joshua broughton-herrick yeah everyone uses 5 GHz but 99.9 percent of routers still output a 2.4ghz frequency. That's why your router outputs 2 networks one with 5g on the end. A lot of mobile networks also operate on a frequency close to 2.4 ghz
why do the specs and all other spark videos say the range for this drone is very limited? 100m? Yet you are able to get over a mile or two every time... and you know it only makes sense you get less with 2.4?....thats weaker than 5ghz ...correct?
Hi Dustin great test again! Im not sure on the DJI Spark but probably the VLC player re-index/rebuild a broken off video again. Regularly I forget to shut down the footage of the Bugs 2 and the 3.0.1 Vetinary rebuilds it again. Then it depends on the editor software whether you can import the footage again yes or no.
he was doing this ontop of a mountain, if your flying in like a park or something, your realistically gonna only get to about half a mile. i never gotten any farther than that.
In theory, 2.4 should give you better control range and that is true on home built aircraft (in most cases) where the only option for control is 2.4 and the 5.8 is for video only. But...I think with the Occusync system the control signal is sent on top of the video signal. IOW...One frequency+ sync signal. This one frequency signal going out for control and back for video on the same channel is unlike the "normal" RC system. What gave me that thought was that control is lost at or about the same time as loss of video, within seconds in my experience with the Spark. Not true with normal RC w/video use. So that's my take on why the range is so limited compared to the Mavic. And most of the views I've seen using parabolic antennas was that it didn't help and in one case actually caused less distance.
Nice try on the 2.4 ghz range, at least now we know to say with the stock setting of 5.8ghz. After all, two miles of range with FPV is all most of us really need from this small selfie style quad.
With 2.4 Ghz, only choose channels 1 or 6 or 11, no other channel, all others overlap and will make your drone/controller less reliable. Even though you are not near homes, you are will actually pick up GoGoInternet etc. from aircraft.
When comparing 2.4GHz with my home wifi, it seems that 2.4 better penetrates walls, etc while 5 just has a higher bandwidth. So while 5 might have a longer range in an open area, 2.4 might better be able to handle trees and infrastructure, etc.
Why would you use the parabolic range extenders in part 4 but not use them in part 5?? I'm pretty sure the controller always uses 5.8 for FPV video and 2.4 for control. Why would it not, when the video and control signals could possibly interfere with one another??
wow I dint know about this that you can change the frequency on the Spark like that. Interesting. I have struggled with the range on the spark myself but that i think is mostly from where I fly as lot of buildings around and a lot of interference... will try this 2.4 ghz and see if it makes any difference at all for me.
I think you were still connected to the remote controller via WiFi even though you had the OTG cable plugged in. If you could switch off your WiFi or put your phone on airplane ✈️ mode after you connect the OTG cable it may well stay connected, I have not tried this yet?
Seems iam stuck in 5.8 Ghz and cant get it to go back to 2.4GHz... when i fly it with my tablet I can change it to 2.4...but when iam using the controller it stays in 5.8... even the when it tells me "wifi will restart to take effect" i guess somehow i need to change it in the controller. Any sugestions ?
Hello there , cool video I wanted to know how does you reach with the spark up to 6600 feet mine reaches only 1181 feet with the same conditions on the video (remote controller and OTG cable connected to the phone ) I scratched all the web to understand what is happens , but no answer it's confusing me hope for you to reply
The choice here between 5.8 and 2.4 is only for the wifi connection between the remote and the phone. This also why you don't get the option when you use the OTG usb cable. if it was a real wifi connection where you can chose the channel, the distance would be max 200 meters. (because of the legal wifi regulations.) So I would very suprised if there would be a diffrence ;-)...
Hey Dustin, is the spark fliable with mobile device only to start? Eventually I will get the remote, guards, otg cable, and one more battery probably off my Amazon. To start I'm probably going to go with quad only what you think? I can't afford fly more at start that's why I got to buy like I mentioned above. Thanks
+nick svaluto It does fine in the basic package. You just have to get used to controlling on your phone screen and the range is only going to be about 300ft until you get a Controller 👍
Dustin Dunnill Do you think you have enough subs to ask Yuneec to send you one for review? Never hurts to ask I guess.. I think you will really enjoy it..
What could happen if you fly without caching the map on your monitor or if you forget to cache the map before you fly? In my case i only have wifi option and non cellular on my iPad mini 4. Would the drone be confused and fly away?
I am having problems with the rc. I connect them and then when I fly it it responds well however the quality of the camera is so bad as if your streaming it or something like that but I still have 7 satellites connected but when I connect it to the phone it's good and not blurry. do you know why that's happening.
+David Thompson Thanks David. Most likely. Since the mountain slopes down quickly here I try not to get too high when doing range tests, otherwise I'm over 400 in a matter of a minute 👍
+David Thompson I think it will be really cool when DJI starts including an AGL (above ground level) reading for altitudes above what it's ground sensors can see by pulling in ground elevations and triangulating it's alt based on it's GPS coordinate at any given time 👍
I have a phantom 3 currently. I was wondering if I get a spark, is the DJI go app the same other than choosing a different drone at the app startup? I do not want to lose the ability to run my phantom 3.
I lose conection on both signals and i cant even pass like 500 feet out. Can anyone tell me exactly how i can get it to go for 2.4 miles? And for long range whTs better? 2.4 ghz or 5.8?
What's up brother just got a spark the other day was wondering is there any upgrades for the battery it seems like 6 minutes is a very short time to get back I know the initial is 12 or 16 minutes. Does any of the other DJI Batteries work in the spark
Dustin Dunnill for the .20 and .22 of the app for Android it won't show satellite info or battery info with otg cable. App version .15 will. Absolutely sucks. I couldn't tell you about ios
It has now been reestablished. I have been using OTG since August. It works much better than the WiFi connection to the phone which I had used for several weeks. Sometimes it glitches and you lose telemetry but most of the time it works just fine and it has to be a cleaner and simpler way to operate. I don't understand why they didn't just put a simple USB socket on the controller so you can connect your phone's normal USB lead, like the Anafi does: simple and elegant.
How do you know that plugging in the otg cable to the controller actually established a wired phone-RC connection that replaced the original wifi connection? If you then unplug the otg connection do you lose the phone-controller link?
OTG is just for better connection between the phone and controller. If you leave your wifi connected when you plug the OTG cable in, it will automatically go to the OTG connection. When I first started using an OTG cable I would put my phone in airplane mode, but found out it makes no difference.
Hi Dustin...great attempt there but it seems ur not connected via OTG cable. It shows the RC is still connected via wifi. A true OTG connection will not have the wifi indicator on. Please correct me if I'm wrong, ppl
Asnil Md. Zain I think you are right. The wifi connection is used from controller to phone. When you use a cable you will have less delay video on phone.
![DJI SPARK Review - Part 5 - [In-Depth Range Test in 2.4Ghz Mode with RC Controller & OTG Cable]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
