Airplane mode yes or no?

I have a mini 2. Will it still work ok with airplane mode switched to On, on your phone? Some say best leave it on! Others say switch it to off!

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Just put your phone on DND as you can then use the GPS in your phone and also the data for the maps.

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+1 for Do Not Disturb

I use Aeroplane mode with my anafi all the time. tend to find it works better as the phone isnt constanlty trying to communicate with the network. Also last thing i want is the screen swiching to someone phoning about mis sold PPI whilst Im in mid flight.

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Yes it will work in Airplane mode, I always switch to it on the M2.

DJIFLY won’t let you fly if it detects a firmware update available, nothing worse than being in the middle of a field and it not letting you take off until you’ve been through the update

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Do Not Disturb will do the same but still allow data for maps.

Although if you didn’t check for updates before you left home this could be an issue as @milkmanchris says.

Not quite, your phone is still communicating and siganlling with the network in aeroplane mode it isnt. I tend to find I get much less interference in aeroplane mode as of course the phone is only signalling to the drone, nothing else to interfere. if im working to a flight plan i tend to program that before i leave so its actually on the phone. works for me :slight_smile:

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Even if you did, sods law says DJI will release a firmware update during your one hour long drive to your flying destination :roll_eyes:

Airplane mode ftw.

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Not something the op can do with the Mini 2. He could download the area he is working in I suppose.

Ah,thanks, didnt realise that. Im spoiled rotten with Free flight 6.

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I only have three drones that work with WiFi, meaning I can see their SSID if scanning, which are the Spark and two Anafi’s. To date I’ve not seen any difference in performance whenever I’m in Airplane mode or not.

Some drones require that WiFi be enabled so communication with the controller is possible. The Solo uses 2.4GHz WiFi for connecting the Smart device to the controller, and 2.4GHz for the controller to drone connection. Another drone I have is the Ceewa Follower. This uses a BT connection for connecting telemetry from controller to Smart device and WiFi for live video from controller to Smart device.

Back in the day of the Phantom1, where the Gopro would serve as both the imaging camera and the FPV camera, some tried to use the GoPro’s WiFi for live video. This did cause problems as the Gopro was mounted within an inch of the Phantom’s receiver. The GoPro’s WiFi was running close to a 100% duty cycle and would swamp the Phantom’s receiver triggering at best a failsafe, or at worse (If the user hadn’t been diligent with their preflight checks) a flyaway.

Thanks guys. So if I have it set to airplane mode switched to on. Are you saying I cannot use the maps section when flying my drone? In that case what if it lands quite away in a corn field. Would I still be able to use the map to find it?

Generally that means you have crashed. you could turn on the maps if the drone is still capable of tx ing a signal i suppose, though with VLOS you should have a general idea of where in the cornfield it went down.

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You can follow the line of the drone even with no maps, and as said if it does crash Airplane mode can be switched off and the maps will soon load

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If you are putting your phone into Airplane mode because of concerns about RF interference, don’t bother. That would be the same as not using Bluetooth headphones when streaming content because you think the internet will stop.

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Top tip, I’m losing the wires

A picture paints a thousand words, or so some bald bloke once sang about.

Below is a plot of the Mini2 and controller operating in the 5.8GHz band.

The top trace, which is a spectrum plot, appears to show a lot of activity and gives the false impression that the signal is big and heavy, for want of a better analogy, though it is about 100MHz wide. This is because the display conveys frequency on the X axis and amplitude on the Y axis, but what it can’t show is time. The top end of this signal, between 5800MHz and 5820MHz is the video and telemetry from the Mini itself. The activity from 5725MHz and 5800MHz is the signal from the controller.

The lower plot is commonly called a waterfall display. This shows frequency on the X axis, and time on the Y axis. Amplitude is represented by the intensity of the traces. This give a better understanding of what is happening over time. Looking closely at the output of the controller you will see that what is actually happening is it is transmitting separate signals of very short duration, one after the other, across the band, and not all at once. The result is there is space between these transmissions where other non-related signals could in effect coexist. The transmission from the mini doesn’t use as much bandwidth, and contained in that signal are four distinct carriers transmitting two at the same time. These pulses are longer in duration as they have to convey a lot more information, it is video after all.

If I were to introduce another digital signal, such as a WiFi signal, the interference would still be minimal as both separate signals use error correction, so if one or more packets were lost there’s still plenty of time in the digital realm for the repeats to get through.

However… If I switched on the analog video transmitter from one of my freestyle quads it would be a different story as that transmits all the time at full carrier level, and if it were of high enough amplitude it would prevent the digital packets from being heard.

In comparison the next image is of the 2.4GHz band. Here my router is bang in the centre of the plot, active because I was streaming a HD YouTube video. on the left-hand of the plot you can see the video signal from the Mini2. Either side of my routers signal you can see the carriers being transmitted from the controller. At no point during this activity did I experience any interruption of either the YouTube video or the video and telemetry from the Mini2. Oh, and my phone was also doing the hello I’m here thing, via Bluetooth to my Smartwatch, the mobile network, and my WiFi router.

I was just keen to back-up my previous statements as I often see the DJI Support Bods in their forum propagating fear and dread about not enabling airplane mode before taking to the skies.

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