The purpose is not out in the open where you won’t get signal issues, it is in built-up areas where there will be lots of interference and blocked signals from buildings etc
Here’s a test of the dongle with the air 3 which explains I think most you need to know, pretty impressive.
£26 quid per year subscription is pretty cheap.
Given that all the data and comms between the drone and controller is being routed through servers in China, I’d love to see what the lag is like first hand.
That’s what I thought, you can also get some banging deals on sims with unlimited data these days, I got the boy unlimited everything with EE fixed so it won’t go up next year £11.50 a month obviously PAYG or something may work out cheaper if your not flat out flying.
Edit : or even better if you have someone on the same network as you who has unlimited data that can share their data with you.
The OcuSync will only be low on strength because he’s flown a mile out over a built up area using a CE signal
I appreciate him saying his mobile phone was still on full 4G signal, but his phone is over a mile away from where his drone is - of course it’s going to have a different level of cell tower reception.
Is the 4G problem not simply a lack of mobile signal where the drone is, for that given network / sim provider?
I don’t think this is a dongle or hardware issue, I’d try flying in a few different locations before writing it off
That was my first initial thoughts tbh, I was going to comment & ask who the sim provider is.
I’d definitely try the same flight in a few different locations.
It’d also be interesting to try the same flight in reverse. Stand where the drone signal dropped out and fly back the other way. See if the mobile signal is lower there in general. Assuming of course the drone and mobile are on the same network and same tariff.
Yes makes good sense, I’ll see if anyone drops any comments in his box & might say that ….
Probably also worth using a data-only IoT sim in the drone, eg:
Then the sim card will latch on to and use the mobile network with the strongest signal, and roam between networks mid-flight if needed.
These guys would make good use of this dongle with their 9KM-distance CAA authorisation:
Which Network provider did he use? It varies so much by location,by provider it’s a little early to generalise as product=bad. Your mileage may vary, and I don’t think it’s as simple as it sounds
I asked him he said he tried EE & O2, said there was no real difference ….
You need this too apparantly.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Operator Radio licence
This licence provides the spectrum authorisation to use variety of radio equipment on a drone. The licence covers equipment for command and control, including mobile and satellite terminals, as well as other safety systems. This will allow UAS operators to have access to a range of technologies that could enable them to operate a wider range of services and over longer distances.
Most drones use spectrum designated for Wi-Fi or model aircraft. Drones that only use this equipment do not need to obtain a licence as they are already exempted from the need to obtain a licence under our regulations.
Ofcom licence is 75 quid for 5 years.
If you fancy some sedation, Geeksvana has mentioned this Ofcom license requirement.
@uav_hampshire Yes, I started to watch it but give up before he got there. I picked up on it from GavinHR’s video comments after watching this on VLOS after his coverage of the dongle2.
I watched that last night.
Got mine this morning. Bought it for the Air 3 but bought the Mini 4 Pro strap-on just in case I ever need it.
Pretty easy to fit, but I’m getting a not very helpful error message saying that I’ve got my cellular data connection. Tried two SIMs - one I wasn’t sure was still live, one taken out of another device and known to be working. The LED on the dongle (only visible with the cover off) blinked red with the unknown one but went from red to green on the known good one.
So it’s either that I don’t have a good enough EE signal in the living room or… something else. And I don’t have time to test it properly today, but do have some flying planned tomorrow…
Insomnia ?
I actually crashed out early as I couldn’t sleep the night before