DJI Mini 4K - High KP Index - Cell Phone Towers - No Problem

Recently we have experienced some intense solar storms. This has increased the KP index (Planetary K index) to some higher levels. While this allows us to see some great Aurora Borealis in the night sky, it can also affect electronic devices. In the video with the DJI Mini 4K drone, I want to point out that with newer drones like the Mini 4K, you are still able to fly without issue. While we are at it, let's take a look at interference or lack thereof caused by flying near cell phone towers. This is my experience only, yours may differ. Use your own judgment and stay within your comfort zone. Here is a link to the owner's manual for the Mini 4K: dl.djicdn.com/downloads/DJI_M...
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[@ellobo1326]

Thanks for the video. I forfeited a flight this evening with my Avata 2 because of the app’s advice. It was a gorgeous afternoon. 😢

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I'm sorry you missed your flight. Thank you for watching!

[@NOXFPV]

Love my mini 4k.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

That's great to hear! Enjoy your new drone. 👍

[@RonaldBrown59]

I've had no issues due to a high KP index with any of my modern DJI drones. But I didn't fly the last two days due to bad weather, either rain or high winds. Nice flight with the new Mini 4k, it seems to perform quite well for a $299. Which doesn't surprise me one bit, these DJI Mini drones are rock solid. Thanks for sharing Marcus.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

DJI has really improved their GPS reception since the problems with the Mavic 3. Thank you Ron!

[@JohnCuppi]

I had 18 satellites on a little flywoo GM10 Mini V3 gps today (BeiDuo+GPS+Galileo) and the accuracy (pdop) was 1.2. I was in an 8.33 index. A lot of people freaked out and grounded their quads over nothing.

[@Matanumi]

Yeah all GPS systems seem to work fine... It's like the Geo storm does nothing to modern tech

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

You are spot on John! 🙂

[@Falcon1USA]

Thank you for this information. I always was unsure about KP index. Awesome video !!!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Glad it was helpful! Thank you!

[@Winniechen311]

Thanks for sharing! A nice drone!!!!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you for watching!

[@Roys_Drones]

Good informative video. Thanks

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

You're welcome Roy! Thank you!

[@TheGrobbo1956]

Thanks Marcus, Very informative 👍

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you very much! I appreciate it!

[@andyairshots]

That's a great price for the technology, great demo Marcus, love your weather..

[@captraykelly]

Hi Marcus, awesome video! High KP indexes in NY too. We flew anyway too. Great info on the Mini 4K. I did my unboxing of my Mini 4K today. Hope to fly it tomorrow!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

The Mini 4K is a cool little drone Capt. Ray. I plan on flying mine a lot. Thank you for stopping by!

[@michaelkosinski5671]

Hey Marcus, thank you for showing everyone that the KP value doesn't really disrupt GPS on more modern DJI drones. Even flew M4P and filmed the Aurora in Michigan. It was amazing. I wish DJI put night mode into taking photos at night with higher ISO. Thank you very much for making the video here and all the rest them.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

My pleasure! Thank you Michael!

[@welbeckairphotography]

Very awesome commentary on the little Boy. My comment will follow sooner. Be blessed 🙏👍🙏

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

You are so kind Welbeck!!

[@907nvl]

Thanks for a interesting video 👍

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, thank you!

[@HikeFly22]

Great info

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Glad it was helpful! Thank you!

[@timothyfrederickchurch81]

You really fly close to that tower!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Ha! Yes, thank you Tim!

[@sudburydrone466]

👍👍✌️ To tell you the truth I don’t really check my gps sats all that much. I should start.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

DJI drones are so reliable, it's an easy thing to ignore.

[@georgekelly1948]

Nice day to fly. Good demo, Marcus.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

It sure was George! I just had to fly!!

[@larryhammelman3424]

Hey Marcus nice video, good job to keep reminding everyone about O A. I just bought this little guy, because I crashed my mini 2 beyond repair, so now I can use this one with my flymore pkg and get this guy (UP IN THE AIR) !!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Oh no! I'm sorry you lost your drone. This one is a good replacement though. 🙂

[@joeamericauavfordav1096]

Marcus, Great video and thanks for sharing. I was concerned when I saw the KP over 6 and grounded myself. I see today it is back under 3 so weather permitting I want to get in the sky today. Again thanks for sharing another informative and entertaining video.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you Joe. Of course we each need to fly in our comfort zone.

[@finnybflyin]

Hi Marcus 👈🥸👉I flew my Air 3 and the Mini 4 Pro Saturday with no problems. Cheers, Brendan

[@WeretheRoberts]

Awesome demo and test, man. I’m going out this afternoon to check out the same with the KP index. It’s at 8.67 here according to the Air Data app. Great test idea, brother! At one point during your flight you had 29 satellites so I think your conclusion is right on. Lol

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Hey, thank you so much! Yeah, with our new DJI drones the KP index just isn't relevant anymore.

[@MattHatfield1]

I cannot speak for DJI drones but I've seen a cell tower temporarily kill the connection to RC airplanes/helicopters using radio equipment from multiple manufacturers. It likely is based on a number of factors including the strength of the cell tower and the frequency bands it utilizes. It doesn't happen consistently but when it does, it can be devastating. Better to be cautious and avoid cell towers.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I'm sure that was possible with a single channel RC.

[@johnk7649]

Nice video, Marcus! I'm waiting for you to return to the In and Out Burger joint to give us an update on whether the lines have dissipated!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

You know, I have not paid much attention to In and Out for a while. I better chack that out! 😄

[@larsjungnell1969]

En mycket trivsam video, börjar känna mig hemma 😄

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Ha! Perfect! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@freeman-1776]

Actually my Mini 2 that I've been flying with without any problems for about 4 years, Just got fried. I may have just worn it out, but I suspect the bombardment of solar ions, probably fried the transmitter and or receiver chips. After a lot of troubleshooting, it was determined that the drone itself seems to have lost its connection power. I will be taking it apart to check the antenna connections but I'm pretty sure it's not that. So be careful my friend. The plastic shells on our drones are not shielded and that solar radiation can penetrate them. I'm not saying that's what killed my drone, but it sure is funny how I flew it the other day and didn't know about the solar storm. Last night I went to fly it again and it was toast. I used 3 remotes and they are all at full power but none of them would keep a connection with the Mini 2. Luckily, I had bought 2 Mini 2 drones. So I have a new one still in it's original box. It's always good to have a back up, but I will be checking the solar index before flying it.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

As you say, it's nice to have a backup drone. 👍 Thank you for watching.

[@gbower1]

I flew 4 flights today and had no issues. KP was 6 or 7 but I always had between 23 and 26 satellites.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes, Gerry, I think some folks just like to panic. 🙃

[@hummerzdca]

I flew yesterday evening, and into the night, didn’t have any issues, even the RTH landing was within 2-inches of takeoff….Will check again tonight. Who needs to pay attention to this is the airlines since they solely rely on that. No alerts have been issued yet. I warned about this years ago that could escalate some day.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I may have been a problem with older drones, but not the newer models. 👍

[@hummerzdca]

Also: I know we’re talking drones but… I’m a retired Flight Engineer with more than 5K hours over 17 years! I asked the FAA more than 20 years ago about the total reliance on sat-nav systems after their planned and eventual shutdown of all ground based nav systems! Their reply pretty much was “well the likelihood of that happening is…BLAH-BLAH-BLAH!” To which I said “well tell that to the thousands of passengers families on airborne flights trying to land to even be offline for even 15 seconds! The potential degree of death will be at their hearings! Thanks for letting me get this off my chest Bro!🇺🇸

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

@@hummerzdca Oh I agree. Passenger carrying aircraft is a whole different situation. Better safe than sorry.

[@lauren301]

We did a group fly on the same day and had no issues either.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I would trust your advice over anyone's Lauren!

[@pp2trancos]

Esas casas son tan parecidas que como llegues un poco "Homer" entras en la casa del vecino 🥳🥳🥳

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Ha! Yes, they do look a like. 😄

[@vanpdroneshots]

I see that my other reaction on the KP subject is gone. There are two things: TX/RX and GPS in the Drone. With a high KP the TX signal will get maybe work further, Ham Radio Amateur, like me loves Sun Storm because with low TX output your signal will become further than under standard conditions. KP 9 indicates that there is a high magnetic field which can disturb your GPS or Electronic circuit. If you want to see if a DJI drone can handle this, mount a good magnet on the drone itself, for sure you can fly but if the GPS works okay, that is the question. In de Sunday morning show from Johnny Drone Flyer were people telling that they had problems. ( I believe you can hear this start at 16:39 ). Don't forget, many drone flyers are no technicians and believe very fast what other people say.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Ha! No, your other comment is still there. 😀 Thank you for your comments.

[@vanpdroneshots]

@@IdahoQuadcopter Thanks!!!!

[@ssb73q]

Hi Marcus, nice flight with your Mini 4k, thanks for sharing. When you got that satellite message the number of satellites kept jumping around. There have been a number of solar ejections lately. Maybe it was a solar flair that caused a satellite gps disruption?

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes, that's exactly what the KP index measures. Thank you for stopping by Richard!

[@PilotsError]

Marcus out there scooting around to go fly, living his best life :) I wonder if you can still yaw while RTH like the mini 2 did?

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I need to check out that yaw in RTH feature. Thank you for reminding me! 🙂

[@DronesRock]

Love your videos but ..... Just a mention Maybe when reviewing a beginner drone (especially keeping it simple) give both feet & meters when talking and include info on how to select measurement preference in settings. Also, remind new fliers how you happen to have multiple screens on your controller screen (which may seem intimidating to a brand new pilot} I'm 75 yrs old & I am recalling when I first started loving drones 5 yrs ago, one of the 1st things I wanted to know was, can I select "imperial" in the settings, ... "cause I had NO intension of learning the metric table" ... LOL

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you! Yes, I use metric because I like it, and the drone manuals always quote metric.

[@TaniaGail]

Flying today! Had a blast viewing the northern lights last night - sorry, no drone flight during the show.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

You caught a great picture Tania!!

[@net69flix]

guaranteed fly away with a Hubsan drone that close to a cell tower! with my DJI mini 2, no problem

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Ha! True enough! 😄

[@Qwackers-video]

On Friday and Saturday I was prompted 3 times to recalibrate the drone compass which must have been down to the solar storm. Flew fine though after calibration.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Same here. I've spoken to thers who noticed the same thing. Thank you for being our guest on Drone Seekers Mark!

[@Qwackers-video]

@@IdahoQuadcopter Any time. Glad you enjoyed having me on.

[@sairlordmusic]

the rf fields are at the front of each panel not above blocking occurs when the front end radio cannot cope with out of band signals it just shuts it down even if it hopping etc

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Okay, thank you!

[@timothyfrederickchurch81]

Does that drone do focus track or active track? Great video!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

DJI never puts tracking on drones without OA. 👍

[@LandOverview]

Flew mine in KP 7 in UK and in sea mist, no problems and landed exactly where it took off from right in the hand where I was sat, but you know I noticed a warning I did not know they even had come up saying to be careful at one point as visibility is poor, well it knew I was flying in a foggy landscape, got some fair misty shots though which is what I was after. Anyway the high index did not affect the phone gps with my terrain maps so why should it a modern drone.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I agree, the newer drones are not terribly affected by a high KP index. Thank you for watching!

[@daviddrew7624]

Great video as always 👌 can the quickshots be done in 4k or 2.7k resolution thanks

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes, absolutely, I forgot to change the res before I started them. 🙂

[@daviddrew7624]

@IdahoQuadcopter that's great thank you 👌

[@Cozydrone]

All the houses have the same color roofs,it must be an HOA,UGH😲😳😞.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I used to be president of my HOA. 😄

[@jamesbarnesii4124]

Went through two batteries on my Air 3 and had no issues at all

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Excellent! Yes, these new drones keep a really good lock.

[@Matanumi]

This is the Geo storm issue isn't it? Yeah I flew mini 3 pro last night during northern lights even in darkness not a single issue

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Yes, it's no big deal with modern drones. 👍

[@Spark_m3p_m4p-ed3rd]

Hello Markus, the combination of the number of satellites and the kp value seems logical 👍. What will DJI say if I report a runaway and lost drone at kp>7? In Europe PL also kp >7 I'm flying around my leg.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

DJI has really improved the GPS capture on their new drones. They work great!

[@cwebs1000]

The cell phone tower brings up a question I have been wondering about for some time now, What happens If, using your cell phone on your controller, you get a phone call? Thanks for your work and vids, Carl

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you Carl. I've had it happen. On my iPhone it just minimizes the app.

[@cwebs1000]

@@IdahoQuadcopter Thanks

[@Quis85]

Hello, what PC app or phone app do you use when editing? I can't seem to get the same 4k quality to youtube with the app I'm using now. But when I download from Sim card to youtube. Quality is as expected 👌🏿. But I'm using work computer. So for my fancy editing I have to use my cellphone. Nevertheless I was going to fly today. But Tampa FL I had the same issue. So I didn't fly. I was scared to put it up in the air. So this video was needed.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Thank you! I edit on my PC and I use a program called Magix Movie Edit Pro.

[@Quis85]

@@IdahoQuadcopter thanks I'll check that out and hope they have one for android phones. Until I can get my own laptop. Or get my work to allow me to download that on there laptop lol 😆.

[@bdseidler]

Hey Marcus, hope all is well. I trust your opinion. Do you think these sun flares and the northern lights could cause issues with our drones? Your 2 cents please.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I suspect on older drones it may have been an issue, but with newer drones I don't see a problem. Thank you for stopping by Bernie!

[@bdseidler]

@@IdahoQuadcopter welcome, keep up the good work.

[@afanofdieselengines675]

I am new to flying drones. I have a Mini 2SE. All of your videos are beautiful and informative but i have a question. Do the regulations require that a drone be in actual visual sight at all times while being flown? The reason i ask is because there is no way that i would be able to see my drone at 100 meters distance especially if you factor in the distance added by the altitude. This drone was being flown at more than 800 meters distance. Thanks.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Most people fly within their confort zone. Enjoy that Mini 2 SE it's a great drone!

[@vanpdroneshots]

The advice is not to fly above kp4, it doesn’t say that you will have satellite or gps problems all the time but I COULD happen. In other KZbin video a guy had problems with his Mavic 3 during a high KP. I wonder what DJI will tell you when you have a fly away during a high KP value and report it to them. My drones are grounded during a high KP. Those advice are to warn you.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

We all need to fly within our comfort zone. 👍

[@vanpdroneshots]

@@IdahoQuadcopter Look at Johnniedroneflyer channel to Drones & Coffee from yesterday, at 16:49. You will read and hear several people having problems because of the high KP a lot of people take the risk but sorry to say they don't understand the theory about this. The Sun storms have a cycle of 12 years. I worry a little bit because a lot of Drone flyers are not really technical and will think, let's try it. Insurance will not cover the damage if the drone crashes into a house for example, because there was a warning.

[@aerotro]

No disrespect to you marcus, but you used a top of the range Drone some of us have experienced near miss events with Cfly brand my drone refused to even take off 4 days ago at the early beginnings of the solar storm, mine was turtle flipping on it's back. Some low cost drone's even though they are modern aka latest on the market they often struggle with poor GPS especially in dense cloud cover (High Water Content) like in the UK so with high Kp index it is not doing us any favours. I tend to avoid risk taking, some people take big chances and gamble, but not all of us have that kind of money to take risks that you might be happy to undertake!

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

I'm not sure about high end. It's a $299 Mini 4K. But yes, DJI builds a quality product. I'm sorry to hear about the problems with your drone.

[@leonardocompean3930]

It’s too much radiation for any device

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Evidently not for the Mini 4K. 👍

[@richiebricker]

OMG! A modern drone isnt affected by radiation? Let me say that all drones are modern drones. The oldest are just 10 years or 11 old. DJI tells ya "Dont fly near big metal things" and ya wont listen. They wont send you a replacement and if they think your being wreckless they can shut your drone down. Why would you be stubborn about an expensive, sensitive aircraft that youve been warned about over and over? You are asking to lose your expensive drone. I guess losing $6 or $700 might make you change your mind. Dont tell people to do risky things. Youre kinda stoopeeeed.

[@IdahoQuadcopter]

Normally I delete comments that stoop to personal attacks, but I'll leave this one for all to see. Thank you for watching.