It depends on the Spektrum receiver. Some have "fly by telemetry" and some have "full range telemetry". "Fly by telemetry" is long range control with short range telemetry. So the telemetry drops out at a short range while the control signal is good well beyond where you could see the model to control it.
The default for Frsky / OpenTX is to assume that all telemetry is "full range telemetry". So if your telemetry signal is weak then you are almost out of control range. When telemetry range is not equal to control range the warning is useless and should be disabled.