Hello everyone, I have recently purchased a drone for multiple purposes. Before I GPS tagged, there is no need to tell me anything I don't already know; I am up to date on both UER ethics and my state/federal drone laws. That being said, there are many public sites, and even more places that could be explored with permission; perhaps even places that are historically and architecturally beautiful that an aerial view would provide a unique perspective of. Obviously this is something I am looking into deeply on my own, as well as going through the proper channels to be granted access to places I would like to see, but I was wondering if any of you have done something similar, know someone who has, or have results to share. In the emerging age of drones I am curious how many of you have thought about this.

Edit: spelling and punctuation

I haven't bought a drone because too many people are already using drones for exploring. They can be pretty useful, moreso for some sites than others.

People spot drones pretty fast unless they're the DOD stealth stuff.
They can potentially dime you out at a site. More junk to carry... however if equipped with a high Q cam with image stabilization they can grab killer one of a kind shots; this is worth it.

Posted by Steed I haven't bought a drone because too many people are already using drones for exploring.

That's silly. Do you also avoid good restaurants and only only listen to music that no one likes?

Posted by Steed I haven't bought a drone because too many people are already using drones for exploring. They can be pretty useful, moreso for some sites than others.

Explore the DMZ with one.
Both sides probably shoot it down though...

How well does the radio work? Knowing how radios act in the building around obstructions I would like to know how it would handle losing reception outside of line of sight where it can't start flying back in a straight line to the transmitter. Would it get stuck like a bird that flies into the attic but can't find their way out?

Posted by ahhntzville That's silly. Do you also avoid good restaurants and only only listen to music that no one likes?

Well, I do avoid restaurants that have an hour-long lineup out front.

Posted by blackhawk Explore the DMZ with one. Both sides probably shoot it down though...

It would get shot down if I fly it in my own neighbourhood.

Posted by Steed It would get shot down if I fly it in my own neighbourhood.

Seriously? Didn't know security was that tight there away from the DMZ. WTF?

Posted by blackhawk Seriously? Didn't know security was that tight there away from the DMZ. WTF?

I live upwind of a major US military base. Further north is the presidential palace. Lots of military installations that civilians aren't allowed to know about are all around the city.

A couple years ago I did get some flying in with some friends over abandoned neighbourhoods and amusement parks, but with the tightening of the rules, the last explorer here to own one sold it off as he just couldn't do anything with it anymore.

I like to be able to just go into the store and use it out of the box, but I'm somewhat supportive of licensing requirements too now that they're much more available. Last thing we want is children and idiots playing with them around traffic from their patio

From what I've read about these things (I don't actually own one), if they happen to lose contact with the remote control, they have a failsafe mode where they gently descend and land. This doesn't guarantee that they'll land intact as they could easily "land" in 20 feet of water or down a deep dark well, but still...

I know many of the higher end systems (like the DJI phantom series) have GPS tracking, so it is possible to set a point to return to. That being said, they tend not to have obstacle avoidance, so monitoring battery life is key. Some also allow the user to program the maximum range it will fly, so it won't come close to the signal range.

I think this is a way cool tool.
Be careful flying it around 911 hot spots such as active large bridges, power and chemical plants, petrol refineries/tank farms, military bases, airports (dah) and state/federal buildings.
A visit from the FBI perks your ears up

Hoping to see some one of a kind pics soon

I'm almost always in the middle of nowhere when we explore so using a drone for exploration and site survey would be ideal. That said, I still haven't dropped the money on one.

Mid-town it would pretty well kill your stealth mode.

Abby

I wouldn't really get into this unless you're also interested in radios and technology in general. These things can be a lot more finicky than they look.

Buildings are probably not going to be a problem for your controller, but they will be for getting video back. You can get around that somewhat with a low-frequency transmitter to cut through walls and a circular polarized antenna to limit interference, but I don't think either of those is available with off-the-shelf rigs. If you're not going to use it to transmit video, you're only going to be flying it line-of-sight, in which case you might as well just walk.

Collision detection can be dodgy at the best of times, and collision avoidance is an extra complexity build on top of that. Ultrasound can't detect things like cloth, visual (/laser) can't detect glass, and neither is going to stop you in time if you're going at full-speed. If it get's stuck in an attic, it will probably just slam into the nearest wall until it dies.

A GPS small enough to fit on a quadcopter is generally also not terribly accurate, and all GPS are prone to interference from buildings, trees, etc.

Battery monitors usually work, but I've had a single cell in a 4S battery pack die mid-flight, causing an instant power drop and a very fast, very uncontrolled landing.

Keep in mind that quadcopters are basically just 4 flying knives (the blades are designed to cut air), each driven by a ~100W motor. Check the hobbyking forums for pictures of how they can literally strip the meat from the bone.

That said, I have a gobbled together FPV rig that I <3. Very few things in life are as awesome as shooting up 50m almost instantly and surveying a place as if you're a god.

Posted by TheJoker http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e160/android1587/13122946_10110726257760354_8204595280882104498_o_z psbkv0bs2p.jpg

Hahaha that's killer, Joker! Nice shot! Enough said. lol

Posted by htp123 I wouldn't really get into this unless you're also interested in radios and technology in general. These things can be a lot more finicky than they look. Buildings are probably not going to be a problem for your controller, but they will be for getting video back. You can get around that somewhat with a low-frequency transmitter to cut through walls and a circular polarized antenna to limit interference, but I don't think either of those is available with off-the-shelf rigs. If you're not going to use it to transmit video, you're only going to be flying it line-of-sight, in which case you might as well just walk. Collision detection can be dodgy at the best of times, and collision avoidance is an extra complexity build on top of that. Ultrasound can't detect things like cloth, visual (/laser) can't detect glass, and neither is going to stop you in time if you're going at full-speed. If it get's stuck in an attic, it will probably just slam into the nearest wall until it dies. A GPS small enough to fit on a quadcopter is generally also not terribly accurate, and all GPS are prone to interference from buildings, trees, etc. Battery monitors usually work, but I've had a single cell in a 4S battery pack die mid-flight, causing an instant power drop and a very fast, very uncontrolled landing. Keep in mind that quadcopters are basically just 4 flying knives (the blades are designed to cut air), each driven by a ~100W motor. Check the hobbyking forums for pictures of how they can literally strip the meat from the bone. That said, I have a gobbled together FPV rig that I <3. Very few things in life are as awesome as shooting up 50m almost instantly and surveying a place as if you're a god.

https://www.youtub...atch?v=ZgdW5vzf58E

I used to have one of this years ago. There wasn't a battery technology good enough back then and it ran on an alcohol-nitro two stroke. That in itself was a lot of trouble to get it running smoothly. It was both noisy and messy as fuck. RC helicopters weren't that popular. It was wicked hard to fly and time consuming and expensive to fix. Bigger machines were more stable and easier to fly and the same is pretty much true for drones. You don't have to fly far before it turns into a tiny dot in the sky. You'll need a large drone if you want to get stunning view unless you fly-by-instrument with live view or you have god like vision.

I live way out in the country, but even here we got drones, not sure what the radio signal range is but I always planned to use a Browning 12ga full choke loaded with #2 steel shot to knock one down if it gets within 30-40yds of my place.

http://www.popsci....own-drone-says-faa

You can approach 100km range, with video, if you have the right equipment. Dragon Link sells kits (https://www.youtub...atch?v=SUaZQ02Z7Mo), but a lot of people just rig up their own.

In your case, the bigger problem is probably loiter time. Go shoot down some of those domestic spy blimps instead.