[TowerTalk] the future of antenna and tower inspection

[K1TTT]

So far I have avoided trees, lots of clear space around my towers by design.
And yes, the wifi range is a big limiting factor.  The only controller I
have is an ipod touch which gets me about 200' or so.   I wonder if there
are android devices that have external wifi capability?  It does have a usb
plug, with a bit of software and an sdr plugged into it you could probably
add a field strength reading to the telemetry or have it recorded on board.
They do have a gps plugin for it so it could probably be programmed to fly
circles around a tower at some specified height and record coordinates along
with field strength.

David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://wiki.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://k1ttt.net


-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Lux [mailto:jimlux at earthlink.net] 
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2013 19:44
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] the future of antenna and tower inspection

On 4/14/13 12:12 PM, K1TTT wrote:
> Well, except for the part where I chase the dog around the yard that is.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIfhRzGo8uI
>

As long as it's not too windy, these work well..  The other issue I've had
is that the WiFi range isn't as good as I would like, but I think that's
more of an interference issue (with the zillions of home access points
around me).  I haven't figured out yet how to put a directional antenna in
the system (not like my iPad has a antenna connector)


I'd love to figure out a way to put a very low mass field strength receiver
on one and send the output back to the ground.  Measure the pattern
in-situ...


(and I'll bet you've had the experience of hitting a tree branch or leaves)
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