[TowerTalk] Fwd: the future of antenna and tower inspection

[David Gilbert]

I think the biggest problem with a balloon or kite is that you're 
totally at the mercy of the wind.  At least a copter tries to hold it's 
GPS position if the winds are not too bad.  The demo video I've seen of 
the OctoCopter makes it look like it has power to spare to overcome some 
pretty strong winds, assuming the wind speed doesn't change too fast 
(gusts) for the reaction time of the system.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 4/15/2013 10:41 PM, Jim Lux wrote:
> On 4/15/13 10:33 PM, Grant Saviers wrote:
>> piling on,
>>
>> the leads/antenna could be small gauge with power sent via high
>> voltages/low current, since the motors could be PWM driven with the
>> onboard processor or a simple buck convertor..  Taking out the LiPo
>> battery saves weight too.  Any Maker's that have hacked one? btw
>> having flown a MEMS gyro in a rocket, I don't think the MEMS gyros are
>> stable enough for long term unattended hover positioning, so periodic
>> radio position control would probably be needed, or maybe a GPS lock.
>>
>
>
> I think optical station keeping would be easiest.  Most of these 
> things have a video camera looking down, so what you'd do is set up a 
> colored target, and it would try to keep it centered.
>
>
>
> Of course, a Kiteoon would be easier.
>
> from TT, April 4th, 2003, WB6WIK writes
> Hi Mirko,
>
> I've paid about $200 for a kiteoon, locally.  The 8-to-9 foot diameter 
> WX balloons are usually about $30 each, so a kiteoon is definitely more
> expensive -- but, the kiteoon is reusable, whereas the latex WX 
> balloons are not.  Once they stretch from use and the He starts 
> leaking through the latex (which it does, within about two days), the 
> WX balloons are good for the garbage bin.
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