[TowerTalk] Drones

[David Gilbert]

I use a DJI Mavic Air 2 (the older version of the Air2S), which can be 
had for less than $450 used.  There are several on eBay right now that 
even include extra batteries.  It works great, is stable in the wind, 
and has a good 4K camera.

It also has a decent ability to carry a weight ... at least a pound.  
I've used it with a 3rd party release mechanism to lift and drop a 
length of dacron line on the other side of of an existing wire dipole.  
The drone has an LED on the underside for lighting up the ground when 
landing in the dark, and that LED can be triggered on and off via a 
button on the controller.  The 3rd party release mechanism straps around 
the body of the drone and positions a phototransistor over that LED.  A 
small motor powered by a rechargeable battery in the 3rd party release 
mechanism pulls a pin to drop the load when the LED gets turned on.

Here is the video of it. https://youtu.be/x97s4bHdYtc

I've also used the drone with a small crystal oscillator (strapped to 
the top) and a very short dipole (strapped to the legs) to plot the 
vertical pattern of one of my antennas.  The Mavic Air 2 controller 
constantly displays both height and distance relative to the takeoff 
point, so it is possible to keep the drone a constant vector distance 
from the antenna at various elevation angles.  The signal transmitted by 
the crystal oscillator gets read and measured in the shack from the 
antenna being tested.  It works.

I've used the drone to inspect my antennas on the tower but didn't save 
any of those videos.  For "playing around", check out these two videos I 
posted to YouTube.  They are in 4K, but YouTube sometimes makes you 
adjust the resolution in the Settings tab at the bottom right hand corner.

https://youtu.be/UZlVPDSbyfw

https://youtu.be/IuoHOWCXhMw

Dave   AB7E






On 5/21/2024 7:42 AM, Mike Fatchett W0MU wrote:
> What are people using for their drones?  The DJI has a mini drone for 
> around $300.00  the Maviks are crazy expensive now.  So many choice 
> but I know many of them are not very good.
>
> I am mostly looking for something to do tower inspections and have 
> some fun flying it about.
>
> W0MU
>
>
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