Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Sunday, August 27. 2017

Recommended toy

A pal invited me to do some 5 AM salt water kayaking yesterday, the plan being to do some sunrise drone photography over the water and to get a couple of hours of exercise.  He built a landing platform on the bow of one of his kayaks.  Admit it - that's a cool thing to do.


Paddling out in the dark, startling the night herons - wonderful of course. The beauty of kayaking is no noise, no sails to mess with, no concern about the water depth, and you get good exercise. In the dark, it feels magical.


Unlike duck hunting (also an early start around here), it's not frigid and sleeting when you set out on the water.


Anyway, this darn drone (the Solo) has about 20-25 minutes of power and it is damn fast. We put it up to around 3000 feet and sent it off about 2500 feet (around 1/2 mile) across the water when it lost contact. However, since it tracks GPS satellites, it automatically returns to its launch area when it loses contact so you easily regain control when it comes back into range.


The thing has a gimbel and GoPro camera connected to your iPhone. Video or still shots. It only takes a minute to see why the military loves these toys. There are various regulations about how these toys can be used, many of them sensible. There's never a problem over water, if you keep the altitude below aircraft.


Sunrise, yesterday morning, around 200 feet above Long Island Sound: 


Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 05:00 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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BD if you sent the drone up to 3000ft. in altitude you were a very naughty boy! 400ft. is the usual limit as aircraft are not supposed to fly below 500ft. unless on a landing approach or departure.
I don't know the sound well enough to pick where you were but there are quite a few airfields on both sides.
#1 Confused Old Misfit on 2017-08-27 06:32 (Reply)
Not to harsh your mellow, but COM was right. Last year the FAA issued some rules designed to keep unmanned drones from smashing into real aircraft. There are two sets of rules: One for "hobbyists" and one for business users. Here are the "rules" for hobbyists:

Fly at or below 400 feet
Be aware of airspace requirements and restrictions
Stay away from surrounding obstacles
Keep your UAS within sight
Never fly near other aircraft, especially near airports
Never fly over groups of people
Never fly over stadiums or sports events
Never fly near emergency response efforts such as fires
Never fly under the influence of drugs or alcohol

You have to stay at least 5 miles away from airports, too. I'm not a big fan of government regulations but, as a pilot, neither do I want to die after impacting someone's toy at 200 MPH.
#2 snopercod on 2017-08-27 08:16 (Reply)
We weren't within 5 m. of an airport.

We just shot it up to altitude, and brought it lower.
#2.1 bd on 2017-08-27 09:05 (Reply)
Quad-copters are pretty amazing. The next step is to fly while wearing the FPV goggles. Its completely immersive. Drones are where computers were 30 years ago. The capabilties are rapidly improving, prices are dropping and you aren't sure why you need it, but you want one. The difference is drones operate in meat-space, so its scary in a way computers were not.
#3 Randomizer on 2017-08-27 10:52 (Reply)
Second the criticism on altitude. And it's "gimbals" -
#4 Claritas on 2017-08-27 12:53 (Reply)
We love our Solo drones, but the company is no longer making them. Next step is a 3D printer to make spare parts and feathered props.
#5 Ama on 2017-08-27 14:08 (Reply)

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