flying near mobile phone masts/antenna

[John S]

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but...it's a bad idea to fly near a mobile phone mast, isn't it?
I would love to get some footage of a mast, antenna, or aerial, but don@t want to loose control and crash due to interference! what kind, if any, are ok to fly near? electricity pylons? thanks!

 

[KBflyer]

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[John S]

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Olso it looks like I can, that's cool, thanks!

 

[Forrestt]

I have inspected several cell towers and the antenna arrays atop and never once had any issues, though that is not to say it cant happen.

 

[Eric]

I have inspected several cell towers and the antenna arrays atop and never once had any issues, though that is not to say it cant happen.

IDEM

 

[sabrewalt]

Forrestt where they live and active or did the carrier turn down the RF for you??

 

[OnTheRopes]

I did fly near electricity cables, not the main grid pylons but more local on wooden pole, flew over them and quite close. The H did seem to lose stability so I removed it from the locality and it immediately stabilised

 

[Forrestt]

Forrestt where they live and active or did the carrier turn down the RF for you??

Yes they were fully operational, no lowering of RF output.

 

[Forrestt]

IDEM

??

 

[John S]

IDEM

??

 

[John S]

Yes they were fully operational, no lowering of RF output.

Thanks, I'll try then but will approach with causion!

 

[Eric]

??

yes I have flown several times near cell towers and never once had any issues,

 

[Sparkorc]

I did fly near electricity cables, not the main grid pylons but more local on wooden pole, flew over them and quite close. The H did seem to lose stability so I removed it from the locality and it immediately stabilised

It should not make any difference as power distribution companys have been using drones for for line inspection for several years now after carrying out extensive trials.

I know from personal experience it defiantly does not interfere with my old phantom near a 11,000 kva pole mounted transformer, I have not tried my H but unless the carbon fibre arms are causing the problem, due to the high conductivity of carbon fibre I certainly would not recommend getting to close for that reason.

 

[John S]

yes I have flown several times near cell towers and never once had any issues,

Cool, thanks!

 

[OnTheRopes]

It should not make any difference as power distribution companys have been using drones for for line inspection for several years now after carrying out extensive trials.

I know from personal experience it defiantly does not interfere with my old phantom near a 11,000 kva pole mounted transformer, I have not tried my H but unless the carbon fibre arms are causing the problem, due to the high conductivity of carbon fibre I certainly would not recommend getting to close for that reason.

It could have been my imagination I guess

 

[Sparkorc]

It could have been my imagination I guess

It may not have been due the the carbon fibre arms, as I formerly worked for a electrical distribution company as a linesman I for thirty years I know you defiantly want to keep any carbon fibre objects well away from electric, and the only reason I ever flew close to a transformer was to see if there would be any benefit doing inspections this way but this with just a gopro hero 3 black edition mounted of my old phantom I obtained good results but this was all unofficial, but since I now retired they are now using really expensive bits of kit with several different types of camera including flir, I'm not sure if they ever got granted to fly beyond line of sight, I know it was a issue with the CAA.

 

[glider]

Demunseed reminds me of the drunk who thinks he will never get caught driving home from the bar because he takes the back roads, then one night he goes in the ditch.

I wish I had a dollar for every person at DIY with compass errors that turned out to be the FC was mounted too close to the power wires, and even ferrous screws tightened with a magnetic screw driver that magnetized the screw. Then others that calibrated their compass too close to a steel building or underground re-rod etc. Oh, did I mention countless crashes due to compass errors? The guy in the video is a dope for telling people to fly anywhere they want. Will he pay the guy that took him seriously and wonders why he loses control of his copter?

Below is a video I made it to show just what happens when EMI can adversely affect the compass. It may take 100 flights, or 10, but at some point if a pilot flies with abandon paying no attention to possible EMI that can cause the copter to go nuts, their luck will run out. Now shielding against EMI is a different story.

I took the P4 to work to calibrate the IMU on a level CMM surface plate and discovered very high EMI. Notice the warnings.

First at the back of the machine, then placed on the floor:

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Again at the front of the machine where the compass interference went off the scale, then placed on the floor:

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[Markinter]

I accidentally flew ( FPV) right between high tension wires on those huge towers. The big ones that you can hear buzzing! I got very lucky I didn't hit them but had no issue flying.

 

[JCFlippen]

I accidentally flew ( FPV) right between high tension wires on those huge towers. The big ones that you can hear buzzing! I got very lucky I didn't hit them but had no issue flying.

You really need an RF Explorer Spectrum Analyzer for the 2.4 band. It may seem over the top but the cost is small compared to losing your H.

 

[John S]

thanks guys, i took some pics and video of a mobile phone mast yesterday, flew with caution, but had zero problems, h stable as ever...power pylons next!