Tested H Plus Range Today

[TurboDad81]

After shooting a home construction site this morning, I had 58% battery left, so I decided to see how far I can go with the square patch antenna. The site is at the front of a farm, and there's two small minimum security state prisons on the other side of the farm, about 1 mile away. There were no clouds, and I went out until I lost sight of it. Once I lost sight of it, I took a screenshot and hit the RTL switch. Looking at the 5.8ghz signal, I lost one bar of signal. Pretty impressive. I watched the screen on the way back, and not once did I see any pixelation.

 

[Phaedrus]

Your eyes are way better than mine!! I lose visual contact at about 2,500 feet give or take. You might want to double check if there are any prohibitions aginst getting too close to prisons. I know many federal prisons have NFZ, possible your state does too.

The patch works well. Just have to keep in mind that it is very directional and the flat spot needs to be pointed at the aircraft as much as possible.

 

[TurboDad81]

They're pushing for a law against flying OVER a state prison. You can fly around them all day here. I'm still very far away from it here. I wouldn't do anything stupid. Not the type to break or even bend laws.

 

[TurboDad81]

BTW, I'm very familiar with how the patch works. I have been using it daily. Within a couple hundred feet, it actually works fine if I turn 90° to it.

 

[Phaedrus]

They're pushing for a law against flying OVER a state prison. You can fly around them all day here. I'm still very far away from it here. I wouldn't do anything stupid. Not the type to break or even bend laws.

Mostly just making a general comment. I got run off flying near a water treatment plant. Not over it once, in fact never closer than 500 feet, but they still called the sheriff who asked me to leave.

 

[Phaedrus]

BTW, I'm very familiar with how the patch works. I have been using it daily. Within a couple hundred feet, it actually works fine if I turn 90° to it.

Again, a general comment since many people do not understand how the patch differs from the mushroom.

 

[PatR]

Mostly just making a general comment. I got run off flying near a water treatment plant. Not over it once, in fact never closer than 500 feet, but they still called the sheriff who asked me to leave.

Yea, they get right touchy about water reservoirs, treatment plants, dams, and utility owned watershed in this state.

 

[TurboDad81]

Virginia is pretty easy on drone laws. Just can't launch or land in state parks, can't fly within 50' over someone's private property after being warned. And cops can't fly over private property without either consent or a search warrant.

 

[Phaedrus]

Yea, they get right touchy about water reservoirs, treatment plants, dams, and utility owned watershed in this state.

I searched Humboldt County, Eureka, and federal and state laws and found nothing. And It was about500-700 feet behind me where I was flying over the tidal areas. I rarely argue with LEO. Just say "sorry, and I'm leaving".

 

[daylight99]

Seems like a risky move to fly that close to a prison.

 

[TurboDad81]

I was probably 1,000ft away from their fence. I know the area and the laws very well. I was perfectly fine.

 

[Phaedrus]

The federal NFZ start at the facility boundary. So 1,000 feet away should be no issue for a state prison.

FAA Establishes Restrictions on Drone Operations over DOJ and USCG Facilities

www.faa.gov

Where I live (California) the sate has a ban on or over the prison. So again the lateral boundary

Bill Text - SB-1355 Unmanned aircraft systems: correctional facilities.

leginfo.legislature.ca.gov

Here are the federal critical infrastructure guidelines:

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Resources | CISA

www.dhs.gov

 

[Phaedrus]

Oh, and back on topic. Cool distance test. Shows the included legally FCC-certified antennas work well enough to push the limits of VLOS of even the most eagle-eyed pilot. No need for bulky, and illegal, aftermarket stuff. Nice test! ?

 

[ChuckBridges]

Oh, and back on topic. Cool distance test. Shows the included legally FCC-certified antennas work well enough to push the limits of VLOS of even the most eagle-eyed pilot. No need for bulky, and illegal, aftermarket stuff. Nice test! ?

I agree, I have flown my H 643 M (2110 ft.) from me, by mistake, I lost track of where it was while concentrating on the shot. That is quite far enough as I had trouble seeing it when I found out how far away it was. I know some people feel that they need more range, but I am quite content with the range I have found so far. My Q500 4K has nowhere near this range, only went 284 M (710 ft.) before pixilation.

 

[TurboDad81]

Yup. I haven't seen the need to go past 2,600ft or so. Even when I was taking photos of a 125 acre piece of property for an agent. I can see it just fine at that distance, as long as it's clear skies. When clouds roll in, I start to lose it around 2,500ft. Photographing large farms would probably require strobes in the daytime.

 

[PatR]

I did similar law searches down here and like you found nothing. Where I did find it was in various utility company documentation and the Army Corps of Engineers. Seems the utilities, the ACoE, FAA, and DHS got together and wrote very obscure laws to prohibit drone operations, including over flight below 500’ AGL when launched from adjacent land, when “critical infrastructure” is involved. Covered full scale ops as well.

 

[Phaedrus]

Yup. I haven't seen the need to go past 2,600ft or so. Even when I was taking photos of a 125 acre piece of property for an agent. I can see it just fine at that distance, as long as it's clear skies. When clouds roll in, I start to lose it around 2,500ft. Photographing large farms would probably require strobes in the daytime.

I use the Firehouse white strobe on mine during the day when I am concerned about seeing it.

 

[TurboDad81]

I use the Firehouse white strobe on mine during the day when I am concerned about seeing it.

I really like those strobes. They're just ugly as crap.

 

[Phaedrus]

I really like those strobes. They're just ugly as crap.

. But they work great. ?

 

[Fred Garvin]

. But they work great. ?

Yep.....I use Arc II’s as well.