[Scan-DC] DC "drone"?

[merlin at merlinjacobs.com]

No licensing requirement at all, none. And all the tech flight controllers, 
etc are made in China, which is really scary.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Doug Kitchener
Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 9:13 PM
To: merlin at merlinjacobs.com ; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] DC "drone"?

Wasn't there a movie about that?...

(not "Blue Thunder"!)  :)

What am I thinking of... seriously, seems to me there was a movie a few 
years ago that used an RC helicopter for something...

I hadn't thought about it, but I guess RC must have come a long way...  I 
worked at (now defunct) Comsat Laboratories out in Clarksburg back in the 
1970s, and there were several guys there who used to fly RC planes at 
lunchtime... one time, one of them flew out of range of the controller, 
never to be found again... I've always wondered if it was discovered years 
later when they "developed" Clarksburg... no GPS or miniature cameras back 
then!

Is there any kind of licensing requirement now for the RC gear, Merlin?  I 
had no idea they had that kind of range these days... as you say, surprised 
there's so little regulation on them now.  I always wonder what our 
foremothers and forefathers would think of all this technology, and some of 
the stuff it's used for, or can be used for (traffic cams, speed cams, 
license plate scanners, security cameras, GPS, EZ Pass, electronic records 
of everything)...




----- Original Message -----
> From: "merlin at merlinjacobs.com" <merlin at merlinjacobs.com>
> To: Doug Kitchener <oldsdoug at yahoo.com>; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
> Cc:
> Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 7:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] DC "drone"?
>
> A friend of mine and I are in to RC quad and hexa copters. We can fly them 
> at
> thousands of feet and more than a mile away. We have them set up for live 
> video
> transmit back to our ground station with on board recording and ground 
> station
> recording. They have failsafe GPS return home features, etc. They can 
> carry a
> payload of several pounds. We use them to inspect our ham towers and do 
> aerial
> photography for our friends. As soon as some nut gets the bright idea to 
> use
> them for evil proposes, I’m sure the government will regulate them.
> Merlin K3MEJ
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Doug Kitchener
> Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 7:31 PM
> To: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] DC "drone"?
>
> Ummm... wait a second... I'm not supposed to be alarmed at the thought 
> that
> we need to be protected from cruise missiles?
>
>>  ________________________________
>>  From: David Cohen <cohenner at gmail.com>
>>  To: "Brooks, Kurt" <knbrooks at wusa9.com>
>>  Cc: "Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net" <Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net>;
> Steve Sakach <Sps3853 at covad.net>; Blair Thompson <b_thom at juno.com>
>>  Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 4:47 PM
>>  Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] DC "drone"?
>>
>>
>>  And then there is this story I just dug up:
>>
>>
> http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/don-t-be-alarmed-by-the-drone-blimps-hovering-over-d-c-they-re-here-to-stop-cruise-missiles-20130726
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