Invasion of the Drones........

[CHCRandy]

So who all got a drone?

People are unwrapping drones for Christmas and it's not going so well | The Verge

 

[long coat]

We got one for my dad.... I haven't seen him fly it yet.

 

[Lebowski]

Check out the "Drone Pilots / FPV quad and plane thread" here: https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/break-room/350491-drone-pilots-fpv-quad-plane.html

For what it's worth, most hobbyist hate the term 'drone' as much as you hate your Savage 22LR plinker being called an assault rifle or your black polymer Smith and Wesson being called a 'Glock'... 'drone' is a sensationalist title and I personally ahte it, but it's almost not worth fighting it anymore.


Anyhow, yeah, I've got a few. Two of which I've built myself. I didn't get a 'drone' from Christmas but I got a sweet pistol case that I am using to carry the 250 sized quadcopter I built:

I still need to mod the case so I can fit a 10" screen behind the top layer of foam that will be used for FPV. Got that case for Christmas and the directional anttena which I will use to do some range tests over the cloverleaf until I can build a system that utilizes both.


If you got a 'drone' for Christmas, please be responsible and understand that these can do serious damage to people and property if used improperlly, and please understand many of us love the hobby and cringe when we read articles of people taking their brand new toy out and doing something stupid with it. Start slow, start low. If you have fun, which I am sure you will, please consider joining the AMA and furthering your interest in the hobby by building your own. It's a lot of fun and very rewarding!

 

[rex soldier]

ZOMG the drones are coming......... the drones are coming........

I hate this ****.

 

[CHCRandy]

Lebowski, I started to call them a quad or something else....but to be honest, drone is so much easier to remember and say, lol. Why is it you guys don't like the word drone?

Kind of like clip and magazine.......some people really get worked up over that, but regardless of which term you use....I know what you mean.

 

[rex soldier]

The stuff i own really are drones and by that i mean planes that have a 100k range and can fly for hours with a payload of multiple cameras. Is that a drone **** ya it is . Are the quadcoppters they talking about drones ? **** no, most of the quads there talking about are toys with a range of 300M.

 

[Lebowski]

Lebowski, I started to call them a quad or something else....but to be honest, drone is so much easier to remember and say, lol. Why is it you guys don't like the word drone?

Kind of like clip and magazine.......some people really get worked up over that, but regardless of which term you use....I know what you mean.

I'm learning to live with the fact they they're going to be called 'drone' regardless if I or others like it or not, but when you think 'drone' you immediately think like... 'drone strike' or drones overseas. While some quadcopter platforms do share similar features to the drones you hear about in the media murdering people overseas, it's safe to assume that they're also very very different from each other.

I also never understood how quadcopters/multirotors got labeled 'drones', when a huge section of RC hobbyist enjoy flying RC planes and gliders. These, in fact, look much more like the drones used by the military yet I don't think they're advertised/sold/labeled as such and if someone does something stupid with them the news calls them RC planes. I don't know why they don't call these RC helicopters or RC multirotors, but drone sounds cooler I guess. :P

I understand that it's catchy and more marketable then referring to them as multirotors or quadcopters though and that the battle has been lost to change that.

 

[CHCRandy]

Lebo....I agree, I almost called them RC Quad.....to me they are more of an RC item then a drone, but then I hear Rex....and it does sound more like a drone then a toy, 100K......that's a long way to fly an RC.


Maybe if you can fly it out of sight, its a drone. If you can't fly it out of sight it's an RC Quad........kind of confusing.

 

[findingZzero]

My drone was delivered by a drone. With the mod it's a Deth-Star. Camera and 20mm cannon. Currently ii's in 'hunt' mode. I lost control of it about an hour ago over Speedway, then heard a loud BOOOOM! and my windows rattled. Don't know if those events are related. If you hear a buzzing noise take cover. Oh, and Merry Christmas INGO.

p.s. maybe I shouldn't have overwritten the prime directive code....hmmmmm......

 

[phylodog]

I also never understood how quadcopters/multirotors got labeled 'drones'

That occurred the instant someone saw a police department use one.

 

[bonzaiberger]

The term "Drone" upsets me because in the definition of the word it states a drone is " an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control." Military doesn't have those, they needs inputs from a human to operate. As far as I know the civilian market doesn't have those either. That's a "Skynet" type of machine!

 

[Cemetery-man]

I bought myself a small Blade beginner quad but training myself first with my more disposable Blade heli in the house this winter.

 

[Clay]

a drone is a practice target.

all I know is this 'drone' crap is going to end up hurting a hobby I really enjoy, RC aircraft. In some way, shape, or form, I bet they will pass some kind of law that makes flying RC planes more difficult or expensive, just like they did with model rockets.

 

[femurphy77]

I pulled the transmission out of my all wheel drive, lifted, nitro truck and fixed it! I guess it's a ground drone based on the "new" definition of RC stuff.

 

[femurphy77]

Lebo....I agree, I almost called them RC Quad.....to me they are more of an RC item then a drone, but then I hear Rex....and it does sound more like a drone then a toy, 100K......that's a long way to fly an RC.


Maybe if you can fly it out of sight, its a drone. If you can't fly it out of sight it's an RC Quad........kind of confusing.

I had a neighbor flying an RC plane out of the cul de sac I used to live in while in Greenwood. He'd fly the thing to the ragged edge of control and back all the while bragging about how good he was. One day whilst drinking a beer watching him flying he lost it, literally, you could see it getting smaller and smaller while he cussed the controller, smacked it around a little and then finally smashing it to the pavement while his $1000+ model disappeared. He didn't bother to go looking for it because he didn't want to be held accountable for any damage it might have inflicted on crashing!

 

[CathyInBlue]

If the flying portion of the device is possessed of computational powers that enable it to fly in a controlled manner without input from the ground station controller, it's a drone. If it's at all times dependent on the computational power between the ears of the meat puppet gripping the ground station controller to keep it flying and not crashing, it's an R/C aircraft. Simple as that.

Drones are capable of taking orders like "Fly to waypoint A. Fly to waypoint B. Return home." and "Orbit point X at radius R." and "Assume altitude M." Drones can automaticly return home under their own control if they lose their datalink from the ground station or execute long programs of commands autonomously after the datalink from the ground station is terminated.

Quadrotors straddle the line because of their inherent instability requires it to take direct flight control input from the ground station, interpret it for intent, and then adjust each of its own four PID controllers on its ESCs to adjust the speed of its four motors driving its four propellers in order to effect flight commands such as "Rotate left." "Rotate right." "Go up." "Go down." "Pitch forward." "Pitch back." etc., etc. in a closed loop control system with onboard sensors that ordinary R/C aircraft do not possess. They crash just as effectively as a fixed wing R/C plane or rotorcraft R/C helicopter if their links to their ground stations are broken, however, and have no capacity to execute (or even accept) higher-level commands such as drones do. However, having one foot in the digital control world already, it is far easier to turn an ordinary quadrotor into a drone than it is to turn an ordinary R/C aircraft into a drone.

 

[marv]

Check out the "Drone Pilots / FPV quad and plane thread" here: https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/break-room/350491-drone-pilots-fpv-quad-plane.html

For what it's worth, most hobbyist hate the term 'drone' as much as you hate your Savage 22LR plinker being called an assault rifle or your black polymer Smith and Wesson being called a 'Glock'... 'drone' is a sensationalist title and I personally ahte it, but it's almost not worth fighting it anymore.


Anyhow, yeah, I've got a few. Two of which I've built myself. I didn't get a 'drone' from Christmas but I got a sweet pistol case that I am using to carry the 250 sized quadcopter I built:

I still need to mod the case so I can fit a 10" screen behind the top layer of foam that will be used for FPV. Got that case for Christmas and the directional anttena which I will use to do some range tests over the cloverleaf until I can build a system that utilizes both.


If you got a 'drone' for Christmas, please be responsible and understand that these can do serious damage to people and property if used improperlly, and please understand many of us love the hobby and cringe when we read articles of people taking their brand new toy out and doing something stupid with it. Start slow, start low. If you have fun, which I am sure you will, please consider joining the AMA and furthering your interest in the hobby by building your own. It's a lot of fun and very rewarding!

Very well stated. And that's a good looking little aircraft. BTW, is that a Lee primer pocket cleaner in the N W corner of the case?

 

[Lebowski]

Very well stated. And that's a good looking little aircraft. BTW, is that a Lee primer pocket cleaner in the N W corner of the case?

In that corner would be the directional antenna I got for Christmas and the cloverleaf one I have been using for FPV previously. The receiver is shown below them. For FPV I use this kit: http://www.amazon.com/Boscam-TS351-...&qid=1419622094&sr=8-1&keywords=boscam+5.8ghz with the upgraded antennas and this camera http://www.amazon.com/PZ0420-600TVL...=UTF8&qid=1419622146&sr=8-4&keywords=sony+ccd wired/fixed to work with the transmitter.