Flying near radio antennae

[Chris Grazioso]

A buddy of mine wants some help inspecting some radio antennae on top of a water tower. There are several there transmitting in the VHF, UHF, and microwave bands. I imagine there would be some interference with the P3P like there apparently is near power lines. Anyone have any REAL experience flying near them?

 

[Daytona]

You will be fine as long as he is not transmitting.
Even then unless the ERP is greater than a few hundred watts it shouldn't affect the drone

 

[spankybear]

 

[dirkclod]

 

[Daytona]

All the Telco Microwave towers have been taken down here in FL.
I know the regional manager for American tower. Many of those sites were looted during the scrap copper craze.

 

[adfischer]

I have flown around them. Be prepared to go to ATTI mode if your nav system starts getting squirrely. Also, stay away from the microwave radome especially in front of it. The signal from that system is going to be very directional and concentrated in the direction of the front of the radome. It has your highest chance of interfering with your GPS signal. Also keep LOS even though you are very close. Several inches of steel and a million gallons of water can absorb a lot of signal.

 

[dirkclod]

Water..you not talking about that Doppler weather unit are you .
I do a lot of water tanks here but like you said I do keep LOS .

 

[adfischer]

I wasnt talking about a Doppler weather radome, but rather a backhaul communications system radome. They typically look like the pic below. The ones I support put out a pretty hefty beam - I would never stand in front of one thats for sure. You will also sometimes find unlicensed beam antennas operating in the ISM band (2.4G) which is the same as the Phantom is using.

 

[spankybear]

All the Telco Microwave towers have been taken down here in FL.
I know the regional manager for American tower. Many of those sites were looted during the scrap copper craze.

Yes sir... AT&T microwave sights are history... This one severs as a ham radio station... I hate thieves and vandles...