Just a heads up to those who ignore the rules.

Personally I'm ok with registering the aircraft and abiding by the no fly zones. I just think there should be acceptable flight parameters that don't require a flight plan I.e. Below 400' and below a specified weight and speed. There are going to be millions of drones many of them without near the range of a phantom. If I want to fly my dromida in my front yard a flight plan is just ridiculous. The dromida will be below 50 feet and always within los it doesn't pose much of a threat.
 
Flying within line of sight make a lot more sense than you think!

No one has said below 200 feet! It states 400 feet is the maximum altitude.

Now, if you cannot see it, then what if you lose the control link? It will fly home. All good? NO! It then is no longer within YOUR control! It will make a bee line straight to where you told it was home! What is between you and it on a straight line? Someone's chimney that they are out doing yard work next to? So it crashes into that chimney and the carcass falls on that person. Remember it will either descend to 20 meters, or climb to 20 meters. So let's simply say roughly 60 feet. How many objects are around 60 feet or less in height? One quick look around and I see trees all over the place. Then there are Amateur Radio Towers and antennas. The list could go on for more space than our posts are allowed to occupy. let's ALL start using a lost part of life! It has been called Common Sense! That same Common Sense is even in your manuals. Do NOT fly in rain! Gee, I wonder why? there is only four brushless motors, four ESCs, and each is rated for 30A @ 11.1V. The voltage comes from the battery voltage. The two small contacts adjacent to the Main Contacts run 3.7V. That also can draw a lot of current before the proverbial battery overheats and starts a fire. The Phantom already is smart enough to NOT allow you to fly if you don't get at LEAST 6 GPS satellites. Take a good look at your "Smart Battery Pack". 5200mAh. Right below that they put it in terms of 57.72Wh. Wh = Watthours. A perspective of that is one 60W light bulb for one hour. Folks are NOT using their brain, they are letting simple desire to rule over thought.
 
Wow... interesting read. I am an advocate for this. However... If they are getting 100 reports a month on drone sightings, then it would be very interested to see the frozen chicken test applied to the Phantoms. What would a phantom do to an engine or window on impact? Is the way the phantom constructed more stronger than a frozen chicken? Would the motors (I think they are the hardest component on the drone) disintegrate on in the turbine and cause any damage or engine failure??

I wouldn't want mythbusters doing this as they got it wrong in the past. If you want to know, MB used a motor and a prop and "forced" the spinning prop into the pigs flesh as said it deemed it deadly. We know in real life that the phantom would bounce off the object and probably scratch and worst case cause cuts. The only way I see a phantom really hurting someone is that it fell with terminal velocity due to motor failure.
I am a vet that worked in the Air Force. We used to do FOD walks on the runway (foreign object debris). A dime size metal object can destroy a jet turbine. The small metal object gets ingested and breaks off a piece of the turbine and that starts a chain reaction that would destroy a turbine. There is no doubt in my mind that is a jet turbine were to ingest a P3 it would destroy the turbine without question.
 
You DO have a Smartphone on your Flight Controller. It IS picked up by the cell towers. You now have your triangulation. It is done all the time, and it isn't just on TV!
Your Smartphone links through the Range Extender which amplifies your signal, and it IS a two-way link! The FPV on the Vision app is displaying Altitude, distance, speed, the number of GPS satellites locked on.
Now how do you think this ALL can't be tracked or traced? Seriously? The Government is already flying one and two engine aircraft all over the country and it is showing up on anyone whom records flights on Flight Radar. These aircraft have a single purpose - to pick up and record cell phones and the like.

I don't. I use 5.8 gig FPV. Another reason why the P3 isn't appealing to me.
Cell phone traingulation isn't that easy. In most countries governments need warrants to get phone location and it usually takes weeks, unless its really a national threat siituation. Police don't use triangulation to find your stolen phone because the beurocracy just doesn't allow it. Also, cell triangulation is not very accurate.
And no, at least in the case of Apple apps, noone can just ask to see the data your app is showing.

Flight Radar is a totally different beast, different frequencies, totally different application of technology and ways to view position.
I've never heard of planes recording cell phones (position?). Do you know how many thousands of phones are registered to a tower? How would you filter the ones using that phone to fly a toy quad? Through its app?
This is not something that would be financially or technically viable, unless all drones were deemed a national threat.
 
The Smartphone is NOT at 5.8GHz! The flight controller is! This is NOT on a P3! It is a P2V+. The Flight Controller transmits at 5.8GHz. The Flight Extender has nothing to do with a 5.8GHz signal whatsoever! Everything the smartphone transmits and receives by the WiFi bind is ALL at 2.4Ghz. So from your Flight Controller to the Phantom, and from the Phantom to the DJI Vision App is ALL at 2.4Ghz! You really need to learn the entire package that you are using.
The first step in getting FPV working is to do a WiFi bind through the Range extender to the Phantom! Phantom or extender not on, NO bind and NO fly! The Master Controller in the Phantom Body uses 5.8GHz for control of the Phantom. There is also a copper shield that is stuck to the top shell of the P2V+ to keep the Control System frequencies from interfering with the GPS antenna/module that is screwed firmly to the top center of that top body shell. A cable comes down and connects to the Main Board to take the GPS data from that module.
 
I am a vet that worked in the Air Force. We used to do FOD walks on the runway (foreign object debris). A dime size metal object can destroy a jet turbine. The small metal object gets ingested and breaks off a piece of the turbine and that starts a chain reaction that would destroy a turbine. There is no doubt in my mind that is a jet turbine were to ingest a P3 it would destroy the turbine without question.

It is an absolute guarantee that one motor alone, much less the entire Phantom WILL destroy the insides of a gas turbine engine!

GE had us watch the video of a single small bolt getting released into the inlet of the J-79. End result? Complete destruction of the J-79. A 3,500 pound rotor loaded with 17 stages of compressor and three stages of turbine at the rear spinning at somewhere over 7000 RPM does NOT respond well whatsoever to debris. I used to perform hot end inspections and cumbustor can replacement and repair to those beasts! The F-4 Phantom runs a pair!
 
Personally I'm ok with registering the aircraft and abiding by the no fly zones. I just think there should be acceptable flight parameters that don't require a flight plan I.e. Below 400' and below a specified weight and speed. There are going to be millions of drones many of them without near the range of a phantom. If I want to fly my dromida in my front yard a flight plan is just ridiculous. The dromida will be below 50 feet and always within los it doesn't pose much of a threat.

I have no problem with the small quads, such as a Syma X6 weighing all of 10 ounces and no GPS ability, max range of 300 feet, flying around my neighborhood! I went through a couple of those myself!
 
I was stating what frq my Phantom 2 non vision FPV works on, not what frq all Phantoms work on.
Nothing that you mentioned applies to P2NV.

Either way its not like anyone can just intercept the signal and know where the operator is. Especially not in an area with various 2.4/5.8GHz noise and/or view app data through GSM. Is isn't technologically impossible, but not even worth it.
There are authorities that pinpoint and penalize illegal radio transmission, depending on country, but it usually takes them hours (can also be triangulated) to get an approximate location and they then basically go and knock on doors asking who's well versed enough in electronics to be doing the transmission.
In the case of a toy drone that is in the air 20 minutes maximum, it will take the authority very long to get an approx. location, not to mention driving there or calling the cops, and they'd have to be watching over such frequencies 24/7. Basically there'd have to be "drone towers" everywhere.

It would make much more sense - and lets pray this doesn't happen - if the cell phone app automatically reported position to an authority upon takeoff. This would only require the app to touch a server somwhere with very basic data (position, drone ID, time, altitude). But they would also have to require all drones work via mobile or have GSM capability built in, plus make tampering illegal, because it would be fairly easy to hack.
 
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If you have a Phantom 2 *and* FPV, then you have a camera under your Phantom! Either that OR you do NOT know what FPV is! FPV is First Person Video! Therefore it implicitly means that there MUST be a camera!
So I must ask - Do you or Do you NOT have a camera?
 
Yes, but the NV does not have a range extender. You could intercept the 5.8 video link, but that would give you camera view and iOSD, provided you had the correct receiver, range, channel, the time to drive to a location within the transmittin radius etc.
 
I don't know about a P2NV, but you must have added a camera to it. By the same token, I don't run iOSD either. So what you are doing is completely different. I use an Android Phone. The Flight controller has and came with a Range Extender mounter on the bar on top of the Flight Controller. I connect by WiFi through the Range Extender to the 2.4GHz system on the P2V+. This provides all the distance, altitude, location, and number of GPS satellites all on the DJI Vision App.

Essentially we are comparing apples and oranges. However, either way, you have a 800 meter radius that you can fly within, I'd just stay away from GPS waypoints that the Vision App allows by a left swipe of the phone screen.

Here in the U.S. that keeps me within all the Rules and Regulations.
 
You should read up on the differences. The NV has no limitation to distance (exept what you set in the PC software and sync) and no waypoints either. You don't use any mobile device for the video, its received by a monitor with built-in Rx and antennas.
 
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The European Versions have a bunch of differences. I have already had mine completely apart to replace the upper and lower body shells. Having done all this, I do not see a need to remotely begin to go through the Ground Station Software, as it does not apply one little bit. The entire iOSD, Lightbridge and the rest we don't even bother with here. I have yet to run across any U.S. setups as you have. As I stated, it is comparing apples and oranges.
The separate Video Display and antennas are something we have only seen in Europe and Australia. That is the last thing I have any interest in obtaining and adding to what I own already.
 
You DO have a Smartphone on your Flight Controller. It IS picked up by the cell towers. You now have your triangulation. It is done all the time, and it isn't just on TV!
Your Smartphone links through the Range Extender which amplifies your signal, and it IS a two-way link! The FPV on the Vision app is displaying Altitude, distance, speed, the number of GPS satellites locked on.
Now how do you think this ALL can't be tracked or traced? Seriously? The Government is already flying one and two engine aircraft all over the country and it is showing up on anyone whom records flights on Flight Radar. These aircraft have a single purpose - to pick up and record cell phones and the like.

Actually I don't have a smart phone. But let's say I did.

It's picked up by the cell towers. So what? Lots of smart phones are picked up by cell towers. I would say all of them.

If they are flying around in a Cessna or something and find a signal that is coming from a drone controller or a drone, whether it be FPV or control, that's all they have. They can't DF it without multiple receivers in multiple places around the signal's transmitter. Best they can do is localize it as mentioned above.

I don't see how they can link the FPV signal with my smart phone. What little, if anything, is being transmitted from the smart phone is on a different frequency. And it's weak. That's why the range extender exists.
 
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The folks here pick up the GPS and on radar once you get to 500 feet. Radar DOES give range and azimuth. It takes little to get altitude.

I simply do not wish to end up with issues. The binding through the Range Extender to the P2V+ has a distinct MAC address that will turn up on any WiFi detection software. As I have also wrote, I have replaced the Upper and Lower body shells. Within sits the receiver for 2.4GHz with the MAC address printed on it from the factory.

My laptop picks up all WiFi signals, gives signal strength, SSID, MAC Address and a bunch more.

It really would not take but a change in direction of an external WiFi antenna to get direction. I do this for several reasons. They are not germane to this forum.
 
ADSB *IS* a transponder! Queried on 1090MHz, replies are on 1030MHz.
I already provide data to Flight Radar on these. They aren't mandatory as of this moment, BUT a very large number of aircraft do this already. The receiver here is a simple one ounce USB Dongle. The 5/8 wave antenna is shorter than the two in the legs of the Phantom.

Even single engine Pilatus Porters, known in military circles as the U-10 Helio-Courier ARE using them. I can track these using Flight Radar all the way from my home to Syracuse, NY, Columbus, OH, so just draw a circle using Dulles Intl. Airport that covers all that area. Their entire flight path is displayed.

I was more meaning not a transponder in the traditional sense (Mode A, C, S etc.). I have a GDL 88 in my Cessna, however I honestly didn't know that ads-b was queried like the traditional SSR transponder. I thought it just broadcasts ID and info all the time...
 
The mode C transponder in your Cessna does not broadcast constantly. That is a misconception. You set the code that is required by the Rules and Regulations. VFR and below 10K feet is usually 1200 unless directed otherwise. The normal FAA radar installations have the IFF/SIF antenna mounted right on the sail, (Antenna). It queries any transponder on every sweep. Mode S is the ADSB system. My receiver system lists the ADSB as Mode S.
I used to work in a Center that the consoles were fed from our 60 foot concrete tower with an AN/FPS-24 mounted on top. I was also the ID "Officer" when the appropriate circumstances dictated. I had the IFF/SIF ground controls directly bolted to my Radar Console. I'm an old geezer! I'm 65, and I was doing that in the '70s. Retired from the Uniformed Military Employ in '88.
 
There have already be reports of serious injuries and even one baby in a carriage hit. With the number of small camera and hobby drones out there these reports will not be fewer but more. But any incident or happening whether it involves property damage, injury or a sighting will be major news-- at least in the near term. My 2 cents.

There have been hundreds of thousands of hours of flight of small drones, yet there is not one verifiable report of a drone crash that resulted in a serious injury as defined by the NTSB to someone not connected to the flight. Not one. (A Band-Aid is not a serious injury- See CFR 49 §830.2).

The baby in the carriage was not hit by the drone, but from debris thrown by the prop hitting the ground. She was taken to the ER for evaluation and sent home the same day. Not a serious injury, but you have to read past the sensational headlines to find that.
 
The European Versions have a bunch of differences. I have already had mine completely apart to replace the upper and lower body shells. Having done all this, I do not see a need to remotely begin to go through the Ground Station Software, as it does not apply one little bit. The entire iOSD, Lightbridge and the rest we don't even bother with here. I have yet to run across any U.S. setups as you have. As I stated, it is comparing apples and oranges.
The separate Video Display and antennas are something we have only seen in Europe and Australia. That is the last thing I have any interest in obtaining and adding to what I own already.

There are no European and Australian versions. All Phantoms (the respective models, ie. 1, 2, 2V, 2V+, 2NV, 3-S/A/P or model codes) are the same worldwide. The only regional difference, which is optional is the turning of a potentiometer on the back of the P2 Vision remote to get longer distance (FCC, CE modes). Phantom 2 non-visions with monitors and 5.8GHz video Tx/Rx are a very common thing all over the world. There are tons of US flyers even here on the forum.

The entire iOSD, Lightbridge and the rest we don't even bother with here.

What? What makes you think that? Just because you've "never run into anyone"? There is a huge group of Phantom flyers who saw the benefits of not flying with a laggy link to devices with apps that often fail and freeze on a system with limited range that doesn't perform as advertised. It does require more tinkering than with the Visions, but you could fly out 5km and view live video feed on a computer monitor or TV ages ago.

The folks here pick up the GPS and on radar once you get to 500 feet.

Which "folks"? How do they "pick up GPS"? You can't just intercept any GPS signal and know who/where is using it.
I'm sorry to say it seems you have no idea what your talking about, both in regards to Phantom types and transmitter/receiver technologies. Although you're right that you're able to pick up wifi networks on your laptop, the Phantom 2 Vision extender is the only thing you can pick up. That's because its a link between the remote and an external device (phone, tablet), but Phantom 2 non-vision remote and video signals cannot be picked up with wifi scanners, even though they're in the frequency range, the modulation and frequency hopping is different.
 
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There are plenty people here who are anxious for the government to go overboard with regulations.
Baffles me to no end.
It is natural human tendency to regulate every fear out of existence. Regulation can attempt to reduce risks that aren’t even real and, in the process, can wreak economic havoc on the industries they’re supposed to improve.
 

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