In 1964, the TV show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,
used a radio controlled plane in an episode plot.
Some guy (an agent from THRUSH - the bad guys)
started flying a radio controlled plane in a Park
In New York city. He kept sending the plane
farther and farther away from the park until
it landed on the roof of U.N.C.L.E. headquarters.
I remember Napoleon Solo, one of the good guys,
went up to the roof to find the plane. (Mr. Solo,
agent 11 of section 2(?)
I don't remember what happened after that. Also,
I don't remember what the plane was carrying.
A bomb? Nerve gas? A message? Fan mail from
some flounder? (Oops, wrong show.)
Of course this was 48 years ago. Maybe my mother
just wanted me to take out the trash.
I think the Man From U.N.C.L.E. was on Wednesday
nights. Trash day was Thursday.
Bruce, DRS2
Well, the military had used tethered balloons since WW1.
In Southern Sudan a few years ago, community-based radio was shut down and destroyed by the Northern government, whose officials and constituancy don't allow anyone to say anything against them ... but the broadcasters got another TX and flew the antenna up in a balloon a couple hours later, got back on the air, and told everyone listening what the government had just done.
... Can't keep a good station down. 'Course, that took guts. Next round could see those guys get get caught and shot to death I suppose 🙁
Carl, your proposal got me thinking (what's that smell? ... southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd) Question: What kind of range, with no ground, do the engineers here think we could expect from a homemade L-ion battery-powered Part 15 AM transmitter flown at low altitude ... say 200 feet?
I have been watching a squirrel mess with robins over nest space and finches over seeds on the ground.
Then I had a blockbuster idea! How about dive-bombing the squirrel with a drone-coptor? You could even chase it right up in the tree and mess with its space!
Got to do this.
The media calls them drones. The FAA calls them "UAS" Unmanned Aerial Systems. The media decided it's much more exciting to call anything that flies by remote control a drone.
Yes, there have been regulations proposed that would seriously crew with innocent model aircraft pilots. A vocatio near and dear to my heart. My Dad build model aircraft starting in the 30's. He taught me and I started in the 60's. Mostly control and free flight for Dad, but he did some R/C with the rubber band escapements and the "fluttering" rudders, where the rudder constantly moved back and forth and the appplication of one signal or the other would hold the rudder to the side you wanted. I've restored 50's era tube model transmitters. I had a bunch of my planes yet, as well as some Dad built in the 50's and 60's. he even flew control like jet powered planes, and speed planes topping 150 MPH. have all his model aircraft magazines going back to the 40's. Quite a hoot. I also have most of his old engines, parts, etc.
After hearing about the troubles with the law and models, I rejoined the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) just to show my support and to be able to help with their defense of the hobby in Washington. I just realized I spend quite a few bucks a year supporting organizations that protect us from our government! Yeesh!
Darn near every radio control toy you buy in the store be it a plane, boat, car, etc uses a Part 15 transmitter.
I used to build model rockets that had cameras in them, first a "cut and load" where I had to go in my darkroom, use the template, cut a circle of film, and load it into the rocket. Launch. Retrive the rocket then the film in the darkroom, load another, etc. then develop the little circles of film in trays of chemicals. Then the moved up to having a small 110 film camera in them. And of course now digital. Even had a rocket with a space with windows for launching a small mouse!
Read all the AMA news at: http://www.modelaircraft.org/
Not this past winter, but the year before a guy got busted near here using drones to deliver beer to ice fishermen out on the lake FAA busted him for using drones in a commercial venture. I interviewed a legal rep from the AMA about this. Somewhere around here I have that interview. I should upload it. If I can find it.
Tim in Bovey