Radio controlled (RC) devices fall under Part 15 and include toys and more sophisticated applications that have been all too little discussed here at part15.us, including flying devices.
In addition to the fascination of controlling from a distance by radio, there might be as yet undiscovered uses with more modern developments.
Imagine a camera equipped RC helicopter that could view our coverage area from above while receiving and sending back the received signal so we could literally travel around and sample our coverage without leaving the desk!
Interesting idea. I'm not all that familiar with the frequencies associated with RC and the range that can be expected.
Thinking about it a bit, though, I'm not sure how something like this would work. You'd need a sensitive receiver on the RC device (probably crystal controlled), and some means of recording the received signal at the very least.
I suppose you could also put a transmitter board inside the device and use it to rebroadcast the signal on a different frequency on either the AM or FM bands - talk about eliminating obstructions!
I just wonder about board sizes & weight & supplying power to the receiver/transmitter (over and above the RC stuff).
Modern drones are of course flying robotic devices, and by a coincidence the Big Picture Science program this morning is all about the science of robotics.
All of this thinking about robotic applications for part 15 makes me wonder about robotic listeners.
A man-like listening droid could be sent on a neighborhood walk, equipped with a "family band" two-way radio in the 800mHz region, and could phone home with reception reports:
"The discussion is good but I crackles in the background. A thunderstorm may be brewing."
"What was that last word," you'd ask.
"Brewwingg," it would say.
Upon passing a neighbor walking her dog the robot would smile and blink, saying,"Nice dog. What's her name? I'm listening to radio."
Failing to return home, you'd consider filing a missing robot report.
I thought I had a new idea just now but finding this old thread shows that I already thought of the basic idea which I'm about to blog about.
Let's just start fresh... I was listening to "This Week In Law" with Denise Howell from twit.tv, and they were discussing a news-photo-drone that flew right up to a July 4th fireworks display for "in the air points-of-view." I didn't hear where this was, but it gave me an idea.
Alright. You can buy this drone paraphenalia and it is manipulated by Part 15 RC commands from your base station...
Send out a drone equipped with a camera so you can see what you're flying above, a small, light, AM tuner tuned to your Part 15 AM frequency, an FM transmitter on-board which sends back your AM received signal for listening on an FM radio at the base station...
See where I'm going? It's a way of monitoring your AM signal field with greater freedom than plain old driving around on the streets.
That's sort of what I said in my old opening post, so, I just thought of it again.
Warning: do not do this during mating season or a territorial hawk will grab your drone and feed it to its nest.