500ft radio towers

[Will Vardy]

Evening boys and girls. I'd like to get some shots of a local radio tower. Random but since a kid I've wondered what the tops like. At 499ft tall you can see it but some close ups with the mavic would provide some never before seen images. Permission to fly aside I'm more worried about its effects on the mavic. It's a digital TV repeat tower I believe if that helps. Thanks for any help

 

[Jake Galloway]

UHF and VHF don't operate in the same frequency band as the Mavic, so you should be good. Though I'm not sure if the insane power output those antennas have would cause any issues.

 

[Jake Galloway]

Heres a nice little graphic to give you an illustration. For reference, the Mavic operates at 2.4Ghz - ~ 2.5Ghz

 

[Wombat55]

Evening boys and girls. I'd like to get some shots of a local radio tower. Random but since a kid I've wondered what the tops like. At 499ft tall you can see it but some close ups with the mavic would provide some never before seen images. Permission to fly aside I'm more worried about its effects on the mavic. It's a digital TV repeat tower I believe if that helps. Thanks for any help

Well, I guess that just googling the information would be too obvious and straightforward, wouldn't it?

OK, well one problem is that 499 ft is higher than the official altitude limit of 400 feet above ground level (if you're in the US). Another problem is that the camera lens in the Mavic is a moderately wide angle lens. That's fine for images of landscape scenery, but if you want to get detailed images of some object like an RF antenna it means that you will have to get quite close to it, which increases the likelihood of a collision or your Mavic going haywire if the RF antenna is transmitting high-power signals.

 

[Jake Galloway]

Well, I guess that just googling the information would be too obvious and straightforward, wouldn't it?

OK, well one problem is that 499 ft is higher than the official altitude limit of 400 feet above ground level (if you're in the US). Another problem is that the camera lens in the Mavic is a moderately wide angle lens. That's fine for images of landscape scenery, but if you want to get detailed images of some object like an RF antenna it means that you will have to get quite close to it, which increases the likelihood of a collision or your Mavic going haywire if the RF antenna is transmitting high-power signals.

You can actually! In this case the nearby structure would allow him to exceed the 400' limit

 

[Wombat55]

You can actually! In this case the nearby structure would allow him to exceed the 400' limit

Are you sure of that? I know that altitude limits are adjusted by the presence of natural structures such as a hillside or mountainside since the altitude limit is relative to the height of the immediate terrain below the Mavic. But claiming that the height limit can be adjusted by proximity to a man-made structure like a radio tower or skyscraper seems to be a stretch.

 

[borislip]

I have a feeling someone is going to tell us if the Mavic is sensitive to a strong EMI ;-)

 

[borislip]

And those saying "its a different, far away, frequency", try to dial your mobile phone right next to a simple FM or AM radio, at any station. Or even some simple computer speakers.

 

[Jake Galloway]

Are you sure of that? I know that altitude limits are adjusted by the presence of natural structures such as a hillside or mountainside since the altitude limit is relative to the height of the immediate terrain below the Mavic. But claiming that the height limit can be adjusted by proximity to a man-made structure like a radio tower or skyscraper seems to be a stretch.

Yup! Same applies to tall buildings. The rule stands in existence because of aircraft. If the towers are 500 feet, you won't be seeing planes flying in the vicinity. Or in an urban environment like a city.

 

[m0j0]

Yup! Same applies to tall buildings. The rule stands in existence because of aircraft. If the towers are 500 feet, you won't be seeing planes flying in the vicinity. Or in an urban environment like a city.

I do not think this rule applies to hobby fliers. This rule is for part 107 pilots. I have not seen any exception to the 400 (agl) rule for hobbyist.

 

[Oingo Boingo]

Ummmm i would stay miles away from TV or radio transmission towers. Although the VHF and UHF range should be ok.... And I say SHOULD with a pinch of salt here, many times there towers house antennas and transmitters for other companies apart from TV and Radio and you dont always know what they are transmitting. Keep in mind that a drone uses low powered frequencies to operate. The power on these antennas are massive. But if ure feeling brave let us know the out come

 

[borislip]

Ummmm i would stay miles away from TV or radio transmission towers. Although the VHF and UHF range should be ok.... And I say SHOULD with a pinch of salt here, many times there towers house antennas and transmitters for other companies apart from TV and Radio and you dont always know what they are transmitting. Keep in mind that a drone uses low powered frequencies to operate. The power on these antennas are massive. But if ure feeling brave let us know the out come

I really don't think our drones are nearly shielded enough to operate in close proximity of high power RF signals. I'll be happy to find out i've been wrong, but wouldn't risk my drone to test it

 

[Will Vardy]

Tricky. Thanks for all the responses. To be honest the transmission side of it I hadn't really given a thought. Just assumed if the 'traffic' caused signal loss then on she comes back in rth mode. It was the mag interference from a gigantic 500 ft machano structure with guide wires that worried me. Oh and camera/lense wise I was intending to get REALLY close. So yeah is my mavic going to turn schizophrenic when it gets close? Hmm.. Am I willing to drop 1000 to find out :/

 

[borislip]

Stop thinking about losing signal... i'll give you the best analogy to your drone ending up in a frontal lobe of high power antennas... the best analogy is putting your drone in a microwave and hitting "start", and i am dаmn serious about it!

 

[Keule]

I would wait until there will be maintenance work done at the Tower.
When engineers climbing up the tower, you can be sure the transmitters are turned off.
You also have some ‘action’ in your footage, when persons climbing up.
But ask before - they should agree on what your plans are!
(maybe they have their own drone flying around documenting the work)
Drawback of that scenario – it could take a while to find the exact time spot when they are doing some work up the Tower.
Another advise: when flying close to the tower, pay attention to the stabilizing wires holding the thing upright. They can be overlooked very easy!

Good luck!

 

[rydfree]

Stop thinking about losing signal... i'll give you the best analogy to your drone ending up in a frontal lobe of high power antennas... the best analogy is putting your drone in a microwave and hitting "start", and i am dаmn serious about it!

Yep , small circuits tend to overload when in the near path of high power transmissions . Being on or near the same operating frequency doesn't really matter . I would not fly within a couple hundred feet of a radio/microwave tower myself .

 

[borislip]

Yep , small circuits tend to overload when in the near path of high power transmissions . Being on or near the same operating frequency doesn't really matter . I would not fly within a couple hundred feet of a radio/microwave tower myself .

Overload is probably an understatement, i'd expect sparks to start flying inside

 

[nomad33fw]

Well, I guess that just googling the information would be too obvious and straightforward, wouldn't it?

OK, well one problem is that 499 ft is higher than the official altitude limit of 400 feet above ground level (if you're in the US). Another problem is that the camera lens in the Mavic is a moderately wide angle lens. That's fine for images of landscape scenery, but if you want to get detailed images of some object like an RF antenna it means that you will have to get quite close to it, which increases the likelihood of a collision or your Mavic going haywire if the RF antenna is transmitting high-power signals.

Why is there always some jerk that's has to start quoting rules and being an otherwise sarcastic AH when someone here asks a simple question. It's even better when they don't get the rules right.

It is not "400 foot AGL" it's is 400 feet above the highest surface of a structure when flown within a 400 foot radius of that structure. So technically the OP is fine at 499 if he's within 400 feet.

To the OP

Curiosity killed the cat, it isn't not loosing radio connection as much as what the power of that antenna could possibly do to the other sensitive instruments in your Mavic. What is it going to do to compass, altimeter, computer chips is more of what you should worry about. If you really want to see what's on the top, google it then click images, sure you'll find plenty.

Personally I stay away from things like this, not because if loosing connection but because of the other hazards. In addition to the RF these towers are supported by cables that I wouldn't want to hit.

Some antennas like this are also structures that fall under critical infrastructure homeland security laws, it may be just a repeater but does it repeat emergency broadcasts etc? If so flying your drone close enough to take decent pictures may land you in hot water.

 

[Will Vardy]

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate the helpful responses. So I guess whilst going for permission the best bet as Keule said to find out if and when the transmitters will be shut down for maintenance. I'm not to worried about guide wires, Slowly wins the race and all that.

For anyone interested I'm in the UK and these are the masts...

Washford transmitting station - Wikipedia

Thanks again everyone

 

[Justin36]

I'm a noob at this Mavic stuff, but, in the controller settings isn't there a graph showing the amount of interference? If so, maybe just fly slowly closer to the tower with a sharp eye on that interference graph.