Drone newbie from Australia - northern NSW

[Fishman Dan]

Hi .... I'm another relatively new drone pilot from Australia. My wife bought me a Mavic Pro Platinum (Flymore bundle) for Xmas 2019.

I'm a gadget lover, generally an IT person, but these days more of a photographer - sports photography to be precise. The drone will be used for both farming and photography (when we're allowed to run around again).

I was initially unsure about the purchase, and the customary 'showoff' flights around Xmas resulted in a few rotors getting scuffed and the top of my pinky finger getting a nice slice - in fact the finger copped 3 love bites. Needless to say, that took the wind out of my sails, but also made me research more. A lot more.

Since then we relocated to the NSW Northern Rivers - for the uninitiated, it's close to Byron Bay (about 45 mins inland). We have farmland, which is where the drone will get some practical use.

I've been flying more in recent days, getting my confidence up - now I don't think every flight is going to cost me a $2k drone. In fact today I've started using Litchi and plotting waypoints and recording flights. I'll post some of the outcomes shortly.

I am quite lucky to have moved out of Sydney before the pandemic took hold, and our area of the country is relatively untouched by the virus (touch wood).

It's great to have such a lively, thriving forum supporting these amazing devices.

 

[dirkclod]

Welcome to Mavic Pilots .
I hope you will find our site helpful and look forward to any input , photo's/video's you might post .
Don't be shy and ask anything if you can't find it by searching
and stay safe..

 

[wjkrysak]

• #9

Welcome to the forum. You will find all sorts of support and comments. Wish you well on your flights. We look forward to seeing your view of the world.

 

[Dedal]

Welcome.

 

[Thomas B]

Welcome to the forum from the deserts of Arizona! Enjoy.

 

[Drone Master]

Welcome to Mavic Pilots! Enjoy the forum!

 

[msinger]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Welcome to the Forum.

Some nice country around there.
Hope you've had a good drought breaking rain in the past months, I recall all very dry through there in 2018 / 2019.

Have 4WD explored many areas to the north, east and west of Casino, Sundown / Girraween, Boonoo, Richmond Range, and up the the QLD ranges, out to the coast.

Enjoy the 'tree change' !

 

[Fishman Dan]

Thanks everyone.

Here's a flight I made yesterday across the farm using Litchi. Edited with iMovie.

The back-story here is that I need to build confidence that my drone won't go into orbit if I do certain things. Litchi has built my trust in the device and really shown what the drone can do, and I've barely scratched the surface.

I plotted the path here on the web, and fine-tuned on my phone (can you add POI's on the web hub?). I was a little concerned when I lost live video feedback, but knew that the device would RTH at the end of the route, or if it lost track of where it should be.

One further change I would make is - slower speed at the POI to allow the gimbal to find the target, and also place the waypoints 10-20m further away to give it more perspective. Other than that, I am thrilled with the outcome.

In version1 of this route, I also didn't have the altitude set relative to the waypoint, as opposed to the starting position. As such it got much lower than I thought - the aim was to keep it above treetops.

Anyway, enjoy! I plan on doing more of this around the farm, and even in my quiet suburban area which has a neighbouring farm.

 

[Fishman Dan]

Welcome to the Forum.

Some nice country around there.
Hope you've had a good drought breaking rain in the past months, I recall all very dry through there in 2018 / 2019.

Have 4WD explored many areas to the north, east and west of Casino, Sundown / Girraween, Boonoo, Richmond Range, and up the the QLD ranges, out to the coast.

Enjoy the 'tree change' !

Thanks South_Oz!

It has been unbelievably dry, but this area always comes back very quickly with some rain.

We had really good rain, including minor flooding in Lismore that closed the kids schools for a couple of days (they were over the moon!). As you can see in the video some follow-up would be good now, especially as we've harvested the front paddock for hay now.

 

[Fishman Dan]

While I'm at it, here's a photo of our farm, taken from 120m above ... I'm quite impressed Adobe Lightroom has a camera profile for the drone.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Great to see the video, fantastic little property !! How many hectares ?
So a bit of hay, looks like decent grazing, do you have a few cattle there too ?
Like the garden, good to get some self sufficiency in Fruit&Veg.

The video showed what I think was you losing LOS for signal behind that small hill.
Any trees etc will also block signal, so you might have to keep a bit higher in future, and / or try and get your take off point a little higher altitdude.

The drone will be great to check things around the property.
I don't use Litchi (yet) or other such, but it will be great for you to plan some regular flights.
If setting RTH alt higher to ensure you clear those trees etc, just watch the winds up higher, it's surprising how much more they increase as you ascend.
Although the M1P / MPP is very stable in wind, they can still blow away !!

Enjoy the property, isolation from the urban madness, and the MPP.

 

[Fishman Dan]

Great to see the video, fantastic little property !! How many hectares ?
So a bit of hay, looks like decent grazing, do you have a few cattle there too ?
Like the garden, good to get some self sufficiency in Fruit&Veg.

My mother in law has really worked the place into a lovely homestead. Everything from small crops, oranges, figs, pecans, bananas and of course mango trees. We've just taken ownership as part of this tree-change, so hopefully before too long this image will include a pool

The video showed what I think was you losing LOS for signal behind that small hill.
Any trees etc will also block signal, so you might have to keep a bit higher in future, and / or try and get your take off point a little higher altitdude.

Yes it was out of LOS (which is a bit naughty), but the lesson learned was that I can control altitude (and keep LOS) via waypoints. Standing on the top of the plateau should eradicate that, but there are a number of routes I will establish to check certain things from higher places. The launch spot is lower than all other waypoints on this route.

The drone will be great to check things around the property.
I don't use Litchi (yet) or other such, but it will be great for you to plan some regular flights.
If setting RTH alt higher to ensure you clear those trees etc, just watch the winds at higher latitude, it's surprising how much more they increase as you ascend.
Although the M1P / MPP is very stable in wind, they can still blow away !!

I have heard this, and the late afternoons can get significantly more blowy. Again I'm finding the Litchi interface a bit easier than DJI Go, although this might be because the drone was in waypoint mode and gave me time to examine the interface a bit more.

The route to the big fig tree is a new fence we ran the other day, but as you said we will use it to monitor irrigation lines and cattle - we have about 60 head (perhaps more). The property is actually a split between our family, and my sister in-law and her fiancé. The Shed is being renovated by the sister in law.

I can't recommend Litchi enough. It really is well developed, the drawback being the $35 price tag for the app.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Sounds like an idyllic setup Dan.

Yes it was out of LOS (which is a bit naughty)

Ah, don't confuse LOS with VLOS, slightly different meaning in drone terminology.
LOS is more to do with signal, the hills and possibly some trees blocked yours, and lost the control and / or video.
Did it auto RTH or was it just video drop and you still had telemetry on the controller, could still press RTH to start that ?

VLOS is the CASA rule (one of them), meaning you should always fly where you can see the drone with your own eyes . . . but in reality while it should be followed in general, when a pilot is experienced, it is very (very) easy to fly FPV with your device (some say safer too !).
On your property, once you know all the ins and outs of flight settings, dangers, Litchi etc, and your airspace is clear of Casino airport boundaries, there is little danger in going out to beyond that hill a ways.

I would get an ARCII or Spark strobe for the back of the MPP, there's a great spot for it between status light and top vent.
These help with VLOS, they really help keep it visible to a little further, when safe flight is possible in all other ways (no fly zones, max 120m alt, people 30m rule, ect).

 

[Fishman Dan]

Sounds like an idyllic setup Dan.



Ah, don't confuse LOS with VLOS, slightly different meaning in drone terminology.
LOS is more to do with signal, the hills and possibly some trees blocked yours, and lost the control and / or video.
Did it auto RTH or was it just video drop and you still had telemetry on the controller, could still press RTH to start that ?

VLOS is the CASA rule (one of them), meaning you should always fly where you can see the drone with your own eyes . . . but in reality while it should be followed in general, when a pilot is experienced, it is very (very) easy to fly FPV with your device (some say safer too !).
On your property, once you know all the ins and outs of flight settings, dangers, Litchi etc, and your airspace is clear of Casino airport boundaries, there is little danger in going out to beyond that hill a ways.

I would get an ARCII or Spark strobe for the back of the MPP, there's a great spot for it between status light and top vent.
These help with VLOS, they really help keep it visible to a little further, when safe flight is possible in all other ways (no fly zones, 120m alt, people 30m rule, ect).

On the second run of the route, I paid more attention to the instruments - the video drops out first (of course), but the controller comms were maintained, albeit at around 20% once it had dipped below the crest. Trees blocking view not so much of an issue, there are no woods/thicket per se.

The RTH commenced at the end of the waypoints, and the controller was quick to start beeping once it started to return. Again, the return route over the 'Turtle Pond' adds to the video if you ask me!

As the shed is effectively on the neighbouring property, this route won't be something that we do often. Our portion of the farm extends to the right of the drone and is relatively flat, and LOS will be easily maintained throughout.

The mother-in-laws farm (soon to be the sister-in-law's) is another property up-and-over another hill, but again the entry point is the highest point of the farm, which will be perfect for drone use.

 

[Fishman Dan]

Here's a video I shot earlier of the Richmond River that cut a back-road to the small town of Tatham. One poor lady pulled up next to me - she literally had to get to a farm on the other side of the river. She had a 40 minute detour to get there!

As raised in earlier posts, I clenched my you-know-what tight as I went over the water, but I have greater confidence these days

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Cool, have crossed the Richmond river many time upstream, and up at the headwaters near Mt Lindsay.
The road closed detours can be a long drive all right.
People still try to drive through those types of waterways, crazy hey, some just don't have any idea of how deep the water, strong the underflow, or washed away the road might be.