Need guidance on first aerial photo job

[GARealtor]

I agree with Thoraldus, you should be fine. Toy drones are notorious for being difficult to control and much more susceptible to electrical interference. The Mavic 2’s communication technique is significantly more robust.

Sounds good. That's why I bought the Mavic 2...I like to have quality tools for the job!

 

[spamgnome]

I did a commercial job recently and the location could not have been worse. Densely populated business district with a ****-Ton of power lines, cell towers...you name it. To boot, my ideal TO/Landing area was literally adjacent to a power substation. I think that's the name of it. It's the type of facility where the Coyote (roadrunner cartoon coyote) would routinely electrocute himself. I did a dry run a couple days before (it was overcast and not good for filming) and had zero issues. Did I mention this was with a Mavic AIR?!?!? Anyway, when I went back 2 days later, I had interference up the wazoo. I had at least two disconnects and that condition where the video feed was so intermittent, it was almost unusable. I basically had to fly using the map view and other telemetry. Lesson learned was...conditions one day may not be the same conditions the next day. As far as power lines and towers: I love to film infrastructure stuff like that, so I seek out towers and stuff like that on purpose. Sometimes there's an issue, but most of the time there isn't. Again, I have an AIR, so I think the MP2's Ocusync tech might be better. I don't really fear losing the signal, I fear having some EM equipment mess with the drone. In that case, I'm not sure RTH would save my butt. Let us know how your job goes!
In the video below, you'll see that I get pretty close to metal stuff that's probably causing cancer for miles around. But in this particular case, I had ZERO issues. Proximity to civilization seems to be a bigger factor than proximity to a big-*** tower. YMMV.

 

[Thoraldus]

Thanks for the great information. It’s been a really long time since I was this deep into the details of antenna theory and RF transmission but I understand what you are saying.

A good saving grace is that the Mavic 2 automatically switches between 2.4 and 5.8 if it senses interference.

I was still curious if you have seen any data or test results on the specific effect of radio tower transmissions and potential drone interference susceptibility?

Sorry, I have nothing specific. Just pure theory.

 

[GARealtor]

I got my first aerial photo job under my belt! Woo Hoo! It was a beautiful day to fly and everything went well. I really appreciate you all on this forum. It is great to have people respond that want to help and encourage those of us who are new. Thank you!

 

[Cymruflyer]

Good job, but I would not want to live in that house or any of them around it, with all that energy emitting out into the air. That house is too close to the power lines for healthy living in my mind.

 

[FormerMember07122019_2]

I got my first aerial photo job under my belt! Woo Hoo! It was a beautiful day to fly and everything went well. I really appreciate you all on this forum. It is great to have people respond that want to help and encourage those of us who are new. Thank you!

Congratulations. Hopefully, it only gets easier from here.

Did you experience any warnings, errors, or flight problems due to the power lines and cell tower?

 

[GARealtor]

Congratulations. Hopefully, it only gets easier from here.

Did you experience any warnings, errors, or flight problems due to the power lines and cell tower?

Thanks! No problems. I started at the street and then went to the back corner and then ventured into the middle of the yard just to see if there would be any signs of interference. I stayed lower just in case I needed to land quickly but the Mavic worked like a charm.