If you have watched the The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch program on History Channel, you may have seen the episode they tried to fly drone to survey the land. However they had issues. They couldn't connect the drone to the RC. The pilot seemed professional, but they aborted the effort. I think it was an M210, but not sure.
I was able to locate Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, and I just happen to be driving by on the way to Dinosaur National Monument, near Jensen, UT. So I checked B4Ufly and Airmap and confirmed there were no restrictions to fly the area. With that confirmation I decided to fly the ranch to see what I could find. When you get to the locked ranch gate by car, it says no trespassing, video surveillance, and no drones allowed. So I quickly turned around and backtracked on the dirt road about a quarter mile away to a clearing ideal to fly from. Since they don't control the land I was flying from, a public dirt road, and they don't control the airspace, I saw no legal issues flying over the ranch real quick to check it out, like the helicopter landing pad they installed for the TV program, letting the rich owner of the ranch to come and go by helicopter, which I find reckless with all the odd things that occur there.
When I took off, the M2Z worked just fine. Video feed was normal, control was normal. As I approached the ranch property I hit RECORD. Immediately the gimbal went wacky, going up and down uncontrollably. So for safety sake, I immediately returned to home with no problem, and left. The control of the craft seemed solid during the flight. It was only the gimble going bonkers. I had no gimbal control the whole flight. Besides the gimbal uncontrollably going up and down, the SD video looks a little weird at times when the gimbal "seemed" to be still, with sort-of a jello effect, or a strange vertical distortion of the video. I assumed the ranch had some kind of electronic jamming enabled at the time. I tried to fly at least 750ft away from the house and use my zoom, in an effort to mitigate the risk of anyone at the ranch hearing the drone. If they didn't have electronic jamming enabled at the ranch, then there is clearly something strange going on in the area, which is what the TV program is about, with their scientists trying to figure it out.
The next day I flew elsewhere and my M2Z worked just fine, no problem, like normal. I'm curious if it was intentional jamming I experienced, or something else like the film crew experienced.
Here's the video below, unedited. If anyone else has experienced similar interference, let me know.
I was able to locate Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, and I just happen to be driving by on the way to Dinosaur National Monument, near Jensen, UT. So I checked B4Ufly and Airmap and confirmed there were no restrictions to fly the area. With that confirmation I decided to fly the ranch to see what I could find. When you get to the locked ranch gate by car, it says no trespassing, video surveillance, and no drones allowed. So I quickly turned around and backtracked on the dirt road about a quarter mile away to a clearing ideal to fly from. Since they don't control the land I was flying from, a public dirt road, and they don't control the airspace, I saw no legal issues flying over the ranch real quick to check it out, like the helicopter landing pad they installed for the TV program, letting the rich owner of the ranch to come and go by helicopter, which I find reckless with all the odd things that occur there.
When I took off, the M2Z worked just fine. Video feed was normal, control was normal. As I approached the ranch property I hit RECORD. Immediately the gimbal went wacky, going up and down uncontrollably. So for safety sake, I immediately returned to home with no problem, and left. The control of the craft seemed solid during the flight. It was only the gimble going bonkers. I had no gimbal control the whole flight. Besides the gimbal uncontrollably going up and down, the SD video looks a little weird at times when the gimbal "seemed" to be still, with sort-of a jello effect, or a strange vertical distortion of the video. I assumed the ranch had some kind of electronic jamming enabled at the time. I tried to fly at least 750ft away from the house and use my zoom, in an effort to mitigate the risk of anyone at the ranch hearing the drone. If they didn't have electronic jamming enabled at the ranch, then there is clearly something strange going on in the area, which is what the TV program is about, with their scientists trying to figure it out.
The next day I flew elsewhere and my M2Z worked just fine, no problem, like normal. I'm curious if it was intentional jamming I experienced, or something else like the film crew experienced.
Here's the video below, unedited. If anyone else has experienced similar interference, let me know.
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