Chris Wilson Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 If it's you may I beg a question please? Is there a forum where I could find out how feasible it would be to make or maybe even buy one that was not necessarily radio controlled. It's single and simple function would be to go straight up lifting a lightweight aerial wire from a drum. Once at the desired height (let's say 350 feet) it would just hover until winding in the cable on its drum brought it down again. It would need pretty good lift power. A long pull cord could shut the fuel off perhaps when it was at a very low altitude? I envisage glow plug or diesel power for a flight time of an hour or so. Possible? Suitable forum? Thanks and all the best for Christmas! As an aside a friend wants to buy his kid a basic electric powered radio controlled one, his kid is about 12 years of age. Can you recommend a good RC kit or pre built one that is neither junk nor very expensive? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_jza80 Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Lui is the resident expert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I'd have thought some kind of drone would be the way to go but I guess it depends on how heavy 350ft of arial wire is Afraid this one below only has a 15 min flight time with a 6.5 kg payload http://www.unmannedtechshop.co.uk/dys-d800-x4-professional-multi-rotor-package-for-aerial-photography-and-heavy-lift-pnf/?gclid=CjwKEAiAndSzBRDp5P232v-qtHkSJABw-VdtMSmlCtINnw15F-OJC1O_81ppr_Eif2JflRUFVGbFzxoCK-Xw_wcB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David P Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Fly a kite with wire instead of string. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Fly a kite with wire instead of string. 350 ft ? Thinking about it the height is not the issue but going straight up is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 Many do that David, but the aerial is then at an oblique angle to the ground, they only fly in good winds, and tey career about the sky altering the electrical characteristics of the aerial. Something that had enough lifting power to keep it near vertical would be ideal. But I know nothing of these gizmos save people use them for naughty purposes and they may have to be eventually licensed according to this morning's paper. Cheers David and a happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris88 Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I would have thought that a Helium balloon would be the best solution. Sure the wire would be taken to an angle (and a catenary) by the wind but the same would be true of a quadcopter type drone unless it had Autonomous control and GPS or some similar position keeping system. The power to straighten the wind generated catenary in a 350ft wire would be quite significant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 Watch out Chris, you could end up doing a Ben Franklin and lighting yourself up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 You have a good point, maybe it's impractical. How much are second hand Chinooks..... ? - - - Updated - - - Watch out Chris, you could end up doing a Ben Franklin and lighting yourself up. I need a good jump start these days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_jza80 Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 I wonder if it would be best to look at some sort of quad copter, and ditch the battery packs in favour of a power cable? That's the issue of power supply solved, *if* the electric motors are capable of such a sustained effort without overheating. Maybe use some custom heat sinks? It will want to be big, maybe 6 or 8 engined, and Use GPS for self levelling. As said, the weight of the cable determines everything, but the larger quadcopters and their 6 / 8 engined counterparts carry cameras, multiple battery packs and other modules, so it should be possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Massey Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 What is the aerial for? Is it an aerial or antenna? 350ft is very very high, why that high? Don't think a wired power supply would be any good as it will cause interference with radio signals. In the forces, our drones that do something similar are actually planes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnk Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 http://www.incrediblehlq.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 http://www.incrediblehlq.com/ Impressive, I wonder if they are running higher voltage to the motors for a short period? Now, if it could do that for an hour I would be SERIOUSLY impressed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 19, 2015 Author Share Posted December 19, 2015 What is the aerial for? Is it an aerial or antenna? 350ft is very very high, why that high? Don't think a wired power supply would be any good as it will cause interference with radio signals. In the forces, our drones that do something similar are actually planes. It's for low frequency transmitting, a full wave aerial would be 2200 meters high So 350 feet is electrically VERY VERY short, but better than 100 feet which is my tallest tree support here. There would be too much interaction between the RF and the power cable, being so short the antenna would see maybe 10 to 15 kV on the end, hence why radio control would be a probable none starter. These gangsters seem to get hold of sub machine guns and other ex military paraphernalia, why can't someone bring something cool like some big drones back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Massey Posted December 19, 2015 Share Posted December 19, 2015 It's for low frequency transmitting, a full wave aerial would be 2200 meters high So 350 feet is electrically VERY VERY short, but better than 100 feet which is my tallest tree support here. There would be too much interaction between the RF and the power cable, being so short the antenna would see maybe 10 to 15 kV on the end, hence why radio control would be a probable none starter. These gangsters seem to get hold of sub machine guns and other ex military paraphernalia, why can't someone bring something cool like some big drones back? What frequency are you using and power band? An antenna that high won't work. The antennas we use in the forces are coiled, and we frequency match. Our old radios (clansman) used to have a device called TUAAM (uning Unit Automatic Antenna Matching) which was a larger coil of wire connected to the antenna and a needle was used to create the required length in antenna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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