Drones as a prep?

[jkholmes]

Has anyone considered keeping drones as a prep item. Our "neighborhood" (I use the term loosely, its a street in the middle of nowhere in eastern indiana with a few houses on it) has kind of already talked about banding together if things go sideways. On top of that, I'm in the process of starting a business using drones for agriculture and construction purposes. I already have 3 drones (two quads and one hybrid / fixed wing) and I'm kind of thinking that, if things did go sideways, I could use them in a sort of aerial recon capacity. We have solar power at the house, so recharging the batteries and running something small like a laptop wouldn't be hard to do, and having cameras that I can get a 3-4 miles out without any risk would be a real benefit.

Anyone had any thoughts on this? Just curious really.

 

[stocknup]

Following for similar interest . Can`t add or contribute any personal experience , as I don`t own any .
We are located in the country ( brothers live about 1/2 mile down the road ) and always thought about using drones for the 'recon" and to keep tabs if needed ..........Also had no idea that they could reach out 3-4 miles ?
I have one friend that does roof and structure inspections with one .

 

[teddy12b]

I can absolutely see a purpose for a drone in a SHTF situation. I'm pretty sure there's search and rescue people in Kentucky looking for people in what used to be a town using drones. The S&R people have drones with thermal on them to help find people.

If you're starving you could use a drone to scout out an area, and possibly push wild game to you, post SHTF.

If you hear gunfire at a neighbors house or see smoke coming from their place you can buzz a drone down there quicker than getting in a car and driving. If you've got comms setup, how nice would it be to able to say "hey they're over there", etc.

If you needed to load one up like a kamikaze for a distraction I'm sure that could be figured out too.

If you need to see who's getting into your chickens in the middle of the night without being noticed then that's an option too.

There's a lot of uses for a drone, but honestly if you're not going to be proficient with it, be able to rebuild it after you've smashed it into something, and be able to supply it with power for the flight time you'd want then there's not much point to it. All the hollywood things drones get used for are one thing, but in reality I could see it being useful to spot wild game, and push it towards me more than anything else.

 

[Ark]

I'm sure it's handy to have, but they do depend on lots of tech infrastructure.

 

[ancjr]

My neighbor keeps an eye on me with his.

 

[jkholmes]

I'm sure it's handy to have, but they do depend on lots of tech infrastructure.

Not really. If your trying to do real mapping or anything, yes, but if your just wanting to fly around looking at pictures, you can do it without any real infrastructure. At least until the parts you have wear out or you crash it or something. But that goes for alot of things really. My fixed wing drone is actually discontinued w/no software support, but I can still fly it automated and just put the pictures on a SD card into a computer and look at them.

 

[radar8756]

In SHTF people looking for you could hear the drone and follow it back to you ?

 

[KellyinAvon]

Joking/not joking: a drone blasting Ride of the Valkyries would be too cool.

 

[cosermann]

In SHTF people looking for you could hear the drone and follow it back to you ?

A small one up 400’ or so is pretty low profile.

 

[Cameramonkey]

If you need to see who's getting into your chickens in the middle of the night without being noticed then that's an option too.

I dunno. I pick up pretty quick on drones around me, and I'm half deaf.

 

[ancjr]

I dunno. I pick up pretty quick on drones around me, and I'm half deaf.

Yeah, the noise they make isn't exactly mistakable for something else.

 

[teddy12b]

I've picked up drones out by where I live, but it was flying low and I had electronic ear protection on. Once the drone gets 200 or 300 feet in the air you almost have to know right where to look.

It's not like the old days where a decent drone was $1,000 give or take. Look at what you get for $100. Flight time, distance, auto return when battery gets low, live video feed etc.

 

[jsharmon7]

I think it’s an excellent idea for recon. Spotting a drone would let someone know there are people in the area, but that’s probably assumption already being made. This was touched on earlier but some of them do depend on tech infrastructure. The one I fly for work requires periodic firmware updates, and has to be calibrated to multiple satellites. Depending on what kind of scenario we are talking, you may run into issues. Battery life is another issue. Batteries for the drone, battery for the controller, and battery for the screen. Frequent recharging would be a power drain, but that’s dependent on the model you own. The small ones they have these days would probably not have those kinds of issues. I think those two issues would only be a problem if it was a major disaster that took out a lot of infrastructure. Most other situations I think it would be a great tool.

Final thought, government-level tech can track and down them.

 

[Leadeye]

I like the idea. Everybody is most vulnerable to surprise, so recon by something that isn't near and dear sounds good.

 

[manifest destiny]

I completely see the worth in a drone. But I'd list it in my luxury category for preps. Partly due to my lack of expertise in owning, using, repairing of one. I'm anxious to see just how these flying machines evolve in the short term. I can imagine that the thing we call a drone today might not resemble the flying creatures of 10-20 years from now. Commercially I anticipate more automation or drone autonomy. I would further speculate that with the crowding of the sky that .gov would move to limit access or technology for the consumer. Commercially, the sky is the limit for drone owner operators. Even realtors are hiring drone operators. You should capitalize on the commercial if you can. The prep will be much more natural then.

 

[1nderbeard]

As has been said above:

You'd have to solve the battery charging problem. It sounds like you've done that, but I'm not sure if the batteries would last long term. It seems like over time batteries lose efficiency as would solar charging tech. Though in the long term most of us would be dead, I think, without substantial prepping effort to go back 200 years in technology. I don't see how many would survive that.

In addition given the likelihood of short term hostile forces nearby, I think the sound concerns are very real. I don't see how a group of hostile raiders wouldn't be able to follow the drone back to your location. On the other hand, a raiding party on foot would likely easily see any recon efforts you did personally. So I guess a drone would be preferable.

 

[skydelta34]

I'm sure your neighbors could use some target practice.

 

[jkholmes]

Well, one of my fixed wing drones I can fly up as high as 1200ft pretty easy. Up that high, its going to be really hard to see or hear. Even a few hundred ft (600 or so) and I'll still be able to pick out people or vehicles pretty easily.

If things go sideways enough that I'm using them for that purpose, it is going no longer matter if I'm staying at my 400ft limitation for my license. I can fly them higher than that, and its going to be really hard to pick them out in the sky. And I don't have to be looking specifically for people, but signs of people as well (vehicles, smoke, that sort of thing).

 

[boosteds13cc]

I was researching these last year and couldn't make up my mind with a Mavic 2 or pro 2. Very minimal differences. Just couldn't flip that coin on a larger purchase. Then lost interest.

 

[jkholmes]

I have several drones. My Mavic 2 Pro gets alot of work, good sensor, fairly stable platform. I should say it gets most of my regular aerial photo work. I've even used it for what I would call some "simulated" regular ground photography (somewhere its tough to get a person into to get a shot, but a small drone can get, like across a busy highway or backed up into some branches).

I also have a Mavic Air 2, but I don't use it near as much since I bought my 2 pro. I would suggest looking at used drones. I got my Mavic 2 Pro, plus custom hard case, 5 batteries, controller, car charger, and the charging station (to charge 4 batteries at once) for $1400 total.