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Can A Drone Be A Prospecting Tool?


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On 1/29/2018 at 3:43 PM, BeachHunter said:

I think it would be a great idea to use a Drone especially if you are going into wilderness areas, desert and other open areas. Or if you are going to be in an area for more than a few hours

One thing Id sure wait until the price comes down. FAA rules say you cant fly them over 400 ft. In the USA..

Yup, but much above the tree tops you lose lots of subtle details on the small screen anyway with such a wide angle lens. Having a range of miles is nice, and adding LED strobes gives you lots more "visible" line of sight range to work with. I'll be using mine wherever I go, if only to enjoy the scenery recorded later! Not essential, but since I have it.... 

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On the weekend I was in an area of pine plantations and detecting over where trees had been removed and the ground ripped by dozers. I flew the drone and could see colour changes of the soil (ironstone bands and old diggings that had been covered by pines). 

I then followed a gully which lead me to some diggings that I hadnt seen before and arent on maps. The drone is working out real well!

On a side note, it was quite windy and I think if I had bought the Mavick instead of the Phantom 4, I would have struggled to fly it.

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I've just bought a Phantom 4 Pro Plus, to use as Pat has, for an aid to raw prospecting. It will be especially handy for my annual trip to Western Australia, as I will be raw prospecting at the outer edges of known goldfields. Check out this clip I did today, it's maiden flight. Unbelievably clear and stable 4K footage, and what a blast flying it ! Had a minor heart failure when I got out over the ocean, but composed myself enough to bring it home, then manual landed it ! Later I got my head around the auto takeoff and return to home feature.

Cheers,

Rick

 

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Nice vid araratgold!

What are the ranges of a Phantom 4 Pro Plus, both distance from controller and flight time/charge?  Max elevation?

...never mind...  I looked it up here:

https://www.dji.com/?from=store_top_nav

 

 

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On 1/24/2018 at 3:27 AM, Reg Wilson said:

Recently my wife and daughter gave me a drone for my birthday. Being a bit of a technical dinosaur, I am still getting the hang of it. These things seem to be rapidly advancing, and it occurred to me that it may provide a way of seeing what is over the next hill without all the footwork. Seeing how America seems to be leading the way with this technology, this seemed to be the ideal place to pose this Question. Any ideas?

Kudos to Mr. Wilson, this is one of the best original posts I've seen in this great forum! 

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Hi Reg, The guy next door has one, you would have to spend around $2000 to get one that has an excellent camera, automatic hover, return to base when it is out of range ,up to 5 ks. 30 mins fly time, it will dodge trees. The camera is excellent you can pan around in hover mode, down load the app and fly it from your mobile. I will find out what model if you like. Thanks for the lesson with the QED learnt a lot from it. Thanks again David

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  Be aware if your out detecting and see one hovering over you.  I was out with friends detecting and had a drone fly over and hover above us several weeks ago.  The next weekend the exact spot had three people there detecting that hadn’t been there for months.  Coincidence??

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47 grammer, Thanks Dave, glad to have been of some help. Doing research on drones. Seems there are many to choose from, and great price range. I guess like most things, you get what you pay for.

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47 Grammer

It's what I have and have used for over a year. It is amazing and yes I have thrown it up in serious wind - it loves it - just got to have the balls to get it out and fly in big wind. I'm not trying to make a movie (which you absolutely can with this thing) , I'm looking for gold.........

Cheers

BB

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