Welcome to the forum from NE Ohio Dennis! Looks like you'll be really spurring some of us to investigate things a little further than the ordinary. Glad to have you aboard!
Ed/Ohio Dirt Fisher
Recent posts here and in the Lounge and Tech Talk sections have got my head spinning while trying to comprehend all the technological advances in MDing. After a long layoff I was startled at the sophistication of modern detectors and now I'm seeing all kinds of ways to use technology to enhance the hobby and get a competitive edge. It's really fascinating and I've enjoyed reading a lot here lately; and I have found myself thinking about what other scientific applications might be in store. But I can't help wondering if a lot of this is just way beyond my means, intellect, and even desire. I guess I'm just one of the old timers who didn't join Bill Clinton when he said he would lead us across the bridge to the 21st century. My view from this side still looks pretty good to me. I think I'll just cheer from the sidelines while some of my intrepid friends at TC plunge ahead. Best of luck to all and keep on posting the neat items. I do love to read them.
(01-04-2017 01:12 AM)shadeseeker Wrote: [ -> ]Recent posts here and in the Lounge and Tech Talk sections have got my head spinning while trying to comprehend all the technological advances in MDing. After a long layoff I was startled at the sophistication of modern detectors and now I'm seeing all kinds of ways to use technology to enhance the hobby and get a competitive edge. It's really fascinating and I've enjoyed reading a lot here lately; and I have found myself thinking about what other scientific applications might be in store. But I can't help wondering if a lot of this is just way beyond my means, intellect, and even desire. I guess I'm just one of the old timers who didn't join Bill Clinton when he said he would lead us across the bridge to the 21st century. My view from this side still looks pretty good to me. I think I'll just cheer from the sidelines while some of my intrepid friends at TC plunge ahead. Best of luck to all and keep on posting the neat items. I do love to read them.
Shadeseeker,
I am 64, and look like Santa....and I am an old timer in terms of how long I have been in this hobby. I am a bit of a techie, but I find myself in agreement with you somewhat. Through my 30 years in the fire service, I ascended the ranks, and was aware of and part of a lot of innovations during my service. At the end of the day when I retired, they still had to do it the old fashioned way, that is, putting the WET stuff on the RED stuff.
It is kind of like that metal detecting. you still have to go into the field, or lot, or park, and swing that coil. I am finding out through my years that I don't feel as I did as a young man. I can recall hunting all day and partying most of a night. That ain't happenin no more.....
Enter the Technology.....My primary hunting areas are out in the country, as I prefer old homesites and ghost towns to modern schtuff. In the old days, I would go, knock on doors (Still do that), and hunt all day to locate what I could, then hunt until done, and repeat.
Today, I do as much research as I can through old news sources, topo maps, google earth, etc. I try and advance my efforts as much as I can, before going to a site. Over time, if you see the pic, I have ended up with a custom Google Earth map. The map has customized icons on it, with for instance a Green C is an old Church, a Red G is an old ghost town, Red S is an old School, Purple X is a river Crossing, etc. But if you take a ghost town, it is at the best, a very close approximation, even when you have a topo. Enter the drones. The simply multiply my capabilities and make the time I detect, a more productive and quality time.
I would say, like all technology, the price keeps dropping. I have a LOT (try $14,000) worth of equipment, but I have very specific goals...and beyond the detecting, those assets can make me money, which is always a good thing.
And just to encourage you a bit....the drones that dji make, on your screen, you can touch a spot and the drone will fly there. Or touch a person, it will follow at X distance behind and Y height. They really are simple.
Anyway, I would like to move any further comment over to the tech forum I think....I am overwelcoming this room....LOL In a few months, perhaps I can share an incredible journey, or at least part of it. I am constrained at present by a non-disclosure agreement, but it does involve the drones and it is a wonderful story.....but that will be for another post.
And talk about your head spinning....omg, if I was a young man, I would absolutely find a way to invest in underwater drones with side scan sonar...O M G!
But, look at what you can do with google earth....
[attachment=9204][attachment=9204]
Dennis, when you have the time, if you're interested, maybe you can write a more detailed post sharing some tips on how to use the drones to find productive hunting areas in the woods. I for one would be very interested. Either way, excellent information, and now you've got me chomping at the bit for one again. But I don't think I'll be buying a $14,000 model
(01-04-2017 06:01 PM)NjNyDigger Wrote: [ -> ]Dennis, when you have the time, if you're interested, maybe you can write a more detailed post sharing some tips on how to use the drones to find productive hunting areas in the woods. I for one would be very interested. Either way, excellent information, and now you've got me chomping at the bit for one again. But I don't think I'll be buying a $14,000 model
I will be glad to do so. I have to go see about my knee that is giving me pains right now. Go tomorrow....hopefully, he can inject something to help. I will go out to the field and shoot some pics and do a post.
By all means, look at the DJI drones..... they are out there for reasonable money, that will do the job for you.
The 14 K....that is a $3000 drone, but that has 3 extra batteries, an OSMO handheld gimbal, a $5500 FLIR VUE PRO thermal camera that sends video in real time, a $6000 multispectral camera, and a case, First Person Visual goggles (Puts you in the pilot seat looking from the drone camera as if you were there.....), and some other items. But again, I bought all these for a very specific project. You can make do with far less. On the other hand, I will provide some thermal imaging/hyperspectral imaging on the post you suggested. Kodak, back about 1979 or so, put out a book using Infrared film, and they showed a outline of a Viking/Norse settlement, in the Dakotas, in a plowed field.
The reason they were able to see it, was that the ground where the fortress was set, was compressed due to the weight of the structure. Because of that one factor, the denser soil would lose heat or gain heat at a different speed than the surrounding soil matrix.....so.....well, I will continue this line of thought after I get the birds back up and flying, after the knee gets going again....so a couple weeks hopefully.
HH till then.
Don't know if you saw it, Dennis, but on an episode of The Curse of Oak Island, they had a certified drone expert help them. What this drone was able to do - and I'm sure yours can do it, too - was amazing. The guy had it set to a pre-determined route or pattern, and it was able to map hundreds of square miles of land in about 30 minutes time. Even better, it had the ability of looking for hot spots in the ground, unusual patterns, etc. Which they downloaded to a laptop to analyze once the drone landed. Very similar to what you're speaking about. It blew me away! Question...
We were all talking about Forrest Fenn's hidden treasure the other day. And I brought up the topic of drones. If one was able to reasonably pinpoint where the treasure might be to say a 5 or 10 mile square area, would a drone be able to help find something like that? The difficulty in my mind would be this...
If we were talking about an area that was 10 square miles big, there are probably going to be MANY items the drone would record that are the same size as a treasure chest. Are there any add-on's for the drones that can detect metals or precious metals from the sky, whether buried or on top of the ground?
I think I shall intersperse my comments between yours, for clarity.....
RE: Hello from Texas, (just west of Fort Worth)
Don't know if you saw it, Dennis, but on an episode of The Curse of Oak Island, they had a certified drone expert help them. What this drone was able to do - and I'm sure yours can do it, too - was amazing. The guy had it set to a pre-determined route or pattern, and it was able to map hundreds of square miles of land in about 30 minutes time. Even better, it had the ability of looking for hot spots in the ground, unusual patterns, etc. Which they downloaded to a laptop to analyze once the drone landed. Very similar to what you're speaking about. It blew me away!
Dennis Response: I didn't see it, but sure, what he set up is a flight mission, with four or six or whatever designated GPS coordinates and for sake of this discussion, let's use a rectangle A, B, C, D, with each of those coordinates a corner. You create the program and tell the drone to take a photo (not video) every X meters. Once you launch the drone, and tell it to "go", it will fly to point A and Start towards point B, turn around and run a parallel path, say 40 ft, or whatever, in order to achieve a 60-80% overlap from the first leg, then prior leg, until it works that pattern all the way to the final C>D line. Then, the bird will fly back to you and land. You remove the data card, and it can be run either in the computer, or via the cloud, depending on application used. It creates an ortho map, either in 2D or 3D to see on the computer. By doing this, you can get to an overview and see small variations of elevations, which in turn, if in a pattern, or a line, indicate human activity, such as a cabin.
Question...
We were all talking about Forrest Fenn's hidden treasure the other day. And I brought up the topic of drones. If one was able to reasonably pinpoint where the treasure might be to say a 5 or 10 mile square area, would a drone be able to help find something like that?
Dennis Response: Yes it could and would. For that type operation, you would want a fixed wing aircraft, shooting photos, or a LIDAR unit (sales for $30,000). You would rent the LIDAR. THEN you have 1 cm increments of georeferenced maps. The ortho maps spoken of earlier will also produce georeferenced maps as well.
The difficulty in my mind would be this...
If we were talking about an area that was 10 square miles big, there are probably going to be MANY items the drone would record that are the same size as a treasure chest. Are there any add-on's for the drones that can detect metals or precious metals from the sky, whether buried or on top of the ground?
Dennis Response: There are no metal detectors per se, BUT a LIDAR will show you where things were disrupted by man. Now, I have not kept up with Forrest Fenn's treasure. I know about it, but having chased over 100 treasures in my lifetime, it is not something I have wanted to do.... if you miss by an inch, you miss by a mile. I might look it up just to see what he has put down, and what people have done looking for it. I am sure there are a lot of people who have tried. IF I were to do so, I would certainly use whatever technology I had available to do the right job.
Now, going back to your question, there are payload magnetometers that you can deploy beneath a drone that will find iron objects. I am currently looking into that area, and will have a more definitive answer before long. I have spoken to a PHD Professor on Geologic uses of drones and his advice was to use the magnetometer first if the object was iron. The beauty of the magnetometer is that you could find rifle barrels, chests, cannons, artillery rounds, etc., made of iron, and typically, you would do so by flying a multi-rotor over the area, maintaining a height of approximately 1 meter off ground. My DJI Inspire 1 (I have named it big bird) can carry about 3.5 kg payload, which would carry the magnetometer which weighs about 3kg, at a consistent height.
If you go and research some of the information I have spoken of here and in these past few posts, I suspect you will find yourself in the drone world fairly quickly.
You will also see drone usage on Treasure Quest: Snake Island, and in one or two episodes they are using a thermal camera and it assisted them quite well.
And to cap this off....the drone industry is at it's infancy level. There are going to be a LOT of dollars that change hands because of the very capabilities I am speaking about. My drone fleet, small as it is, will be used after the project for which I bought them, is settled. The two largest areas of drone business growth by 2020 will be NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) for farmers of large areas, and the oil and gas and electrical inspections. But that is another story....first, I must conclude my search for a long lost Tr......... nuff said. HH
Wow, you know drones!
If I were you, I would take a look at Fenn's website. Many believe the treasure is real, many believe it's bunk. I obviously have no way of knowing what's true, but if I had the technology and know-how you do, I would surely put it into use. As a metal detectorist, unless one could expertly crack the clues, I would need to cover a VERY large area searching for it, or any other hidden treasure. Lots of legwork. But with the drones, even if you couldn't locate the exact spot, you might be able to at least narrow the general area down, thus putting the odds in your favor.
I will be very interested to read how exactly you scope out hunting spots in the woods via the drone
welcome from Elizabeth city, north Carolina.......I'm a retired prof. firefighter / EMT-B also with 33 years of service
also , I just purchased a ace 300 :beer:and been looking at that AT Pro, right now using the white spectrum ....love to see some of your old finds......Big Richard