News Media Helicopters

[wa8pyr]

Columbus seems to be just the opposite. They have live feeds for the stupidest reasons. In front of the courthouse for an event that happened hours ago, outside the police impound lot (nice chain link fence), and of course the salt barn.

Don't forget the "Breaking News" that actually happened hours ago....

 

[amcferrin90]

What's the range of a drone that would have to be remotely controlled I assume with a camera on it so the operator knows where it's going when it has to travel a long distance. Just curious.

The drones use 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi bands so range is pretty limited. Depending on saturation and terrain density one could get 2-3 miles but FAA rules require having line of sight to the UAV for hobby and part 107/commercial use. Yes that requires a crew roll and two people to operate a drone. Even then you have airspace constraints to deal with for airports, heliports, hospitals then restricted airspace over schools, public locations, scenes of public safety operations, anywhere over people, etc. So yeah the "breaking news" live that happened hours before.

 

[dcr_inc]

Most legit media have a FAA waver to fly anywhere up to 100 ft or so... DJI will disable the No fly zones with this waver.. Public Safety has it as well

 

[cavmedic]

Yeah it sounds like the geography is a lot smaller. The four Networks, ABC, NBC and CBS along with fox do share helicopters but it's not unusual for them to be in Reading Pennsylvania and then get an assignment to go to the far south end of New Jersey for wildfires or something or some shore event then fuel up.. after that they're going to a murder shooting scene in Center City Philadelphia which happens several times if not much more, every day.

Philadelphia rivals Chicago with violent crime and murder, police often restrict the Choppers to a certain perimeter and definitely don't allow drones anywhere near the airspace of their police helicopters.

I guess it has to do with size and geography, the four network stations cover a very wide area they broadcast too.

Thanks for the reply.

Anything and everything in Montco now is an automatic " no fly zone". You hear it requested every single time there is a large fire, major accident and police activity.

 

[W8HDU]

One has to be wary of the dreaded "look live". That's where they record, or otherwise make it look like they are live, when they are not. I so "detest" those as it's not honest reporting, yet many producers and news directors will point out that there are no laws saying it's illegal. Listening to the aircraft channels is sometimes the gold standard knowing if someone is trying to make believe.

 

[radioscan]

I trust that was not John Phillips.

That's exactly who it was.

 

[radioscan]

Here in Cincy area not sure how many drones they use if any. I'm guessing its 25 miles around greater Cincy and N. Kentucky. Whenever I watch the news in the morning, I don't see anything that looks like drone footage. Traffic cams are in several places, so for traffic reports you see those on the news. The city limits of Cincy itself aren't as big as one would think, so sending a news crew there would take only 15-20 minutes via car. From where the stations are N. Kentucky is 5 minutes down I-75

I know of only WCPO Ch. 9 News occasionally using one called "Drone 9". These days, cameras are everywhere, and everyone has one.