Author: kq6keddie

Licensed Drone Pilot now what

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Well I’ve had my actual line now for two months but just received that real deal about two weeks ago. What I mean about the real deal is the (hard card, like a credit card) I was issued a piece of paper saying I was a licensed drone pilot, but it isn’t the same as possessing the real deal.

I’ve flow many times since receiving the license but not for profit. Been out buzzing around shooting some property pictures and videos and helping a couple of friends learn the art of flying their drone. I’ve really enjoyed shooting the videos of commercial properties being built near my home here in Moorpark. 

I post my video on YouTube under my name Eddie Pierce. If you are interested check it out.

I had a chance the other day to fly the DJI Spark (they are the premier manufacture of the drones that many operators are using for their exploits) . This drone is like it’s larger counterparts but fits in the palm of your hand. It can be flown with just hand gestures or by using your cell phone, or by the preferred way of using a remote control. This drone will be a hit since it doesn’t cost as much as the larger counterparts. Good way to start out learning and seeing if it is for you.

There is so much going on in the world of DRONES. The federal government is trying to figure out what to do with the growing popularity of so many drones entering the National Airspace which the federal government controls.

Licensed sUAS Pilot

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So I was thinking of flying my nice drone and possibly making some spending money using the aircraft. But to do so the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) says that you would need to acquire a Part 107 Certification (sUAS License – sUAS stands for small Unmanned Aerial System). This being said, let me tell you the studying I have gone through is nothing short of Ground School for a private pilots license. The private pilot license is part 61 which also includes flying a small aircraft in the air for some 40 hours with an instructor. Of course that would be pretty difficult to fly on top or even inside my little (about 23 inches across) drone.

I’ve been studying for a little over three months and the information you have to learn has really been interesting and also making me think…”why do I need to learn about flying my drone up at 12000 feet above the ground. Yes, if I happened to climb up a very high mountain and then fly the drone there, I would need to know the conditions and the effect of flight at that level. Most of my flights have been at or around 200 feet or there abouts. I think the highest I’ve flown so far with my first Quadcopters was in the neighborhood of 600 feet. You know at that altitude, you can’t even see the aircraft.

Getting back to what I have had to learn. I started out learning about center of gravity. Learning to calculate how weight is distributed evenly to make the aircraft fly without any hinderences. Of course my drone is designed with center of gravity already built into the aircraft. Not a whole lot to worry about when it comes to center of gravity. But to add to the center of gravity and weight and balance aspect of flying a larger drone that information would come in handy calculating the various parts of the calculations.

Continuing with my studies towards my drone pilot license was the learning of weather and how it affects my flying and its effect on my drone. Let me tell you, here in Southern California the weather is pretty predictable sun, sun, and a little bit of rain. Of course the past couple of months we had way more than we usual experience. That put a cramp in my flying.

Next came airspace. You are wondering what airspace entails when it mentioned. Airspace is the an imaginary state above areas of the city or the country. Since my license is for airspace above the United States. Before acquiring the license I really had no concern where I flew my drone. Now I have to be serious about where I fly. You have no doubt heard about the news reports, complaining about drones flying where there are fires happening and someone flys their drone in the area and causes the fix wing and helicopters to cancels their flights until there aren’t any more drones in the area. With fires of something just as important (i.e. Blue Angels/Thunderbirds performing) there will be restrictions announced that drone pilots and other pilots will have to obey. They will be listed on publications that pilots are to read before they consider a flight plan or even when it comes to my planning a flight I have coming up, I will need to check for and restrictions in the airspace I will be flying in during my flight.

Next came learning about the regulations of flying when it comes to commanding the aircraft and the other people assisting in you flying a mission. The pilot flying the  aircraft is know as the Pilot in Command. Just like the captain on a ship, the person flying the aircraft is the captain of the flying aircraft unless someone else is assisting you during flight. There can be someone else flying the drone and doesn’t need to be a licensed because he will be watched or commanded by the Pilot in Command. So many things to grasped to be a pilot.

Next came to learning how to communicate with airports or other aircrafts in you flying area. There are proper statements to make when communicating with airports or other aircrafts. One example is saying Niner in place of nine. Another is to actually using alpha characters instead of using the letters directly (i.e. A is said as Alpha, B is said as Bravo, C is said as Charlie and so on)

After three plus months I finally took the Part 107 test and passed. I had been taking many tests before I actually made an appointment with the FAA to take the test. I will say that if I hadn’t practiced so many tests it would have been difficult to past the Part 107 Test.

I will be updating my blog as I figure what I want to do since I am now a Licensed Drone Pilot. Happy Flying

It’s not a Drone…

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img_1144Well I decided to try my flying skills at flying quadcopters. No, they are not drones. Drones are used for surveillance and weapons delivery. My first quadcopter is manufactured by Horizon Hobby. It is known as the Blade 350QX2 and came supplied with everything to fly the aircraft. A little history on my experience on RC (Radio Controlled) flying dates back to the late 80’s I guess. I was really into flying RC gliders, especially the type that you took to a hill side and tossed it into the air hoping that you could find thermals to keep the aircraft airborne. Some days I was usually lucky enough to have an hour flight and really enjoy the peace and quiet of the whole experience.

Flying the quadcopter is a very different experience. The aircraft is small, maybe 16 inches in a diagonal and has four propellers to supply lift of the aircraft. This quadcopter has GPS built into it so if for some reason it gets to the point where you don’t know what direction it is going you can flip a switch on the controller and the quad will return to a spot within five feet of where it took off from. I’ve done this enough times to be more than impressed with it return home feature. The quad once in a while gets very high or far enough away that you don’t know which direction it is flying, having the return home feature is very handy.

I’ve crashed the quad numerous times only costing me new propellers. Usually just two of them. They sell for $5 for a pair (either Red – which are used for the front propellers or Grey – which are used for the back propellers) I’ve replaced the red propellers the most often.

After getting used to flying the quad I decided to add a small camera that could shoot video while in flight. Let me tell you this has been a work in progress. After seeing many of the videos on YouTube shot with a small camera attached to these quadcopters, there are many things to consider. Since the aircraft is being lifted off the ground with the four propellers and moved about the air, there is vibration created by the propellers that can ruin the video. So dampening of the support mechanism for the camera can be work in progress in itself. I started out with a small inexpensive camera and the quality of the video was as the saying goes “You get what you paid for” Don’t get me wrong, the video was okay, but there was some things in the images produced that made for poor quality. As I mentioned earlier. vibration can really mess up the quality of the image produced. The effect on the video is called the Jello effect and causes the video to appear like it was shot under water. So dampening the mechanism that holds the camera is very important.

The image above is of my DJI Phantom 3 Professional quadcopter. This drone is by far the best flying/video recording platform I’ve ever experienced. After my time flying the Blade 350QX2,  I upgraded to the DJI Phantom 2 Vision. This platform really gave me the appreciation of a quad/drone with a very stabilized camera system and the ability of the quad/drone to hover in place and shoot high quality images (12 megapixel) or HD video. The above photo of the Phantom 3 Professional adds 4K video to my photo/video capabilities.

As I mentioned in one of my other posts here on my website, you can check out my videos on YouTube by searching for my channel….do a search for Eddie Pierce. Happy flying if you are reading this as an RC Pilot or if you become interested and take to flight.

I’m so PROUD…

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So you are wondering why I say I’m so PROUD? It has to do with my grand daughter Alyssa. She recently graduated (or as the school district states – Promoted ) and is on her way to High School. What a quick three years. I remember her and her friends talking about all the eighth graders being so tall and lucky to be going on to high school. Well guess what future high school student, now the 6th graders are saying the same thing about you.

ENP_9986There were many ups and downs along the way. I guess the biggest complaint I heard all the students comment about was the dreaded “Run Day” This occurred once a week during their P.E. period. They had to run seven laps around a dedicated course on the school grounds. Many times Alyssa didn’t make the 7th lap in the allotted time. If this occurred to many times, each student was invited to participate in what was called boot camp. Now from what I’ve heard her and her friends comment about boot camp it would behoove them to do their best during the weekly run day. (Boot Camp was a lot rougher to endure) sort of got the students thinking, do I really want to keep going to boot camp or do I want to add a little more effort to their run day efforts. I can sort of see what the P.E. teacher was trying to accomplish by throwing in boot camp. The students finally put in the effort that was needed to make it through run day with in the allotted time that was required of them.

The next pain in the arse was having to find enough seats at a table for lunch. When they were in the lower grades, they always complained about the eight graders taking all the tables. Well guess what? Now as eighth graders they complained about the lack of seating at those preferred tables. They worked it out one way or another. I made Alyssa her lunch every day. The usual lunch included the well know PB&J, some chips, a couple of snack bars (to help with the energy needed to make it through run day), a bottle of water, and finally some fruit.

Homework, ahh the dreaded nightly routine that occurred just about every day. Many of those days, she came home without any homework and soon I found out that she had been sloughing it off and she paid for the lack of effort. It didn’t happen but she was tapped more than once on the shoulder and told that there was a possibility that she might have to repeat that class and could hold her back. Well, the light came on above her head and she started to really get into her home work. Her grades came up from the pits and she ended up doing great.

During the three years of taking her to school in one of my cars, I became quite aware of why my dad didn’t like the music I listened to. I had the same problem, I don’t like Rap music and all the things that are suggested in the lyrics. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of songs that I do like (Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, One Direction, and many others, just not the Rap stuff) and I will admit my dad also liked some of the music I listened to also.

Alyssa is now on summer vacation and enjoying herself. She has had outings with her friends and has spent some days with us along with her younger cousins that we babysit every so often while their mom and dad are at work. She is looking forward to going to high school. So many of her friends to continue on to the same high school while some of her friends will move away and attend other high schools.

Alyssa, congratulations for a job well done in middle school and continue on your journey to high education.

65th Annual International DX Convention

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The beginning of April 2014 saw the annual International DX Convention come to the Visalia, California Convention Center. There was in the neighborhood of 700 DXers (DXers are Amateur Radio Operators like myself making communications with other Amateurs Radio operators around the world) We all gather once a year to see who can tell the tallest stories. The main purpose of the convention is to catch up with friends from around the world that you have met over the years on the radio.

My buddy Mark, AE6VC and myself decided to get a head start on the convention by a couple of days. The convention starts on a Friday at noon and ends Sunday around noon. With Mark and I arriving a couple of days early, we had a chance to explore the area of Visalia, California and it’s surrounding (especially Sequoia National Park) What a gorgeous place to be just after a heavy snow storm covered the park with about three feet of snow. All the big Sequoia Trees were blanketed in a nice dusting of snow making them look even more beautiful. Sequoia is about an hour east of Visalia, California (due to the curvy roads getting to the park) Once you arrive at the park, you start with low hills and gradually rise to heavy forested mountains. Along the way the scenery is very beautiful with waterfalls, deer grazing along the road, and large rock outcroppings. My favorite images that I am sharing here is the one of the General Sherman Tree and Tunnel Rock (automobiles used to drive through the opening in tunnel rock until the automobiles started to turn into SUV…That is my buddy Mark standing on top of Tunnel Rock.


Sequoia Vista

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Once we were done with our visit to Sequoia, we headed back to the hotel. As I mentioned earlier, there wasn’t anything going on at the convention until Friday noon. Our trip to Sequoia National Park was on Thursday, so we found something to pass the time away. You know maybe have a beer at a local hangout to the hotel.

We headed out early to the convention site (Friday morning) to see if we could bump into some friends and shoot the breeze before the actual convention got underway. With close to 700 attendees, one is liable to bump into someone that you haven’t seen in a while. There were some of my friends from the Conejo Amateur Radio Club (Thousand Oaks, CA) that we were able to sit down and have a soda with before the convention got under way. The highlight of the convention for me is going to many of the seminars that are offered throughout the next couple of days. My favorite seminar was a talk on how to blow up a Balun. There were many other seminars ranging from contesting, talks from groups of hams that visited far off countries not usually having ham operators operating there regularly and many other talks many of the manufactures getting everyone excited to see their new arrivals.

Another highlight is the barbecue that is held and everyone that is attending the convention can sit down and break bread with old friends and new friends. After the barbecue it off to the vendor area where a many of the manufactures show off older equipment to the new equipment that is being offered this year. One of the vendors that caught my eye was the Remote Ham Radio booth. This group of hams own about 6 locations around the United States that you remotely access from your computer and connect to a  complete station (consisting of high end radios connected to high power amplifiers which in turn are connected to antennas at anywhere from 50 to 100 feet above the ground that you can rotate from your home via the internet) Pretty cool thing to be able to do. I myself have a mediocre wire antenna at 15 feet that is not rotatable. Don’t get me wrong, I can work stations from my so so station and hear them very weak. But with these remote stations what you hear are stations that are very loud.

Another highlight is the Attitude adjustment hour. This is where the hams attending the convention can have a glass of wine, or maybe a mixed drink, or even a bottle of beer and discuss the days happenings. There is a station setup for the hams to use while attending the convention. This was a nice setup and with the antenna and high power amplifier connected you could work just about anywhere. Mark and I set down at the station and started making contacts ranging from the east coast to southeast ASIA. Many Japanese stations wanted to make contact with some of their friends that attended the convention. One such ham was Elvin, JA3CZY whom I just so happened to chat with from his home in Japan about two weeks earlier during a contest. I’ve included a photo of  him and I not too far from the station set up for everyone to use. I’ve also included a photo of the station that was set up for everyone to use. While Mark and I were operating the station there at the convention, Mark said a YL (that is ham speak for a lady ham operator) was calling. I asked all the guys out in radio land to please stand by because there was a YL calling. I answered the YL and was I surprised, it was a friend that I’ve know for probably 20 years who had moved out of California and up in the frozen tundra of Alaska. Of course the last time I talked with her I had a different callsign and she hadn’t heard my new call. What a great chat we had catching up on old times and see how she was doing up in Alaska. One of the many things that can happen by luck of if you are so inclined, can set up a schedule with a ham anywhere in the world.

One last thing I want to say about the International DX Convention, it a a great place to bump into friends from years past and to make new ones. For me, I look forward to next years Convention. Until next time I wish you Very 73 and gud DX


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Lightroom 5 Seminar

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On Wednesday the 5th of March a friend and I attended a Lightroom 5 seminar at the Los Angeles Convention Center. We took the Metrolink to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and then hopped the subway to just a couple of blocks from the Convention Center.  Great way to get to downtown Los Angeles from Ventura county instead of fighting the traffic during rush hour.

It was attended by roughly 450 or so interest folks. The seminar was given by Kelbyone and the instructor was Matt Kloskowski. What a crackup the guy is. Has a great delivery for the instruction aspect and likes to offer up every so often some of his tricks that are not shown in the books. The seminar started at 10 a.m. with the covering of the Library module of the program. Then just before lunch break, Matt started the Develop module (which is probably the most important). This is the module where the magic is applied to the images taken by the photographer. Matt showed a couple insights into some of the tricks and he got a BIG WOW afterwards. As part of the seminar, Kelbyone supplied a very useful instruction manual with notes that Matt included in the text to help you remember what he discussed during the seminar.

I didn’t think that their could be a program as powerful as Photoshop which I’ve used off and on over the years, but let me tell you, Lightroom 5 stream lines the photo editing of my images to the point that I can easily say that I am hooked on using Lightroom over Photoshop for general editing and doing it quickly. Don’t get me wrong, Photoshop is a superstar when it comes to Graphic Layouts and performing some of the magic that one is accustomed to seeing from Photoshop.

One of the things I forgot to do was take my phone along for the trip. Yep, I left it sitting on my desk at home. The reason I bring this up is that the area around downtown Los Angeles has many photo opportunities along with the area around the convention center. Many tall building and especially the Staples Center where the Los Angels Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Los Angeles Kings play the sport that they are affiliated with.

I’ve gone to many of these seminars hosted by Kelbyone and have not left without being amazed at what I’ve learned. I will continue  to take these seminars to further as to my knowledge of the artistic aspect of my my photography.

February 2014 Birthday Celebration

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Brothers and SistersThis past Saturday, the family got together to celebrate all of the February birthdays. We had about 50 people at the mother-in-laws home in Venice, California. We celebrated the mother-in-laws birthday (85 years young), my youngest brother-in-law Danny (51 years young), and my oldest son Matthew (40 years young).

The weather was a wee bit cool and cloudy and towards the end of the day the wind started blowing, making it feel even cooler. During the day the sun came in and out of the clouds, making for a so so day temperature wise.

The food for everyone to enjoy was served by the Taco Man. He served Pork Ribs prepared in chili-Verde sauce, pastor (which is very tasty) for making taco, Spanish rice, and John my brother-in-law kicked in some of his world famous Tri-Tip.

The nieces and sisters-in-law also added some of their self prepared cakes and cookies. Ranging from Strawberry Cheese Cake (didn’t last very long), chocolate chip cookies, and the always well received fudge brownies (they didn’t last very long either).

One of the main purposes of the celebration besides the birthdays was the visiting of my mother-in-laws brothers (Jose and Jesus) and their little sister Lupe (she is short). I took many photos of the happenings.

Our visit to Venice, California

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Marie (my wife) and I visited with her mom today. Marie wanted to visit because an aunt and uncle (let me throw some of my limited Spanish around, aunt in Spanish is Tia and uncle is Tio) are visiting Marie’s mom because she is having her 85th birthday. She is just as alert today as when I met her some 46 years ago. Yes, age has slowed her down a bit, but she has kept sharp spending her day cooking or doing some sort of sewing project. Marie has not seen her Tia or Tio for many years. So she had lots to catch up on. Marie, her mom, and Tia moved to the kitchen while her Tio and I moved to the living room to get acquainted. Her Tio spoke only in Spanish and I did my best to understand and comment when I caught a phrase that sounded familiar. I am not sure if I pulled it off or not (Marie was sort of ease dropping) and heard me tell her Tio that I have five great  grandchildren. I said my Spanish was limited.

This coming Saturday, we will be celebrating all the February birthdays. I am going to try and add some images that I’ll take during the festivities.

New to WordPress

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I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Eddie Pierce and I am a Ham Operator (you know, those people that have a big huge antenna growing out of their back yard) I’ve been licensed since 1975 and enjoy the hobby immensely. I’ve done many of the facets of the hobby. Talked to other ham operators all over the world. You might ask “why would you want to talk with someone on the other side of the world” Well, for me it is the allure of possibly meeting some fascinating person from Russia, or maybe Japan, or how about Western Samoa, or maybe even a far off place like Antarctica (Burrrr it’s cold down there)

You might ask, how can you talk with other hams that don’t speak English?  Well one of the modes that I work with my radio equipment is called Morse Code and it is a universal language no matter what country you are in conversation with. For example the word “Name” when sent using morse code means the same thing, whether sent to a ham in Russia, Argentina, Mexico, or whatever foreign county you talk to.

I am also an avid photographer, mostly shooting images of my grandchildren and my extended family. I am learning Lightroom and have used Photoshop for many years.

I am new to blogging and have many thoughts that I would like to share.