Birthday present to me!

This year I bought me a new toy for my birthday. There is no sense in growing up, so I ordered a kit form radio-controlled flying contraption. In modern speak it's a UAV or RPV (unmanned aerial drone or remotely piloted vehicle) although I doubt that this one will ever get involved in daring feats of espionage or national security. This one might manage a few local blips from elevated angles though ... if I'm lucky.

Anyway, the first step was construction as it was delivered in a small brown box containing a lot of small parts shipped all the way from Shanghai. So a couple of evenings of screwdrivering and soldering in front of the telly have resulted in the completed assembly of the X525 quadcopter. Next step is to attach the RC kit (my old RC from school days) and a new battery. Then comes the interesting phase of balancing and commissioning plus flight training of a very rusty pilot.

Assuming that it all survives this first perilous stage we may then actually be able to progress to attaching the cheapest and lightest camera I can find (i.e. most expendable) and see if I can get it aloft long enough to snap off some blips.

Ultimately one could fit a radio camera link to it so achieving FPV status (First Person View). Then I could fly it beyond my line of sight to go and spy on anyone I please, although such use would be illegal under current CAA regulations.

So if you hear a buzzing sound near you soon ... look up and smile for the blip!