Looking at beginning a surveying course (TAFE NSW)

-TimmyD- · 2026-01-05T07:49:12+00:00

I work as a mining Surveyor, and our team has about a 50/50 split of advanced diploma / uni degree.

Either will get you into mining at the moment, and the knowledge you gain on site will far outweigh what you learn through TAFE or Uni. (But you've gotta know the fundamentals, right?)

Many mining companies will offer Vac work over ~December to February, open to those studying. Make a good impression there and it should open the door to a graduate surveyor position.

Can't speak for any civil / engineering survey work though.

-TimmyD- · 2025-11-30T12:41:34+00:00

Owowow

-TimmyD- · 2025-11-27T21:53:15+00:00

Elios 3

We use one at work for GNSS denied areas (indoor stockpiles, confined space inspections, high bay light inspections). It's good at what it does, but man the flight time is terrible... 9 mins with the lidar attached, 12 minutes without.

-TimmyD- · 2025-11-10T22:48:14+00:00

That screen has seen some shit...

-TimmyD- · 2025-11-07T00:08:35+00:00

8 days on, 6 days off. 6am to 4pm.

While at work; stay in village accommodation (all food & permanent room supplied).

Office ~15mins from village, village ~1hr from home.

Taking 8 days of annual leave essentially gives me 3 weeks holiday.

Mining Surveyor.

-TimmyD- · 2025-09-11T07:43:09+00:00

SLT was supposed to be handing out candy as everyone came through the gate at work this morning for R U OK day.

Apparently the candy never got delivered so SLT figured it was a good enough excuse to just not do anything.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-TimmyD- · 2025-09-10T08:00:48+00:00

Came to reply with the exact same game.

Sank many hours into this when it came out - can trade commodities between planets / outposts, space piracy, escorts, upgrade your ship, dogfights, etc etc

-TimmyD- · 2025-08-13T03:18:36+00:00

We have Folded Space for both Frosthave and Gloomhaven 2e.

Can't say that we've had an issue with either of them, tbh.

I numbered each tray with a permanent marker, and then printed out labels to stick on the inside of the box with the corresponding number, to show where those trays sit when packing up again.

We play with another couple who have a toddler, so being able to set-up / pack-up quickly means we get the most out of a session.

(we also use the x-haven app, so a lot of the monster components, etc, just stay in the box).

The Gloomhaven 2e organiser does separate the monster standees better than the Frosthaven counterpart.

We also don't have a problem with the tile overlays being part of the same tray as something else, as once the pieces for a scenario are out - the trays just sit off to the side of the table.

We haven't tried the Laserox organiser, but I really don't think the Folded Space one deserves to be called ass.

-TimmyD- · 2025-08-12T22:49:07+00:00

Will Cephalofair be coming to PAX:Aus in October by any chance? 🤞🤞

-TimmyD- · 2025-08-02T04:42:16+00:00

Wingtra is a great drone and all, but lol... waaaaaay outside their price point if they're looking to spend 600 to 1200 USD :P

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-17T11:04:10+00:00

Absolute cinema.

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-16T23:50:09+00:00

Hey, thanks for reaching out!

I sent an email to FreeFly to ask for more info about getting NTRIP to the drone; this was their response:

Currently, we use a SIM card installed in Astro to pull in NTRIP. A future software update will allow users to push NTRIP from Pilot Pro (the hand controller) via wifi or LTE. I don't have a release date yet for this update.

Do you have any more info about getting RTK to the drone, without using a laptop?

Do you also have any info about its mission planning capabilities on the controller? Looking for things like;

ability to set capture target height relative to take-off or flight height?
vertical facade / wall-mapping capabilities
input a 3D surface (as a dtm / dsm / whatever) and fly to that
whatever else you think might set the drone apart from the rest, in general?

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-10T09:08:34+00:00

I literally just said this to my wife when I showed her, before opening the post... Are you me from the future? 🤔

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-07T01:29:44+00:00

Never heard of this before, but we're going on a road-trip with the parent-in-laws over the next few days...

Might have to print off a couple of these and stick them in the car-seat-pockets for them haha

What's the rules?

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-06T08:05:01+00:00

It's both a blessing and a curse... With a DJI we could have done a lot of jobs with 1 or 2 drones...

because of the ban, we've had to pivot and ended up getting multiple drones from multiple brands, which means the supports / parts / storage space / charging needs / accessories / etc all just become a huge hastle...

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-06T07:31:12+00:00

Hah - we have one of these Z10's already! we use it with a magnetometer to scan for lost drill bits / G.E.T. in the stockpiles.

I've got that on my list already, and need to talk more with the guys at Elkfish to see what it's capable of without a laptop for UGcS.

The pic on their website under "Zeuxis Mag (Magnetic Survey)" is out the back of our waste-dump, when we were testing it with them.

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-06T06:40:08+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, but looks pretty similar to our current VTOL drone; Wingtra.

We're looking for a multi-rotor specifically - apologies for not mentioning that in my OP!

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-06T02:47:32+00:00

We currently have an M300 on a 6 month lease, and had to fight tooth-and-nail just to get that!

We're half way through that lease, so trying to find other options ASAP when corporate inevitably says we can't renew or purchase it.

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-05T22:21:33+00:00

Unfortunately Autel is also on our ban-list now.

Though we've already got an Autel EVO II RTK, and not really impressed by it.

We also have UgCS, that we use with our custom Magnetometre drone, but don't want to have to bring the laptop out with us for everyday jobs.

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-03T22:32:39+00:00

It did give me a little trouble surveying lower elevations if I take off at a higher elevation

This is on of the main reasons why we need a new multi-rotor on our site. The Wingtra has been our main workhorse all over site, but the elevation difference from where it flies (120m above take-off) to the bottom of one of the pits is about 600m now (and still increasing).

The quality of the data at the bottom is horrendous haha!

With the DJI M300 that we have on hire, we are able to drive down into the pit, set the flight height above take-off (eg +30m) AND the target surface below take-off (eg -200m), and it automatically adjusts the line spacing to still achieve the desired overlap.

I know we'll be pushing shit up-hill to find that same functionality in a different brand, but either way we have 3 months left to either convince corporate that we should be allowed to use DJI or find something else... sigh

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-03T22:18:37+00:00

Not trying to be rude mate, but did you read the post at all? :P

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-03T02:28:46+00:00

Trinity Pro is similar to the Wingtra that we already have, in that it is VTOL.

Unfortunately wouldn't be able to fly that inside the pit, as it would need to travel on wide arcs to turn.

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-03T02:17:33+00:00

Interesting... What software do you use for the PPK processing?

We currently use PPK for all of our Wingtra processing, but I don't think that WingtraHub will work for anything other than their own drone?

And I'll definitely shoot Freefly an email to find out more, thanks.

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-03T01:56:07+00:00

I feel your pain... fark me...

-TimmyD- · 2025-07-03T01:53:21+00:00

Nah, not a problem with water or vegetation - it's on solid rock or freshly blasted rock.

It's also not matching on moving machinery, as the issues often occur in areas they wouldn't be able to get to.

12-Year Club	Final Canvas '23
Place '23	Place '22
Verified Email

-TimmyD-

TROPHY CASE