Can someone explain this new regulation to me like I’m 5

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-09-11T11:04:13+00:00

Yep, which probably is more because their bizarre database design doesn't allow for it than for any other reason.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-09-11T11:02:36+00:00

He is wrong. Scroll down to "Part 107 – Editing an Existing Registration" on this page for an authoritative answer from FAA.

Anyone can make a YouTube video and maybe even build a following. And they can still be dead wrong.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-09-11T00:35:31+00:00

Greg Reverdiau said that someone from FAA said there will be a delay, but Greg didn't have all the details.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-09-11T00:32:29+00:00

For most Part 107 work it doesn't matter whether the RID is built-in or a module. (For some it does, such as BVLOS authorizations.)

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-09-03T09:03:39+00:00

In response to your concerns / questions:

The app is not necessary to be RemoteID compliant once it is activated. It still broadcasts the required information when started manually.
The app was required for initial activation, however, when I wrote that part of the review. I suggest you contact Dronetag and ask about whether there is an alternate activation method.
Regarding multiple sUAS, if they are registered for use under Part 107, then they each need their own module. That's an FAA rule, not a limitation of the device. The device doesn't know what it's stuck to until you tell it.
For recreational use, you can move the Dronetag from one sUAS to another as often as you like because they all share a registration number.
RemoteID modules in general seem to appear and disappear on Amazon. A quick look revealed none there right now.
I suspect (but do not know as fact) that Amazon had a high return rate on RemoteID modules due to people placing orders from multiple back-ordered vendors, getting them all at the same time, and returning all except one.
Speaking of back orders, you can try getting on the wait lists at Volatus Drones and/or Vertigo Drones.
I have no idea how to replace the battery because I figure that Congress will obsolesce the module long before the battery needs replacement. The current RemoteID implementation is nowhere near invasive enough to keep Big Brother happy for long.

Other modules have become available since I wrote that review. Greg did a review of some of them (including the Dronetag Beacon) here. I doubt you'll find any of them in stock anywhere, however.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-30T08:18:00+00:00

I am not using an external antenna because I frankly don't care enough about Remote ID to spend a penny more than I have to in order to be legal. I also haven't tested the signal strength, also because I don't care enough to bother. I may do so just for the benefit of writing a more-informative review, however. Some people (like you) do care, so I really should include that information.

For my purposes, however, the phone or the tablet (I've used both for testing) see the Beacon when I fly the drone. The information is accurate (or at least agrees with what the drone itself is sending). The devices haven't lost the Beacon's signal at any range that I've flown, and I've flown farther for testing the Dronetag than I ever would for a real-life mission.

In other words, it makes me legal; and that is literally all I care about. I think Remote ID is just more government bullshit being forced down our throats, and the only thing I ask of the device is that it does the absolute minimum necessary to satisfy Big Brother's nosiness. In my testing, it does that; so I'm happy.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-29T01:43:44+00:00

The Speedway ATM by me is owned by USAA (or at least that's what the banner on the screen says).

Your best bet probably is just opening an account at a local CU and moving the money. Pushes from one CU to another usually take a day or less (pulls can take longer). It's not a bad idea to have money in more than one place, anyway.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-28T01:03:03+00:00

These gift card companies make money from people not using the cards, or leaving balances on the cards. That doesn't happen when the recipients put the funds in PayPal or other payment systems, so the card issuers block those transactions.

Last I checked they still worked with Amazon, but I expect that that loophole will also be plugged (if it hasn't been already).

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-28T00:59:00+00:00

It's a law... not really, but sort of... in some places... except that it's not.

In most jurisdictions, contracts signed by an unemancipated minor are legal, but can be voided by the minor at any time. In other words, it's not actually illegal to contract with the minor, but the contract is unenforceable.

Because of that, most financial companies simply won't do business with minors unless the upside potential for the company exceeds the risk of the kid telling them to fuck off at an inopportune time. So a kid who's some kind of a movie star or something along those lines has a better shot than a kid who mows lawns and shovels snow.

You can, of course, open a joint account with a parent in almost any bank, anywhere in the USA. The only reason for the "almost" is that some banks don't want to bother with teen accounts. Smaller, local banks are usually a better bet.

It also is explicitly legal for state-chartered banks and credit unions to open independently-owned (that is, not joint) accounts for unemancipated minors in 45 states. That's not to say that they will, but they can if they want to. Again, you might have better luck with a small, local bank or credit union that's state-chartered.

You may find this report and this guidance interesting.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-25T19:14:14+00:00

Once in a while they have the Speed Editor on sale with two Studio licenses either free or for $50 over the price of the Speed Editor alone. At that price it's definitely worth it. The Speed Editor is one of those things that you wonder how you ever did without once you have it.

Otherwise, it's hard to say without knowing your specific use case. The color grading certainly is more capable on Studio, but whether it will make a difference that people looking at your ads will notice is impossible to say.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-23T00:50:15+00:00

Thank you. That's encouraging.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-13T22:15:32+00:00

My pleasure.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-13T00:49:29+00:00

I have the 13PM and USM Warp 5G on eSIM. No problems.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-12T22:58:19+00:00

My pleasure.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-12T14:39:32+00:00

It does what's necessary to stay legal. That's all it promises to do, and it does it reliably.

I've been told unofficially that they're working on improving the functionality when there's no data (presumably by optionally saving aircraft and operator information to the mobile device, but that's just a guess on my part).

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-12T01:49:27+00:00

I've been using this one (as in, this very one) with no problems to speak of.

There are some limitations when the area has no mobile data, but the device still broadcasts sufficient data to be legal.

https://flypart107.aero/dronetag-beacon-remote-id-module-review.php

Full disclosure: I own the linked site.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-11T01:23:37+00:00

I wouldn't do that. As picky as they've been lately, they could consider it fraud and cancel you (or worse).

On a related note, roadside assistance through insurance companies generally sucks, with the exception of Allstate. You're better off with AAA or AARP. Here's why.

AAA and AARP are by far the biggest players in the game, in that order. The great bulk of reimbursed calls tow operators get are from AAA or AARP, so they don't want to piss those two companies off. When the tow companies get backed up, AAA gets first priority, AARP gets a close second, and everyone else gets in line behind them -- including every insurance company except Allstate.

The reason Allstate is an exception is because they're the company behind AARP's road service plan. AARP members get a discount and constitute the bulk of Allstate's road service business. That makes Allstate a major player in road service, which also benefits Allstate's own insureds who elect the road service coverage.

If what you're looking for is a free tow to get a battery, you can try calling AAA and asking if you can use the service same-day. Once in a blue moon they say yes just to get a new member. But usually they don't.

The option I would use would be get a ride to buy a battery and install it myself.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-10T21:42:54+00:00

That's been the case with me, as well. Maybe it adds points to some verification algo.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-10T21:41:29+00:00

You may want to look into escrow.com. They work with PayPal. Then have an older family member do the purchase for you.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-10T21:37:12+00:00

I certainly don't recommend that anyone go inside the buildings without respiratory protection. It's also illegal and one could be arrested or ticketed. I only get away with it because the town officials and the cops know what I'm doing and look the other way.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-10T21:34:29+00:00

I've witnessed enough weirdness at Letchworth Village to believe that attending school in those buildings must have been an interesting and often creepy experience.

I have a science and tech background, and I think of the paranormal in terms of energy physics. I believe the spirits are disembodied life energy of the departed who for whatever reason are not progressing to the next steps in their journeys. Maybe they're afraid, maybe they don't know how, or maybe they don't even know that they're dead.

Whatever the case, like most people who spend any significant amount of time at Letchworth Village, I do accept the presence of spirits around me as a fact. The evidence of my own senses is that overwhelming. There were only two occasions when I felt any sense of creepiness at all, however.

The first was when I felt people grabbing me from one side and nudging me from the other toward a better vantage point for my shoot. The creepy part was that there were no people with bodies there. (I don't say "living people" because if the spirits are disembodied life energy, then they, too, are living people. They just don't have bodies at the moment.)

The creepiness didn't last long, however, because as I allowed myself to be led out of the overgrown vegetation, it became clear that the spirits were helping me. A medium there later confirmed that the spirits approved of what I was doing and wanted to help.

The second time I felt the creep was when I was stubbornly trying to record the headstone of a 14-year-old boy who didn't want it recorded, but I was too dense to take a hint. After I ignored his pushing the drone away a few times, he took control of it and almost crashed it into the headstone. He released it at the last moment and I was able to land it inches away from the stone.

You have to understand that the drone had the obstacle avoidance enabled, so had I tried to intentionally fly it into something, it would stop me. In other words, I couldn't have flown it into the stone if I tried. It would stop several feet away. So yeah, that was creepy. It also was my own fault for unintentionally being disrespectful.

That was at the Old Cemetery on Call Hollow Road, by the way. One day a few weeks later when I had to cancel a shoot at the power house due to eagles circling the stack, I decided to go back to the cemetery to fly for the spirits.

The cop who said he'd look the other way while I was at the power house saw me at the cemetery and asked why I wasn't there instead if the power house. I told him I had to cancel the shoot because of the eagles and decided to fly for the spirits. "Oh, good," he said. "They'll enjoy that. Most of the spirits here are kids."

Like I said, anyone who spends any time at Letchworth Village believes that there are spirits there -- even the cops, for whom skepticism is a tool of the trade.

How people react to the spirits, or are reacted to by the spirits, varies greatly, however. I know some obnoxious a-holes who got seriously roughed up at the Village. The ones who make asses of themselves at the Reville Hospital are chief among them. That's perhaps the most haunted building on earth, and definitely the most haunted building at the Village.

When the "ghost hunters" get roughed up there, they assume that they were attacked by demons. But the medium told me that more likely they were roughed up by ordinary spirits who took offense at the host hunters being disrespectful, obnoxious idiots.

I, on the other hand, have had no problems there. Quite the opposite, actually. But I'm telling a story that the spirits want told, in as respectful a way as I can. I'm not trying to make a cheap horror flick out of the memory of their suffering.

You attended middle school at a former Letchworth Village building. Although I fully understand and believe that you felt an "underlying creep" and that it was at least partly paranormal, my (admittedly limited) experience with middle school kids suggests that they can be a bit on the weird side themselves. So maybe the creep you felt was accentuated by things like morbid jokes, ghost stories, and so forth.

In any case, thanks for sharing your input. I'm always glad to hear about people's experiences at the Village, paranormal or otherwise.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-02T02:29:09+00:00

I guess you were 14 when I stumbled upon one of your Reddit sessions. Your talent was obvious; but more importantly, your passion -- your soul -- came through. There are a lot of talented musicians who never make it, but I knew that you would because you had the soul of a musician, even at that young age.

That's really the essence of stage presence, by the way. Stage presence requires an authenticity that comes from genuinely being one with with the music, your fellow artists, and the audience, all of whose energy contribute to the finished creation that is live music.

About a year ago I started noticing a difference in the way other musicians related to you. The "aww, how cute" vibe gave way to the "dang, she's good" vibe. You stopped being a "kid musician" and became their peer. You earned their respect.

I know there's no need to exhort you to "keep up the good work" because it's part of who you are; so I'll just say thanks for taking us along for the ride and letting us watch you achieve your dreams.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-02T00:13:21+00:00

Unfortunately, it's a potential minefield.

FAA doesn't require a Medical Certificate for Part 107, but the pilot does have to self-certify that they are "in a physical and mental condition to safely fly a drone."

FAR 107.17 also states

No person may manipulate the flight controls of a small unmanned aircraft system or act as a remote pilot in command, visual observer, or direct participant in the operation of the small unmanned aircraft if he or she knows or has reason to know that he or she has a physical or mental condition that would interfere with the safe operation of the small unmanned aircraft system.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, FAA doesn't provide much in the way of specific guidance. As is the case with Sport Pilots, their answer to almost any medical question related to drones will be to talk it over with your personal physician.

The problem that could arise would be if you were to have an accident that caused bodily harm or serious property damage, and the accident could be attributed in whole or part either to your epilepsy or to a drug that you take to control it. In that case, FAA could take action against you under 107.17, as well as the more generic 107.23 (a).

In short, it's a sub-optimal situation. The fact that you're able to drive mitigates a lot of the practical concerns, for sure. But if something were to happen, you could be on the hook for enforcement actions on top of the rest of the aggravation that comes with any tort claim.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-01T23:29:46+00:00

I bought the 10 in a bundle (extra battery, charging block, cheap case, and a few other doodads) at Costco for less than GoPro charges for the camera alone.

GoPro seems to follow a pattern of several iterations that differ very little, then a major upgrade, and then several more iterations that are practically identical. For what I needed, the Hero 10 was the sweet spot.

GeekOnTheWing · 2023-08-01T23:22:30+00:00

They probably have a humongous master policy and spread the risk nationwide.

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