How to Spot Predator Drones

The goal of this thread is to create a discussion on how individual citizens can spot large Predator drones with cheap widely available equipment and a minimal setup.

Currently it seems that we are seeing a migration (or expansion) of drones being used on the battlefields of the Middle East to the more civilian populations. The bad thing about this is the potential for abuse by governments and transnational corporations. Imagine companies that can watch you from the sky and shoot you down for attempting to subvert their control over the world, then being labelled as a terrorist by mainstream media so the rest of the civilian population remains unaware.

In order to protect ourselves, we at least need to be able to spot the drones that they will use against us. It will do us no good if the only way to do so is with military hardware that isn't commercially available. By cheap equipment I mean under $1000 to purchase and less than a day to build. A couple years ago there was an article about insurgents using cheap software and satellite equipment to intercept Predator drone video feeds. That's what I have in mind. It is somewhat useless to detect drones by visual clues alone. Instead we need to look for their "digital signatures" like radio signals etc.

m.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-12/insurgents-hack-predator-video-feed-26-software. (Yes, I'm posting this from an iPhone)

online.wsj.com/article/SB126102247889095011.html

If I were to design a drone I'd ensure all signals went skywards direct to a satelite. So, trying to detect radio signals might be impossible from the ground.

Thermal imaging might be the only way to detect them.

What's your intention should you be able to see them?

reply to post by VoidHawk


Knowing the enemy is watching is half the battle. If they figure out a way to direct radio signals towards the sky only, it will be a pain to find another way to spot them.

reply to post by VoidHawk



How would thermal imaging be more advantageous than visual observation?

Where would you find thermal imaging equipment capable of outperforming visual observation for $1000?

Really??
The government spends billions of dollars on developing these drones to be steath.

One, there is NOT a way to affordably spot/locate/track these drones.
I'm pretty sure they are built to avoid being seen.

Two, even if there was a way, do we really want to post it on a public website so our America hating friends around the world can see it too?

Imagine companies that can watch you from the sky and shoot you down for attempting to subvert their control over the world, then being labelled as a terrorist by mainstream media so the rest of the civilian population remains unaware.

Are you planning an anti corporate commune along the lines of Jim Jones or something?

I really think that you have many other things to worry about than a multi billion dollar corporation worrying what you think about them.

I am more affraid of the crackheads down the street

$1,000 is alot of dough to be throwing at such a non important "problem" such as the one that you have proposed.

Take that money and reinforce your vehicle a little more because the chances are that you will die in a car crash before a multi billion dollar corporation comes after you

Sorry, just a little Lj01 logic on the topic at hand.

thanks for sharing information about radio signal..


www.delicious.com...

hows that quote go first they ridicule you then they ignore then they Facepalm for not thinking of it themself.0.. yea something like that

good idea OP surprised no one has come up with a way to do this already, how do those police radio scanner websites get to broadcast that info, would the laws that allow us to listen in on police be used to let us know when and where these drones are or will be flying?
detection is a good thing but if we can start writing laws to make them a bit less secretive maybe we can stop them before they start flying.

reply to post by -W1LL


thats a good point we should be able to know when and where they will be. i can see the government goin into a marshall law situation and contolling the populations

reply to post by questforevidence

i would lean more towards avoidance and camo than detection.solitary or 2 to 3 person groups are a less valuable target than large camp. 1 or 2 people aren't worth a hellfire.the real question is how to defeat flir targeting