Actually ... "cow counting" is already a serious concern.  There are a ton of fights going on between governments and citizens that raise livestock.  Many attempts have been made to pass legislation that would require anybody raising livestock to register their animals with the government.
 
 

*Pfft!*  Counting cows is easy!  You just total up the legs and divide by four.  Simples! 

MandolinPicker
What I have been most worried about has happened in this area. I live about 25 miles from DC, but now we cannot fly anything within a 30-mile radius of Reagan National Airport. Model airplane clubs in the area have been told that if they fly an RC airplane, law enforcement will be called and take legal action. This involves ANY model aircraft - drone, RC airplane, model rocket. An activity that has been done in this area safety for over 50 years has been brought to a grinding halt. And to add icing to the cake, the new 'rule' went into effect Christmas day, after everyone received a new drone for Christmas.

As others have noted, hobbyist quadcopters add little to the already present risk with radio controlled model airplanes, except in their numbers. The national security over-reaction is, however, not really so surprising. An unauthorized small drone has already landed on the White House lawn after all. After the government and media trumpeting over the killing of terrorists by the CIA piloted 'drones,' it would be surprising if some enterprising terrorist did not see it as poetic justice to pilot his own drone into a target with its own symbolism in the Washington, DC area. While a toy designed to carry a GoPro might not have the payload of a goose being sucked into a jet engine, a single non-lethal attack on a jet at a regional airport could make it inconvenient for congressmen to commute. It would undoubtedly take more than ordinary skill and luck to pilot a toy to strike a plane on takeoff or landing, but success is not always required to instill fear and paralysis, and these toys are cheaper and easier to acquire than stinger missiles in the DC area. And within the size range of freely available UAS's there are models that could carry a payload of explosives or toxins large enough to qualify as a weapon of mass destruction suitable for use against a crowd or stationary target. The clear advantage to a drone over  hijacking an airliner is that you would not need to take lessons at an FAA registered flight school or die during the deployment of your weapon. A truck bomb like that used by domestic terrorists in Oklahoma City in 1995 would of course be a more serious threat, but in some ways it would be easier to defend against with barriers and blast shields. Let us hope that disgruntled citizens upset by government overreach in banning the toy they got from Santa do not feel moved to action. 

Of course, most terrorists won't care if they're breaking the law, so the no-fly zone really only applies to hobbyists... 

dubdisciple

jbow it doesn't interest me but I don't want one looking in my window or yard. I guess I could flash it from the deck... that would likely run it away, lol.

I guarantee you no drone of this type is looking in your window. If you have ever used a GoPro, imagine the view of one from a drone. Just not very likely.

Well dang...

Moshkito
Hi,
 
I think the novelty of the drone thing will wear off some, but yeah, some consistent rules will eventually come around ... however, they will be wide and different ... for example, a drone flying over the cow pasture to count the number of crows and patties or cattle, is in a different zone than one flying over our neighborhood looking at someone's yard where the teenager is sunbathing, and the son is spraying the daughter with a bottle of water!
 
One is an invasion of privacy and the other, likely won't be considered at all.
 
In the end, not everyone will be able to afford the spendy and better drones out there that can see things ... anyway! But that brings things back to those who can and those who can't, and those who can in any country have always flaunted the law, regardless, and in some cases taken the law into their own hands!
 

Hmmm, I wonder if you could rig up a mushroom picker to one.. if you hear a truck coming, just land it in the pasture and act like you stopped to make a phone call. Might work... "what drone, Mr. Rancher sir?"
I think this thread may be going afield...

I actually wanted to purchase one of those "drone" toys to try to lift a pull string over a tree limb to erect a ham radio wire antenna, but most of the >200 dollar ones are toys and cannot lift a string, and its not worth the expense to buy one just for that,
 
 
one computer science nerd tookj a dorne over a year ago and flew it over our university campus and either it was real time or an AVI but he put together a montage of aerial  views, it was kinda neat.

Tie a rock (or an adjustable wrench or anything like that) to the right size cord, swing it up there until you get it over the limb, lower it, tie a pulley to it, run your cable or a cable attached to an insulator to the cable, pull it back up to hang under the limb, wrap the original cord around the tree until you can tie it off. If you're running a long wire for medium wave, run the other end to your house. The pulley will keep the wire taut when the wind blows and keep it from snapping. If you're running anything else, same thing just maybe the connector to your set coupled to a different place. Oh, tie a gallon bottle filled with water (or a brick) to the line hanging from the pulley, doh!
I still have my old SWL 7 multi trap antenna from the '60s.
It doesn't have to be that high but it will be directional. They also made an SWV 7 vertical antenna but I don't know how good it was.
The pulley trick works great for keeping it taut and keeping it from snapping. I'd give it a couple of ft.
I have two Hallicrafters SX-43s too, one for parts. I use a couple of newer rceivers now but those old Hallicrafters were good radios.
They are general coverage but they cover everything from long wave-medium wave-short wave. I never got into HAM  radio but was heavy into SWL.
 
J

Ham N Egz
I actually wanted to purchase one of those "drone" toys to try to lift a pull string over a tree limb to erect a ham radio wire antenna, but most of the >200 dollar ones are toys and cannot lift a string, and its not worth the expense to buy one just for that,

I used to know an arborist who used a fishing bow setup to do that:

I'd stick that in the tree for sure! I guess I could use the string to pull it back out until I missed the tree and hit another house, lol. It looks like a good idea and also a good opportunity for Murphy's Law...
The drone might be cheaper... what about bottle rockets?