Signal Jamming

[pounder35]

I was attenpting to fly at a fairly large public event yesterday and I kept getting a No Signal message and a Strong Interfernce in the area message. I was trying to fly my P3A using DJI GO and an LG 8.3 tablet. I've flown from this spot several times before. I drove a few miles to a closed airfield that is now used to store FEMA trailers. I get a message that it's a no fly zone and couldn't get the motors to start. There hasn't been an airplane land there in probably 20 years and I've flown from that location before with my P2V. Getting frustrated I went back to the origional location. I noticed a drone in the air but it seemed to be on a crash decent into a bridge or the river. It was coming down at what appeared to be a 45 degree angle at a very fast speed. I lost sight of it. The local police department recently bought four P3Ps and I figured it was one of theirs. They might have lost a bird yesterday. Anyway I tried again to fly and had no problem. I did about a 7 minute flight around the event and landed. When I tried to take off again I got the same No Signal and Strong Interference message. Is it possible that officials were jamming the signal at some point and I just lucky and hit a time when the jamming was off? If so what would happen if you're flying and they start the jamming or you fly into the affected area. I'm thinking I could have lost my P3A yesterday and it's a scary thought.

 

[N017RW]

Jamming and GPS spoofing is illegal.

 

[pounder35]

Jamming and GPS spoofing is illegal.

Maybe for us mere mortals but what about police or government agencies? I'm sure we had FBI and maybe Secret Service in the area.

 

[Multicoptertec]

If you were getting interference when your bird was right next to you, that would have to be a pretty strong signal.

 

[pounder35]

My ears were ringing and it felt like my insides were heating up. Just kidding. I've got some connections with the local PD so I'll ask around. Is it possible the city flying their P3Ps could have caused the problem.

 

[BigAl07]

The permits and paper work to simply "test" such equipment is mind boggling. Did you check NOTAMS and such in the area just in case our Military were testing near by? It happens more than you think but there is usually a pretty wide safety margin listed in the NOTAMS for the area. It would also list the time of operations for the testing.

 

[pounder35]

The closest military facilities are 50 miles away so I don't think that would be a problem. I'm going to back the same spot later to check it out again.

 

[BigAl07]

The closest military facilities are 50 miles away so I don't think that would be a problem. I'm going to back the same spot later to check it out again.

50miles? That's not far at all. The last NOTAM I paid attention to that dealt with GPS was a 200mile area. But that usually happens off shore or out in the desert areas. It "could" happen anywhere briefly so that's always a possibility.

Here is a quick list of GPS NOTAMS in effect for today. Take note of the "Radius" for most of them is over 300NM

PilotWeb: Results Page

 

[pounder35]

Interesting and a little scary. I have a friend who flies light aircraft in the Eglin AFB, FL. area. I'm sure he's familiar with the topic.

 

[Air Ontario]

Maybe for us mere mortals but what about police or government agencies? I'm sure we had FBI and maybe Secret Service in the area.

If the SS were there for VIP protection, for sure their was cellular wifi and radio freq. electronic countermeasures. Whether any of those affected you is possible I suppose. Likely with the potential of drone threat, they have incorporated countermeasures for them also.

 

[pounder35]

If the SS were there for VIP protection, for sure their was cellular wifi and radio freq. electronic countermeasures. Whether any of those affected you is possible I suppose. Likely with the potential of drone threat, they have incorporated countermeasures for them also.

It could be I'm just being a conspiracy theorist. But it was an unusual coincidence. The President was at the event last year so security was really tight. I hadn't got into flying drones then. Probably a good thing. I might have gotten myself into some serious trouble.

 

[Air Ontario]

It could be I'm just being a conspiracy theorist. But it was an unusual coincidence. The President was at the event last year so security was really tight. I hadn't got into flying drones then. Probably a good thing. I might have gotten myself into some serious trouble.

I know they jam. I am just not sure of radius and whether they target drone freqs, but I can't imagine they wouldn't.

I once had a frequency on me that was not authorized to be in the inner security circle. Afterwards I was informed that I was called numerous times and couldn't be reached. No doubt it was electronically jammed.

 

[ianwood]

Signal jamming is VERY uncommon. You most likely encountered congestion in the 2.4GHz ISM bands from wireless systems in use by the event. If there was muni wifi in the area, then all the people were probably using it. Even worse a muni wifi with a malfunctioning repeater could cause all sorts of interesting issues.

 

[Trackman1]

Are you set on one channel? or auto. That could make a difference.