I'm wondering about what folks here on the board (licensed radio amateurs or not) in the US (and around the world?) think of the ARRL with respect to our mini-quad hobby in general and FPV in particular.

I know AARL are very protective of preserving bandwidth for the radio hobby and its membership and I recall they filed or joined a complaint against banned VTX's that transmit illegally (out of band and/or overpower limits), but I'm curious to know if there are other examples and reasons to either support or oppose them with respect to what we do with our little slice of the spectrum.

I know a few of you are hams and probably have other examples--interested in hearing if folks see the ARRL is an ally or otherwise.

Cheers!  

In other parts of the world having a HAM license does not allow you broadcast from an air-borne craft/model. 

In Australia a HAM license for FPV drones means nothing. FPV is not legal here: https://www.casa.gov.au/drones/rules/first-person-view unless you fly with an authorized club/association.

I've read a lot of bad things about the HAM operators in the US disliking the drone sector, so I probably wouldn't engage with them if it was me. Better to keep a low profile and under the radar IMO.

In the UK we can legally use 25mW for the 5.8GHz band on an airborne model without any type of license. However, even if pilots have a HAM license they still can't legally use a higher power level than 25mW, so a HAM license is completely useless to drone pilots in the UK. It is also the same in the EU and some other European countries that are outside of the EU.

Snow covers the standard operating procedure for all things long range, "keep a low profile and under the radar"

But with that said, in most cases Ham operators in the US are pretty much ambivalent about FPVers using the microwave frequencies we use. The lion share of frequencies used by Hams are sub-microwave, and really under 500Mhz.  

Several years ago I posted about this on 3 popular pages.  The response from most was "we don't care".  They didn't even care that some FPVers were using Ham portables for voice comms when flying without a license.  The oldtimers didn't like learning this, but the new generation did't seem to care.

Really, since when you fly LR you are violating several FAA regs, violating a few FCC regs isn't that much worse.  And if you are unfortunate enough to fly where a Ham is operating on your video frequency, you will be the one suffering because they likely will be operating on high power than you or using a directional antenna.  So their transmission will interfere with your video.

If you are concerned, get your licence.  You only need a technician license which is very easy to get.  Then you are legal to fly on those frequencies.  Power level, well depending the VTX you use you could be illegal even with a license.

Thanks for the replies--agreed and appreciated.

I got my HAM license last year, in part because I wanted to be legit, but also because I was generally interested in learning more about radio, electronics, etc.

Separate from the ham license though, I'm also curious how the ARRL--the national HAM operator "club" (paid membership) --feels about drones and FPV.  One of their key activities in lobbying the US federal government for keeping the ham bands free for members/radio users.  This could be fine (even good?) so long as they see us as rightful users too (which we generally are ).  Less so if they see us infringing on traditional radio applications.  On the whole, I think the radio hobby is open to new modes or uses of radio spectrum (especially for traditional communications purposes) and they seem to encourage experimentation and new modes in appropriate bands. 

I may try to give ARRL a call or email at some point and just ask where they stand on FPV.  I'd like to know because they potentially could have meaningful influence the FCC facing rules we live with.   FAA stuff is another matter.

Different HAM operator clubs may hold different opinions about FPV but they are surely not going to go out of their way to support us.

Even other model or RC enthusiasts hold different opinions about FPV.

Where I went flying this weekend there were a few CP Helicopter pilots flying and we had a good hour or so flying and talking about each others interests. Great people, don't get me wrong but when the topic of FPV and its legalities was brought up the conversation was very different.

My last comment on that topic was "What makes flying LOS a 2.5 kg 12S CP Heli any safer than flying FPV a 650g 5" quad?".

You should see one of those CP Helicopters fly in real life to understand what I am saying. They are monstrous, there is very little room for pilot error and a mechanical failure or flyaway without the right failsafe in place can result in some serious  damage and injuries.