reasons for choppers hovering near private property?

[Flying Goat]

A lil delicious, indeed! I would not worry about the choppers, mate. Much higher chance someone would rat you out under pressure from LEO. Best thing is never tell anyone about your grow.

I live in a rural area with no other homes for about 1/2 mile or more each way. We get copters over the house at least 2 or 3 times a week. After paying attention, I discovered they are either: 1) Air Force choppers heading to/from Pensacola, or; 2) Coast Guard choppers from Mobile on a training exercise.

Once you take time to actually OBSERVE instead of worry, things calm down a lot.

Still, paranoia is a very healthy state in which to live, particularly if you grow this herb. Some of us with severe medical conditions are forced to take the risk, nevertheless.

It comes down to the fact that I'm more afraid of what my illness, left untreated, can do to me than what being in jail can do to me. However, if I am in jail, my illness WILL go untreated... so there you are.

At least I have 25+ years of medical documentation/history to fall back on. When I was busted in Texas, I was in jail for only 4 hours. The charges were eventually dropped & I never even had an arraignment hearing.

Good luck.

 

[Synthettek]

I think its about grow factories, the heat signature from a room full of 1000w grow lights is gonna way surpass a 1500w heater

Yeah I agree bro. I mean in all honesty they'd love to bust all the huge operations... but I'm sure if they knew 'for sure' about a small grow they wouldn't hesitate to act....

 

[Chronic777]

Ifits been a slow week for arrests im sure they'd prefer to bust a peaceful grower over a knife weilding crack head, but im sure when most of them were kids dreaming of being police officers they wanted to fight real criminals, not hippies, but the system they run off is just like anywhere else, more busts = higher salary

 

[Guywithoutajeep]

It's pretty difficult to differentiate between heat sources using thermal imaging. If I had a warehouse grow and choppers were overhead I'd be scared, but it takes a lot of definitive evidence from thermal imaging to gain access to a residence. It's almost never conclusive that the heat sources are from a grow op.

In the end I worry the most about my neighbors. I shouldn't even worry since I'm legal, but I still do.

 

[TexasToker]

Okay, okay. I wouldn't say all that. I'll just tell them that my taxes pay their salaries and they need to go mess with real criminals. I wouldn't want police officers to feel thouroughly unwelcome here.

They pay taxes too buddy. Same as the military, so in actuality their own income pays their wages...per se.

About the FLIR crap. As said earlier most FLIRs look for the exhaust plumes. I used to work/operate FLIR weapon systems. You can diffuse your exhaust and it would look just like a dryer vent if not less. S/HH-60H (1 gen. back Spec-Ops Helo) use diffusers on the engine exhaust in order to hide their heat signature from IR weapons.

"Additionally, airframe improvements in engine exhaust deflectors provide infrared thermal reduction reducing the threat of heat-seeking missiles."

^ Wiki

 

[TexasToker]

Man, you really need to relax. You are threatening a government aircraft on a public forum. If you think feds don't look at these sites you are mistaken. I would smoke a bowl and watch some 'Tom and Jerry'.

*You are not coming across very well on this forum if you had not noticed.

 

[Synthettek]

I would smoke a bowl and watch some 'Tom and Jerry'.

*You are not coming across very well on this forum if you had not noticed.

This is some very good advice coming thru here.

 

[Kasperian]

saftey is always the best concern,.peace

 

[Flying Goat]

Most def, Bull, write as if your lil sister was looking over yer shoulder...

 

[Flying Goat]

If you use a mylar grow tent or whatever, you can tape a thermometer to the outside (shielded from sunlight) which will tell you the temperature of the outside of the tent. If the center of the outside of the tent is hot (where the bulb is), then logically there is a "hot spot."

This can be dealt with by erecting a tent around the outside of the 1st tent, with plenty of air space moving in between & venting to atmosphere. Another way is to add foil-backed insulation (about 4" thick) to the roof of the 1st tent.

There are many ways to deal with it if you put your mind to it. Think of it as a water heater, not a light. Main thing is not to create a fire hazard while blocking the heat signature.

Quit panicking, everyone. If LEO does use FLIR to mark your grow for a bust, they MUST have other reliable evidence against you in order to obtain a warrant. Absent this other evidence, you are quite safe.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

I watched a tv program the other day (UK BBC three) showing helicopters using heat detection equipment & you dont see spread out heat over the house, you see the actual bulb itself glowing bright as fuck, through peoples roofs!
Sorry for the bad news but its very very obvious with the equipment they used in the program thats its a grow bulb. This little tube of intense heat...standing out from the other roof tops...

Some ground level heat detection equipment seems to measure heat around windows doors etc...this helicopter one just directly showed bulbs in peoples houses, clear as day thats its a grow bulb

Ive had choppers fly over mine & hover, at the end of the day i reckon they were watching my room, but i can't stop my grow, what am i gonna do, kill my plant that im in love with? Hell no! If theres a chance you'll pack up & stop then maybe think about it, but i know this far into it i can't possibly stop, so no point stressing about it...

there is no camra that can see through walls.

no flir can see through wall with such detail.

not calling you a liar, but....

 

[armedoldhippy]

from the tech report i read, it takes a MINIMUM of 400 watts to generate enough heat to show up. i HOPE that is right...

 

[Flying Goat]

Armed is correct. So members growing with anything less than 400w can sleep easily...

 

[pthway4]

Be scared!!!! I would suspect they used a FLIR ( Foward looking InfaRed ) but more than likely they used a hand held device similiar to a NIFTY used in the US navy for Damage control. They all do the same although I wouldn't worry about it..I have a friend who was a grower/fireman and "borrowed" a infared unit for an experiment with a 1000 HPS..nor read no worries... Be safe and clean up or move the grow somewhere else..

 

[Synthettek]

Armed is correct. So members growing with anything less than 400w can sleep easily...

This thread alone has put much of my paranoia to rest.
thank you everyone!
haha

 

[TroubleGuy]

I just wonder how thin can a surface be before they can see a bulb on the other side?
Lets say you put a 400w bulb in a plastic growtent, outdoors in the open air, the walls of the tent will be cool, so does that mean they cant see the hot bulb just cause a sheet of plastic is covering it?

Yeah man. Let's say you have a 1,000 watt lamp 3 feet from a thin (few millimeter thick) "panda plastic" wall for your growroom, and the heat from the light disperses evenly in a pattern on that wall. It might create a heat pattern on the surface of the plastic wall warm enough and in enough detail to know it's a light. I say might, because FLIR works off surface temperature, and if growroom temperates are properly maintained and everything is ventilated properly (room within a room!), no excess heat should show to begin with.

Combine that with the knowledge that your house has thick, insulated walls and you should be able to see how ridiculous some of the paranoia on this forum is (and why room within a room is a great way to go!)

Hope this helps

 

[OMountainMix]

watch your trash. they'll look there if they suspect and that's where they'll get what they need for a warrant.

watch your financials. that's how they bust a lot of people.