FLIR in helicopters(outdoor)

I just talked to my friend who is a gov't defense contractor. He has worked on this FLIR technology. Apparently it is true that marijuana gives off a different wavelength signal while looking from the sky, and this technology is used to find grows. And I am strictly talking about outdoor growing. This technology obviously works concerning indoor growing. I just want to beware outdoor growers that this is a true threat. He mentioned that it is unlikely that they will target small patchy grows, and that they mainly search for the huge grow ops(100-1000 plants).

His suggestion was to make sure to have your plots spread out, 2 or 3 in a group.

hope this helps

do the weed plants have enough of a wavelength difference to spot a couple intersperced with other plants, or do the weed plants have just enough difference in wavelength to spot them in groups of the different wavelength? sorry for the weird question but I've always been curious on that.

You're telling me that weed plants give off different wavelengths of infrared? I don't know if that makes much sense to me.

I don't know that they would really be able to detect any plants outdoors unless they were giving off some sort of infrared that thermal imaging could pick up. I don't think Marijuana plants do that....but if I'm wrong, show me where the correct information is. I'm looking for and have yet to find it

i was always thought pot gived off a certen heat sig.?

i'm not buying it. otherwise they would find it all.

i've also heard this before. they dont find it all because the choppers still have to be at a reasonably low level to use the technology. and there's so many millions of acres to fly over that they can only get to a certain portion. the cost of flying is to expensive therefore they cant and won't cover all the land.

personally ive never seen or even heard helicopters anywhere near the places i frequent in the summer (knock on wood) but its definitely scary and a threat.

they'd find it all if we didnt spend money on our chopper fuel in Iraq....not enough for po-9 here in the states, it costs a lot to keep one running for more than a few days a month...also im sick of helicopter threads...if you're concerned and you dont believe anything on here, you obviously have a computer with internet, go to google and search what you want to know, its simple....I did that and came across a shit load of info, i tried posting some of it in a few threads on this topic and nobody listens, do it yourself, i think its quite obvious that nobody in here has any real direct knowledge of the cops equipment so stop asking...do research, and good luck to everyone living in fear of that damn bird....though i personally like planting near places that would be classified as "under their nose"....cuz they figure nobody would be stupid enough to plant it where everyone can see it...lol

peace and chicken grease

yeah. I believe a few of you hit the nail on the head....the reasons they don't find them all are cost of fuel, cost of travel, cost of FLIR equipment, millions of acres in the US and the fact that most police dep'ts do not have the resources. He said that one of the FLIR pieces on a helicopter would cost them a good $10,000. He also said that this equipment is so extensive, that they have one of these pieces on the space station, stating that they could easily spot any marijuana plant in the nation. The comforting side to this is that they only use it to spot problems with food crops. I have no reason to doubt what he says is true... he knows so many of our nation's capabilities, b/c he had a part in designing them.

also yes, the way the flir works is by the heat "signature" it gives off. Corn, tomatoes, trees, grass, weeds- they all give off a different wavelength of heat??...Someone correct me if I'm wrong(don't know exactly how it works)

I just want to assure people that yes this technology is out there....whether it is used to spot our crops...who knows....

weedyoo said:

i was always thought pot gived off a certen heat sig.?

Click to expand...

Heat is infrared.

if ur worried about the popo then put a plant inbetween some brush to hide em

Hey All

In my former life i worked with IR technology (i was an electrical engineer). Allthough its true that every animal, plant and other living things give off different heat signitures, spotting 1-10 plants together using IR is basicly non cost effective and almost impossible. Every living thing on the planet runs at a different tempiture- humans at 98.6, dogs at 96 or so, reptiles are cold blooded so they conform to thier enviorments (they do retain heat longer than the atmosphere - which makes it possible to spot them- barely)- but in plants the tempiture difference is so small the it is virtually unditectable. The best IR technology, used by the military, would have a very very difficult time picking up your plants, plus the operator would have to be highly trained in specificly pot detection. Now state and local police DO NOT have this technology plus they can not afford it. I once worked as a consultant for one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the country ( a consultant, i didnt work for them, i am an expert in certain network technolgies- basicly a computer geek) and this agengy had budget larger than some small cities in the US. This agency owned 12 bell and sakorsky helo's- all state of the art. I was doing an install and upgrade in one of the hangers and was talking to them about a brand new sakorsky they just purchased. They showed me every thing, from the IR system to and unbelievable communication system thy just got from motorola. I started picking their brain about the IR and they all basiclly laughed when i asked about weed detection and intradiction. They said they had a hard enough time using it to find lost people none the less weed. One thing i found interesting, and i kinda knew it, was that they said after a hot day, the landscape holds alot of heat and everything just basicly blends together. They basiclly said that IR basiclly works best in cold weather (to give contrast), winter and sping being the best and summer fall being the worst. As they said, the way they catch growers are when some (excuse the term) dope plants 30-40 plants together and when everything goes brown in the fall the patch is still green from the air or by the grower opening his big mouth to a friend who gives him up when he gets pinched. Just spread your plants around and keep your lips closed and the chances of anyone finding them or lockin you up are very slim. And dont sweat the IR, we aint up to that point in affordable technolgy to worry about it yet. On a side note, i did have an old friend who did get pinched by IR, but he was growing in a 40 ft container buried under ground at a farm his family owned. Now THEY CAN SEE THAT!!!! When your flying along at 500 ft and the ground glows in a 40x15 foot oval (due to the 6-8 1000watt hids) they re gonna check that out, but thats a whole different story. Thats just not natural and they will look at that closely. Hes currently doing a dime in one of the state pens because he got greedy and didnt think about every angle of his grow- but thats for a different discussion- sorry for rambling, but i tend to do that after a spoon and a subject that i am familiar with

see ya

PB

BTW zoneman- $10,000 for state of the art IR- try more like $60,000 up for state of the art, military quality

Heres a great artical on ir detection written for snipers in the military. It can explain the capabilities to you guys better than i can

Infra Red Detection and the Sniper

PB

I always thought the FLIR systems were designed to track the heat signatures of light sources (HPS, etc.) that were being used to grow the weed, not the acutal plant itself.

in Hawaii, "Operation Green Harvest" has been taking infrared photos of peoples crops since the late 70's!!!

Ah, 'fdd2blk', you better start believing the technology brah. It's for real pal. In the Big Island of Hawaii, and I'm sure the rest of the islands use this technology too. Growers over the years have had the ability to be recourceful with their guerilla operations. Constantly finding new ways to hide their plants from the "eyes in da skies". So the DEA with the aid of local police enforcement have now figured a new way out to use this technology. The DEA figured the average grower would try to hide their plants making it hard to spot from a 'chopper'. So the Feds now in Hawaii can locate crops from the heat given off from their fertilizers they use on their plants.

Personally, I don't worry to much about these steel birds in the sky. If I did I'b be bald right now. Because where I live in Hawaii(Puna), the choppers fly six days a week!!! DEA has black choppers, the county of Hawaii has yellow choppers, and every tour op that has one is usually multicolored. Since I live less than one hour away from the 'Volcano National Park', tour choppers are always flying over our place.

Yes, all the technology that is talked about on this thread is real. For those who don't wanna believe it...make sure you get a bottom bunk in the Federal joint. Oh, and a job with UNICOR too.

Contrary to popular belief, energy in the infrared spectrum is not necessarily heat. For our purposes, lets say that there are 2 portions of the electromagnetic spectrum in the infrared region; Reflected IR and Thermal IR. (Reflected IR being in the .7-3.8 um wavelength and thermal IR (heat) is from 3.8 um to approx 800 um). Forward looking infrared systems (FLIR) can "see" images anywhere from 3-5 um and 8-12 um (the atmosphere blinds the systems from 5-8 um). Pot plants do have a specific "signature" in this spectrum(and other spectrums), as do all plant species. While this might sound disconcerting, the cost of this type of system is very high, and they do not routinely fly looking for small grow ops. They look where they already have suspicion to look. Also, the resolution on these systems is also not nearly as good as standard photography, so if one were to keep their grow sites small (2-3 plants is what was previously suggested, and that sounds about right to me, but you could probably get away with a few more.) the sensors on these might not register the plants, or if it does, the person interpreting the image will think of it as an anomaly in the image or something minor. To make a long story short, they wont bother you if you keep everything small.

As a word of advice to all growers (indoor and outdoor) there are many ways one could be busted, and FLIR is only one of the many. Growers tese days have to worry about a multitude of remote sensing systems such as across track scanners, TIMS (Thermal infrared multispectral scanner), Along track scanners, such as Multispectral electro-optical imaging scanners (MEIS). One of the most dangerous sensors to indoor growers is the VANSCAN system, which operates from the side of a van and can take images of houses in the thermal IR spectrum (ie. it can detect heat escaping from your house). So be careful!

Hey Puna Bud

Not looking for a flame war or such, but if your stating that they are looking for heat plumes off ferts, your very misinformed. Maybe in the Islands its different, but here in the north east US every farmer and gardner who grows veggies, flowers and grass (like lawn) use ferts from scotts, all the way to ammonium nirate. Do they give off heat- sure they do, but so does compost piles, septic systems and rotting leaves. Like i've said, FLIR can be effective on grow operations, but mostly on large operations using lights in a sheds, homes or undergrownd. I know that they look for color differences in the landscape to see unusual "patches". I also know that the NYS police do not have top shelf IR, they just dont have the funds. They get Fed grants and such, and do sometimes buy top shelf stuff, but that equipment also need the operator to be trained to military standards. FLIR is a great technology, but its not very effective on finding a few plants here and there. Now am i telling you its not possible- no way, i wont say that, but what im saying is that the funding for training and equipment just isnt there. Like i said maybe its different on the big islands, but here in the north east, if i see a chopper every month its alot, and they are flying so fast they couldnt even find a person if they were looking for them. later

PB

I have read enough to know it is only with big condensed grows can they detect Heat and can record it and later have a machine review it so see if any signatures were detected. Only large and big. As far a sattelite's those misconceptions have been around for years since big brother of the book "1994". If the satelites could detect that much they could have found Hoffa and Bin laden (sp?) by now!

ya i call BS

wow pitbull very nice information, helped out a lot + rep