Telecom lineman looking for for advice on drone to inspect lines
So, I am a telecommunications lineman and maintenance technician who has to repair and maintain a hybrid fiber coax plant.
One of my tasks is repairing coaxial cable that has radial cracks, or squirrel chew in back yard easements, that is very often difficult to find due to limited access, and having to lug around a 100lb fiberglass ladder to inspect and find it through multiple yards. At 40 years old, my shoulders are beginning to suffer from doing this every day...
I'm going to try and propose to my superiors investing in a drone to inspect backyard easement lines. Would need to be high resolution, with hopefully adjustable focus to inspect lines fairly close up (not auto adjust to what is the biggest object), and hopefully under/around $1k USD.
I would prefer something FPV, though that is not critical, as I wear glasses, and that can complicate things with headsets, though I have no issues getting contacts.
Would like a flight time of ~30+ minutes, and <250 grams as I am located next to an international airport and would rather not have to register it, as I will rarely be flying above pole tops. I was looking at the DJI Avata 2, but it looks like for my area, the GPS might not even let it take off as with battery, it's over 250g...
Would also prefer something with fairly simple controls, as I would be new to drone operation. I used to kick butt with helicopters in the older battlefield games 20 years ago, but that was a different life, lol.
Any recommendations or personal experience with using drones or specific drones for close-up inspections would be appreciated.