Hi jaja6009
You seem to be very knowledgeable on this subject. For this Holy Stone device it seems to me that only a 500 foot transmission distance for tracking apps is fairly worthless to public . Wondering if authorities or law enforcement is using tracking devices that can detect at longer ranges and if so what the distance that may be? In addition also curious if authorities are recording or if flights are be saved or stored on server in real time.
I am in Public Safety and I am our city's sUAS coordinator. Here is what I have seen firsthand along with some other items from research.
There are various companies offering their own drone tracking solutions. These usually have DJI Aeroscope for DJI drones along with an expensive RF solution for other drones. I never asked the full range but the one we borrow from the state police is in the 10's of miles since I was able to see my own personal drone at home on their drone flights list. Unfortunately I have yet had the time to sit down with the state police operator and get the full specs. We ask for the system for a special event, they set it up and send us reports. During an air show they found and had patrol units find the operator of a DJI Air that was flying during the air show. Patrol was knocking on the door within 10 minutes of the drone going up.
For apps like Drone Scanner, a lot is going to be on the phone being used an its Wifi and Bluetooth antennas and such. Some will perform better than others. But there is some hardware out there dedicated to this on Android systems, and I would wager that Drone Scanner would be much more effective with proper antennas, designed for the task.
There are other more secretive systems out there too.
I attended and worked at the community college. They have a great sUAS program with various contacts in the industry, including the FAA. Here are two stories that let you know someone is watching.
The FAA anti-drone testing operates out of KACY and the various FAA facilities there.
A professor told a friend in the FAA at KACY that his class that day would be flying outside as he taught them how to do LAANC during a conversation.
The next day, the FAA friend asked the professor why they had not flown that day. He obviously did this to make you go hmmmmm.
Another adjunct instructor left the college to work at the FAA in the anti-drone facility. She hints but does not confirm that they have or are working on ways to control, disable or bring down drones.
I have a Cat S62 phone and I was able to use Drone Scanner on a drone and operator that was 1500 feet away. This was in an area at a closed airport with no trees or buildings.