Idk if anyone had a similar problem before, but I live in EU by the countryside, at first there were only a few but now it happens more and more often to see drones passing over my house, I am sure they are civilian drones because law enforcement has no reason to use them since the area is quiet (and honestly I doubt they would be able to do so), however it bothers me enough to know that there are people who get over the fence and enter my property going to look at what they want, does anyone have any advice on what to do?
I think you have the legal right to prohibit flying above your property. Do it, make a sign and report everyone who violates it to the police. Flying on someone's property with a camera drone is illegal anyways.
EDIT: Also check if you legally can physically eliminate the drone in that case. It's the most effective strategy.
Drone pilot from Germany here, they have no place hovering over your property, more strictly even they're not allowed to fly in any way that allows them to view your garden from above.
You can shoot down the drone and it's their problem note that this is in Germany not the US (which surprised me tbh).
However, that said, could be that it's the same pilot again and again, even if it's different birds. Normally they are very cooperative, just ask them to stop and they'll apologize for any inconvenience caused.
The best bet is to let your local aviation authority know. They are generally the ones with the actual powers, as well as the knowledge to apply them.
At least in the UK, the laws cover anything that leaves the ground under an open sky. There are exceptions for RC toys and drones, but they have limits. One of the limits is you cannot fly within a certain distance of anyone or anything not under your control.
Basically, most places require your permission to fly over, or near to your land. If they are overflying, they are breaking the rules.
It's worth noting, depending on the size of the system, it can be difficult to judge distances. The ones I work with are large. We regularly have officials insisting we are massively out of our flight area. GPS logs show that it was well within the entire time.
"I think there's something wrong with the door switch on my old microwave oven. I've been testing it outside for safety, that's why it's out in the back yard pointing upwards with the door open."
I would go and have a look around, because usually they would be close by and ask them. I gly drones for 10+ years and if it's a sports drone, it's annoying and they should be pretty close. If it's a dji (slow moving around) they might be just nosy assholes.
I would give them the benefit of the doubt that they just fly there because like you said it's in the middle of nowhere. But flying over a house or property on purpose is not only a dick move, it's also dangerous annoying for all sides.
Apparently, old-fashioned spark radios can disrupt comms for consumer drones. There are kits for people who are interested in learning about early radio tech.
I'm not sure for the EU but in the USA the airspace above your private property is public domain and since drones are classified as aircraft they are entitled do fly over your property just as an airplane or helicopter might. When a drone is being used to record and surveillance it depends on local jurisdiction.
there's a software package floating around to hijack drones and remote control them yourself. it might be time to test the drone's security capabilities
Just looked it up for Germany: over residential areas you need either "an explicit permission of the owner", or "it is very light (<250g) and has no ability to record video, audio or radio" or "it is more then 100m above ground, not in the night and some other fingerprint" [1].
In all EU you actually need a registration on your some clearly visible [2].
So, of they are below 100m or in the night, just call the authorities. If you live a bit outside it might just not clear from above that it's private property.
commercial drones must have by law a remote ID, think of it like a unique number for each drone, so you might want to try using some phone apps like DroneTag to get that ID and then report it to the authorities. They will have a record of who that drone belongs to.
I'm somewhat surprised that there's no purchasable solution to this problem as all of the technology to make a short range drone interdiction system already exist. To detect one all that's necessary is an appropriate camera setup and a system hooked to it capable of recognizing them, both of which are already prevalent in the market. Add an inexpensive laser range finder so the system can know if the drone is truly over your property and at an altitude acceptable for interception.
Once that's done it becomes a matter of how to interdict the drone. One relatively safe option would be for the system to deploy a high speed short range interdiction drone to overfly the other drone and drop something on top of it meant to snarl its rotors, for instance fishing line with weights.
None of that is necessarily easy but its certainly doable.
Just to confirm the obvious. Downvotes are expected but OP you should read this.
They are close enough to see that they are quad copters, and they make a buzzing noise, correct?
There have been a lot of UAP flaps where the objects (not quad copter looking) will fly low over the countryside, just above the tree-lines to much higher. They usually make no noise aside from reports of static or screeching or electronic interference.
Unlikely to be the case but if so, report to your countries MUFON type department and get as much evidence (video with sound, drawings, time and date, etc) as you can.
There is something else out there, whether it's military black projects mapping areas or what have you, and it needs to be documented.
If it is for sure quad copter drones, you can get a device to blast the 2.4Ghz spectrum for a short time and make them 'phone home' and the operators will stop flying them over your property once they realize something wrong keeps happening when they do. Legality varies.