[NRVR-Members] Tracking Beacon/System Reccomendations?

Fri Aug 24 10:41:36 CDT 2018

Oops - forgot this is a no-attachment list

Kind of depends on where you are and how far you might drift.  I have not tried live tracking with the beacon because I haven't had the time to try foxhunting with it.

The BRB GPS is very good and the range is great. I used it on both my L2 and L3. My L2 went out of sight >1/2 mile away and we drove straight to within a 100m of where it landed. The KML data I got from my L3 shows the exact location where I hit the New River. It's small enough for normal-people HPR, but won't fit in my 29mm minimum diameter (or I might have found it after the last flight). 

I've only flown the RF-v16 in low power, and never lost sight of the birds, but it will happily text back its GPS coordinates confirming where it is. It also won't fit in a 29mm, and requires a GSM signal and an active SIM card. It's hard to secure to an ebay board as it doesn't have exterior mounting screws. I usually put it into a sealed compartment, but have also flown it once in a plastic container which was tied to the shock cord. 

The Eggfinder appeared to have some assembly QA issues - aka I screwed something up during assembly).  It worked fine when I first finished it, and the receiver/BT link to my phone for finding the device was super convenient. OTOH, it was clearly less powerful than the Big Red Bee. Side-by-side, but completely unscientific*, testing showed probably a 2:1 or 3:1 range advantage for the Big Red Bee (*I left the trackers on the front porch and drover around my neighborhood with the receivers). After sitting for ~2 months, the next time I powered it up there was a lot of heat  in the transmitter IC and no RF signal. It would fit in a 29mm, but would have to be end-to-end with avionics - I couldn't get both it and my Raven to nest back to back in a 29mm coupler. The BRB does have a longer standard antenna as it operated on 430MHz vs Eggtimer's 900MHz, and the Eggtimer does not require a license. 

L3 Flight Track Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/606j86jlxex03ls/Google%20Earth%20Image.jpg?dl=0

--
Jordan
On 8/24/2018 11:12:12 AM, David Bloom <dwskb at att.net> wrote:
Which one works best for HPR?
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 8/24/18, Jordan Truesdell wrote:

Subject: Re: [NRVR-Members] Tracking Beacon/System Reccomendations?
To: "Peter Cadra via NRVR-Members"
Date: Friday, August 24, 2018, 10:49 AM

I have four - a
beacon on 70cm, a GPS on 70cm (both BigRedBee), an RF-v16
(GPS tracker over GSM/SMS), and an Eggfinder (one which
failed before I flew it but after testing, and one still in
kit form). Any particular questions?
--Jordan
On 8/24/2018 8:59:59
AM, Captain_Zero Residential School Bus of Ten Forward
wrote:

I was wondering what folks would reccomend for using as a
means of tracking. I've looked at a couple of different
types and methods, but beyond product descriptions and user
reviews there are, I'm not too sure on the pros and
cons.

Any suggestions/reccomendations from folks who routinely use
tracking systems in their stuff?

Caitlyn A. Stone, KE8FNY

__

B.S. Aerospace Engineering

B.S. Meteorology

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Class
of 2018

__

P.O. Box 73

Mullens, WV 25882

__

castone at vt.edu

uss.defiant-a at live.com

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