tracking collars vs. GPS

[cat guy]

What did you do to the antena on the DC20 to get that kind of range?
Brian

[nightowl24]

cat guy take the black part off of the ant. stretch out the wire to 16", then wrap it in shrink wrap put it up the collar like a traditional radio collar, zip tie the ant to the collar. take duct tape and wrap around the connection of the ant and the orange part, take duct tape and split long ways wrap around the transmitter to the collar.

you get more range, your connection doesn't break, and the backing doesn't break.

[jbc67]

Thanks for all the responses. Another follow up question for you though: Do the garmins still work well in the trees?

[broncobilly]

Garmins use radio signals to send the gps location information from the dc 20 to the astro 220 so you can read it. Water degrades radio signals, both garmin radio signals and tracking collar signals. Trees vary from 40 to 85 percent water, depending on the kind of tree, soil moisture, time of year, and several other factors. Therefore, increasing tree density will increase the degradation of both garmin and radio tracking systems, at an approximately equal rate. For instance, if you have a line of sight range of 18 miles with a tracking collar, and 7 with the garmin, and you are in an area where the trees are thick enough to degrade signal by 50 percent, then you will have 9 miles of range with the tracking collar, and 3.5 miles of range with the garmin.

Bill

[NICK RILEY]

I use a garmin last winter and thought it was the greatest. Not only did it do everything the other posts mentioned, but it taught Me a lot about my dogs. I could follow them on the screen to see witch dog was in the lead, who was circling the tree,if they started backtracking,etc.....It lets you know where the truck is, the direction your going, how far you have gone at all times.Best hunting tool I have found in a long time.

[FullCryHounds]

I have a question for you guys that have used one. Can you track more then one dog at a time? Sounds like maybe you can. I have a chance to pick up a brand new Astro just for cutting down a couple of trees.

[nightowl24]

you can track up to 10 dogs...

[az_gogetem]

and it will show them all to you at the same time on the map if you want. or you can look at just one collar.

For just a couple trees it's worth it just for the gps. the astro uses a miniSD memory card. with my 1GB card i have uploaded topo maps for the entire state of Arizona, pretty handy when you're in new places. No more guessing where roads are or how far you are from the nearest watering hole etc etc.

[FullCryHounds]

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll hang on to the older style collar and just pick up a newer style next month.

[Jarret]

i have been running in the steep mountains and have hardly any trouble with signal. the signal gets lost once in a while but always pops back up within seconds. i dont think i will ever run my dogs without the gps its to much fun to watch them run on the screen.

[BlacktailStalker]

Hey Jarret where in BC are you ?

I've been wondering about the reception here (central to north Vancouver Island) where I'll be hunting its the steepest, nastiest stuff around, topped off with old growth or really dense second growth but its where I see/find the most cat sign, well the big ones anyways.

[Jarret]

I'm near Radium Hot springs

[12-GAUGE]

Marshall 4000 and the Marshall Powermax collars can't be beat as far as radio collars go. I have tried them all. The Marshall system is by far the most accurate. You can find your wallet empty after buying the set up, but as long as you have a collar attatched to it, you can still find it. You can track basically down to within 2-3 yards with the Marshall 4000. It is very accurate. I love mine. As I have said, I have tried all the systems out there. I have never used a Johnson box, but I have used the others.


12-Gauge