Virtual1
Well-Known Member
- Join
- Nov 19, 2017
- Messages
- 191
- Age
- 52
have your friend hide it in a large open tall grass field. you will see the problem 
The tile has an advantage here in the "last mile" (last 30 feet actually) of the hunt, in that your phone can give you a fairly good warmer/colder indication and you can use that to get within a few feet of it, once it's in range of the phone. Before that, it will be no help at all. Here's what it's all going to come down to: If you can use your flight log to get yourself within a few hundred feet of the spark, the tile WILL lead you to your spark, almost guaranteed. The challenge is getting that close to begin with.
If you can do that using your flight log, that combined with your tile will make a great recovery system. if however your flight log isn't being helpful, you'll have a big problem trying to get close enough for your tile to register on your phone. This is a BIG problem with a fly-away, because the spark will continue to fly who-knows-how-far after you have lost contact with your spark and are no longer receiving new position indications to record in your flight log. The best you can do is walk the line it was headed in from the point it was at when you lost it and hope you stumble on it shortly down the path.
An independent GPS tracker can provide a backup location indication, that will get you within probably about 10-20 feet of the spark. From there you will be on your own, but hopefully you can scour that small patch and find it. This position indication will continue to update even after your spark has landed and powered down. As long as it has cell and gps service, a fairly precise location will be available for you in the cloud and you can just walk to that spot using your cell phone as a gps and start looking for it. Theoretically a GPS tracker combined with a tile would be a really good combination, but getting in the vicinity of the spark is clearly more important than speeding up the final search.
If it gets hung up in a tree, that will greatly improve the tile's range if it's near the ground, otherwise it will provide a weaker signal over a large area and not give you any indication it's 60 feet above you, probably tricking you into spending a lot of time searching the bushes below. GPS will give you elevation in addition to x,y so you will know if you're treed or in a rain gutter on a roof etc.
(FYI I have extensive experience in radio signal tracking, I do most of my hunting with a homemade Roanoke Doppler)
The tile has an advantage here in the "last mile" (last 30 feet actually) of the hunt, in that your phone can give you a fairly good warmer/colder indication and you can use that to get within a few feet of it, once it's in range of the phone. Before that, it will be no help at all. Here's what it's all going to come down to: If you can use your flight log to get yourself within a few hundred feet of the spark, the tile WILL lead you to your spark, almost guaranteed. The challenge is getting that close to begin with.
If you can do that using your flight log, that combined with your tile will make a great recovery system. if however your flight log isn't being helpful, you'll have a big problem trying to get close enough for your tile to register on your phone. This is a BIG problem with a fly-away, because the spark will continue to fly who-knows-how-far after you have lost contact with your spark and are no longer receiving new position indications to record in your flight log. The best you can do is walk the line it was headed in from the point it was at when you lost it and hope you stumble on it shortly down the path.
An independent GPS tracker can provide a backup location indication, that will get you within probably about 10-20 feet of the spark. From there you will be on your own, but hopefully you can scour that small patch and find it. This position indication will continue to update even after your spark has landed and powered down. As long as it has cell and gps service, a fairly precise location will be available for you in the cloud and you can just walk to that spot using your cell phone as a gps and start looking for it. Theoretically a GPS tracker combined with a tile would be a really good combination, but getting in the vicinity of the spark is clearly more important than speeding up the final search.
If it gets hung up in a tree, that will greatly improve the tile's range if it's near the ground, otherwise it will provide a weaker signal over a large area and not give you any indication it's 60 feet above you, probably tricking you into spending a lot of time searching the bushes below. GPS will give you elevation in addition to x,y so you will know if you're treed or in a rain gutter on a roof etc.
(FYI I have extensive experience in radio signal tracking, I do most of my hunting with a homemade Roanoke Doppler)
