Lost Anatum Peregrine Falcon, Rapid City SD

[bworkman]

I just wanted to let everyone know that my 2016 captive bred female Anatum is lost.

I was flying her Southeast of Rapid City, SD when she checked a turkey vulture and chased it out of sight and telemetry range. I've searched all directions out to about 80 mile radius by car and by plane to no avail.

She was last seen flying South from the Spring River valley about 25 miles due East of Hermosa, SD. Her band number is CV10776. She was wearing a track pack with a powermax transmitter. The transmitter had a new battery in it, and it's frequency is 216.035.

If anyone should happen to get a signal on this bird, or hear of a lost falconry bird sighting, please give me a call at 501-529-5200.

[sharptail]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I will notify my apprentice, Ron C. in Spearfish and my wife in Hulett, Wyo.. You should message Forrest K. at Wood, SD. He goes by Dakota here on Nafex.

[sharptail]

Dan O'Brian is also South East of the hills. You may want to make contact with him.

[sharptail]

I also notified John L. at Whitewood. Ron should be calling you soon.

[bworkman]

Thank you Jeff for the support.

[gyrhybrid]

Billy,

I want you to try something, and if it works, then let me know on Nafex the results.

On Nafex about a year ago, someone stated that throughout the states there are ham radio operators, with their tall antennae like a towering omni directional for retrieving signals. They are usually looking for something to entertain themselves.

So on Nafex, someone gave the name, "amateur ratio relay league"
1-860-594-0200

If this number is too general, then ask them to send messages to all, in your state.

[Dakota]

When exactly did you loose her? There was one seen near here last week. I will see if I get any signal.

[sharptail]

When exactly did you loose her? There was one seen near here last week. I will see if I get any signal.Hi Forrest, Billy told me that he lost her on Sat. 8/13

[bworkman]

That is right Forrest. It was Saturday 8/13, about between 9:00 and 9:30 am.

[bworkman]

Good suggestion Roger! I'll give that a try.

[Captain Gizmo]

Billy,

I want you to try something, and if it works, then let me know on Nafex the results.

On Nafex about a year ago, someone stated that throughout the states there are ham radio operators, with their tall antennae like a towering omni directional for retrieving signals. They are usually looking for something to entertain themselves.

So on Nafex, someone gave the name, "amateur ratio relay league"
1-860-594-0200

If this number is too general, then ask them to send messages to all, in your state.

The Ham community likes to do things like this.

There are a few problems. 216 is not an amateur frequency. The 1 1/4 meter Ham band is 220 to 225 MHz. Most Ham activity is FM. Only a minority of Hams will be equipped to receive outside the band edges and in CW (Continuous Wave) mode. Ham stations with the right equipment do exist. A 220-225 MHz Yagi antenna can be stretched to receive 216 MHz with moderate loss of performance. You will do best to check in with you local and state clubs to find Operators with the needed capability.

UHF is a little better. If you have put in the 4 hours of study to get a Ham license you have paid your dues and are now a member of the fraternity asking for assistance. 433 and 434 MHz are inside the 70 cm Ham band. This portion of the band is lightly used but many UHF Ham operators are equipped to tune these frequencies. CW mode capability is less common, but those Hams who like to compete in long distance UHF communications generally use a CW (Morse Code) format. At UHF 100 miles qualifies as long distance. Local VHF/UHF clubs would be the good source of contacts again.

And don't bother with "repeaters". They are all FM voice mode. No help!

Regards,
Thomas of the Desert

[gyrhybrid]

Billy,

Reference the "Amateur Radio Relay League", besides the phone number I gave, there is more information on Google search engine to evaluate. If they appear to be a reliable source, maybe you could find out some information for future use:

Example, how far apart are these ham operators in miles, what is the range on their antennaes and do they overlap with other operators, giving them the frequency and estimated pulse range can these operators provide useful assistance, they would need to check several times a day or the life of the battery, then there is how may hundreds of miles would you estimate the usefulness of these ham people, do they seem interested in helping or are they preoccupied with other things. You could remind then every other day so that urgerncy is real and only temporary due to the life of the transmitter battery.

[Dakota]

I looked back at my PM's and e-mails. It was late afternoon on the 13th. Coming home from work about 20 miles west of here. It looked like and flew like a young female Peregrine. Highly unusual this time go year. I contacted John Linstrom and Ed Fitch to see if they knew of any lost birds. She was ringing up over some ponds, I about crashed my truck trying to keep an eye on her. I tried today to get a signal but didn't. There is an airport in Winner SD, there is a guy there that will take you up. He is an old coyote hunter and will land his plane anywhere. Not cheap but worth the try. Usually the planes are successful and can cover a lot of area.

[bworkman]

Forrest,

I was up searching by plane on Tuesday and Wednesday with no luck. Is it out by Winner where you saw the peregrine?

[gyrhybrid]

Billy,

I was typing my last post when Tom Munson was simultaneously doing his, and he submitted moments before mine, so my information my not apply anymore, your choice.

Sorry, the two day plane ride didn't produce results. The bird could be hundreds of miles away, or it could return to the launch point and be looking for you for food. Some birds at hack, have a tendency to return after about a week. I had a gyr/barbary that was lost, and I drove hundreds of miles in all directions with no signal results, then on the fourth day, she returned within a half mile of the launch point and the transmitter was pounding loud and clear, bird retrieved.

[Captain Gizmo]

This is from a post I did for a fellow on IFF. You may already be doing these things, or one of them may be a useful improvement. Your plan should be to sweep as many square miles as possible in the available time. A fast aircraft covers more ground but usually does poorly in the land anywhere category.

1. Try to use a high wing aircraft. Mount the antenna below and as well clear of the wing as practical.
--Struts can be useful as mounting points. Keep the antenna elements clear of the struts.
--Vibration in aircraft can loosen any fasteners you use. Threadlocker, jam nuts, and self locking nuts are in order.
2. Yes you can use a Yagi, or better yet two of them.
3. Mount the antennas pointing at right angles to the path of flight.
--You want to see as far to each side of the flight path of the aircraft as possible.
--Gain in the forward direction of the flight path is not very useful, you are going to go there.
4. Listen to the antenna on each side separately. Do not connect the cables from the two antennas together at the receiver.
--Counsel of luxury is two listeners and two receivers, one on each antenna.
--Next best is a co-axial switch to let you flip from one antenna to the other.
--Elaborate versions can use relay switches and a control timer to automatically flip from one antenna to the other.
--Listen alternately for 30 to 60 seconds on each side.
--Consider using larger cable. RG8 has less loss per foot than RG58.
5. Use noise cancelling headsets. Makes a considerable improvement in the sensitivity of your ears.
--Most telemetry receivers should have noise blanker capability to suppress the RF noise generated by the engine ignition system.
6. Generally fly as high as practical. If an extra 1000 feet altitude gives you a peek over the top of a ridge this could be critical.
--Consider aircraft equipped with oxygen masks, or rent a portable system.

Regards,
Thomas of the Desert

[bworkman]

Thank you Tom for the excellent advice. I didn't have a sofisticated yagi set up when I was able to go up looking for her. I have since made contact with a pilot that has a double yagi set up on his plane. However, his antennas are tuned for a much lower band. He didn't feel that he could do much better than I had already been doing with my single yagi, so we didn't push it any further.

[rkumetz]

Billy,

Reference the "Amateur Radio Relay League", besides the phone number I gave, there is more information on Google search engine to evaluate. If they appear to be a reliable source, maybe you could find out some information for future use:

Example, how far apart are these ham operators in miles, what is the range on their antennaes and do they overlap with other operators, giving them the frequency and estimated pulse range can these operators provide useful assistance, they would need to check several times a day or the life of the battery, then there is how may hundreds of miles would you estimate the usefulness of these ham people, do they seem interested in helping or are they preoccupied with other things. You could remind then every other day so that urgerncy is real and only temporary due to the life of the transmitter battery.


If you go to the FCC ULS Search: http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp;JSESSIONID_ULSSEARCH=K5yCX7BfDr Q81hsbnp1rKLfGty14Pxpp3p62QGMklvGkQ70KbfWS!-2014445430!1356361007 and select "AMATEUR" for service group you can then put in your state and find all the ham licenses. You can also select a status of "Active" under license detail to ditch expired licenses. Hitting GEOSEARCH button on the bottom of the page will let you do things such as enter a city/state and search a radius in miles or km.

I recommend making contact with a few local hams before you have an emergency. Take your bird and telemetry and do a presentation on telemetry at a local ham radio club.

[Captain Gizmo]

ARRL can be a good source for a list of amateur radio clubs in your area and contact information for them. Some clubs have a license of their own and will show on the FCC database. Neither persons nor clubs have to belong to ARRL so the list will not be complete. All persons need to register with the FCC and any club that operates an equipment set will show on the FCC data base.

Regards,
Thomas of the Desert

[rkumetz]

ARRL can be a good source for a list of amateur radio clubs in your area and contact information for them. Some clubs have a license of their own and will show on the FCC database. Neither persons nor clubs have to belong to ARRL so the list will not be complete. All persons need to register with the FCC and any club that operates an equipment set will show on the FCC data base.

Regards,
Thomas of the Desert

To add to what Tom said, quite a few hams gravitate to the hobby because they are socially awkward and the anonymity of talking into a radio appeals to them. Those folks are less likely to be "joiners" so the FCC database is a better way to find them.

[gyrhybrid]

Billy,

There are so many variables to tracking a lost bird. Two years ago I lost a barbary falcon, as the sun went down, and I was parked along the highway and looking south to the city lights, and east to where I last got a signal. I sat for an hour with no signal and deciding that I can't retrieve the bird without a signal, so I might as well leave and go home.

Then I had a crazy insane idea,"let's pretend that the transmitter went bad and just stopped working". I went back to the launch point and flashed a pigeon, and within sixty seconds she was back, and at my feet, whereby I reached in the car for the receiver, and discovered the trans was completely non functional at a distance of six feet.

You might go back to the launch point and flash a pigeon, or a sealed pigeon.
Also, double check that the frequency on the reciever hadn't changed by accident,....this can happen once or twice a year.

Last year I lost a new longwing, that was carrying a high quality brand new transmitter, the signal was continuously weak as I raced to get ahead of the bird. He was gone and lost forever. Since I really liked this brand of transmitter, I ordered a second one and range tested it,......to my amazement the range was only a quarter of one mile,.....so connecting the dots, my receiver lost 80% of its range and needed to be repaired.
Hence, a backup receiver as a double check would be advised.

[sharptail]

I looked back at my PM's and e-mails. It was late afternoon on the 13th. Coming home from work about 20 miles west of here. It looked like and flew like a young female Peregrine. Highly unusual this time go year. I contacted John Linstrom and Ed Fitch to see if they knew of any lost birds. She was ringing up over some ponds, I about crashed my truck trying to keep an eye on her. I tried today to get a signal but didn't. There is an airport in Winner SD, there is a guy there that will take you up. He is an old coyote hunter and will land his plane anywhere. Not cheap but worth the try. Usually the planes are successful and can cover a lot of area.Billy, Forrest lives at Wood, SD. My guess is that he is refering to 20 miles west of Wood.

[Dakota]

I had sent Billy a PM.

[bworkman]

I want to keep everyone that is interested updated on this thread.

I took a road trip down into Nebraska and Kansas this past weekend and returned today. The last signal I had on my falcon was in Grand Island, NE. It wasn't much. Only five beeps on the receiver as I was driving along NE 2 about 20 miles West of Grand Island. By the time I stopped the truck it was gone. I received three beeps and one double beep on the frequency. I was not able to re-establish contact at all.

I drove to the North, thinking she probably had picked up and followed the Loup river system. Then I checked South before continuing on to the East.

As of today, I have been to the East and South in Nebraska as far as Arkansas City. Down to Wichita, KS, and back up through Salina and on up to Grand Island again where I continued to search yesterday and this morning before heading back.

On the way back, I went North out of Nebraska on 183 up to Winner, SD and then followed 44 back in to Rapid City in a final hope that she might retrace her flight path back into SD.

No Luck....

Thank you to everyone that gave valuable and pertinent information about what direction she may have taken, as well as the very competent advice as to how to conduct a search.

Finally, I would like to share, and I'm sure many of you already know, the loss of a falcon is a humbling experience.

[qball]

Hi Billy.
Got on to this thread late (Forrest just told me). I will check my area with telemetry but by your last post it sounds like she is heading south.
Many years ago I lost a GP down in the sand hills. Fracked him for two days over 50 miles. Point being. Every time he sat aid lose the signal. When he got up and flew I could track him. Got lucky the second night right at dark just driving back to the hotel with the yagi stuck out the truck window. Caught him crossing the raid and got to him shortly thereafter. Maybe a falconer down there could do a plane search???

Good luck.
John

[sharptail]

Wow, you surely put in the effort and the miles. Perhaps she will turn up with some outside help, even still. They don't call them Pilgrims for no reason.