Captain Gizmo does fly again

I flew Cooper's Hawks, Kestrels and an Aplomado forty years ago. I am recently retired from a career as a cell phone engineer and am getting back into active falconry. In the time between I have gone to the field with other falconers and gone to meets. I have maintained my other hobby of falconry telemetry during the entire time.

I am living in the agricultural area to the west of Phoenix, AZ. Current plan is to trap a Merlin this fall and fly mourning doves and sparrows (starlings are few and far between outside of the city areas).

I am currently doing "The Cheap Beep Project" as part of my other hobby.
This is mainly giving workshops on DIY UHF telemetry transmitters (see Hawk Chalk April 2015 pp38). Latest project is DIY directional receiving antennas for VHF and UHF.

Tom Munson

Welcome Tom and best of luck with the merlin plans. Hope I get to see you flying one this next season.

Welcome Tom,
Is there a website for the Cheap beep project? I have been working on my own on such projects. At this point, I am using sdr for receivers. The transmitters I am running are nothing special but are functional at a couple miles with an 11dbi 433 yagi. My problem so far is battery life on the transmitter.
Take care
Brian

Brian,

The Cheap Beep Project is rather non-commercial, so nothing as upscale as a website.

I have plans and kits for the 433/434 MHz transmitters. documented range is 28*. Battery life as programmed is 7 days. Kits are $15 at this point.
I have a video on the assembly process at no charge.
Plans for DIY yagi and quad antennas at 433 and 216 are available by email.
Kits for the hard to get in single quantity antenna parts are available for $5 plus shipping.
I use one of the scanners that do CW/SSB. I have a list of scanners available at best of ebay prices plus $6 shipping.

* Miles with transmitter 15' above ground, kilometers with transmitter 4 feet off ground, Furlongs if the transmitter is flat on the ground, and yards if your bird has caught a rabbit inside a steel culvert.

Tom Munson
18806 W Chipman Rd
Buckeye, AZ 85326
619-379-2656
tom@munson.us

I'm sending you an email now. Maybe we can discuss ideas and I would like to purchase some stuff.
Thank you :)

Tom,
I know trapping merlins down there can be hit and miss. If things get tight, I can most certainly help out with an out of state permit here in Utah. We trap merlins by the dozens here in the Salt Lake area. We've helped a few guys from AZ in the past get a merlin here. Best of luck.

I am hoping to go local. There are a lot of dairies here on the west side of Phoenix that tend to have wintering Merlins. On the other hand if I come up dry a chance to visit Salt Lake could be a good thing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Captain Gizmo

I flew Cooper's Hawks, Kestrels and an Aplomado forty years ago. I am recently retired from a career as a cell phone engineer and am getting back into active falconry. In the time between I have gone to the field with other falconers and gone to meets. I have maintained my other hobby of falconry telemetry during the entire time.

I am living in the agricultural area to the west of Phoenix, AZ. Current plan is to trap a Merlin this fall and fly mourning doves and sparrows (starlings are few and far between outside of the city areas).

I am currently doing "The Cheap Beep Project" as part of my other hobby.
This is mainly giving workshops on DIY UHF telemetry transmitters (see Hawk Chalk April 2015 pp38). Latest project is DIY directional receiving antennas for VHF and UHF.

Tom Munson

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Dear Tom,
It's been months since I've been able to thank you for the information regarding the replacement charger for my old Custom Electronics receiver. I did obtain a 'bespoke' charger from LL Electronics. The wonder of it all is that the battery pack still take and holds a charge.
Thanks again.
Kind regards
Alastair