Aerovision 4 and multiple transmitters

[jmnucci]

I just upgraded to the GPS turbo and the new aerovision. I have to say I am very impressed other that some of the features in the old aerovision that I though were intuitive are not as much in the new software. But to my question. Can you connect to a transmitter from a distance as long as it is in range? Consider the scenario where you were at a falconry meet and someone's falcon gets lost. Could you put out an "APB" and everyone in the area try to connect to that transmitter to find the bird if it has lost contact with its owner? With the broadcast feature you can even remotely track in a way.

Is still think some sort of crowdsourcing type solution is the answer to the truly lost falcon. There are not a lot of falconers but we are pretty widely distributed. Having the guy 100 miles away from you turn on their receiver and try to find your falcon is a pretty useful tool.

[dboyrollz76]

I wouldn’t count on it connecting over a distance, movement and other variables could really case problems. I’m still sketchy about putting it to sleep other than when the birds perched. It’s not 100% that the transmitter will wake up at a distance. I like to make sure it has signal and is transmitting before release.

[JRedig]

In theory, given that the data packets are transmitted over a similar band frequency, 436.00 for example, if you can read that frequency and have a device to interpret the data, it could work. I have no idea the potential range or if there’s some handshake that happens between the TX and pocketlink causing a secure connection.

[rkumetz]

I wouldn’t count on it connecting over a distance, movement and other variables could really case problems. I’m still sketchy about putting it to sleep other than when the birds perched. It’s not 100% that the transmitter will wake up at a distance. I like to make sure it has signal and is transmitting before release.

Though I have not measured it (now it is on my to do list...) I suspect the transmit power of the Pocket Link is much higher than the transmit power of the GPS transmitter on the
bird since it has a larger battery to power it and you can plug it in if necessary.

Of course playing it safe can't hurt.

[dboyrollz76]

I have had two separate pocket links (exchange) and two separate transmitters probably going to be three because it’s going back to Marshall for a check up and possibly exchange. It gets frustrating when it works it works like a dream, but my experience so far Im kinda dissatisfied but not. If it worked flawlessly and kept working repeatedly every time, I would get off the fence.
First issue was pocket link. Stopped charging got it back. It works great now! I know everyone knows about the upgrade transmitter people had to send the transmitter in to upgrade it. Now my transmitter won’t read the battery says it full all the time, never looses power. Wich would be great it it just didn’t randomly die.
I think Marshall has some bugs to work out, even with the headache I’ve had with it so far. I’m willing to hang in there with Marshall I’m sure I can get it sorted and they will fix the bugs in time.
As far as trying to put one to sleep and wake it up I’ve a distance. No way...
But if you loose a bird anyone running 4.0 should be able to track your bird. If your lost bird flew over me while using mine. Pretty sure I would get notified there’s a new transmitter found as long as I wasn’t tracking my limit of transmitters.

[jmnucci]

Another thing I came across yesterday is shutting the transmitter off from the app. I was very excited about this since one of my big peaveves with the old version was that you'd kill you battery looking for slips with the transmitter on. My new question now is if the timet is set in the transmitter or the app? Ie if I forget to turn the transmitter back on but have the timer set to 1 hr, will it reactivate if he is out of the range of the receiver.

[Captain Gizmo]

So far Marshall has been pretty good at thinking through the "what ifs" and the "gotchas". I suspect they have a plan for how this plays out. Whether the OEM plan fits your style of flying remains to be seen.

Regards,
Thomas of the Details