 Poster: A snowHead
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Strange question - I just picked up a trans from a mate so I can prctice using my new one. I turned them on inside and put one in search. The readings where all over the place. My new one worked ok the first time but now it goes haywire and gives very random readings. My mates one says mine is 50m away when it is 2m and then cant pick it up at all when it is right next to it. Does this sound odd or does it have some thing to do with being indoors???
Cheers
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Transceivers do work inside but can be severely disrupted by electrical interference, TVs, mobile phones etc will stop them working properly.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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jbob, thats what I figured. Have to wait until the weekend when I can go to common and get some open ground.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Brought two BCA Tracker 2's as a post Xmas present. Was a little disappointed when I first tried them in the house, very confusing, but taking them out onto the local park and playing hide and seek there, suddenly much clearer. Can follow the curve of the signal very clearly. Makes walking the dog far more interesting!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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BMG
our transceivers work OK inside , in a room with TVs, computers and mobile phones.
I think the recommendation is to keep mobile phone at least 30 cm away from your transceiver to minimise interference if you must have the phone on.
Maybe you're unlucky enough to have a duff transceiver? Are the batteries fresh?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Tomahawk Tone, Batteries are fresh. Mine is a BCA tracker 2 and as snaftel, pointed out his ones did the same. The room wasnt all that big and 3 laptops, TV, phones, stereo etc in it so a lot to interfere with the signals. It did show multiple burials as well! Fingers crossed that it works ok in the common. If not, send it back a get a replacement! Not sure if I can wait until the weekend though. Might have to do a night mission....
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A friend once came to our hotel room and told us one of our transceivers was still switched on, He was right. He had tracked it from the floor above.
jbob is right but it still sounds like yours might be faulty. Update us when you've tried it outside.
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the fact that both of them are giving odd readings makes me think it has something to do with the "room". Mine is new and mates is an older DTS tracker so the chances of both being faulty are slim I would think. Will update with results!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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BMG, Our Ortovox ones work inside, but they will also pick up signals from other electrical devices - one of our TVs pretends its a tranciever 10m further away when it is on!
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Tomahawk Tone, guessed it right. Even though the battery power on the older one said 88, they were not 88 and it died after about another 2 mins of playing. Changed the batteries and hey presto away we go!! Slightly embarassing to admit that, but there you go - problem sloved. Lesson learnt.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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BMG. bit worrying if the old transceiver is not showing battery level accurately. You don't want to go out in the field with a transceiver that tells fibs!
Are you using alkaline batteries (good ) or rechargeables/lithium (bad) ?
Maybe worth putting it in for a service and check?
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To quote from Davidof over on pistehors ..http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/lithium-batteries-and-avalanche-beacons/
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| .... all the manufacturers are very strict about using only Alkaline batteries in their avalanche beacons. This is because the circuitry which detects how much battery life remains is tuned for this kind of cell. The capacity of Alkalines degrades gracefully whereas Lithium (and rechargeable cells) have a relatively flat discharge curve. One minute your beacon is saying 99% full, the next it is on zero. |
[/quote]
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88 is the undifferentiated display at the first moment you switch on, before it has read your battery level. Perhaps there was no follow-up because the battery was completely flat.
Don't let it fall below 50%
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You know it makes sense.
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Curious fact but if you put a transmitting beacon in a closed microwave oven (don't switch the oven on) and track it, the distance read from your receiving beacon is factored up by about 10X. If someone tried to explain the weird & wonderful physics of RF attenuation through the microwave oven screening mesh, I probably wouldn't understand anyway. 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Ok I have to ask. Why would anybody want to do that?
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Poster: A snowHead
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OwenM, I suppose it is just one of the many odd things you can discover when you ask someone else to conceal a transceiver somewhere in your house so as to answer the question 'do transceivers work inside ?'
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Tomahawk Tone, I was thinking about the 88 last night and today and I thought it might be a test of the display as two 8's use all the lines in the lcd screen. I remember that it said 88 and then 0, then nr, then se. I did some searching today on the net (as I was a bit worried by the fact that it might be displaying the wrong info) and I found out whatsnowball, pointed out. It was acutally saying 0 battery. The tracker 2 displays the battery power instantly so I just assumed the tracker 1 did the same. Long story short - the older DTS is working fine - it was user error!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Transceivers can be affected by electrical signals including cell phones and radios. Even lamps that are on can have an affect, so you'd expect a little interference inside a house.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Just to back up what snowball, says above about battery life, when we were testing before last season, we used a transceiver to search with, which only had 40% battery left, the range we were able to get was really worrying it was only about 20m!!
So yes change your batteries when they get to 50% left, otherwise as we found you might be seriously restricting your search capabilities.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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we tried a training session indoors at hemel and had all kinds of problems with the steel columns causing problems...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| we tried a training session indoors at hemel and had all kinds of problems with the steel columns causing problems... |
Then I hope I don't get avalanched near a cable car pylon! 
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Battery Life
The voltage a battery can output is flat then drops rapidly towards at the end of the batteries life as the chemical energy is expended.
This makes measuring the battery life as an accurate % very difficult.
Anything below 50/60% and it is time to change the battery (especially as beacons are used in the cold where battery life is further degraded)
beacons inside / session indoors at hemel
The issues people above are experiencing is most likely EMI interference from other electrical devices.
Though in a really old house with thick concrete walls it is possible that signals could be distorted or bounced.
Lights, PCs, mobile phones, televisions, radios all emit some kind of RF signal that could potentially interfere with a beacon.
Many cable cars / ski lifts are bad for this too... The big electrical motors inevitably emit a lot of RF noise.
You can see this yourself by switching your beacon to search near a TV, ski tow, power pylon (etc).
It may pick up some kind of signal.
Older beacons defn pick up more noise (i.e Ortovox F1).
Modern digital beacons, with narrow band filters, are much less susceptible (i.e BCA t2 etc)
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jellylegs, it's a real worry, we practiced searching near pylons on my BASI L3 mountain safety course and they really threw some of the transceivers.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I once practiced under pylons, the issue then was all the transceivers passing over head 
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FAQ
