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Smartphone beacons

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
feef, Haggis_Trap,
Interesting quote on the Snog Youtube comments page from them:

Quote:
feel free to test our system and send us the feedback, since you know what you're talking about your input is more than welcome.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Haggis_Trap wrote:
^ Cheers.

Snøg Avalanche Buddy (Bart Friederichs / Gravity) has also tried to block previous negative feedback from other you tube users Wink


Dude, I am not that person your talking about! I don't know who he is.
I'm just looking for testers of beacon apps. Because I think its the future.

stop make insults! I'll report your behaviour.
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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?
Gravity wrote:


stop make insults! I'll report your behaviour.


who to? your mum?
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Gravity wrote:
Haggis_Trap wrote:
^ Cheers.
Snøg Avalanche Buddy (Bart Friederichs / Gravity) has also tried to block previous negative feedback from other you tube users Wink

Dude, I am not that person your talking about! I don't know who he is.
I'm just looking for testers of beacon apps. Because I think its the future.
stop make insults! I'll report your behaviour.


Funny Bart Friederich's - many of your arguments you made for smart phones apps are exactly the same ones you already made on your home page.... Plus you registered here as a brand new user to spam everyone about your dumb app.

http://www.piranhastuff.nl/cms.php?id_cms=12

Quote:
stop make insults! I'll report your behavior.


please do - could be fun Twisted Evil
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
If only we knew the number we could ring it .... and then listen.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Wel haggis_trap you really hit it! What a clever person you must be. You should apply for a job at the police. How sophisticated of you to make such judgements. Someone using the same arguments than another person....it must be the same! how bright.

A child could do a better job in judging situations. In that case you better stay away from the mountains: your judgements could harm you one day. And please wear a helmet. Commenting others about safety and you or your friends not wearing a helmet during your trips is ridiculous. There you lie with your working beacon with a smashed head on a rock.

FYI i looked up this bart guy, he lives like 1500km away from where i live.

If you don`t like what is around these apps fine by me, but just don`t write down your gut feelings about electronics if you don`t have a clue of how it works. That needs years of education. I`m really glad that guys like bart, from snowhere and isis are actually doing something to get rid of the ugly old not 100% fail save electronics in beacons.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Gravity,
How are you sure the comments are not based on some expertise in electronics?
I would personally not be so quick to judge on the qualifications of the posters (oh and I'm a C.Eng with 16 years postgrad experience in electronics, though you'll note from my naivity in the details of radio comms, that that is not my forte so I will not comment on what works or not).

From my only slightly educated position (?), I do agree that you can probably do better than a simple fixed frequency sine wave detecting beacon, but personally I wont be abandonding my Barryvox just yet.
That's just me though, I'll not judge; but to convince me, just as you say you need an expert to say it doesn't work, you really also need to be providing expert evidence that it does, and normally in the case of safety critical sytems for obvious reasons I believe you'll probably find this expert opinion is refined into the form of certification.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Gravity, phnarrrr.

"Fail save"

What does that mean?
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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.
Gravity wrote:
... but just don`t write down your gut feelings about electronics if you don`t have a clue of how it works. That needs years of education. I`m really glad that guys like bart, from snowhere and isis are actually doing something to get rid of the ugly old not 100% fail save electronics in beacons.


M.Eng in Electronics (Edinburgh Uni) plus 12+ years designing ICs for smart phone / MP3 Wink
Did you get permission from your mum to go on the internet after 10pm at night ?

Bart must be pleased : this topic about the app is now 3rd hit on google for Snøg Avalanche Buddy Very Happy
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Quote:

"Fail save"

What does that mean?

Dunno, but they're a damn sight less likely to fail out on the mountain than a phone.
Quote:

How are you sure the comments are not based on some expertise in electronics?

I won't mention my Masters in Spacecraft Communication (most of which was Mobile Telephony, Mobile Data, DSL, ...) , or 20 years working largely in the Radar sector, with a hint of Optical Laser Communications. Don't think any of that is applicable to radio location.

Oh and when I looked at that app is clearly states in the description / disclaimer on the Play store, that it is not to be used as an avalanche beacon:
Quote:
It is NOT an avalanche beacon in any way, nor is it a replacement for an avalanche beacon.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Gravity wrote:
If you don`t like what is around these apps fine by me, but just don`t write down your gut feelings about electronics if you don`t have a clue of how it works. That needs years of education.


Judging by several of those Snowheads who have posted their electronics qualifications and experience above, it looks to me as though Gravity has (in internet geek speak) just been pwned.... Laughing
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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.
Quote:
... but just don`t write down your gut feelings about electronics if you don`t have a clue of how it works. That needs years of education.


As above: BSc in Electronics & Computer Science. Ten years designing full custom CMOS ICs. Twenty+ years in the guts of GSM, UMTS and now LTE. Not sure if that qualifies me in any way at all to talk about avalanche beacons though.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
stand alone app - really stupid idea for all the reasons expressed by Haggis_Trap, fatbob, .

I'm a relative layman when it comes to RF and EMI but I'm concerned by various interference issues that could present themselves in a search situation. I know the obvious answer would be to turn the Ipods, iphones, Gopros, GPS etc off but I was wondering if anybody had done any real testing when it came to these popular bits of equipment?

I have an iPhone - Is this feasible and would it be cost affective to develop a -

1. waterproof cradle/case that could encase an antenna to use the current beacon RF.
2. It could slave of the battery of the iPhone and also have an auxiliary battery within the cradle.
3. When the phone is inserted it switches to Aeroplane Mode and only the cradle is transmitting the RF = no EMI (I may be very much mistaken though)
4. When the phone is inserted it switches and remains in the beacon app.

I want to utilise the phones hardware - screen/power/processor.

I'm sure there are lots of issues that would make this unfeasible but just firing up the debate.

One I can think of already - searchers in a secondary avi zone calling for help = no beacon Shocked

Could be just reinventing the wheel as well!!!! Confused
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
1. might work with iphone, but probably not other smartphones, since it's a single well defined shape (kind of - well about 2-3 shapes at any one time)
2. inbuilt battery is essential, but kHz beacon take naff all power anyway.
3. does iPhone do USB OTG via its port? There will be EMI/RFI even with GSM/3G/GPS/etc. off. Android might be able to handle that.
4. you'd need to get Apple to make updates to the OS and the APIs (same for 3. actually too)

cost effective? doubt it.
usable in mountain sunlight conditions, compared to a purpose designed avy gear? I think I know which I'd prefer.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
andy, fair one.

Quote:

Could be just reinventing the wheel as well!!!!


thats what happens when you bored in the office! I'll stick with my Pulse.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hmm, it was mentioned that the pulse can pair with other pulse units and share data to give more accurate readings... picture, if you will, a baseball sized slave receiver device which could be paired with the base master receiver and act as a secondary satellite receiver which could be thrown forward to cover a larger search area faster, particularly in sole-searcher scenarios...
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Richard_Sideways, Very Happy
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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?
andy wrote:
...I won't mention my Masters in Spacecraft Communication (most of which was Mobile Telephony, Mobile Data, DSL, ...) , or 20 years working largely in the Radar sector, with a hint of Optical Laser Communications.


Poser Toofy Grin NehNeh
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
[quote="Haggis_Trap"]
Gravity wrote:

2. Mobile phones can interfere with normal avalanche beacons.


That should be
Mobile phones DO 100% interfere with normal avalanche beacons.

I was in Sainte Foy earlier this year doing some basic training with my brother who had never used a tranceiver before, usual thing of get my son to dig a hole drop in another tranceiver in a pastic bag walk back in circles to not give the game away with his tracks. Than spent the next 15 minutes looking like a complete tw@t trying to find it. All the time thinking that something must be wrong and glad it wasnt for real. False beeps, changes of direction it was a complete farce. Then realised he still had his phone switched on !!. Turned it of and found it within a minute .

Tried it with my Gopro switched on and that affected it aswell, but no where as much as the iPhone.

Later on in the season I was at an avalanche talk at Snow & Rock and the instructor told a us a similar story about 2 of his friends, in a real situation. Very sadly the ending wasn't as happy as mine.

Switch them all of when you turn your beacon to search mode.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
qwertyuiop7,

Perhaps this suggests a bit of a flaw that needs fixing (probably not all that hard to do) in tranceivers?
Is it really practical these days to expect a perfectly EMI free environment?

Does filing a "I'm going to consider if I have many $K's to blow on a patent on spread-spectrum avalanche tranceivers" comment on snowheads count - or have I published now and hence am screwed? wink

PS
Best add "coding" for my broad non-patent wink


Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Sun 14-07-13 4:53; edited 1 time in total
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
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stuarth, it's better than most patents I get to read these days.
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