lost model finder/tracker/uhf beacon recommendations

[Freakazoid]

Hi there,

is there any lost model finder/tracker/uhf beacon you guys can recommend? I don’t want to rely on the telemetry link or a simple lost model beeper anymore after my last crash.

[Tomas]

What about GPS tracker?

[Freakazoid]

Yes, maybe this would be a good solution. But the point of my question was wheter you guys use/know/recommend any specific model.

[donnyb]

I’ve been concerned with the same thing. I really don’t think there is anything out there really available. If so nothing has been affordable or light enough. My thoughts would be a small fm wireless mic with a independent power source. Cause in a crash your battery usually separates from the craft. If you want to get technical you could power the thing with a 555 timer circuit. And make it flash with a led. It would be like a radio becon. A couple of miliwatts would be plenty. I’ll try to draw a diagram to make it easy to understand. That will be on the next post. A sort of block diagram.

[donnyb]

I done this on my phone lol.

[donnyb]

Another try

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[donnyb]

This way you could power it with a couple of lithium button cells. Any fm receiver will work. Even better fm antennas are directional. It could be enough to get close enough to see the flashing led. I would pick blue. With a clear lens.

What do you think?

[LeoTheHuman]

It depends on the distance you usually fly to, but if you have GPS telemetry and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMU1owVMFao onboard, you should be fine with the last known location and the bluetooth thingie.

[Freakazoid]

Thanks for your input, guys :).

A selfmade solution isn’t that great for me. I need something reliable and bulletproof :). But I like your circuit, donnyb :).

I actually had (and still have) gps and telemetry onboard. But since the telemetry link isn’t that great, the latest position is usually not very precise. I fly pretty long distances and the telemetry module just isn’t that great (but enough to tune stuff).

[donnyb]

the only problem is sometimes you lose the battery on a hard crash. I did. Lol it was found when a tractor ran over it. lost in tall grass.

[donnyb]

I watched the video on the trakr and it looks neat. And I would say that’s affordable and light enough. But a fly away is really complicated in my case. It went up around 400 ft and a bit more than quarter mile over a 1100 acre farm. 30 even 40 feet. Is really small area. For all I know my quad 600mm. And it turned into a small black dot then disappeared. That would have been better than nothing. Seeing that I walked past it 10 times. Lol
That’s when I started looking into the same thing. Even a bright strobe would have helped. You learn from your mistakes. Lol Always do a radio check!

[Freakazoid]

I bought the RF-v16 yesterday. I’ll let you guys know how good it works 🙂

[Kevin]

Interested in what you find.

I wonder if there is a tiny APRS tracker build out there… Something more reliable than cell towers.

Here in the US if you are looking for a cheap sim card for small data stuff sparkfun.com carries some.

[Freakazoid]

Haven’t heard of APRS, yet. Thanks for that, Kevin.

I live in Germany. We have tons of carriers. Every discount supermarket chain has one. So there is one with a free data plan (called netzclub). They say you receive some ad text from now and then. But who cares on a GPS tracker ;). I hope it works 😀

[Kevin]

APRS is one of the reasons I got my ham radio license. UHF radio controlled aircraft is another. Here in the US with as big as the country is the cell data coverage is in and near cities and large highways. Once you get into the country side it becomes tough. However, ham radio has been around forever and thus a network of repeaters that covers the entire country. So here APRS tracking is more reliable than GSM. Granted, you can’t use APRS for commercial use here, just for hobby.

[Author]

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