Gps Transmitters

[+Army1]

What are the best ways to use GPS transmitters to track movements through the woods? I hunt in Potter County PA and there is always someone getting lost...and I run orienteering courses and need to know when teams are too far off course. What are my options to watch this real-time on a field laptop? (also posted on alt.rec.geocaching) Thanks, Army1

[Neo_Geo]

Sounds like y'all need Garmin RINO (Radio Integrated Navigation Outdoors) units. CLICK HERE

 

They have built-in radio transceivers which are also capable of showing other similar units their position on the map page.

[rynd]

Look into Ham radio and Automatic Position Reporting System.

[+azmark]

take a look at www.3dtracking.net No need for a gps even! But everyone would have to be in range of the cell network for internet access. It will run on some Java enabled phones, but also worked on my setup of a bluetooth gps, bluetooth enabled PDA and bluetooth phone.

[+JohnnyVegas]

THe best way is with ham radios linked to a GPS, but each team being tracked would have to have a licensed ham radio operator for the system to work. THe Rinos are very limited in range and cell phone require an area with coverage.

[planewood]

Somewhere I saw a GPS unit that had an integral cell phone which would periodically dial and upload the latest track points to a web site. One could login into the web site and see the entire track for the unit. The period between calls could be varied between 5 minutes to several hours as well as the GPS sampling frequency. If the cell phone successfully upload the track, the old points would be deleted out of the GPS. Both the GPS and the cell phone worked with the same roof mount antenna.

 

Might have been used for cross country trucking or maybe one of the spy network web sites???

[Suscrofa]

A hunter who gets lost is not a good hunter ! Let natural selection carry on

I am a hunter, by the way.

 

I remember a location in Northern Maine called "The cry of the lost hunter", is it in this area ?

Remember one guy who headed to the woods, no compass, no map, doesn't need one he said because of the snow ! Too bad, the snow melted during the day, no track back to the camp ! A game warden came across him one hour after sunset on a log road, called our guide who went to pick him up, 10miles from camp. The poor guy had pee in his pant, he was so scared to have to spend the night in the wood !

 

Any way a GPS is not enough, a good map and TWO compass !

[+Tervas]

Use Dog GPS if your team can afford it

[Vlad]

lost...

 

is an acronym for...

 

Learn Orienteering Skills The hard way.

[+Greymane]

Erwast,

 

The Dog GPS, like many of the other suggestions, requires a cell phone network. I have hunted in the same area he is talking about for many years. You can forget cell phone coverage. I use Memory-Map Navigator, which (with the Pro upgrade) I could use along with a satellite phone to report positions. (The Coast Guard uses this on some of their small rescue boats.) But, even the satellite phones need some reasonable view of the sky and this option gets pricey quick. Those ravines can get pretty deep and those hills pretty steep. A smart man would climb to a high spot to give his position, but then again a smart man wouldn't get lost!

[+Tervas]

Well, if the need is to watch the situation on a field laptop, then the pet radar is also out of question.