If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Beacons again
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
In article , Kurt Knisely wrote: Well, maybe a bonus this month and it's a three check month, so other than paying down the note on the shack, I think I'll order a new beacon to replace one of my two 12 yo analog beacons... I'm leaning towards the Pieps DSP due to the three antennas. I don't need the advanced one (temp, compass and altimeter). I've heard good things about the Barryvox and of course the BA-Tracker. I read some of last year's reviews, but these things change so quickly and I haven't read any from this year's versions. _ Barryvox just had a recall due to a bad batch of plastic. http://www.telemarktips.com/TeleNews.htm Actually my old Pieps and Ortovox work fine. I can find a shallowly buried beacon on the flats in less than 20-30 seconds (that's not on a steep slope w/ lots of debris, screaming victims, and a deep burial). I'm just not sure how much longer 12 yo beacons will last? Any thoughts? _ I don't know why beacons would wear out, other than the plastic case cracking with age. They don't have any moving parts other than the switches. I guess better safe than sorry, but as long as the older beacons use the same frequency as the new ones, I don't see any obvious reason to get rid of them. Of course, handing a BA Tracker to your beaconless buddy seems like a good thing. _ Booker C. Bense -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBQbeAO2TWTAjn5N/lAQGR5QQAh3k9AycHUekekjYBPeIVejxJYQBjIj9U OLciaMSG3Y9OHfkvBF5IZI8R+c0eT9fBk/QzQbBltAiRO/dUorgqyMVFER+fF0hN VKMZbhE0G46sLN8n3iFT8Mwe47efVhaER3rDbc0MLHdXfwF8zw kTTnRv9110kqKB 780rI0WZzXo= =rYwX -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Kurt Knisely wrote:
_ I don't know why beacons would wear out, other than the plastic case cracking with age. I heard something about frequency drift? with ones that use a Crystal Oscillator but the manufacturer will service beacons for a small fee. The Ortovox F1 has a problem with cold weather and frequency drift. There is a big article about this in The Avalanche Review. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Kurt Knisely wrote:
In article , David George says... Kurt Knisely wrote: (Booker wrote) _ I don't know why beacons would wear out, other than the plastic case cracking with age. I heard something about frequency drift? with ones that use a Crystal Oscillator but the manufacturer will service beacons for a small fee. The Ortovox F1 has a problem with cold weather and frequency drift. There is a big article about this in The Avalanche Review. 'Found a PDF on this, but it's from the BCA folks, so it's not a totally independent review. In fact getting people to "upgrade" their beacons to Trackers certainly helps BCA's bottom line although I'd have to guess that Bruce Edgerly IS a concerned backcountry skier too. http://www.bcaccess.com/documents/DownCompatISSW.pdf If I read this correctly, the older analog receivers have a wide enough bandwidth to detect the newer digital beacons reliably? So replacing an older analog beacon is definitely a personal decision. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Bob Lee wrote:
Those Trackers have less range and are the _same_ price as the Barryvox, and I like the size and harness a lot. The range on the BCA kinda scares me. I was up with Missus Danger the other day and she was using the BCA. We did a little beacon test at the top and I could only pick her up at about 40 feet. My Ortovox goes more like 80 feet, easily double. I'm not sure I'd want to be looking for someone buried in a large debris field if they were wearing a BCA. At the same price, I think the Barryvox is the way to go. Actually, price isn't really that big a deal. -klaus |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
|
#6
|
|||
|
|||
John Red-Horse wrote:
There's something else that bothered me: On a hut trip a couple of years ago to Fairy Meadows, the guides got everyone together on the afternoon of our arrival, and we did the beacon search thing. The first thing was "Okay, everyone switch your beacon to receive." Three BCA wearers (in all honesty, I don't know if they'd just borrowed them for the trip) couldn't figure out how to do it. 'Nuff said. (For me at least.) Yowzaa..scary... That's why I like the Ortovox harness. Completely teleskier proof on the harness. The range thing would bother me if for example I ski down part way to a safe spot, and then my partner triggers a slide which moves past me. If I don't have a reading, I don't know whether to go up or down, so you gotta go up if they may be buried there, because going down first would be a big mistake, like the Twin Lake Pass Slide. If you have double the range you have a much better chance of quickly figuring out which way to go. Hopefully, since I'm working on this transceiver project, I can get a collaboration going with one of the transceiver companies and get a few to play with. I already have my old F2 hooked to my computer and am characterizing the flux pattern using my Ortovox M1 as the transmitter. And I'm writing out my check for the deposit on the Monashees trip... yah babeeee. It's a go...the lodge already has the deposit. So now I just need to figure out what to do in March between British Columbia and our Denali trip. And how to combine the transceiver project and trips so that it's tax deductible. See yah in about two weeks John! Bring snow and warm clothes. It's gonna be cold when you get here. Oh..and don't forget all your technical gear. We got work to do. I'll also show you my new sled rig design... Well... if I can get it back from A. She's been beta testing it for me between her house and the road. Judging from our descent in June, we gotta be able to improve on that. Happy Solstice everyone. It's all downhill from here. -klaus |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Avalanche Beacons Forsale | [email protected] | Alpine Skiing | 2 | December 22nd 04 04:14 PM |
Avalanche Beacons Forsale | [email protected] | Marketplace | 2 | December 21st 04 09:13 PM |
Avalanche Beacons Forsale | [email protected] | Nordic Skiing | 2 | December 21st 04 09:13 PM |
Avalanche Beacons | BobT | Alpine Skiing (moderated) | 1 | December 1st 03 03:53 PM |
Bilber Eldo Tent, Avalanche Beacons, and Misc Gear Forsale | Unita | Backcountry Skiing | 0 | November 2nd 03 08:39 PM |