Amp for Garmin GPS tracking system.

[poolecw]

Hey guys, I'm new to the board. I am looking a way to boost range on a hand held GPS tracking system. I made the post below over on the Handtalkies forum but haven't gotten any response. Maybe my post is better suited for this forum. I hope you guys can point me in the right direction.

thanks for your help and my original post is below:

Hey guys, I stumbled upon your forum and hope you can help....

I have a Garmin astro dog tracking system. This gps tracking unit replaces the old radio telemetry systems used for dog or animal tracking. I use this GPS tracking system for hunting with hounds at night. The hound wears a collar with a transmitter. The collar transmitts gps coordinates back the my handheld gps unit. The gps unit then displays the hound's location on a map.

Eough back background info. I am trying to increase the range of this system. Garmin states that the unit has a range of 7 miles, which is highly overstated. In reality, I get about 1.25 miles of distance before I start loosiing signal with the hound. I bought a cheap aftermarket folding telescopic antenna off ebay and it improved range to 1.5 miles.

Is there an amplifier on the market that could work? I know of a guy that has tried this, but I don't know where he got the amp from. On a hunting forum, I found a picture of a modded gps system that had an amp in between the handheld and the antenna. (pic is below)

I would love to get some feedback and advice from you experts.

Oh yeah, the transmitter is on the MURS band.

Thanks,
Chris P

 

[mackmobile43]

Get your dogs antenna higher up to see the tower your gps is in contact with or increase the antennas gain.

 

[paws264]

Get your dogs antenna higher up to see the tower your gps is in contact with or increase the antennas gain.

Hows about he make a mini Yagi antenna and mount it on a broom stick which can be held high over head, the systems now becomes directional.

Really, I would think that higher power collars on the animal would work better than a receiver amplifier; terrain is probably what is affecting your effective range with the receiver.

.

 

[mackmobile43]

Hows about he make a mini Yagi antenna and mount it on a broom stick which can be held high over head, the systems now becomes directional.

Really, I would think that higher power collars on the animal would work better than a receiver amplifier; terrain is probably what is affecting your effective range with the receiver.

.

The transmission has to be repeated to make it back to his receiver so placing his dogs on stilts should remedy the issue.

 

[poolecw]

My old telemetry system did use a directional yagi. You could determine the position of the dog by the strength of the system....


A higher powered collar would be great, however, I'm limited to what is available from Garmin.

Hows about he make a mini Yagi antenna and mount it on a broom stick which can be held high over head, the systems now becomes directional.

Really, I would think that higher power collars on the animal would work better than a receiver amplifier; terrain is probably what is affecting your effective range with the receiver.

.

 

[poolecw]

The transmission has to be repeated to make it back to his receiver so placing his dogs on stilts should remedy the issue.

Gee, thats some grade A advice there! LOL

 

[mackmobile43]

Gee, thats some grade A advice there! LOL

Yeah that's just a stupid response to a guy trying to make everyone look stupid.

The issue here is not that your equipment is not operating properly it's an issue that you're trying to use your equipment in an environment it was not designed for, it was designed for line of site including the terrain it's being used in.

The trees, landscape has a lot to do with the equipment operating properly which reduce the overall tx and rx capabilities of the equipment, the same thing happens with common radio transmissions and reception.

Unless you get the txer's and rx'ers up higher and reduce the obstructions between your equipment you probably will not see any improvement even with a receive preamp.

 

[poolecw]

Who is trying to make anyone look stupid? As someone who doesn't know very much on the subject, I simply came to a resource that I thought could help. I am well aware that terrain plays a lot on the range of this system and that a repeater would come in handy.

People are always trying to tweak stock equipment to get the most out of their equipment. The guy that took the pic above in my orginal post says that he can more than triple his range using his modification. I am just trying to do the same with mine.

 

[mackmobile43]

Who is trying to make anyone look stupid? As someone who doesn't know very much on the subject, I simply came to a resource that I thought could help. I am well aware that terrain plays a lot on the range of this system and that a repeater would come in handy.

People are always trying to tweak stock equipment to get the most out of their equipment. The guy that took the pic above in my orginal post says that he can more than triple his range using his modification. I am just trying to do the same with mine.

Then you should know that a yagi antenna has a greater gain factor than the pissy little piece of wire that you're using now and you'll have to re-read my original post to see I told you that once before.

 

[mackmobile43]

ATS - Finding Solutions. Delivering Results.

 

[mackmobile43]

But these antennas probably would not work for your situation due to the fact you're chasing dogs through the forest and thus might slow your progress further but since you're using gps all you need is the coded signal from the transmitter to make it back to your reciever's mickey mouse antenna well then I suppose you're gonna have to get some sort of receiver preamp to receive your dogs position.

Why not do it the way my forefathers did it in the day? get drunk them go out and listen in the direction you hear your dogs barking from?:tongue:

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Who is trying to make anyone look stupid? As someone who doesn't know very much on the subject, I simply came to a resource that I thought could help. I am well aware that terrain plays a lot on the range of this system and that a repeater would come in handy.

People are always trying to tweak stock equipment to get the most out of their equipment. The guy that took the pic above in my orginal post says that he can more than triple his range using his modification. I am just trying to do the same with mine.

OK, stupid question here, but if he was so successful then why don't you ask HIM what he did and how to do it? That would be my first choice, ask someone that has actually done it before.

 

[Qwazyone]

You could probably use a directional yagi with the garmin, but I guess eliminating the yagi was one of the reasons for going to the garmin. What kind of hunting are you doing? You could probably find longer whips for the collars but in dense brush they would probably get beat up quick or the dog would use it for a chew toy.

Years ago my dad had a tracker maxima system with 2 collars, one collar on the dog and he left one in the truck so he could find it again. It seemed to work well in these hills

 

[mackmobile43]

GPS is a simple matter of linking up 2 receivers using time as an indicator of how far 2 objects are apart thus giving you an indication of their positions relative to real time positions on earth and if those exchanges of information are blocked due to an obstruction then these times are different and the processors at the satellite will detect this and give an error in the form of a lost or inadequate signal.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/gps/work.html

 

[poolecw]

Listen man, I don't know why you want to act like a jerk, but if all you want to do is act like this, I just prefer you keep you comments to yourself.

I know a yagi has a higher gain factor. I had a Quick track telemetry system with a yagi. What the Garmin system lacks in range, it more than makes up for in being able to see what the dog is doing and where he is at in real time.

Then you should know that a yagi antenna has a greater gain factor than the pissy little piece of wire that you're using now and you'll have to re-read my original post to see I told you that once before.