fishstick Posted February 6, 2002 Posted February 6, 2002 Interesting findings from a Canadian group a couple of weeks ago. The BD Space Shot headlamp would seem to interfere with avalanche beacons. "When the headlamp is on, the battery pack voltage regulator causes significant interference to analogue and digital beacons. Please note this is the only Black Diamond headlamp that contains a voltage regulator, but I am aware there are other manufacturers who have them. For the analogue beacon the interference resulted in loud feedback overriding any signal being tracked. For the digital beacon the lcd screen went blank and a high pitched whine was emitted. The situation was improved when the transceiver was held more than 2 feet away". It might be worth testing it at home. [ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: fishstick ] Quote
al Posted February 6, 2002 Posted February 6, 2002 Fishstick, that's true of any electro-magnetic source. We discovered this with a pair of old style Pieps when my partner complained about not hearing a beep but a constant whine instead. We eventually discovered the source of interference being the GPS she was wearing around her neck. It took about 10 minutes to discovery this! Further experiments revealed that TalkAbouts do the same thing. Try walking around your house. The wireing in the walls and around plug outlets, computers, etc.. will be picked up by your beacon receiver. I then tried it with my newer Ortovox and the same thing happend. I was wondering about the digital kind and you brought that to light. In an actual search everyone with some other electrical device has got to turn them off. I haven't seen any discussion about it so I'm glad you brought it up. I'm sure many people carrying these things don't know this. Quote
willij3 Posted February 6, 2002 Posted February 6, 2002 the thing i wonder is what if my buddy has a talkabout around his neck and he's buried? even if all the searchers turn off our electronic devices will it effect my ability to find him? Quote
al Posted February 7, 2002 Posted February 7, 2002 the thing i wonder is what if my buddy has a talkabout around his neck and he's buried? even if all the searchers turn off our electronic devices will it effect my ability to find him? No, because you'll be zeroing in at the lowest sensitivity level before you probe/dig. My experience has been this is most apparent at the highest sensitivity levels, as in when you begin the search, and your receiver won't be close to his talkabout then. Quote
vegetablebelay Posted February 7, 2002 Posted February 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by al: the thing i wonder is what if my buddy has a talkabout around his neck and he's buried? even if all the searchers turn off our electronic devices will it effect my ability to find him? No, because you'll be zeroing in at the lowest sensitivity level before you probe/dig. My experience has been this is most apparent at the highest sensitivity levels, as in when you begin the search, and your receiver won't be close to his talkabout then. But his will though.. Would that have any effect on the searchers? [ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: vegetablebelay ] Quote
b-rock Posted February 7, 2002 Posted February 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by vegetablebelay: But his will though.. Would that have any affect on the searchers? [ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: vegetablebelay ] The victem should be in transmit mode - I think the issue is interference when in receive mode. In that case, it might just be one more thing to hone in on once everyone on the surface is receiving _and_ have all interfering devices turned off... [ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: b-rock ] Quote
max Posted February 7, 2002 Posted February 7, 2002 quote: Originally posted by fishstick: Interesting findings from a Canadian group a couple of weeks ago. Hey, do you have a reference for this? thanks.dave Quote
Dru Posted February 7, 2002 Posted February 7, 2002 I heard that in the Alps they have a real problem fuinding buried yuppies who leave their cell phone turned on. Of course they could turn off the pieps and just phone the guy and then home in on the ringing.... "Hey Fritz" "Ya" "where are you?" "I'm buried right here scheisskopf!" "where ist here?" "Right here under your verdammt fat ass!" Quote
haireball Posted February 7, 2002 Posted February 7, 2002 pay attention to Al, everyone. Back in my pro-ski-patrol years, we documented interference with avalanche beacons even from digital watches! (hold the beacon in your other hand...) The only functional solution I ever experienced was to turn off EVERYTHING you have with you and keep the beacon as far away from batteries, compasses, etc. as possible. test & practice, and hope you never have to go "live". [ 02-06-2002: Message edited by: haireball ] Quote
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