Do you guys use tracking devices or loud noise makers?

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It seems these guys came out with these trackers about 5 years ago but their practical range is pretty low.

http://www.loc8tor.com/model-planes/

I've also thought of maybe some sort of piezo buzzer or keychain beeper so that fly away Phantoms would be easier to find.

What do you guys use other than relying on FPV to know where you are?
 
Do you think you could strap my neighbor's constantly barking dogs to your Phantom? I'm sure they could be heard a a long distance...!!! Just a thought....
 
I have a really loud noise maker when I'm flying.... It's my Wife yelling at me to stop playing like a kid.... But all I have is a big smile on my face.......

P.s. She really never says a word about my flying. Very understanding.
 
Also I found a way to tell when your battery is low if your fly with FPV!

What I did was buy this cheap three dollar fiber optic lamp, You know the ones that have all them little fiber optic strings and when you turn on the lamp the tips of the strings light up to the color of the light shining on the other end? Well I yanked a strand from the light, Stuck one end of the fiber optic in the LED light on back of unit and ran the other end to the side of my camera lens on my Fat Shark camera. Dabs of super glue along the fiber to hold it works or you can run it through the inside of unit but your going to need to put a little bit of glue on corner of camera "Not to close to lens" right on the front rim of camera on what ever side or top and bottem you want to view it! Its cool and it works great when I'm flying with my goggles on, I can see the blinking light and it doesn't obstruct your view!!
 
I use this: http://drone-mods.com/Drone-Mods-UAV-Locator-DM005.htm
Not cheap, but it works great. You ping it from your phone and it sends back the coordinates to your email so you can see it on google maps. I've tested it all over North Texas and it's very accurate. Mine weighs 68g with battery. It has a test / panic button on it so you can see how accurate it would be for a particular area.

As I work to extend the range of my P2V and future flying machines I wanted to be able to find it if my experiments don't quite work as expected. It's also handy for tracking luggage and other valuable stuff.

Scott
 
I just looked at the "Tile App"...and it looks like the little tile just beeps when activated? I am understanding this correctly? I'm not sure this would be much help in the outdoors...or in any fairly noisy environment. Something in the nature of an Air Raid Siren might do the trick...>G<
 
If you watch the Video on the Tile it shows you that it will give a location on the map to where to go and then when you get close due the map, you activate the beeper buzzer whatever.. Looks cool but only available on Iphone ****..
 
phantomflyer said:
Also I found a way to tell when your battery is low if your fly with FPV!

What I did was buy this cheap three dollar fiber optic lamp, You know the ones that have all them little fiber optic strings and when you turn on the lamp the tips of the strings light up to the color of the light shining on the other end? Well I yanked a strand from the light, Stuck one end of the fiber optic in the LED light on back of unit and ran the other end to the side of my camera lens on my Fat Shark camera. Dabs of super glue along the fiber to hold it works or you can run it through the inside of unit but your going to need to put a little bit of glue on corner of camera "Not to close to lens" right on the front rim of camera on what ever side or top and bottem you want to view it! Its cool and it works great when I'm flying with my goggles on, I can see the blinking light and it doesn't obstruct your view!!
What a brilliant idea!
Off to the cheap shops to find a hippy lamp tomorrow. :lol:

I like the Loc8tor,it suits my needs well as it does not require a sim card or mobile phone signal to work.I often fly in locations beyond the phone service area.
Santa might bring one for me.
 
fshurley said:
If you watch the Video on the Tile it shows you that it will give a location on the map to where to go and then when you get close due the map, you activate the beeper buzzer whatever.. Looks cool but only available on Iphone ****..

I don't believe it shows you a location on a map. If you loose something you have to be within 150 feet to find it (or someone else with the Tile App comes within 150 feet). In other words, if your Phantom flies off, you have to know about where it is (within 150 feet) to find it.
 
MadMan said:
I use this: http://drone-mods.com/Drone-Mods-UAV-Locator-DM005.htm
Not cheap, but it works great. You ping it from your phone and it sends back the coordinates to your email so you can see it on google maps. I've tested it all over North Texas and it's very accurate. Mine weighs 68g with battery. It has a test / panic button on it so you can see how accurate it would be for a particular area.

As I work to extend the range of my P2V and future flying machines I wanted to be able to find it if my experiments don't quite work as expected. It's also handy for tracking luggage and other valuable stuff.

Scott
do you know the weight and if you need to buy a monthly subscription for this? trying to compare it to the garmin which has a year service free and only 51 grams.
 
duhh, all the info is there. 56 grams and 70$ for a year vs garmin is 51 and a year free service (dont know what the second year costs though)
 
I purchased a cheap gps device that takes a SIM card. A buddy of min uses them on his hunting dogs. He uses collar mounted units. I purchased a small version and will Velcro it to the bottom under the battery pack

Will get a pay as you go sim And load $10 on it and should be good to go. If it lands somewhere out of sight I can call the unit and it will send me a link to its location then I can track it


Here is a possible solution Same type of thing as above but you can also call it and set off a high pitch sound so you use gps to get close then hit the sound and track right to it

Dji could build that in. If it looses signal from the tx and the fail safe does not execute then as soon as it lands it starts to play its startup song until it comes in contact with its tx again Or build the sim thing right in.

Even if someone picks it up and pulls power have it remember it's last setting and if battery is put in again then it starts to scream again


Another option is to make it so you have to have the original TX. And the phantom to change TX. Units. Even if it is stolen the thief can't pair it with another TX unit without both the tx and the phantom


Here is what I bought Would rather just have something inside the phantom though

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-Mini-Realtim ... 283&_uhb=1


Perhaps one could take the above unit apart and find space inside the vision for the motherboard and battery.
Obviously needing a port in the phantom for charging the tracker unit
 
THell said:
Here is what I bought Would rather just have something inside the phantom though

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-Mini-Realtim ... 283&_uhb=1


Perhaps one could take the above unit apart and find space inside the vision for the motherboard and battery.
Obviously needing a port in the phantom for charging the tracker unit
that looks interesting but the description says "Whenever you call the unit it will respond with the coordinates of its location
thru a SMS message. You can then use these coordinates on any mapping software
(for example google earth) which will show where exactly the unit is
located"

have you actually done it and taken the coordinates and then plugged them into google maps and seen how accurate it is? Seems like that might leave a lot of room for error
 
I have called my buddy's dogs using my iPhone it sends 2 texts back
one is just the coordinates

the other is a http://www.maps.google.com/bla bla bla with the chordates I click on that and I get a location.
If the dogs are on the run after a kill then you can set the device to send you a text every x minutes if you want..

Putting a $10 amount on a pay as you go would last for a long time as I am guessing you only use it in emergencies.

When I get mine I will do a full review on here... since I can't fly as of yet.... too **** cold out
 
The device has a built-in microphone too.
There's a mode where you can call to listen-in through that microphone.
 

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