Equipment that interferes with Transceivers

• Spot
• Garmin 650
• BCA Link **only sent false signal from the unit, not the mic, so if the main unit in your pack you should be ok.
• Baofeng **only sent false signal from the unit, not the mic, so if the main unit in your pack you should be ok.
• Cell phone on and in airplane mode
• Sat Phone

~Rowdy~ said:

Had a transceiver search with some friends this weekend and we tested our transceivers with the below devices. ALL of them sent a false signal in close proximity. So if you carry any of the items below in your front pocket and you are searching there is a chance that they will send a false signal. We tested this on Tracker 1, 2 & 3 and Pieps transceivers. I was surprised at the results personally, and will be adjusting how I carry my equipment after trying this out. I will also be doing further testing on the equipment I carry in some different scenarios

• Spot
• Garmin 650
• BCA Link **only sent false signal from the unit, not the mic, so if the main unit in your pack you should be ok.
• Baofeng **only sent false signal from the unit, not the mic, so if the main unit in your pack you should be ok.
• Cell phone on and in airplane mode
• Sat Phone

Click to expand...

~Rowdy~ said:

Had a transceiver search with some friends this weekend and we tested our transceivers with the below devices. ALL of them sent a false signal in close proximity. So if you carry any of the items below in your front pocket and you are searching there is a chance that they will send a false signal. We tested this on Tracker 1, 2 & 3 and Pieps transceivers. I was surprised at the results personally, and will be adjusting how I carry my equipment after trying this out. I will also be doing further testing on the equipment I carry in some different scenarios

• Spot
• Garmin 650
• BCA Link **only sent false signal from the unit, not the mic, so if the main unit in your pack you should be ok.
• Baofeng **only sent false signal from the unit, not the mic, so if the main unit in your pack you should be ok.
• Cell phone on and in airplane mode
• Sat Phone

Click to expand...

etecheaven said:

Thank you for doing this, i would never have thought my cell phone is airplane mode would cause a problem. I keep it in my front pocket for pictures and to keep it warm.... but will not any longer.

How close where you when you did the test?

This only affects the searching beacon not the receiving? did you test both?

Click to expand...

bayman said:

Was hoping to make it out with you guys, damn work got in the way. May have to re-adjust where I carry my phone and spot going forward though.

Click to expand...

JMCX said:

Thanks again to Rowdy for organizing.

Just to clarify. What we observed was that you as a searcher better not have any other powered electronics on your person while searching. My Baofeng didn't seem to cause any problem with the radio in the pack and mic over the shoulder but probably still best to power down in a search situation.

I will probably continue to carry my phone as l always have but got to be super aware, if the time comes, it has to be left behind or powered down.

Click to expand...

bayman said:

I carry my spot in my vest pocket opposite of the beacon...should I look and moving it I wonder? I know yours is in your backpack. Sorry I missed this little exercise, some good questions sourced from this.

Click to expand...

~Rowdy~ said:

Had a transceiver search with some friends this weekend and we tested our transceivers with the below devices. ALL of them sent a false signal in close proximity. So if you carry any of the items below in your front pocket and you are searching there is a chance that they will send a false signal. We tested this on Tracker 1, 2 & 3 and Pieps transceivers. I was surprised at the results personally, and will be adjusting how I carry my equipment after trying this out. I will also be doing further testing on the equipment I carry in some different scenarios

• Spot
• Garmin 650
• BCA Link **only sent false signal from the unit, not the mic, so if the main unit in your pack you should be ok.
• Baofeng **only sent false signal from the unit, not the mic, so if the main unit in your pack you should be ok.
• Cell phone on and in airplane mode
• Sat Phone

Click to expand...

JMCX said:

Thanks again to Rowdy for organizing.

Just to clarify. What we observed was that you as a searcher better not have any other powered electronics on your person while searching. My Baofeng didn't seem to cause any problem with the radio in the pack and mic over the shoulder but probably still best to power down in a search situation.

I will probably continue to carry my phone as l always have but got to be super aware, if the time comes, it has to be left behind or powered down.

Click to expand...

bayman said:

I carry my spot in my vest pocket opposite of the beacon...should I look and moving it I wonder? I know yours is in your backpack. Sorry I missed this little exercise, some good questions sourced from this.

Click to expand...

Teth-Air said:

Please do not get confused with search and transmit modes when you discuss Rowdy's findings here. There are a ton of guys that believe that if they get buried their beacons may not work to transmit because they have other electronics on them. It must be noted and understood that it is the searcher more than the victim that may be effected. For this reason it is good practice to hold your beacon far out in front of you when searching so nothing on your body influences the sensitive search mode. Yes some will argue that it could hurt the transmit function too but just the same, it is possible that the victim could be found easier because of the electronics he is carrying too. Every single post like Rowdy's always gets a response that interprets the finding incorrectly.

Thank you for doing this testing!

Click to expand...

Teth-Air said:

Please do not get confused with search and transmit modes when you discuss Rowdy's findings here. There are a ton of guys that believe that if they get buried their beacons may not work to transmit because they have other electronics on them. It must be noted and understood that it is the searcher more than the victim that may be effected. For this reason it is good practice to hold your beacon far out in front of you when searching so nothing on your body influences the sensitive search mode. Yes some will argue that it could hurt the transmit function too but just the same, it is possible that the victim could be found easier because of the electronics he is carrying too. Every single post like Rowdy's always gets a response that interprets the finding incorrectly.

Thank you for doing this testing!

Click to expand...

~Rowdy~ said:

Just another note to what you are saying here, if I do some more extensive testing I will be sure to put as much accurate information as possible and take pictures or videos.

This was a very quick test with each of the items described. It was only out of curiosity that we even tried it. Everyone took a turn turning their transceiver on, then into search mode and getting close to the item at which point it would throw a false signal. That false signal ranged in numbers as well, the numbers it submitted as a false signal weren't accurate to the location of the item throwing the false signal. Clear as mud? lol. If you are curious or question these results at all I urge you to try it for yourselves.

Click to expand...

Snort said:

We have done testing in the past with a phone and a transmitting beacon. We placed the beacon by itself and then did a search for it. We then placed an iphone (on and not in airplane mode) right with it and performed the same search. We found that there was noticeable difference. We tried this several times with the same result. This was with only one type of device. We may try the same thing a GPS, radio, etc in the future.

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