RXN
Active VIP Member
So I was hoping to video this, as I was showing the difference between the beacons, probes and shovels that I own. How there preform,
Also I did an interference test, We all hear people saying your phone, GPS, Radio all cause beacon interference. I did a controlled run with none of that stuff, then with wearing that stuff, Then I did a search with my wife messaging my InReach as I searched, I was able to see 1st hand the difference.
I tried to video this as I thought it would be good for others to see. Unfortunately my hand held camera would only record 24 seconds then die. And I was wearing my GoPro on the chest mount, this would have shown the beacon as i did my search and the interference cased by my electronics. Its the 1st gen GoPro, the little red red was blinking indicating it was recording, but nothing saved to the memory card that was in it. So, yeah, a bit disappointing, as I'm sure a few guys would have found it interesting.
I'll try my best to explain what I saw today.
Beacons used.
(x2) BCA TRACKER DTS - these are close to 20 years old, and until now these were spare beacons I leant out.
(x2) BCA TRACKER 3 - One was mine, was was my Friends.
(x1) PIEPs beacon, that green and yellow one thats been in the new lately over recalls
(x1) BCA TRACKER S - My new spare/loaner beacon
(x1) SOS analog Beacon
A while ago I had a post where we repaired one of the DTS beacons, and because it was split open to repair, this beacon became the beacon we had buried all the time.
1st set of tests, no electronics on me as I searched.
With the DTS buried. I used my T3 and had little to no problem locating the buried beacon, Other than its Range was shorter, I had to walk into range. but once in range Follow the arrows and the numbers and probe strike every time.
Switched to the Pieps, was automatically in range (where i had my little table set up). So I didn't have to walk in to get a signal. I found it the same as the T3 super easy to use, first probe strike on the buried beacon.
Next up I tried the other 20 year old BCA DTS, this was an utter disappointment, at the same time I am glad I did this, otherwise I never would have known, As I walked into the field, toward the buried beacon, (Remember I started out of range), It picked up a signal, so I followed it, the numbers were 35 - 37 meters, then the arrow took me away from the buried beacon, and my numbers dropped to 24 meters walking the wrong direction, the screen went black, and the noise stopped for maybe a couple seconds, came back with the arrows pointing a different direction and back to 37 meters, I kept following the arrows, and this issue kept repeating, just taking me in a circle, no where near the buried beacon, (The same happened when Tim gave it a try). So I've been loaning out a bad beacon.....
And Finally for fun, We tried the old SOS analog beacon. Because I knew the direction of the buried beacon, this was easy. but as soon as I did not know where the buried beacon was, this was a challenge, Still successfully landed a probe strike (4th poke) but took much longer and involved more back and forth walking as I lowered the dial and listened for the beeps. Do your part, if you or your buddy uses these old girls, upgrade, get something more effective.
Then I ran this with the Tracker S, same results of the T3 and Pieps.
2nd set of tests, I wore my gear as I normally would. My phone in my breast pocket of my bibs, on Bluetooth connected to my inreach in my back pack, my Radio was also on in my backpack.
Results were the same for the T3, Ts and Pieps. No change until, either a message was sent from or received by my inreach, the interference, would stop the beacon for a second, the numbers would come in much larger and multiple arrows would light up pointing different directions as the numbers jumped around.
For each test i was 2.0 meters from the buried beacon, the numbers would jump from 4-9.7 and back down, this was maybe 4 to 5 seconds, then the beacon screen would go back to normal after, back to 2.0 and the center arrow. I found no interference when using the radios, Just the GPS messaging. ()It's too bad my gopro footage didn't save, it was interesting to watch).
We also did some multiple burials, where 3 beacons were buried. This I liked the Pieps better, it should 1, 2 or 3 burials on its screen, where as the T3 and Ts show a +2. I personally found all 3 simple to locate one, signal suppression/ flag it, then find the next one, (Of course this is being done in my yard, so easy to walk and search)
We took turns burying the 3 "bad" beacons, and looking for them. Each guy did very well, My Friend Josh has never been to the mountains before and wants to go, So Before taking him, I wanted him to understand the beacon I'm lending him, how it works. he did very well.
We also went through the collection of Probes.
Mammut 320cm stays in my back pack, nice scale up the side solid color, find slippery with wet gloves
Othovox 320cm, stays in my tunnel bag, nice scale, (part of it has worn off), bottom two sections are in different colors so you know when you are getting close to the person.
(x2) SOS probes, yellow and purple (Yellow and Blue) alternating colors, no markings, these are about 280cm. these are my loaner probes
the embarrassing probe in a shovel handle, this is a cheap flimsy thin piece of garbage about 200cm long. (My Dad rode with that for years, when he got out of riding I bought his old gear, I had no idea his probes were in the shovel handle).
A Black diamond 320cm probe (belongs to a friend) this is nice, nicest one, but would be nice to do like the Ortovox and have a color indicator on the scale.
and a BCA 240cm probe, this felt pretty flimsy as well.
During this Josh was able to see some of the differences in shovels. I sold my BCA one, and Tim didn't bring his, But Josh got to try each shovel out in my snow piles and was able to see that the two for $20 he got at costco is really a bad shovel. Good thing I'll be suppling him with a back pack and Shovel for the his 1st trip. his cheap ones can be strapped to the sled.
in Short,
Practice with your gear, All of it, because here I was was leaning out equipment that was no good, and unless I practiced with it, I never would have known, So if you have multiple beacons, try them all out, bury one in the yard and go look for it.
and always buy the equipment you want looking for you should you be buried and install that same thought in your riding buddies, because they will be the ones looking for you.
Its too bad the videos didn't work. Maybe I'll try another day
Also I did an interference test, We all hear people saying your phone, GPS, Radio all cause beacon interference. I did a controlled run with none of that stuff, then with wearing that stuff, Then I did a search with my wife messaging my InReach as I searched, I was able to see 1st hand the difference.
I tried to video this as I thought it would be good for others to see. Unfortunately my hand held camera would only record 24 seconds then die. And I was wearing my GoPro on the chest mount, this would have shown the beacon as i did my search and the interference cased by my electronics. Its the 1st gen GoPro, the little red red was blinking indicating it was recording, but nothing saved to the memory card that was in it. So, yeah, a bit disappointing, as I'm sure a few guys would have found it interesting.
I'll try my best to explain what I saw today.
Beacons used.
(x2) BCA TRACKER DTS - these are close to 20 years old, and until now these were spare beacons I leant out.
(x2) BCA TRACKER 3 - One was mine, was was my Friends.
(x1) PIEPs beacon, that green and yellow one thats been in the new lately over recalls
(x1) BCA TRACKER S - My new spare/loaner beacon
(x1) SOS analog Beacon
A while ago I had a post where we repaired one of the DTS beacons, and because it was split open to repair, this beacon became the beacon we had buried all the time.
1st set of tests, no electronics on me as I searched.
With the DTS buried. I used my T3 and had little to no problem locating the buried beacon, Other than its Range was shorter, I had to walk into range. but once in range Follow the arrows and the numbers and probe strike every time.
Switched to the Pieps, was automatically in range (where i had my little table set up). So I didn't have to walk in to get a signal. I found it the same as the T3 super easy to use, first probe strike on the buried beacon.
Next up I tried the other 20 year old BCA DTS, this was an utter disappointment, at the same time I am glad I did this, otherwise I never would have known, As I walked into the field, toward the buried beacon, (Remember I started out of range), It picked up a signal, so I followed it, the numbers were 35 - 37 meters, then the arrow took me away from the buried beacon, and my numbers dropped to 24 meters walking the wrong direction, the screen went black, and the noise stopped for maybe a couple seconds, came back with the arrows pointing a different direction and back to 37 meters, I kept following the arrows, and this issue kept repeating, just taking me in a circle, no where near the buried beacon, (The same happened when Tim gave it a try). So I've been loaning out a bad beacon.....
And Finally for fun, We tried the old SOS analog beacon. Because I knew the direction of the buried beacon, this was easy. but as soon as I did not know where the buried beacon was, this was a challenge, Still successfully landed a probe strike (4th poke) but took much longer and involved more back and forth walking as I lowered the dial and listened for the beeps. Do your part, if you or your buddy uses these old girls, upgrade, get something more effective.
Then I ran this with the Tracker S, same results of the T3 and Pieps.
2nd set of tests, I wore my gear as I normally would. My phone in my breast pocket of my bibs, on Bluetooth connected to my inreach in my back pack, my Radio was also on in my backpack.
Results were the same for the T3, Ts and Pieps. No change until, either a message was sent from or received by my inreach, the interference, would stop the beacon for a second, the numbers would come in much larger and multiple arrows would light up pointing different directions as the numbers jumped around.
For each test i was 2.0 meters from the buried beacon, the numbers would jump from 4-9.7 and back down, this was maybe 4 to 5 seconds, then the beacon screen would go back to normal after, back to 2.0 and the center arrow. I found no interference when using the radios, Just the GPS messaging. ()It's too bad my gopro footage didn't save, it was interesting to watch).
We also did some multiple burials, where 3 beacons were buried. This I liked the Pieps better, it should 1, 2 or 3 burials on its screen, where as the T3 and Ts show a +2. I personally found all 3 simple to locate one, signal suppression/ flag it, then find the next one, (Of course this is being done in my yard, so easy to walk and search)
We took turns burying the 3 "bad" beacons, and looking for them. Each guy did very well, My Friend Josh has never been to the mountains before and wants to go, So Before taking him, I wanted him to understand the beacon I'm lending him, how it works. he did very well.
We also went through the collection of Probes.
Mammut 320cm stays in my back pack, nice scale up the side solid color, find slippery with wet gloves
Othovox 320cm, stays in my tunnel bag, nice scale, (part of it has worn off), bottom two sections are in different colors so you know when you are getting close to the person.
(x2) SOS probes, yellow and purple (Yellow and Blue) alternating colors, no markings, these are about 280cm. these are my loaner probes
the embarrassing probe in a shovel handle, this is a cheap flimsy thin piece of garbage about 200cm long. (My Dad rode with that for years, when he got out of riding I bought his old gear, I had no idea his probes were in the shovel handle).
A Black diamond 320cm probe (belongs to a friend) this is nice, nicest one, but would be nice to do like the Ortovox and have a color indicator on the scale.
and a BCA 240cm probe, this felt pretty flimsy as well.
During this Josh was able to see some of the differences in shovels. I sold my BCA one, and Tim didn't bring his, But Josh got to try each shovel out in my snow piles and was able to see that the two for $20 he got at costco is really a bad shovel. Good thing I'll be suppling him with a back pack and Shovel for the his 1st trip. his cheap ones can be strapped to the sled.
in Short,
Practice with your gear, All of it, because here I was was leaning out equipment that was no good, and unless I practiced with it, I never would have known, So if you have multiple beacons, try them all out, bury one in the yard and go look for it.
and always buy the equipment you want looking for you should you be buried and install that same thought in your riding buddies, because they will be the ones looking for you.
Its too bad the videos didn't work. Maybe I'll try another day
