Anyone have the new RDF from Global TSCM Group?

[Skysho]

Just to add a little to the discussion. A couple months ago I used the quad in my attic that is attached to a rotator and directed it towards a repeater signal. I calibrated the rotating quad with a compass to the controller. I pasted a compass rose on the face of the controller since it wasn't designed for small increments. Using the Mk4 Sniffer I turned the quad toward the strongest signal and noted the degree reading. Using Google Earth I drew a vector line on the map from my house toward the repeater signal using that degree reading. I sent a screen print of my map to the repeater owner to see how close I was. He said I hadn't gone out far enough. He shared with me where the repeater was located and the address. I extended my line and found his repeater. I missed it by about 400 yards and its 17 miles away up in the hills and I'm not direct line of sight. There is a one small hill or I'd be a direct shot to the repeater. Now it was either crap luck or one can get some fairly good readings. I don't think I could have gotten that accurate of a reading with my Doppler. I'm using the Sniffer and a loop when I get close to a transmitter anyway.

 

[poltergeisty]

Thanks for all the input. I have been pondering this question for YEARS! I mean, when was that ramsey Doppler kit released? That's about how long I pondered the roof idea. I did think about the resolution with such a narrow distance between the two antenna clusters. But I'm not that mathematically inclined to figure it out. I estimate my roof to be about fifty feet wide. What kind of resolution am I looking at? If I can narrow a transmitter down to a block wide then that's pretty good.

 

[poltergeisty]

Just thinking about this and it would probably only work for pinpointing a signal very close, like within a few houses and perpendicular to the two sets of fixed pickup antennas. Using a target signal 1 mile away as an example, the circumference of a 1 mile circle around your house would be 33,175.2ft. Divide that by 360 and at 1 mile, a 1 degree swath is only 92.15ft wide.

Wouldn't the circumference be 16,579'?

C= Pie*D.

D= 5280'

Pie= 3.14

C = Circumference.

Looks like you doubled it.

OH! I think I know what you did. You are using the radius of 1 mile. Thus the diameter would be 2 miles. Would make sense since you are receiving at 1 mile away.

 

[Skysho]

When I was testing the unit just after I received it I set off the transmitter here at my house. Drove over to a local college parking lot 1.3 miles away and took a reading and plotted it on Fox Hunt Pro. Drove a mile to the east and took another reading and plotted it. Then I drove a mile north and plotted another reading. Then let the program give me its best location from those coordinates and it was a close on the on the Lat, but a block over on the Lon. Just my guess, you'd be too close with just a 50' spread between two clusters of antennas with these units. They are not rock solid when they hear a signal, the light bounces around along with the degree reading.

 

[prcguy]

Yes, I was using a 1mi radius.

Wouldn't the circumference be 16,579'?

C= Pie*D.

D= 5280'

Pie= 3.14

C = Circumference.

Looks like you doubled it.

OH! I think I know what you did. You are using the radius of 1 mile. Thus the diameter would be 2 miles. Would make sense since you are receiving at 1 mile away.

 

[N8NQP]

New unit?

Seems that they changed the board a bit but not the instructions.

Instead of a single twisted pair coming from the power switch there are now 3 wires coming from the switch. One with a black and red pair, and another with a single red wire. On the rear board where there was only a single connection, there are now 2.

I have an email into the seller as there are no markings indicating which should go to which...

N8NQP

 

[N8NQP]

Seller got back to me. It is changed, the single wire goes to CH5 on the board (its just to the left of the speaker connection.) I guess its changed twice since the documentation was done as his picture showed it on the left side of the board near the edge.

 

[Skysho]

So is anybody getting some hunt time in? I added a an extra tool when I'm on a hunt. So along with the Doppler I set up a 48" 1/2 in PVC piece with a Arrow 2m loop attached to the top of the pipe. The coax runs inside the pipe to a Mk4 Sniffer. The wife can spin the loop and give me distance to the transmitter using its tone attenuator. Works pretty slick.