Events
Groups
Rider Directory
Market
RideCamp
Stuff
Thanks to everyone who replied to my message about a "radio finder"
for my horse. The most useful advice included:
Checking the web under the index "Search And Rescue." I now know
what all these SAR acronyms mean:
ELT--Emergency Locator Transmitters (aviation)
PLB--Personal Locator Beacon (land)
EPIRB--Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (marine)
Unfortunately, as several posters pointed out, these are all highly
official systems for locating *people* in life threatening situations
through the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system, generally on the 470
(or was it 407?) frequency. If you broadcast a coded signal on that
band, it is picked up by a satellite and relayed to a worldwide
system of emergency finders who will go out to look for you. If
what they find is a horse they aren't going to be too happy :-)
Large fines will be levied. Plus, as one poster noted, these all
take multiple steps to activate just to make sure no false alarms
are sounded. Not practical in case of a fall.
There is an older system that does not involve the SARSAT satellite
notification system that broadcasts on the 121.5 (civilian) and
243 (military) frequencies. This is what the emergency finders
actually use to pinpoint locate you once SARSAT has told them
you've declared yourself lost and told them your rough location.
Lots of equipment utilizes these bands. This is a possibility, but
it is still unclear to me whether or not it would be an
unacceptable misuse of its intended purpose.
The Avalanche Finder suggested to me by my local mountaineering
shop didn't turn out too fruitful. The one model I found has
a range of only 80 meters. Clearly it is for exactly locating
something that you already know pretty much where it is.
I have been unable to find any information on the Animal Locator
that somebody said that they had seen at the AERC convention
in the recent past.
Unexpectedly fruitful avenues turned out to be:
- There is a radio location system that is used to find Alzheimers
patients who have wandered away from their caregivers. You
clip it to their clothes and if they wander off, you can
find them within a range of several miles. Don't have any
details yet, but it seems plausible. Alzheimers<-->horse.
Yup, that sounds about right.
- Ever wonder where all those field biologists get those radio
beacon collars that they use to track caribou and migrating
birds? Well, it turns out that there are companies who exist
to do nothing but produce wildlife tracking radio transmitters,
collars, antennae, long-life batteries, and receivers--stock or
custom-designed. They broadcast on the VHF bands. This looks
like a possible, albeit expensive, avenue of approach. The
high-end $5000 models even have GPS capability.
- Roger Rittenhouse. It turns out that, in addition to being
a heart rate monitor kind of guy, Roger is also an Amateur
Radio kind of guy. According to Roger, and verified numerous
times since then, ham radio types actually have an organized
sport called "Fox Hunting" that is just exactly this: finding
the location of a small, low-powered radio transmitter.
Unfortunately, it turns out to transmit on *any* radio frequency
you have to have an FCC amateur radio license, for which you
have to pass a test. Roger suggested contacting local
ham radio groups to see if they could be of any help. He
says he knows of one ham whose wife endurance rides. This
ham uses a transmitter/receiver pair to keep track of his
wife when he crews for her on rides!! This looks like the
most plausible low-cost option. (Everything else solid I've
turned up seems to have a price tag in the vicinity of $1000
or more.)
The most practical suggestion was putting dog tags with my name
and phone number(s) on my bridle and saddle so that if somebody
*does* catch my old guy, they know who to call to take him home.
A variation would include giving my cell phone number, so that I
can turn on my phone after I fell off to receive any "found horse"
reports. Dog tags ordered today.
Thanks again to everyone who responded. If I turn up anything else
of general interest, I will post it.
Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Massachusetts, USA
Events
Groups
Rider Directory
Market
RideCamp
Stuff