[aprssig] Group Tracker Build Projects ?

[William McKeehan]

This sounds like a very nice tracker package. The kind of thing that I would
like to build.

How much time would the 2.3 AH battery operate these units?

Do you happen to have any pictures of the units?

On Fri, September 23, 2005 11:48 am, Bruce Gordon said:
> hi,
>
> Our ARES group built 10 successful portable trackers several years ago.
> Each used an Icom T2H 5 watt HT, a TinyTrack chip, a (now obsolete)
> Earthmate GPS and a 12V 2.3 AH gel battery packed in an 8.75 x 5.75 x 3 inch
> watertight plastic box (Bud PN1329)  A BNC jack on top holds a 1/4 wave
> whip.  The inside of the box is coated with nickel conductive paint except
> over the GPSantenna to provide the antenna ground.  Three large, doughnut
> ceramic magnets and a steel back plate mounted flush with the bottom hold
> the unit on any car top.  No external wires to tangle or trip over.  We did
> get some discounts on the radios, GPS receivers, boxes and other parts even
> at this quantity.
>
> We made a custom PC board to hold the TinyTrack CPU and associated parts, a
> switching regulator for the GPS and some protective circuitry.  A recessed
> power switch, track and battery LEDs and a charging jack are brought to the
> outside of the box.  The battery gives 10 to 12 hours of operation which has
> been more than enough so far. Eight of the units are kept charged in a rack
> in our comm van.  The tracker batteries have the same charging
> characteristics as the van main gel batteries so they take advantage of the
> van's sophisticated charger.  We also modified some switching "wall warts"
> for recharging  elsewhere.  They have been used on a variety of vehicles and
> some  helicopters and airplanes (inside).
>
> Bruce Gordon
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "William McKeehan" <mckeehan at mckeehan.homeip.net>
> To: <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
> Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 1:32 PM
> Subject: [aprssig] Group Tracker Build Projects ?
>
>
>> Does anyone know of any groups that have built several trackers for the
> group
>> to use during events? Not the property of any one individual, but the
> property
>> of the group?
>>
>> OR any individual that has built several trackers for deployment during an
> event?
>>
>> I'm looking for recommendations on 1) configurations used; 2) bulk
> discounts
>> available and 3) any tips on such an effort.
>>
>> --
>> William McKeehan
>> KI4HDU
>> Internet: mckeehan at mckeehan.homeip.net
>> http://mckeehan.homeip.net
>>
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>
>
>
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-- 
William McKeehan
KI4HDU
Internet: mckeehan at mckeehan.homeip.net
http://mckeehan.homeip.net