[aprssig] Cows ... uuh ... CATS In Space

[Nick VA3NNW]

> I'm not looking to determine a herd's grazing patterns, which was Gerry Creager's project's purpose. Rather, I'd like to buy or build a teeny tracker to put on my cat. I seriously doubt he'd appreciate an antenna which would stick out and know that any solution would be little more than an air-cooled dummy load being driven with milliwatts at a HAAT of inches and I'd be lucky to receive decodable braaps a mile away. Ideas? 73

If the aim is to "see where kitty went hunting last night" I suspect 
"record to sdcard and analyse the contents in the morning" might be a 
better option.

If it NEEDS to be "live", including "may need to search/rescue kitty 
from 5 blocks away"... I was thinking WSPR is far better then APRS at 
getting ludicrous range from milliwatts into utterly inadequate 
antennas... However WSPR's best resolution, as far as I know, is 6-char 
maidenhead, and only 1 position every 4 mins, so best is "which 4x3-mile 
square is kitty in, 4 mins ago?   :-/

I've seen APRS work fine with milliwatts of power FROM HIGH ALTITUDE 
BALLOONS, but they had enough space for a quarter-wave dipole, and they 
have a HUGE "line of site" advantage from their height. I'm less 
convinced it would work very well on the ground, especially in thick 
foliage or a semi-residential setting, especially with  a much more 
crappy antenna (maybe a loop around the collar? or split-loop "folded 
dipole" of some sort? Hmmmm?)

... but might be a fun experiment? Look at things like the picoAPRS?

-- 
"Nosey" Nick Waterman, VA3NNW/G7RZQ, K2 #5209, IRLP #2410
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