How to Choose ID #s on the Garmin Astro

[doghunter]

Does anyone know what #'s dont work together. I remember when i first got my Garmin it was like you could not have the last digit of a # be the same. cant run 1 and 11 or 12 and 22 or 33 and 43.

but i cleared all the collars of all 3 garmins and when we went to add back the 10 collars there were id's not available. one of the Id #'s I remember was 1 was not available. I just want to keep from getting the dog interfeering message because when he is running you cant change it and while interference you cant see all the other dogs. (that is another thing they need to fix.)

Any input on choosing id #s or why some id's are not available at times.

[FullCryHounds]

Good question. I've had the same problem. Hopefully someone has a good answer.

[Buddyw]

I have not figured it out either.. Haven't spent much time trying to .. But I know It's annoying when I have a friends dog or system and we can't add a collar because it's not availible in the list..

Buddy

[catdogs]

You can only assign/track ten collars at once ending in 0-9. If it won't give you a list of all numbers after you cleared off all the collars, then the collars were not removed. You can't just "stop tracking" a collar, that collar has to be removed completely.

[FullCryHounds]

But the problem is when you choose a number from the list, you can still get an interference message. I've tried spacing my collars out but still have problems. We're trying to find out how to pick numbers that won't interfere with each other. Why would a number be on the list if it's going to interfere with another frequency and make that collar useless.

[Nolte]

This is what we tried and it worked until we got more collars around. Start at 0 and then space them 3 #s apart, so highest # ends up being 27. If there ends up being more than 10 collars than double up an ending #, but space it as far apart as possible. Our case we've got 9 and I think a 39 (might be 49). These don't seem to get interfernce. I can track one and my buddy can track the other. If I need to see his collar, I delete mine and add his in.

We've noticed that sometimes this isn't possible. Some units are more touchy than others. The only way to get around this is to turn on all units and collars, then see who is getting interference. Keep playing around until the right combo works. There might not be one that does. If stuff is still going nuts, just shut of the collar you think is being the problem. If that doesn't do it, try another. One thing I always do is shut off collars that aren't in the hunt. Makes it much less confusing to keep track of.

[walkerhunter01]

I am pretty sure this is Garmins way of not letting you add over 10 collars. To my knowledge there is no way to over ride it. These are the frequencies that Garmin use. I got this off their web site.

* Communication Settings 0 – 9 (151.820 MHz)
* Communication Settings 10 – 19 (151.880 MHz)
* Communication Settings 20 – 29 (151.940 MHz)
* Communication Settings 30 – 39 (154.570 MHz)
* Communication Settings 40 – 49 (154.600 MHz)

Hope this helps.

[catdogs]

Dunno, I've done it like Nolte with friends, I'll have a 2,4,6 someone else a 1,5,7 and someone else a 3,9,0 as an ending number and everything works. I think 1 might interfere with 2 but say 11 would not... These things can be funky at times I know that. I was watching 2 of my dogs running side by side one time and the astro said they were 500 yards apart and all settings were the same.

Also, the older units would let you choose id's that would interfere where as the newer units or units that have been updated, will not allow you to choose any other ID that may cause intereference...

[Buddyw]

Maybe that answers my question as to why some of the numbers aren't avaible. It may be Garmin removing the option so I can't select them becasue of interference..

I should try and figure out what's going on.. I've always just looked at it.. said.. hmmm that's kinda wierd, then moved on..

Buddy

[mark]

I have 14 collars and have had the best luck letting the 220 pick its own numbers. This seems to keep the intrference to a minimum and usually only happens once or twice early on and then is fine

[walkerhunter01]

Mark- Have you been able to program all 14 collars into one single unit?

[doghunter]

I usually let the astro pick the collars but we may have 5 Astros Tracking 20 collars so. the example is this weekend i had 2 astro 220 and we had 9 or 10 collars so we cleared all the collars of both units and when i added the first collar one was not available on mine but was on the other then another number was available on his but not mine. this is with collars that have all been on both astos and we had hunted them for about 20 hrs we just wanted to clean up the screen.

as we cleared the collars and added them back all collars were on and within 5 feet of us.

I just cant make it make sence.

another time he called and ask for the id and i gave it to him and it was not available on his unit. this was the only collar he did not have and i had all the same collars on my garmin working fine.

[sheimer]

I noticed something like you all are discussing a few months ago and have since ignored it till now. I just fired up my astro and have deleted all but one collar and then added another one. The ID numbers of the two collars are 14 and 16. I tried to change the id number of the one with ID# 16 and checked to see what ID#s were available. The Astro eliminated the oportunity to use any ID# that ends with a 4(4,14,24,34,44).

Mabey this is part of a recient update to the Astro?

Scott

[mark]

01.......i have never tried that

[nightrider]

From the Garmin site,they say 5 or 10 apart. Question: How many DC20/30 dog collars may be paired with the Astro 220?
Answer:

The Astro 220 simultaneously tracks up to 10 dogs, each with their own unique ID number to avoid conflicting signals.

Although there are 50 ID numbers (0-49), the Astro 220 will only allow up to 10 dog collars to be added at one time. Keep in mind that only three collars can be seen at one time on the compass screen. When setting up multiple collars on a single Astro 220 device ensure that the unique communication ID numbers are set at least five or ten ID numbers apart such as 24 and 34 and not close together for example 1 and 2. This will help ensure that there is no cross interference between the collars.

This applies to both the DC 20 and the DC 30.
Last modified on: 12/30/2008 I've even had problems this way!