Garmin Truck Antenna Problems

[Smiley]

Had the garmin 2 years first year used beep beep 3 times last year used it 5 times . several of those times the garmin would have been or was dead the next day.
But now on the other hand I have been able to see far more of what the dogs are doing and can place myself on the mountain to see who is trailing or who is following much easier . I have been able to stay with the race much easier and makes recovery of dogs so much more time efficient and saves sooo much more money.

[Dale T]

I'm going to ask the question:
What are the do's and don't with the Garmin and the high powered radios to keep from cooking the Garmin?

[doghunter]

Well we need to try to find a solution. The fact is Garmin Astro does not work well around other MURS Devices. And it has a few other problems (like not having a way to keep interference down when hunting around other Astro users.)

So lets find that Future multi-millinare that can solve this problem.

[Steve White]

DH, I have to say that you alone have had more problems than all of my customers combined!!!! You burn up, break more units than anyone. You get the worst range of anyone. Yes, we all have problems from time to time. Yet you have more than all combined. Is that not strange!! Don't take this as a personal attack. Since all your posts show this to be factual information!

I really have to be sounding like a broken record on a lot of this stuff. The guys in my group have yet to burn up a unit using a high powered radio. WHY, again it is because WE DO NOT USE A TRUCK MOUNTED ANTENNA!!!! Perhaps the big letters will help this sink in. I give all my customers a warning about them. I flat tell my customers I do not like to sell them!! Strange how most will listen to this, and as a result have few problems!

Like I have said also using the MURS band is foolish!! You know that is what Garmin uses, so why use it. Have the radio programmed to another channel. Change the channel. It's not that hard. The FCC does not give licenses out to use these channels with higher power. 2 watts is the max allowed. The units are shielded to 50, and the collars are putting out 2 watts. So if using the channels legally. You should not burn on up. Even if you are using a truck mounted antenna. Since the unit is designed to receive 2 watts. So if this is burning your radio up. You are doing something wrong, and perhaps illegal.

Being that the units are shielded to 15 watts. A peanut farm using 15 watts on another channel should not harm the unit. Perhaps if you are using a truck mounted antenna, but unlikely.

EMS DOES NOT USE MURS!!! Yes, wamart does with 5 watt portable radios. Possibly could cause a problem, but doubtful as well. Still why would you need to sit in their parking lot with your tracker on?? As for the EMS. I have sat right next to them shooting the bull. Never had a problem yet. In our area they area most LEOS are using digital radios now. Which have the potential to cause more problems. Yet I have not had one. Again though, NO TRUCK MOUNTED ANTENNA!!! Fire, adn ambulance are still using analog here due to cost of switching over. No problems there either. Hwy dept. is also analog using 151 channels. Sit next to them during races. Some will stop just to listen and BS for a few minutes. Never a problem there either. Again though NO TRUCK MOUNTED ANTENNA!!

So it sounds to me like there is a very common element ringing through all that. What do I know. I'm just a dumb northwoods redneck.

Range, well that is all over the place. Depending on terrain,etc! Been over this many, many, times in great detail. Personally I get the same range with my Garmin and better than what I got using a beep beep box. My range is very comparable to what most are getting. Yet there are many that get far better than I do. I hear from a lot of folks that get as much or more than 12 miles. Mostly in the mountain ares where the line of sight is greatly increased. I always find it funny how some guys with beep beep boxes will say the are getting more range from the collars then they are the truck mounted radios. How is this even possible?? It's not under normal conditions. So the BS is quickly pointed out.

Yes, Garmin has it flaws. So does every other product, and thing out there. Nothing is perfect. At least that I am aware. Even if the Garmin was perfect. Hman nature would have someone complaining about something. To costly, to heavy, screen to big/small, and on, and on!!

The 2 bigges things right now I believed need to be changed are. The antenna connector needs to be more rugged. The second would be the allowing of more channels. The first one could be done with little cost increase to the consumer. The second however is far more difficult. It would take a huge amount of money for licensing of channels through the FCC. Which would increase the cost greatly. Even if Garmin was to place the overall licensing on the consumer there would still be costs involved. Then you would have an extra cost to get the license your self. Jut like you are supposed to with the FRS/GMRS radios. Which many own, but are not licensed. They just take the chance of getting the fine!

Lastly, earlier I made mention of the argument ANTI's made about them making hunters lazy. The pointed out how most of use have seen folks watching the screen instead of watching for the game, and listening to the dogs. Well, I seen it again this weekend. My own daughter missed a shot opportunity because she was watching the tv, and not watching for the game. Did this make it easier to harvest the critter. Nope made it easier for it to get a way. Giving me another reason to be giving a tounge lashing for not paying attention!!! Kinda shot the ANTI argument in the butt, Yet gave the womens group another argument for verbal abuse. Only because she is 18, otherwise it would have been child abuse

When someone finds perfect products out there. Please let the rest of us know. Since I have yet to see any.

[Caincando1]

The pointed out how most of use have seen folks watching the screen instead of watching for the game, and listening to the dogs. Well, I seen it again this weekend. My own daughter missed a shot opportunity because she was watching the tv, and not watching for the game.

Funny you say that Steve. This weekend was my first time hunting with the Astro and I was guilty as charged. Everyone kept asking me where the dogs were and I spent more time looking at the screen than looking for the dogs and critters. There were a couple times when I realized I better start paying attention or the coyote was going to cross the road in front of my truck and I’d never see it. Luckily that never happened… at least not that I noticed. As for range we got ¾ a mile the entire day hunting. If I stayed that close I was good, after than I’d lose them. Another guy had one also and said he was getting about a mile and half that day.

[Machias]

¾ a mile the entire day hunting. If I stayed that close I was good, after than I’d lose them. Another guy had one also and said he was getting about a mile and half that day.

Holy smokes! I guess I better just get a telemetry system for up here in the Panhandle of Idaho.

[Steve White]

Brian, I am a bit surprised by that in the flat country you are hunting. Was that the stock antenna only. Did you try using different id's?

[Caincando1]

Brian, I am a bit surprised by that in the flat country you are hunting. Was that the stock antenna only. Did you try using different id's?

It was good talking to you tonight. Like I said on the phone, it was our first time using them in a hunting situation and I'm not too worried about the range on our first time out. We'll keep playing around with it and see how it does as we keep hunting with it. Also if we can hook up with the other guy that has one and compare them side by side.

[doghunter]

Steve All I know is I joined this site to keep up with the Garmin’s and other equipment people use in our sport because these people are the hounds men that actually use the equipment, know how it works and can give the best input.

You and I have always been on opposite sides of the coin when it comes to the Garmin’s range and other issues but instead of slamming you I usually ask for your input because I think it helps to see all side of a coin.

You say everyone that hunts from a vehicle is Lazy. Most of us just can’t run fast enough to keep up with our hounds here in the swamps and briar patches of Florida. Your dogs must be slower or you’re fast like cheetah.

Try to keep in mind when you are slamming people different people hunt different game and in different terrain etc. Not all Game Bays or Trees everyone on this site does not hunt a coon or bear or whatever else you hunt that you can just turn your hounds loose and run alongside of, while always staying within the range of the Garmin (plus or minus ¾) until they bay/tree.

Right now without the truck mounted antenna I get about 900 yards and Maybe 8 tenths of a mile if I am lucky. It varies from day to day season to season. And there are a lot of other people on here getting the same range.

I am very often over a mile from my dogs and there are no roads I can get any closer. They are not bayed or treed so if I wonder off in the woods to them by the time I get back I better get out the quick track because Garmin is no help until I get back into range.

What kind of range can you depend on and is it possible different hunting locations get different results. (And maybe even different units perform differently).

This weekend we had 8 Astro 220 and about 17 DC 30 Collars None would work over about ½ mile consistently with the little antenna and right around 1 mile with the long range antenna. Some that hunt with us will not use the truck mount antenna and they just live with the short range.

I just post what i experience and try to be as honest as I can. I am not a guide like you or a rep, or associated with any company. I am just a hunter that uses the equipment and this forum to try to better my equipment or methods. You act like you have stock in this unit and take it personally when someone post something factual (like actual range or limitations of the unit) and jump to defensive mode.

[Caincando1]

Doghunter,

I’m not sure where you are at in Florida but my experience it’s pretty darn flat there isn’t? What do you think about flat ground being counter productive to line of sight and it’s correlation to the range of the Astro? I’m wondering if the really flat terrain hinders line of sight because neither the dogs nor the hunter can get any elevation which would greatly help the line of sight for the Astro. I’m just thinking out loud and bouncing some ideas around.

[Machias]

Well, after some PMs and e-mails I have taken the plunge and ordered a garmin and two DC 30 collars. Jumping in with both feet! Yehaw let the fun begin!

[doghunter]

I would have to agree with that because with flat ground line of site is exact.

awhile back i did a thread and around 70% get less than 2 miles and about 30% dont get over 1 mile.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15394

[Caincando1]

We did some experimenting with them before we took them out on the dogs. It was very apparent how line of sight affected the reception. We’ve experimented a couple different ways. We would hang the collars on a truck and drive around in the truck and track the truck with the collars from a fixed location. We were on the phone when doing this and every time the truck dropped in a dip we’d lose reception but get it back when the truck gained elevation again. We also hung the collars on trees in my yard or put them on the dogs in the kennel and drove around with the Astro. Ever dip in the road we’d lose connection but once we came back up out of the dip we’d get it back. I’ve connected with the collars at 2.5 plus miles but I have to find high places. This really shows how much line of sight comes into affect. It’s relatively flat around here with a lot of short dips and rollers. So the elevation might not change a lot, but it only takes a 20 foot dip to lose reception. Because of this we can’t really get to any high ground to increase the line of sight because we don’t have any high ground. But as I said earlier if I can get to high place I can get pretty good distance. I think we’re going to have to increase our antenna height to got a sizable increase in range because there is no other way to increase the line of sight for us.

[Machias]

Maybe you need longer legged dogs.

[Steve White]

DH- Never said that anyone that hunts from a truck is lazy. I hunt from a truck most of the time. Yet, it has been seen many times where guys are not getting out of the truck, and just sitting there watching the tv. So it has made some lazier. I wish I could run as fast and keep up with the dogs. I am to old and fat for that. The areas I hunt do have some roads, but not enough to allow to sit in the truck. Some sections are 40 sq miles and no roads in. I hunt just about anything I can. We do not have hogs. Never seen a yote tree yet. In the winter months we sometimes never get to see a truck. It's all sled,walking, and snowshoes at times. Ever try to run in snowshoes. Not a pretty sight!! The areas I hunt are hilly, thick, full of water and swamps. Swamps that I try hard not to go into due to size. My area in some ways does compare to that of Fl or other swampy states. Perhaps a little more hills. No mountians by any measure of the word. Bumps as them folks have called them when here. I have hunted with, worked with, and sold many units to folks all across the US. The range varies from terrian to terrain just like with any type of radio signal. It's still a radio signal no matter how you want to look at it. So it is going to follow those laws. No way around them. It even show in the garmin manual how a hill may cause poor reception. This is the same with any type of radio signal.

The range I can expect personally varies slightly on antenna used. Normally with the stock antenna around 1-1.2 miles. With the long rubber ducky I have made for me. Around 1.8 miles. With the portable long range antenna about 2.5 miles. Of course this all varies from day to day. Where we are hunting, where the dogs are, the weather, the atmoshpere, etc. There are so many variables that affect radio signals it is not funny. This is all radio signals. If the dogs are on one side of a hill and I the other. We could be 100yds yds away and not get a signal. Would be the same with any beep beep, or handheld or truck radio. Radio signals due not have the power to penetrate all obstacles. Ihe they can and do some the signal is degraded and range is lost. You might be able to use rabbit ears on your tv if you are close to the station. When you get further out you need an outside antenna. It just the way things work. In areas of weak cell reception you may get a signal standing on the porch, walk inside and no signal. I can get a cell signal in my basement as the tower is 1 mile away. My buddy 3 miles away can't get one in the house. It's just the way radio signals work. Nobody can expect a company no matter how big to be able to rewrite the laws of physics!!

As for the durability issues of the antennas's Yes that can be fixed.. More channels could be fixed. All these superficial things can be fixed at a cost. Cost has to be considered for sales. The higher the cost the lower the sales. Regardless of how good the product is. A brand new truck would serve me much better while huntign than my old fix up weekly junker. Yet the cost is beyond my and most folks that hunt means.

Range cannot really be fixed by much. Some believe so. Some believe they get 20 miles from a beep beep box, but cannot talk on a 65watt radio with an 8ft whip more than 10. That should tell you something. Yes there are times when conditions are right you may talk further. Yet normally it is not the case. Line of sight on the average sized dog is about 2 miles. Only way to change that is with height. Not compnents. Strap an 8ft whip to your dog and you will get more range. Not very practical though.

I too would like to know how range could be increased. Yet based on science I know what the limits of range are with land based communications.

Lastly, Yes I am a guide. As such it is my responsibility to put my customers in front of fish and game. The garmin is one tool that does help with this. I am a dealer, but it does me no good to lie to anyone. Best to tell the facts as they are. Sorry, if you take it as a defensive mode. I view it as trying to educate everyone to how these things work. The fact is that now more people have a better understanding of how land based communications work. Whether they wanted to know or not.

Perhaps one of these days I should do a thread on how to program a VCR. DOOOH! Dang it all them things are antiques now