Power boost/amplifier for Garmin DC-30 collar

[Mackdog]

Whats to say if a feller had a ham radio club (or other radio/electronics guru) design, build or find an amplifier that went inline with the antenna on the DC-30 collar to give a power boost? It should be possible, say using the 3.6v AA batteries or something similar to give an additional several watts of power. It would hardly be enough for anyone to notice (you know who I'm talking about), at least where I hunt in the Idaho boonies. Despite the short battery life, it would make the Garmin system unstoppable.

Am I just crazy or is this a possibility and worth looking into?

[Steve White]

It is a possibility if designed for the right frequency type. It is also a very real possibility to overload the circuitry damaging the unit. The slight increase in range would not be worth burning a unit up in my eyes.

[Mackdog]

If I were to try an amplifier I would definately match it as well as possible to the collars radio specs. I might do a little research into what is possible and later down the line try it out. If it fries the collar I guess I'd be out the price of a collar or refurb. Right now thats not worth any gain to me but I would still like to look into it.

[doghunter]

I agree with Steve. I talked to some local people about this same topic and they said you could do it and it would work but the increase in heat would damage the unit and cause it to "burn up" the board.

They said it would be like a time bomb you would never know how long a collar would last before it burned up. Garmin would have to beef up everything and make it able to take the increased heat caused by increasing the watts.

[Steve White]

I misread the post. AN amp on the collars would be worse yet. A major drain on the battery, and then of course the heat problem.

I thought you were talking about an amp for the Astro and receiving. Which is also a bad idea in overloading the unit. I hear someone is trying to make one, but I am very skeptical about it. Since it would have to be designed to receive a digital signal. Or it would put a lot of extra white noise into the reciever. Like one of the GRE amps. There are very few amps on the market for a digital signal right now. Perhaps as digital signals are still in the infancy state compared to how long the analog signals have been used.

[Mackdog]

Steve,

I'm sorry for not being clear. I'm talking about an external amp with its own battery source (i.e. AA or short AA 3.6v lithium) that goes in line with the antenna. That is, remove antenna from collar, attach amp where the antenna plugs in, secure to collar, then attach original antenna (or modified antenna if need be) to the other end of the amp.