garmin?

[Big Swede]

Hi

This is the vest i use.

http://www.frtab.se/Shop/Application/pg ... =vastf.jpg

BIG SWEDE

[Paul Conway]

Big Swede, thank you for you time and input! Paul Conway

[Big Horn Posse]

What I am wondering about this unit is does the reciever opperate as a regular Garmin GPS where you can use it all over North and South America and download maps and such into it or does it solely work only for tracking the antenna? To me for the price if it did both functions I would buy it. I probably would not use the antenna on the dog in the rough county, but maybe hunting along the creeks and other flatter areas if it lacks range.

[Paul Conway]

yes, it operates as a regular gps- pretty good one too! you can download maps to it with a 20 dollar memory card. Paul Conway .

[Big Horn Posse]

Sounds like it is worth getting and the price is very good. Most people carry around a GPS anyways when they hunt so you could put the antenna on your lead dog along with using your other tracking system and have the best of both worlds. I am going to seriously look into getting one.

[duster]

I purchased one a couple of months ago and was disappointed with the range of the collars. I live in MI, so it is relatively flat ground.

That being said, if I could stay within a mile, I usually get a signal from the collars. About 50 % of the time I can stay within a mile of the dogs.

I think where this system shines is when it is time to pick the dogs up after the hunt is over. I don't know how many hundreds of hours I've spent over the years driving around in circles trying to triangulate a dogs position. With the Astro, I will be able to walk/drive right to them.

I would like to see Garmin modify the collars so that they have two antenna's on them- one for the GPS,and one for the radio. Make them like the ones on our tracking collars now-flexible wire cable. This way, the collar could ride below the dogs neck, just like tracking collars do. A good reference would be the Tracker collars-they have 2 antenna's.

[az_gogetem]

anybody seen these yet? I stumbled on it on ebay.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/GARMIN-Astro-220-Co ... dZViewItem

[Big Swede]

I purchased one a couple of months ago and was disappointed with the range of the collars. I live in MI, so it is relatively flat ground.

That being said, if I could stay within a mile, I usually get a signal from the collars. About 50 % of the time I can stay within a mile of the dogs.

I think where this system shines is when it is time to pick the dogs up after the hunt is over. I don't know how many hundreds of hours I've spent over the years driving around in circles trying to triangulate a dogs position. With the Astro, I will be able to walk/drive right to them.

I would like to see Garmin modify the collars so that they have two antenna's on them- one for the GPS,and one for the radio. Make them like the ones on our tracking collars now-flexible wire cable. This way, the collar could ride below the dogs neck, just like tracking collars do. A good reference would be the Tracker collars-they have 2 antenna's.

Hi
The Tracker has just ONE radio antenna and the other one is "earthplane". Astro needs one antenna for the radio and one for the GPS. Could some one on this forum manage a solution for the gps antenna? It`s a big country!

Best regards BIG SWEDE

[az_gogetem]

Big swede I'm going to talk to a couple people in the engineering department here and see what they say.

by the way your modified antenna works good for me. thanks a lot. I still use the plastic bracket to mount the collar though wrapped the coax around about 180* and then go up with it seems to work well.

[Big Swede]

Big swede I'm going to talk to a couple people in the engineering department here and see what they say.

by the way your modified antenna works good for me. thanks a lot. I still use the plastic bracket to mount the collar though wrapped the coax around about 180* and then go up with it seems to work well.

Thanks/BIG SWEDE

[r_cordell]

I think that the astro is one of the best things to hit hound hunting for a while. The only thing that I found out is wrong with it is the antenna. The first time I used it, the antenna broke off at the first fence the dog went under. Several other guys I've heard about had the same problem. I called Garmin and they replaced it for free, but I'm sure that it's gonna keep happening as long as the transmitter rides on the top of the dog's neck. To get by until I got my new antenna I took about a 12 inch peice of coax cable from a satellite dish and bared the copper wire in one end and stuck it into the transmitter. then i just taped it good so it couldn't come out and then taped it to the collar so the transmitter could ride on the bottom of the dog's neck, but the antenna could still stick above the dog. Probably wouldn't be approved by Garmin, but it was effective. I think if you went to Radio Shack and bought the right size of coupler, you could just put that on the end of your coax cable and thread it onto the reciever same as the factory antenna. Then you could go ahead and let the transmitter ride on the bottom of the neck and run the coax halfway around the collar and still have it sticking above the dog. you might want to dip the bare end of the antenna in liquid tape so you don't have any bare wires though. Right now I've just got factory rubber antennas on the transmitters and I just let it ride on thebottom of the neck, but I lose signal more often than I did when I just had the coax cable jerry-rigged on it. As soon as Garmin buys my idea from me, I think the collars will be pretty much trouble free! Hope this helps some of you out.

[Big Swede]

I think that the astro is one of the best things to hit hound hunting for a while. The only thing that I found out is wrong with it is the antenna. The first time I used it, the antenna broke off at the first fence the dog went under. Several other guys I've heard about had the same problem. I called Garmin and they replaced it for free, but I'm sure that it's gonna keep happening as long as the transmitter rides on the top of the dog's neck. To get by until I got my new antenna I took about a 12 inch peice of coax cable from a satellite dish and bared the copper wire in one end and stuck it into the transmitter. then i just taped it good so it couldn't come out and then taped it to the collar so the transmitter could ride on the bottom of the dog's neck, but the antenna could still stick above the dog. Probably wouldn't be approved by Garmin, but it was effective. I think if you went to Radio Shack and bought the right size of coupler, you could just put that on the end of your coax cable and thread it onto the reciever same as the factory antenna. Then you could go ahead and let the transmitter ride on the bottom of the neck and run the coax halfway around the collar and still have it sticking above the dog. you might want to dip the bare end of the antenna in liquid tape so you don't have any bare wires though. Right now I've just got factory rubber antennas on the transmitters and I just let it ride on thebottom of the neck, but I lose signal more often than I did when I just had the coax cable jerry-rigged on it. As soon as Garmin buys my idea from me, I think the collars will be pretty much trouble free! Hope this helps some of you out.

I dont think you was first! but you can take the credit...

BIG SWEDE

[r_cordell]

Hey Swede, when Garmin sends me my check in the mail, I'll split it with you, how about that? I'm still waiting for the check though!

[Big Swede]

Hey Swede, when Garmin sends me my check in the mail, I'll split it with you, how about that? I'm still waiting for the check though!

Sounds fine to me I hope you make a good deal! for both of us-

Take care/BIG SWEDE

[broncobilly]

Can anyone on here tell me where I can find an RG58 connector. I went to every electronics store I could find in Santa Fe today, and when I asked for an RG58 connector, they all said that they had never heard of such a thing. Any help would be appreciated.

Bill