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Is there or has anyone come up with a external screen monitor??? Thinking heavily about going to the garmin set up but a the same time would love to also have a monitor that stay in my truck with a larger screen?? Thanks

Wish there was as well, but it cannot be done.

After looking for a program to proivide "real time," live tracking on a PC using data from an Astro 220, I found a program called "Topofusion." Written for Search & Rescue, it takes the data stream sent from the a DC-30 or DC-40 and displays it on my netbook PC.

So rather then having to rely on the small Astro screen the dogs location is displayed on a large topo map which can Zoom in and out. Other map types are also supported, Aerial, Landstat, Ownership, as well a the ability to create "combo's." I combined topo overlay with ownership, really neat to see whether we are in a race on private land.

Have used the program for two years, it does have the usual "techie" quirks, but has been well supported by its authors. Of course using a down load from a Astro it can't show anything that is not being received by the Astro handheld.

My setup has the PC screen mounted between the bucket seats of a Chevy PU, center arm rest, the 220 astro on a mount, attached to the PC via its cable and a roof mounted external antenna. Have been using the Garmin external mount, but will upgrade to a custom 5/8" whip hopping to increase the range.

Using that set up I have (knowing where the high spots are) tracked at 1/2 to 3/4 mile races. Not bad in early season when the cover is still very dense. Later when the leaves are down after wisconsin bear season is closed have easily exceed those distances. Like I said, I looked to several years for away to hook up a computer to an Astro in real time even explored doing it myself. Then found Topofusion. I have NO financial interest in the program. PM me if you'd like additional infor. Feel free to X-post

I hook my 220 to a netbook and run the topo software. Whenever you want to update on the big screen press the receive from device button and it shows everything that has been going on. Put it in your backpack and get it out to create routes and load into your 220 or 320 to get yourself and dogs to the nearest road. The topo software on the netbook is more detailed than the Garmin for the areas in Mi that I hunt.

Don, that is a good looking program. Going to have to check out further. Your saying it is displaying real time tracking info?


Don, sidenote- Check your garmin set up over. Should see much better range than what you are stating.

Steve, yes "real time," display on the external PC screen. Mine is running on a HP Mini Note book, using the Astro 220 connected via its original cable to a serial port. After using the Astro the first year I realized that a larger display was badly needed for ease of use in real time tracking. Talked to Garmin Support service, nope they couldn't do that and had no future plans to develop such a add-on.

So I researched the problem, seeking a solution to receiving the VHF radio transmission from the DC 30/40 collars, perhaps through a front end hardware add-on to receive, decode and pass the data to a PC. Did find the necessary hardware, however before going any farther I also found that Search & Rescue dog trainers/handlers were using software that seemed to have a real time tracking ability. Took a while but just before the start of Bear training season, I found the "Topofusion.com" website, reviewed thier demo program and purchased the "Pro," version of the Topofusion program.

With little time before kill season, I sorta hand to get up to speed on its use during kill season. Despite the usual learning curve, by seasons end I was easily tracking races in real time. Looking forward to using it again this season first during training then kill season. Yes range does seem to be short, but our area is filled with ridges, cedar swamps, lakes, creeks and very dense cover. I usually can get better range when the dogs are say crossing openings, on the top of thier boxes rigging on open roads, etc.

Didn't want to wait for an answer. So I downloaded and started playing with it. Had it up and running in about an hour. Found a few quirks right away, but does seem to work. Will take some time I see to figure it all out. So it is right. Hopefully the full version fixes the center on position thing. Kept sending me somewhere else. Will have to try other maps as the standard on is way to far out for track seperation. Got to zoom in a long way. Hopefully full version also allows track color changes. All being the same would be a cluster quick.

Does work, although not a real cheap alternative.

Don, I also live in WI. That is why I say your range is off. Especially if you are using a truck mount antenna.

Yes, installs easy. But does lack online manual. So you can see why the learning curve during kill season was difficult. As for the "centering" problem, try starting the Astro tracking with "centering" checked on. Once your tracking starts, go back to the live tracking screen and uncheck the centering box. Miminize (sp) the gps popup. left click anywhere on the map and then you should be able to zoom in and out with the pgup & pgdw keys and zoom in and out.

Have sent Scott an e-mail on this and expect he will fix it shortly. Yes, too many tracks all going together does get confusing in a hurry. My solution last year was to just isolate to one dog, knowing who would be in the lead and changing dogs being tracked as necessary. Note that you can keep the handheld map running while using the topo live tracking. Note the 320 is not currently supported. Well at least I haven't been able to get it working correctly. Here again I expect that will be fixed.

Don't know what the purchase price of the Pro version is now but recall about $60 last year. Incidently the frontend VHF radio I found while exploring doing it myself was $700.

So everthing is relative, well that and I would have also had to write a bunch of code.

Yes, I'm working in Wis. And have been doing better on range after the leaves go down. But while born and raised up north home in the off season is south of Madison. Get much better range down here. I go up mid-Aug and stay through, bear, bird and deer. Then home to work field sets for geese.

I didn't try the 320. Grabbed a 220 figuring that is what you were using. I played with the centering thing right away. Found most of the time it was better to start the live tracking with the Garmin USB. Then once it started tracking the unit. I stop tracking, cleared the track. Then switched to the the Garmin Astro setting and started tracking. Would work just fine then. Did notice though it would drop the tracks when recieving the the info at times. But once transfer was complete. Would pop right up again. Most of the time. Sometimes had to restart the program. In the 2hrs I played with it bet I shut down and restarted it at least 10 times.

I think the pro version was $70. Then the cost of a cheap laptop. Do think you can go real cheap though. Still need some processor power. I noticed in live tracking it was a bit of a resource hog. A mounting system in the truck, and a guy would be all set. Might be able to set up in the truck for around $500. That is if you don't have a lap top already. Might best to download as many map files as needed before heading out. At least if you don't have internet access in the woods.


Don't want to clutter this thread anymore discussing your tracking range. Nor, do I want it to seem like a pissing match. Just trying to help you out a bit. I get better range than you are stating with the stock rubber ducky antenna. All over WI. Some of the areas I hunt. Are claimed by others to be the roughest country in the state. Not by me, but others. Give me a call sometime to discuss this. I really believe something is wrong if you are not tracking more than a mile with the truck mounted antenna. This time of year with the PBLRA it is not uncommon to see 5 miles. During training season 3 is very common. Always trying to stay with dogs in bear season. SO don't always see the best range possible then. My phone is always on. So feel free to call at your convenience. Will try to get you fixed up.

Thanks alot men for the insight, I am sure I will be contacting you soon once I get the Garmin.


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No problem, want to spread the "word," The more of us using the 220 live tracking feature the better in terms of future support.

Suggest letting Scott at Topofusion know why you are signing up.

Also, feel free to x-cross post to other "hound" forums.

And of course let us know how it works for you,,

Has anyone else used this method?

Ive downloaded the trial version of topofusion, trying to use it with a 320 and cant get anything to show up on the comp screen.

I was praying they fixed the bug that would allow the 320's to work, maybe not.

Anyone have any ideas

I bought the full version. Have not played with it much lately. But also could not, and can not get the 320 to work with it. Not sure why, but have not tried to get tech support or dig much deeper. I'm sure it has a lot to due with the unit going into USB mode.

Even with the 220 I don't care for it all that much. All the dogs being the same color makes it hard to tell who is doing what. Then I have some very large concerns about just any old laptop being able to stand up to bear hunting. Not only the shock of bouncing around, but also the large amounts of dust that end up in the truck.

Hopefully it will get better, and I am sure it will. But just never know.

Looks like Garmin Updated the software in the 320 to support Base Station.. which means you can track the dogs in Real time on a computer with the latest Base camp software.

I haven't verified it on the 320, but I have on the Alpha, but I was checking on another error with a customer with a Problem tracking more than 4 dogs using the "Big name list" Which was also fixed in this issue.
for the Basestation, You'll want to have a Map program on your computer for you to see the maps for it to work.

Give me a call if you need to order maps. But you can try it with out the maps for free to see if you like it.

Buddy

Buddy,

Yep, you can track in Basecap using a 320. Works quite neatly, however, there's always a However, you can track the location of the dogs and the location of the 320. But you CAN NOT show the waypoints at the same time. I you need waypoint information to more corrdectly site the dogs, you have to toggle back and forth between the tracking function and the waypoint file.

Works, but sorta a PIA. If you know your area really well usually you can locate the dog site using your location shown on the screen and direction/distance. Otherwise I still prefer the "TopoFusion," program, which as has some short comings. For instance only brings arrows to show the dogs location/direction and all colored the same, no names. Results in a lot of screen clutter. The only solution to that being to drop off dogs as the chase builds tracking only the lead dogs. That works quite well.

As the 320/basecamp live tracking only came out a week ago I haven't had a chance to really test in during az live hunt. But we took a smaller bear wed using the Topo. worked well now that the map "centering" function lets me quickly locate any dog/dogsd missing at the end of the chase.

Don