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pula58
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pula58
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PostFri Oct 12, 2018 8:34 am 
Ortovox F1 457kHz Purchase date of ~1997. Is is useless? Is it compatible with todays avalanche beacons? Or, is it destined for the garbage? Any info/opinions welcome. Thanks!

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Bronco
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PostFri Oct 12, 2018 9:38 am 
Not useless so far as you being found but your search range (for your buried partner) is going to be pretty limited relative to the newer beacons.

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pula58
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PostFri Oct 12, 2018 4:38 pm 
Thanks. Yeah, looks like it's time to get a new one as I want to be able to do the very best job if the worst ever happens and I ever need to find someone who got buried.

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WaState
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PostFri Oct 12, 2018 4:49 pm 
If you are looking for a single buried partner the older style beacons are still good if in good working order and being analog have a good long distance working range. For muliple buried people the newer and top of the line more expensive beacons are clearly better. Whatever style beacon you use, must practce with that particular beacon. It is my opinion that some of the first out digital beacons are not that good in search mode.

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Randito
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PostFri Oct 12, 2018 5:24 pm 
I used to have a F1. Good beacon in its day. The critical question is what your companions think about such an old skool beacon. I find my practice searches with my current Pieps DSP Pro to significantly faster and easier than searching with the F1. Three antennas and the digital signal processing eases search challenges even in single burial scenarios. Lots of useful beacon info here: https://beaconreviews.com/Specs_OrtovoxF1.php

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trestle
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PostSun Oct 14, 2018 9:25 am 
Not obsolete. If nothing else, use it as the burial beacon for practicing burial scenarios with your new beacon.

"Life favors the prepared." - Edna Mode
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moonspots
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PostSun Oct 14, 2018 9:58 am 
pula58 wrote:
Ortovox F1 457kHz Is is useless? ... Any info/opinions welcome. Thanks!
Well, this will likely seem to be a bit weird, but I might be interested in it for (possible) use as a VLF radio receiver, now that I see that it works on 457khz. It *may* be able to be re-tuned, and I'm always interested in tinkering with things.

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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RichP
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PostSun Oct 14, 2018 9:59 am 
trestle wrote:
use it as the burial beacon for practicing burial scenarios with your new beacon.
If you decide to let it go, perhaps donating it to one of the SAR organizations for this purpose could be an option.

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Randito
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PostSun Oct 14, 2018 10:03 am 
trestle wrote:
Not obsolete.
So you admit that you don't know what the word obsolete means. The F1 is most certainly obsolete. Just as a 1966 Ford Mustang is also obsolete. Perhaps you mean "not useless". That is true. Useful as a search target. But most certainly inferior as a tool for searching for a companion buried under snow where every second counts.

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WaState
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PostSun Oct 14, 2018 5:37 pm 
https://beaconreviews.com/Specs_OrtovoxF1.php The ortovox f1 beacon is analog , single antenna reciever with a very long range as compared to many digital beacons. Logically long range also means high sensitivity. As a practical matter, your partners will think a old f1 is not good enough , due to marketing and the fact they spent many hundreds of dollors on their new gear, it should, must, have to work better and faster, right.?? Opinion, if 2 people are on a outing the old f1 will do fine if the user is practiced with it . It is very simple which means if in a panic the rescuer is less likely to fumble around with features. With multiple burials the newer best digital beacons are clearly better with well practiced users who have less panic. Opinion, I have seen and used several kinds of beacons. By all means buy a new transiever, but it is not light years better. Note----That older simplier mustang, well for instance it is much less likely to have some kind of mysterious electronics failure. Ever tried to operate a high end car? It takes a massive manual for all the features. Edit. When you get the new beacon do searches and compare for yourself. Marketing....

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DIYSteve
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PostMon Oct 15, 2018 8:52 am 
Depends on whether you're buried or searching. Old analog F1 (if properly functioning) should be fine for transmitting when buried but won't search nearly as well (i.e., quickly, accurately, easily) as a new digital multi-antenna beacon. An analog beacon requires binary (grid) search or induction line search strategy. Current state of the art digital multi-antenna beacons use a microprocessor and internal triangulation, thus much faster and easier for searching. If you can, try both to get an idea of the superiority of digital beacons for searching. Electronic circuits can deteriorate with age due to temperature cycles, exposure to elements and corrosion. We use our old F1 strictly for search practice.

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pula58
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PostMon Oct 15, 2018 7:16 pm 
Thanks for all the replies with good info, much appreciated!

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DIYSteve
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PostFri Oct 19, 2018 9:06 am 
A few years ago we experimented searching with digital (DPS Sport, Tracker 2) and analog (F1) beacons. All users had years of experience with analog beacons, and with grid and induction line search strategies. For all users and all searches, the digital beacons yielded significantly faster search times. The scope of the superiority of digital beacons for searches surprised all of us. If saving my own butt is the only objective, I'm cool wearing a well-functioning analog beacon so long as everyone else in my party has digital beacons.

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Randito
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PostFri Oct 19, 2018 1:08 pm 
Doppelganger wrote:
You can still drive that old Mustang, just fewer features
Sure, but if you are in a crash your chances of emerging unscathed are substantially less. Modern vehicles have vastly better structural integrity, passenger restraints and air bags. As far as reliability is concerned, frankly modern vehicles are far far better. I used to drive an late sixties vehicle and was quite good at replacing the points, condenser and resetting the timing along with my oil changes every 3000 miles. I found this preferable than having the points crap out somewhere on the road. I still always carried a spare set of points and condenser with my toolkit. Then I got an '80 vintage vehicle with electronic ignition and I was concerned that I couldn't fix it -- but 100,000 miles later and I had never had any issues with the ignition. And that was a POS Chevette.

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DIYSteve
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PostFri Oct 19, 2018 1:19 pm 
RandyHiker wrote:
And that was a POS Chevette
did chicks dig it?

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