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Randito
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Randito
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PostWed Nov 07, 2018 11:19 am 
It takes an impressive ego to believe that one can compute flux line intersects faster with your brain than the microprocessor in a modern beacon which has two decades worth of engineering effort into improving the algorithms. Personally when a companion is buried under the snow suffocating, the last thing I want to depend on is my brain to do some complex math.

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Randito
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PostThu Nov 08, 2018 9:54 am 
Doppelganger wrote:
. It's possible (highly unlikely but possible) that there are hardware/software bugs the engineering team didn't catch.
With decades of software engineering experience, I can guarantee that every beacon's firmware and hardware has numerous undetected flaws. So does the firmware/hardware in the stability control system of modern vehicles and the flight control systems of modern aircraft. Is that a good argument for saying a 1966 Mustang is a safer vehicle or that a 707 is a safer aircraft?

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DIYSteve
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PostFri Nov 09, 2018 2:09 pm 
I acknowledged above that some people operate more confidently if they have a basic understanding of how things work, although I cannot imagine any way in which educating oneself re RF flux line propagation would enhance a search with a multi-antenna digital beacon. And I really don't get your suggestion that an understanding of RF wave propagation would allow your brain to "collate" or "take into account" RF wave data in any way that would assist in a burial search -- any more than, say, understanding RF wave propagation would make your cell phone or car radio work better than for someone who is wholly ignorant about RF science. I am curious about all modern devices I use. It's fun for me to learn about, say, our vehicles' variable valve timing and electronic control of fuel/air mix, although such understanding does not make my car drive better for me than for my wife (who has no interest in such things).

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Randito
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PostFri Nov 09, 2018 5:28 pm 
Doppelganger wrote:
RandyHiker wrote:
...the microprocessor in a modern beacon which has two decades worth of engineering effort into improving the algorithms.
RandyHiker wrote:
I can guarantee that every beacon's firmware and hardware has numerous undetected flaws.
Pick one.
I have found both to be true after nearly four decades of engineering experience. If you can't understand how that can be the case, iI doubt anything I say here will change your mind. But, I'll give you a non-engineering example. A friend of mine used to edit the newsletter for a non-profit. The team would go through multiple edit / proofread / correct cycles -- typically until the publication deadline arrived. Over 90% of the time once the printed copies came back from the printer at least one fairly obvious typo would be found within minutes, despite many hours of proofreading by the same people. Almost never did these typos interfere with the information being communicated, but it was super annoying to my friend who is a bit of a perfectionist.

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Randito
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PostFri Nov 09, 2018 5:38 pm 
Doppelganger wrote:
Your increased knowledge of your car could be applied in recognizing (and perhaps even addressing with the technical expertise) symptoms of problems related to those systems.
If you follow that line of thinking, an understanding of quantum mechanics would enhance one's ability to write poetry or novels using a computer as a word processor, as quantum theory is essential to the design of both the transistor and just about every aspect of a computer. But I think the Venn diagram of people that understand quantum mechanics and write novels you would want to read is very very small.

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DIYSteve
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PostFri Nov 09, 2018 10:13 pm 
Maybe you should stop touring with John -- or, at least, have him read the instruction book (which covers possible interference from other RF devices). PM me with his real name so I can avoid touring anywhere near that guy.
Doppelganger wrote:
I only maintain that there is benefit in exploring the variables and conditions of a beacons operation.
You've changed your tune. What about the theory re your brain "collating data" and assessing "factors that [you] would take into account that the beacon cannot?" What do you mean "variables and conditions?" What "variables and conditions" could you possibly ascertain from your proposed demonstration of flux line 3D imagery that the instruction book doesn't cover? If you need to experience electromagnetic wave interference in real life, try this: Pair your Bluetooth ear bud with your cell phone and listen to your favorite podcast or favorite band. Then walk over to your microwave oven and turn in on for 60 seconds. [/electromagnetic wave interference lesson] Oh, and have John try that too.

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snoqpass
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PostTue Nov 13, 2018 12:43 am 
Back to the OPs original question, that old F1 should be considered a museum piece, using it for practice is questionable too given the older transceivers electronics and crystals degrading with time, signal drift, and sending phantom signals that can be read as a multiple burial by a newer transceiver. The price of transceivers has come way down as well a new pieps DSP sport can be had for around $250 so cost shouldn’t be an issue considering how much skis, boots, bindings or whatever else gear you need for BC touring

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DIYSteve
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PostTue Nov 13, 2018 8:17 am 
^ ^ ^ what we have here is a lucid sensible post

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Malachai Constant
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Malachai Constant
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PostTue Nov 13, 2018 9:57 am 
Analysis of the flux lines of multiple transmitters is useful if you are preparing a paper for a IEEE ICC conference but not so useful for ski touring. You time would be better spent studying terrain and snow conditions. But of course I am just an old crumuggion. huh.gif

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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snoqpass
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PostTue Nov 13, 2018 1:28 pm 
You can add to the list, probing, shoveling, extrication, evacuation and first aid which seems to get overlooked when people are discussing beacon use

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gb
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gb
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PostFri Nov 16, 2018 7:48 am 
Malachai Constant wrote:
Analysis of the flux lines of multiple transmitters is useful if you are preparing a paper for a IEEE ICC conference but not so useful for ski touring. You time would be better spent studying terrain and snow conditions. But of course I am just an old crumuggion. huh.gif
What I start out doing in beacon search practices is have everyone in a line and then I approach the line, letting the practicers see what their maximum range is as I change the orientation of my transceiver and then approach slowly to show how their tranceiver responds with respect to flux lines. I demonstrate clearly how the readout of the "searcher's" transceiver changes as I clearly change my transceivers orientation with respect to that of the line of "searchers". In practicing multiples, first begin by placing transceivers visible on the ground and having individual "searchers" approach and walk through the area to see how their transceiver processes and responds to multiple signals. That is about as far as one needs to get into the electronics and flux lines of transceivers.

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Pahoehoe
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PostMon Nov 19, 2018 6:45 pm 
Its fun to have a group of people in search mode.. you need quite a few...to stand in a circle around a beacon in transmit mode and have them hold their beacon out pointing in the direction its telling them to go

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Randito
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Randito
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PostTue Nov 20, 2018 11:03 am 
Another useful exercise that I like to perform with new groups is to have people pair off and play "hide and seek" with the beacons. The hider will put their beacon in a ziplock box and stuffed into stuff sack, wrapped with a jacket and will then bury the beacon somewhere nearby. Works best in areas with lots of existing tracks and obviously in a safe zone... It gives everyone a real world picture of partners and their own search skills. Including the time one guy neglected to turn his beacon on before burying it. That makes you appreciate how helpful a tool a beacon is.

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DIYSteve
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PostWed Nov 21, 2018 12:58 pm 
RandyHiker wrote:
Including the time one guy neglected to turn his beacon on before burying it.

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moonspots
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moonspots
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PostWed Dec 12, 2018 9:29 am 
snoqpass wrote:
You can add to the list, probing, shoveling, extrication, evacuation and first aid which seems to get overlooked when people are discussing beacon use
This discussion has been quite informative (to me anyway), as I've never even seen one of these gadgets, and had only a vague idea of how they work, or are used. So when one of the local snowmobile shops advertised that they were hosting an "avalanche awareness" class, I signed up. It was held last night, presented by a SAR instructor who flew in from Colorado, and ran for 3hrs+. I learned a lot about avalanches, beacon usage, rescue techniques and so on. Were it not for the original post, and the subsequent discussion, I doubt that I would have bothered to attend, so thank you all!

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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