Garmin Rino GPS position polling

[War Bird]

I am wonding if the new Garmin Rino 120 & 130 handheld GPS radios could be used for a rocket finder??? They have a position polling feature that sounds like it might work. Does anyone have any experience with this?

From a website:

"Position Polling: The Rino's most unique feature is being able to manually poll (or query) the location of another Rino. With polling enabled and a GPS position, Rino users can determine each other's location from either their Map or the Contact Details page. This allows you to track the movement of other Rino users and even navigate to their location."

Kevin T.

 

[BlueNinja]

It should work. GPS is a satellite system so I would say it would hae a range of at least 10 miles. Then, once you have the coordinates, just drive to that spot and you're within 15 feet of your rocket.

 

[wwattles]

Originally posted by Blue_Ninja_150
It should work. GPS is a satellite system so I would say it would hae a range of at least 10 miles. Then, once you have the coordinates, just drive to that spot and you're within 15 feet of your rocket.

While it's true that GPS itself is a satellite function, you need to look at how the polling actually takes place. My ship had a system similar to that a few years back to track its small motorboats, but it used VHF for the polling, which meant it was pretty much line-of-sight, a little beyond the horizon. For your purposes, if it is indeed LOS, then you'll need to consider the terrain/foliage in your area to see if they could possibly cause a blockage in the polling/receiving signals.

WW

 

[edwardw]

If your willing to spend the cash GPSFlight has a really nice system. It sends out the current location of the rocket once a second. For $615 you get a transmitter, receiver and everything to hook up to your laptop.


Edward

 

[Missileman]

Another question you have to ask is, is this Garmin Rino unit robust enough to survive a rocket flight?

 

[edwardw]

I'm pretty sure a Rhino can survive a flight. We send small cameras on rockets and they survive just fine. I've sent two way radio's up and they come back okay. I don't think that there would be a problem with a Rhino.

Edward

 

[HeadHunter]

It looks like polling is through FRS...

Garmin Rino Position Reporting

The Garmin Rino's exclusive position reporting feature allows you to send and receive GPS positions from other Rino® users so you can keep track of your friends on skiing or camping trips, sporting events, and other outdoor adventures.

Rinos transmit a user's position through the FRS spectrum.

Position information can be transmitted to any other Rino user within a two-mile range.

Cool unit though, may have to get a few of these for the fishing buddies!

 

[BHP]

I know a guy that used two Rhinos for this very purpose. With his one radio had to transmit its location to the other. He built a really slick mechanism to activate the PTT button every minute or so on the Rhino in the rocket. He told me it worked great. The day I met him he flew the system and, unfortuantely, it augered in from a few thousand feet totally destroying the whole set-up.

Check the specs on the Rhinos before you buy. Unless they've changed one radio has to transmit its coords to the other via the PTT button. You couldn't simply jam the PPT button on as it would most likely overheat and shut-off. Transceivers aren't designed for continuous tranmission.

(PTT = Push To Talk)

 

[n3tjm]

Originally posted by BHP
(PTT = Push To Talk)

PTT has another meaning... Any long winded Ham Radio operator who uses a handheld at 3 - 5 watts knows that PTT also means Push to Toast . They can get quite warm .