[OZAPRS] Lightweight APRS module?

Richard Murnane Richard.Murnane at internode.on.net
Wed Feb 9 14:31:15 EST 2011


Avian Position (Packet for the pursists :-) Reporting System?

GPS data loggers are getting very cheap - I received one in the mail  
today that I bought new from eBay for $35 (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/65CH-Bluetooth-GPS-Data-Log-Receiver-Logger-AGPS-65-CH-/110646574650?pt=AU_GPS_Accessories&hash=item19c30cbe3a#ht_4458wt_989 
). No doubt someone will have done better.

According to the specs (which I haven't verified yet), these units can  
log 90,000 waypoints, based on time intervals or distance from last  
waypoint. Strip out the Bluetooth circuitry, and do power management,  
e.g. the light sensor method cited in the article, to get away with a  
smaller battery, and it's quite feasible. No radio transmitter to  
worry about. Even so, sticking it on a bird that weighs just 100gms...

Maybe they should try it with a swallow (I forget - was it the  
European or the African one that's migratory? :-)

The Brisbane Times version of the article online has the photo of the  
bird - it's pretty tiny! (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/animals/its-a-ruddy-long-way-to-meet-a-mate-20110207-1ak91.html 
)

73 Richard VK2SKY


On 09/02/2011, at 12:43 PM, Dave Horsfall wrote:

> According to yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald (probably online  
> somewhere
> at smh.com.au; I read the dead-tree version), a geolocator weighing  
> just
> one gram ("a light-sensor datalogger that records its position each
> morning and evening") was attached to a ruddy turnstone, to track it  
> to
> Siberia and back.  The bird itself weighs just one 100 gms.
>
> The funniest bit is that said bird was tagged as "CMY", in a colour  
> photo
> :-)
>
> -- Dave



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