I’m a falconer (or trying to be), and one of the biggest problems we face is of course, the birds flying off. There are myriad GPS-based subscription services and such but I’m looking for something MUCH more simple. Just a homing beacon, but realize those are a bit harder than I imagined.
Is there any effective way of making a single-device homing beacon, or is triangulation the only way? I’m leaning toward trying to find a small enough GPS device to attach to the bird but every ounce of weight counts for sure, they can’t be strapped down with bulky stuff…
I’m open to any and all ideas, I have been a HAM/radio guy for years so I have every license I think you can get, FCC doesn’t scare me… Could have potential applications for drones and all sorts of things so no way someone hasn’t come up with this before.
I already used a nanobeacon to flash an IR strobe, but that only works in line of sight, so it’s pretty limited.
Looks like if you got this battery https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13851 to power the setup it’d weigh about 33g total…not sure how much that is to a falcon
A falcon-portable beacon in the traditional sense (periodic signal without location information) will be low range/low power and probably run out of batt very quickly. As pointed out, finding the beacon transmitter will rely on triangulation and bring all the challenges of a foxhunt plus the fox can also fly and may actively seek to avoid detection, double back to areas already cleared, go looking for other foxes, etc. I’m in a US metro area but we do see local DNR-type agency vehicles with antenna rotators on the roof so there is some animal tracking going on even here.
I was going to attempt a joke* about AirTags but now I wonder if it isn’t such a bad idea. Those rely on proximity to supported devices which probably don’t coexist in many falcon hotspots but those hits that DO occur might turn up some interesting patterns. And some falcons -are- drawn to urban areas, perhaps none more than one acclimated to people.
*AirTags mostly work on the ground. We want midAirTags!
