Small Tracking Devices: Dog Trackers .5 Mile & Smaller

[tbone301]

Does anyone know of a very small tracking device or tag that can be tracked .5 mile or more and the size of watch battery or smaller. I looking for such a device for dog tracking.

 

[berkeman]

That sounds pretty small to have much range. Especially if the dog can be in the woods or over a hill, it will be pretty hard to get much signal out to a receiver. Your best bet might be to look at the existing animal tracking devices that are used by the Fish and Game folks for wildlife tracking.

I googled wildlife tracking systems, and got lots of good hits. Here's the hit list:

http://www.google.com/search?source...T4SUNA_en___US232&q=wildlife+tracking+systems

Interesting, if you are just interested in where the dog has been, you can use a GPS recording tracker, and upload the information after the dog comes back. That's no help if you're trying to find the dog, of course.

Hmmm, one of the first hits on the list is for a UK company that originally made RF tracking devices for falcons in the Middle East. Having the falcon up in the air (and not over a hill) makes for better line-of-sight RF propagation, but still, these transmitters are tiny!

http://www.wildlifetracking.co.uk/tx.htm

Hope that helps. Welcome to the PF, BTW.

 

[tbone301]

Thanks for the information. The link shows the transmitter but does this tranmitter have to have a line of sight to work? The terrain is hilly and sometimes dense woods. Do you think that product may work? Do you know of any type of GPS or GMS systems?

 

[berkeman]

GPS would only be for mapping the dog's path after you get him back -- it's a receive-only device that the dog wears.

This link out of the google hit list looks to be a pretty good source of information about dog tracking collars:

http://wildlifematerials.com/dog/faq.php?q=2

The frequencies that I see being mentioned in the links in the hit list are mainly VHF and UHF frequencies, which are basically line-of-sight, and won't carry over the tops of hills. However, in the link above, they claim their system works to about 2 miles "in adverse conditions" whatever that is -- maybe raining in the woods? You might try giving their Customer Service folks a call to get more information. You might even be able to get some references of satisfied customers from them, and give them a call to talk about how well the system works.

I've noticed in many of the links that these systems are pretty pricey, though. You may need to do some shopping around to find some lower-priced systems.

 

[tbone301]

I really would like to try to find something real time that I can watch on a hand held unit. sort of like a gps for a car, when driving my vehicle I can see my movement. I indicated earlier the size of a watch battery but I think my cylinder I can use will accomadate the size of a pencil. Any such device availible out there.

 

[tbone301]

I gave this some thought how big are the gps that are in the cell phones. They have to be small? Anyone know?