Plan for the day

Electronics

Investigate attachment of wireless thing, breadboard, IDC connector. Work out what I need to get from Jaycar.

• Don't know where my breadboard is! In room somewhere?
• Have two IDC connectors for 28 pin dev boards
• Need to get a row of header pins for the wireless module, two small breadboards?

Write to Sirtrack about various things

Hi!

I'm working on an automated radio telemetry project and was after some information/quotes on antennas, transmitters and receivers.

I'm envisioning using fixed directional antenna stations - do you have a list of the fixed Yagis you manufacture? I'm concerned with beam width (not too narrow), gain and cost (since a full scale deployment may need hundreds). What would you recommend for sensing your smallest transmitters at a range of 750m in a moderately dense woodland, or is this too much to ask for?

Also, what're the cheapest VHF receivers you sell or recommend? I imagine I'll aim to end up building my own but an off-the-shelf one will obviously be better for prototyping. Datalogger ability would be good, but at the very least it would be good to have an RSSI output that I can monitor (though if there's an analogue meter I can pull it apart and hook that up to an A/D converter).

I'd also like to buy some transmitters to test a prototype system with. They will not be attached to animals (at this stage) but I would like them to exhibit similar ranges to regular transmitters. Is it possible to buy your single-stage transmitter without a battery and attach it to a AA cell? (obviously it won't require a reed switch) How much would it cost for 2 to 5 units?

Thanks very much! Joel Williams

Their smallest transmitters aren't that small. Write to Titley, who make 0.4g ones

Hi!

Could you please give me a quote on 2-5 LT4 units? I'd like to use them to test and characterise the performance of a radio telemetry system, so I'd like to get transmitters that exhibit the same range and performance of a 'real' transmitter but they will not be attached to animals and would be ideally operated from an AA cell instead of a tiny battery.

Thanks! Joel

Start investigating wireless firmware code !!

Read 3 ecological papers !!

• Rowley07
• Webb97a

Generally low range (10m) for harmonic. What sort of range did that enormous insect radar get? Hand-held transmitters must be incredibly weak.

• In BSL - 597.605 H563 - Engelstoft, C., Ovaska, K., Honkanen, N. (1999): The harmonic direction finder: a new method for tracking movements of small snakes. Herp. Rev. 30: 84-87.

Admin !!

Forward supervisor instructions on to Peter Corke.

Ask Vanessa to remind me what the confirmation of supervisory panel and chair involves.