E-Caller Testing Part 1: Remote Ranges

GS,
The remote testing to date has been me standing holding the remotes mid-chest level (48 inches). I'm going to be doing a sitting test with the callers sitting on the ground also. AP with allpredatorcalls asked for this one earlier along with CoyoteDoc asking for a test with the callers just behind the ridge of a hill. It'll probably be 10 days or so before I can get back out to test that portion as I'm working 84 hour weeks and taking night classes at the university. So, when work settles down, I'm going to get those numbers for people. I was quite surprised by some of the numbers too especially considering some of the ranges I was getting were over 3 times the manufacturer's stated range. I'll also have some other remote data to post along with the callers themselves. Hope this helps.
 
It's not that you are doing something wrong. Your test is apples to apples which tells us a bunch. If everyone is in that "bigger is better" frame of mind then the distances you are achieving are important to them. If you are trying to help us decide which callers are adequate for our use in the field, then testing them in a way that resembles how we may use them is even more important.

I suspected that you probably were standing up which would cause them to perform at such incredible distances. I for one, are not interested in distances over 200 yards for selfish reasons. That means that I am more concerned about what are the features and how reliable are they. The distance is not as important to me as is the reliability of that distance, whatever it might be, in all circumstance.

I for one would like to see how they perform on uneven ground with the caller above or below the transmitter. You are halfway there. Try this also, move the antennae in different positions to the ground and see if the reciever still is able to pick up the signal. If you hold some antennae vertical to the ground versus Horizontal it can dramatically impact performance. That was one of the problems we had with the Bushwhacker. I hated having to hold the unit vertical because it caused an inconvenience to reading the LCD screen.

One of the units you are testing would not even work at 50 yards for me while sitting on the ground with the caller on the ground. Now you have gotten several hundred yards out of it. It may be that they have improved since I bought an early model. It will be interesting to see what results you get under similar circumstances. If you have time to try them all with both units at ground or lap level on uneven, rising or falling ground that would be great.

Do not knock yourself out over this test. Do it at your pace. I suspect we will all be watching with great interest regardless of how long it takes you.

Thanks again for your work.....I am sending this url to our designers. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Thanks GS, I'm going to do the seated position testing. I'll try to vary the antenna's also to see what effect it has on the remote range. Like you, I too don't use a caller more than 50 yards from me. I'd rather get the thing out there and back to the stand quick and quiet instead of dragging a mile scent trail out there. Reliability and features for field use are things that I need for a sound decision. I'll be posting all kinds of photos of features on each caller, things I've done to make sound changes, battery changes, battery charging, sound additions and such easier for me. When the temperatures here drop to -10 or colder I'm hoping to do some battery life tests. I know not many care about a -60 below test, but I'll probably get the coldest day I can and get out and test them to see how they do. I do however need to recoup some money from this project in the near future, so a e-caller sale will eventually happen. I'll also be providing sound list formats in MS Word that I can email to people for any of the callers I've tested that they can print out and laminate or clear tape to thier remotes if they want. There really are so many dimensions to it and the features on these callers keeps growing every year. I imagine in the future, we'll see a caller that has a small built in mouse decoy that pops up when we push the decoy button and then retracts back into the caller when you want to move to the next stand. I've got all kinds of interesting ideas of what my "Super Ideal" caller would be, but at this point in the game, it's probably 4-5 years away. What's out there now is top notch though and offers customers a great way to compliment their hunting.
 
GS,
You should hear some of the ideas I've got. Maybe I should go into business selling/designing e-callers. Still gotta have good sounds before you can sell a caller though.
 
Snowcamoman,

Quote:
I'll also be providing sound list formats in MS Word that I can email to people for any of the callers I've tested that they can print out and laminate or clear tape to thier remotes if they want.



Would you expand on this in more depth Please.

Thank You! And keep up the commendable job you are doing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

April
 
Yoters Den,
I have remote soundcards/playlists formatted in MS Word that people can just change the sounds on and print out. They are made to fit on each caller and sized to fit on each of the remotes. The only one that I don't have one for is the Western Rivers Predation because of its tiny size. It just saves people having to mess with formatting something to fit. FoxPro is planning to offer a downloadable soundlist/card for their remotes in the near future. But these MS Word files are just formatted so that all you do is change the sound on the numbers and print it out, cut it and laminate or use clear tape to put onto the remote back.
 
If you're looking at providing this MS Word template file free of charge, you might be able to convince the PM admins to host the file off the Free Stuff page or such.

If space/bandwidth is an issue, I'm sure somebody would volunteer (I would) to host the file on their web site and they could simply provide the link.

This would simply save you the trouble of having to email the thing.
 
BroncoGlenn,
That's a great idea. Let me get them all perfected so they fit just right onto the Linx Panels and for the WT remote and I'll email them so somebody can host them or the PM can put it up in the free stuff page. I appreciate the help.
 
I was thinking I could turn them into PDFs for you, but then that would only be of much use for those hand-writing the names in, unless they can open PDFs for editing.
 
Snowcamoman,

That's a great idea! We already do something similiar with our customers who purchase a Sound Card Carrier or (SCC-1). After they submitt their sounds we data base them and provide new ones by request that fit into their carrier and if they change sounds we update and furnish a new list to them upon request and at NO CHARGE! to them to include S/H on our Klear-Kard night viewable Card. Our method totally eliminates the need to re-tape, laminate or other to a list that is just put back again "On the back of the Remote" Look Here (SCC-1)

Thanks Snowcamoman again for doing this

April
 
Something folks can take into consideration:

With the antennea of the recieving unit near the ground, the moisture and mineralization content of the ground affects the capacitance to ground that the antennae "sees". this changes the charactersitics of the antennae. These changes could go in either direction, bad or good /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Indeed, as the ground effects change the impedance of the antennea, then the recievers front end amplifier sees a different impedance. This impedance change will affect the gain and noise figure of the first amplifier, and typically for the worse. How much worse would be uknown, a few db change in gain or noise figure should not be to critical.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif
 
{{After this was posted, I tried out a new Ipod 4th generation and discovered that Ijet does not work on IPOD 4! The IJET, while good, is already OBSOLETE.))

Since it not available, it's not worth talking about.
 
Nahuatl,
That iJet sounds like a great setup for stepping away from the hunting rig and calling. As you know, I'm going to be setting up a calling truck and this is right up my alley. It hit -30 below last night by the time I was heading home from calling. Lots of snowshoe hares out, but no other critters. That blazing moon didn't help, but it was nice to get out and find sign. Thanks for the information on the iPod/iJet setup, that's a great package for people hunting from their rigs.
 
Darn Camo.............I don't venture to far out of hand calls but glad I found this. Your doing some good work. I might have to drive up and check out a few of the callers.

Todd
 
I tested the FX5 in Arizona today at 6:00 AM with clear skies, temperature at 63 degrees and no breeze. When the caller was placed on the ground with the antennal folded down I was able to get about 95 yards line of sight. By hanging it about 2 feet above the ground I was able to get it to work without fail at 125 yards. By hanging it in a tree with the antenna pointed up I was able to get 200 yards line of site consistently. Anything beyond these ranges was intermittent.

I also tested a home built Ecaller using a Nady wireless transmitter and receiver. The Nady often had problems at short ranges of 50 to 75 feet using the softwire antenna that comes with the receiver. When I replaced the softwire antenna with the optional Rubber Duckey antenna the Nady performed at 75 yards without fail.
 
I tested the M1 Bandit recently. About 60 degrees F, M1 hung on a bush 2 feet above the ground, moderately humid, sunny with broken clouds, 50 feet above sea level. The remote worked instantly out to 312 long paces and under the circumstances, that was as far from it as I could get.

I'd planned several tests in brush, etc. but curtailed them because a bunch of people showed up and the open river dike I'd planned to use for the max distance test is closed due to flooding. The best I could do on the open distance test was a straight section of path through brush and trees. Very narrow slot through trees, under a canopy of timber. The remote worked at 312 paces, the farthest measurable distance I could back off. FWIW the last time I checked, my paced 100 yards turned out to be 102 yards.

On a hunt this winter, I tried the remote as I circled the area to look for tracks in snow after a calling sequence. It worked at more than 60 yards with a ten foot high ridge between remote and call. That was at 25 degrees F, dry humidity, 5,200 feet elevation, broken high clouds, call set on ground between two logs.

I held off posting this for a week because it needs a more comprehensive test, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it again so FWIW.
 
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Was these remotes ever tested under normal hunting conditions? I haven't seen a continuous of this testing. I was curious about the ranges while out of view and in high grass and weeds and maybe in a dip or behind a tree at 100yrds away. Do any of these remotes work that far away under the conditions that was mentioned?
 
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