Fox hunt transmitter

[Slyguy]

Hey all,
I have a stock pile of old ELTs (emergency location transmitters) that transmit 40mw on 121.500/243.000mhz. What I would like to do is modify them to operate at 146.???mhz. Somehow they would need to transmit my call in morse code at least every 10 mins as well. Most of them are Ameri-king AK-450s and have been trying to find a schematic with no luck as of yet. Anyway, I thought this might be a fun project for the tech types out there. I'm ready for ideas on how to make this happen.

PS. I know these type of transmitters can be easily built, or purchased for around $100. I just thought it would be a fun project to try and repurpose these.

[Savoirfaire]

Contact KA2ZEV, Mike Chisnea.

He may be able to give you advice on this.

I do not want to say more as I am not selling or promoting.

He builds APRS-digis which transmit car or your location through satellites so he can tell you what he thinks.

73 de Savoirfaire (27.015 AM)
10X-Ray47 (27.385 USB and 27.375 LSB, sometimes Old Buzzard 1307).


I can tell you my callsign later.

Hope this helps.

---

Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 20:00 PM

I heard from Mike and he said, "Do not do it." The radios have fine harmonics and are really designed for military and civil bands.

He says they will not sound good or work that well on amateur frequencies plus they can set off alarms and possibly create an alert on satellites and they will come looking for you. Many campers at one time were being checked up on needlessly for using these ELT's.

Search for a local Fox Hunt Transmitter group in your area.

They have mostly been replaced since most are 20 years old or more. Many with a modern UHF frequency range to avoid all these problems.

I like the desire though.

73 de Frank, Savoirfaire

[Slyguy]

Thanks for the reply! Its about time. LOL. Yeah I already have a few Bionics fox transmitters. It was just a passing thought. I also use APRS in my jeep. Not only for location but text messaging as well. I'm working on an APRS weather station at my house. Still in the works. A little off topic but this is my topic anyway.

[Savoirfaire]

I am happy to have been able to indirectly help through KA2ZEV.

He is a member of Amrad (Amateur Radio Research and Development. He lives in Herndon, VA. It is a Organization and Club that meets for research and development in our hobby. If you type Amrad on google it comes up.

Also, have you or do you use Echolink. We could talk with this as a local repeater uses it (WB8YZV 147.255 MHZ).

73 de Frank

[cbtubeguy]

i wonder if you could use a crystal clock oscillator or similar with a 555 based timer circuit to fire off a keyer at your reuired intervals? i have been experimenting with clock oscillators and vcxo's and you could possibly make a sumpremely basic foxhunt transmitter with one and a little ingenuity, i bought a tcxo for about $4 and its on 27.000 and has been masses of fun to play with, just a thought that you could expand on

[Slyguy]

I am happy to have been able to indirectly help through KA2ZEV.

He is a member of Amrad (Amateur Radio Research and Development. He lives in Herndon, VA. It is a Organization and Club that meets for research and development in our hobby. If you type Amrad on google it comes up.

Also, have you or do you use Echolink. We could talk with this as a local repeater uses it (WB8YZV 147.255 MHZ).

73 de Frank

Sure do. Me and a few other CBRT hams are trying to put together an HF digital round table. Ever play with PSK, or RTTY?