[Xastir] Off Topic -- I got my Ticket!

[Jim Tolbert]

Many thanx, Chip.........

When you note came in, I was one of the Tracker sites "shopping".

For Me, mobility is going to be more important first.   I am organizing 
a SAR group in our sparsely settled  corner of NW Wisconsin.  We can get 
a lot of untrained volunteer searchers and I want a system where we can 
track were they are and where they have been.

Therefore, I have a laptop running Xastir with the county shapefiles and 
USGS topos for maps.   As soon as I can work out a couple of dfawk 
issues, I can have available photos as well.  I am looking at either 
going 1) the RTrak / MicroTrak or the 2) Radio/Tracker/GPS receiver 
route  ( in easy to wear, no carrier contact, bundle that we an put on 
the volunteer searcher hip).  (With all the chatter lately about the T2 
working with a Garmin nuvi 350, that seems to be the way to go if we end 
up going with a bundled setup.   I am currently running Garmin nuvi 650s 
in ambulances with the driveway locations of all the structures in the 
county loaded.) 

Each Search team can be expected to have a Law Enforcement or Fire 
Department person with a radio for communications with base.   We seem 
to have access to a number of retired FD Sheriff's Motorola handheld  
radios.

Then I need a receiver (am not sure about the need for a transceiver), 
TNC, and antenna at the laptop for Incident Command.

We are in heavily forested area with lakes and rivers and low rolling 
rises and depressions ( not even really hills).  A Couple of the river 
channels are fairly deep and narrow.  We would expect that most, if not 
all, of the searches would be within a 5 mile radius of a given 
location.  The one exception is lost canoeists, floaters going down the 
rivers.

Budget is the big question mark.........  there is the personal budget ( 
the domestic associate is not wild about investing in a huge load of 
radio gear at one time-- it will have to be a slow build up) and then 
there is the SAR group budget (that doesn't exist -- we will have to 
"sell" the project to local groups with funds).

Personally, I am interested in emergency communications, weather 
recording/reporting and vehicle tracking.

Does that help paint a picture of my "needs"?

Many thanx for any comments and suggestions and a big THANK YOU to all 
the great folks that have sent notes of encouragement.   I found my call 
sign on the FCC website, but not on QRZ or ARRL yet.  Should I be 
worried and check into it?

Talk to you all later................ jt

Chip Griffin wrote:
> On Feb 21, 2008, at 08:21, Jim Tolbert wrote:
>
>> Now I can legally move forward with a system of Xastir and trackers 
>> for the SAR we are organizing.
>
> Congratulations on the new license. You can know embark on a fun 
> journey with us in this wonderful hobby.
>
> Regarding the rig and the setup. My first advice to you would be to 
> answer two questions. How much can you afford to spend? What do you 
> want to do with this radio/setup?
>
> The first is important because if you have a tight budget it will 
> drive you in different directions than if you have a bit larger 
> budget. The second is important because it will help you know whether 
> you need a mobile or a ht, or perhaps something else.
>
> If you answer those questions for us/me then we/I can give you some 
> more specific advice. There are also tons of resources on the net 
> which can help you review radios and other equipment. Google is a 
> wonderful tool.
>
>
> 73,
>
> --de Chip (N1MIE) FN41bn
>
>

-- 
Jim Tolbert
RiverRidge Consulting, LLC
PO Box 536
Webster, WI 54893

715-866-4398 home office
715-349-8993 fax

RiverRidge at CenturyTel.net