Is the tracking bug small enough to fit the spark without affecting its flight dynamics? If so, what other types of finding devices do folks use for their sparks.
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Marco Polo Fit Spark?
- Thread starter Bob Johnston
- Start date
Howdy Bob, I use the Loc8tor lite.
It's good for about 400 feet and seems to work. I haven't had to use it other than testing it out with the copilot. She would hide it in the backyard or alley and I would find it. Here's a picture.
The Tile trackers are Bluetooth whereas the Loc8tor uses a RF.
Bluetooth tiles have gotten better, Tile pro has a range of 300 feet.
GPS trackers are better, but may have a monthly fee to operate.
I've heard that the Tile trackers can be shared with anybody that has the app installed and you can possibly get a whole bunch of people to help look for something lost.
Have fun shopping. ?
I did that after reading a post by a member that lost his in heavy brush.
I think he looked for two days and just by chance, the sun glistened off of the 4 brass contacts on the battery.
Here is a picture he posted and I circled the Spark.
Even on a big computer screen, it was tough to see.
I think he looked for two days and just by chance, the sun glistened off of the 4 brass contacts on the battery.
Here is a picture he posted and I circled the Spark.
Even on a big computer screen, it was tough to see.
I did see that post and got my idea from it as well. I did a quick nighttime hunt test with my Spark and a flashlight and it worked great.
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Howdy all,
Be careful when choosing the location where you mount the BT puck or the Marco Polo. Placing it on top of the spark you are covering up the Sparks internal GPS antenna. I experienced GPS problems when testing a BT puck located on the top of the Spark. The GPS receiver is using a compromised (for size) ceramic antenna and the large round battery in the BT puck de-tunes the GPS antenna. This is evident by watch looking at the RSSI of the GPS on your remote then remove the puck then check the RSSI again. Do this experiment several times and I think you will agree with me there is an interaction. The interaction may cause you more problems than not. It may cause you to lose your drone. I personally do not like the BT locators as you need to be too close for them to work at all. However once you are close enough to activate the locator it would definitely help.
Also mounting a Marco Polo transceiver or a BT locator to the side of the Spark is not a good idea either. There are WiFi antennas on each side of the Spark so nothing should be mounted to the sides of the Spark as this may cause you to lose connection with the remote.
The best location would be on the bottom of the battery. I purchase a landing gear extender from someone on eBay and mounted a Marco Polo to it using Velcro. See pix.
I am designing a tracker similar to the Marco Polo that will cost less than 1/2 cost of a Marco Polo. It uses a cell phone and a custom receiver to display the RSSI with a tone that will that varies depending on signal strength. The puck has a sounder that should help you locate the drone once the receiver gets you close to the downed drone. The puck will be about the same size as a Marco Polo. Prototype works quite well with a range of over a mile or 2. As long as you know which direction the drone was headed this thing will help you find your drone. I have completed the PC board design but not yet ordered. I will order boards once I finalize the design and satisfied with my software code. I will attach a pix of my prototype.
The BT locators use 2.4 GHz that if malfunctions and starts transmitting could cause total loss of connection with the remote due to swamping out the receiver in the Spark.
Please be careful when mounting what ever locator you chose. Try not to block any required signals or cause any unnecessary radio interference than may cause you to lose your drone.
Tons of fun!~Bill
GeoM1
Well-Known Member
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- Jan 23, 2019
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- 44
I don’t know....pondering.... my Spark and battery cost $325. Marco Polo is a (comparatively) simplistic electronic device, with an extremely limited search range, at a cost of nearly 1/2 that of a replacement genius flying machine. I know, I’m lucky: I have 0 problems so far, but I fly in the middle of Nowhere. I guess I’m not interested unless it costs a Lot less.
For what ever it is worth... I purchased a Marco Polo because of a flyaway with a previous drone. Fortunately when it flew away, it later landed in a nursing home parking lot. I always have a label on all my drones with my phone number. I got it back that way. However, if it had gotten hung up on some roof or tree, no one would have seen it and I'd be SOL. Thus the Marco Polo. I have not had one fly away since then but I'm pretty sure that if I didn't have one.... I have always placed it on the top using velcro. When I saw that video saying the GPS antenna was in that area too I was surprised since I've not experienced any problems using it. Just my experience so far.
Here's a tip, put your information as a text file on the Spark SD Card just in case it does spend some time exposed to the elements that may wear off the information on the stickers and the tracker fails.
Somebody may find it someday and retrieve the information.
Remember to put the information back on the card if you format the card at home.
I looked at the GPS cellular options a while back. not sure what the monthly cost is but I'd be curious as I think they would work the best.
Cost was $99 upfront. no data charge for one year & then only$3 per month. Works great on the Phantom 3A. Not sure on the Spark, I am having some issues, not sure the GPS LTE-M is helping.
Thanks for the info. I'm getting serious about either the air or M2Z. Either one would be worth it.
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