Merry Christmas! Garmin Alpha!!!!

[Mount Sweetness]

What kind of range are you guys getting with your Alpha's and Astros?

What I am finding is that mine loses connection anywhere from 1km to 3km. This is on roads testing it.

What good is it if it only tracks a km or two??? Is there something I'm missing here?

[werner.reiche]

I get about the same as you are - but this is in very rough terrain. I don't have a problem with it since if I go to the last reported location, I'll pick up the dog again. But I'm running a small beagle on deer. I have a 14" (or so) whip antennae on mine.

[ontariobeagler]

That happens once in awhile not all the time.try using the longer antenna you should be able to track up to 8 miles

[terrym]

There is also a car mount mount i think that should greatly increase signal if using a vehicle to track a big running dog like a hound. For my proposes running a bird dog the range is fine with my Astro 320.

[Mount Sweetness]

I am using the longer antenna, it's over 12 inches.

They advertise 9 miles, they should be advertising 2 miles.........

I want this more to find a lost dog in the big unfamiliar woods, if the dog is lost and has run off 5km.....All a 2km range does is get me lost too....?

[ontariobeagler]

It won't do it all the time mine didn't few times. Went out too thick bush today never lost signal. It goes back to normal after a bit. Try changing the tracking settings to 10 seconds or go lower try it out. You got the best of the best don't worry it'll work fine.

[Mount Sweetness]

I guess there is a learning curve, I don't do well with learning curves...lol

I did another test just now, I left the handheld on my front steps, drove away with collar holding it out of the sun roof. I got right around 3km's worth of tracking.

I can't imagine getting over 5km unless the dog and you were on a wide open frozen lake.

I also learned not to test it with the handheld in the house or under a covered porch, and I figure if the collar is inside the car it will lose signal quicker as well. That's why I stuck it out of the sun roof.

I noticed that if it completely loses signal and I bring the collar back to the handheld start point, the track with just show a straight line fake track from the signal lose point to the return/start point.

Learning curve

[cdelargy]

This is the email response I just received from a major Dog Supply company in the U.S. after inquiring about the Alpha and its use in Canada. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Chris,
Thanks for contacting &%#$ %^& Supply.
The Garmin Alpha is approved for use in the US only. Collar tohandheld communication may be disabled in prohibited areas.
Thanks,

[Mount Sweetness]

Has anyone ever cut down a collar antenna to make it a little bit shorter?
This Alpha came with 2 antennas, both of them are so long that my beagle nearly trips on them.

[swampsinger]

Most of my Beagles are the 13" variety , one in particular is quite small, but is also one of my favorite gun dogs. I modified the garmin collar to fit her small neck size. I remove the D ring so there is only a buckle, then I added foam weather stripping to the inside of the collar reinforced with electrical tape. I have also replaced the collar antenna with aircraft cable for less than a dollar.





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