Lets start off with we have been having a Bandit on the local repeater. 2m repeater.
I played around with alot of settings and i got it down to having to be around less then 3 miles for a 5 watt radio( we tested with).
I have watched every video on line of tracking a sources. But how they have it setup.
Im looking to see what others are settings are for 146-148 MHZs
As i have set the
receiver gain high to low.
Squelch to auto and manual
Array is at .34 the max on the truck i have.
From what I have seen from fox hunting people can pick up a signal like 10 miles away from a fox at or less then 1 watt.
Screenshots of as of now.
You need to be able to hear the bandit on the repeater input before you can expect the kraken to work. The distance you can do this from depends on what the path looks like between you and the bandit (hills vs flat), and how much power and what kind of antenna the bandit is using (beam vs omni).
You really want a good line of sight path for good bearings. Try to get up high if you can to get an initial bearing to the bandit. I find a short yagi antenna on a handheld radio most helpful with this on weak signals. Starting from near the repeater might be helpful, since you know the bandit can be heard there. Be careful not to get too close to the repeater as you might get desense from the powerful repeater transmitter.
Take an initial bearing with the yagi and then head in that direction until you’re close enough to hear them clearly on the repeater input before using the kraken.
Yes. Spent time after time close to the repeater with yagi setup and our club President/owner only lives three miles from the repeater. And he used a 5 element of like 40ft.
I have tested the limits of 5w ht with a good Antenna. And 20 miles in any direction is almost the max distance I could get in.
Based on the times, and being random its hard to setup with others as we been wanting to get 3 or 4 guys to head out to the 20 mile mark and move only when the bandit is not heard on the input. To clear out spots.
I know 20 miles is just a base line in the 5 or 6 locations and conditions ( hills etc)
