need help building a tracking transmitter...

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dezil

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Hello everyone, I am new here, and new to electronics so please dont bash me too bad.....

I have a siberian husky that loves to run away, and I am tired of chasing her all over the neighborhood. I am still paying for the damage from the last time she got into the neighbors chicken coop.

I saw this on ebay and it seemed easy to build.....

**broken link removed**

I have a basic understanding of electronics, and have a radio shack down the street from my house. I was thinking maybe I could find some help on this site building my own device....
 
First, beware the 91% feedback rating. Second, the transmitter looks very simple for the asking price of almost $50. Third, it tunes into the aircraft bands which could lead to trouble. Its range is probably very short, not much more than the distance you could call your dog from.

Look for some of the threads here about FM transmitters and how to increase range. Audioguru will certainly have more suggestions.
 
The very cheap and simple project is here: **broken link removed**
It uses an obsolete LM3909 iC that you won't find anywhere.
Its range is 30 feet but its frequency changes all over the place if anything moves toward its antenna or moves away.

You need a huge directional antenna on a very sensitive FM radio to track it.
 

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Yeah, that cheesy rating is why I am just thinking I can do it myself.

Part of the problem with owning a stubborn husky is that she wont come when I call her once she gets a scent in her nostrils....

That very cheap and simply project seems like what Im looking for, but im not sure it would be practical with a range of only 30 feet. I had planned on buying a scanner as a reciever instead of using a conventional FM radio....would that help?
 
You don't want to use that cheap circuit. You need a circuit that doesn't change its frequency all over the place. You also need a more powerful circuit.

But how are you going to track the direction of the radio transmitter? A directional antenna is huge unless it uses a micro-wave frequency.
 
I was gonna get one of those scanners from radio shack to track the frequency.....that would probably be better than useing a regular FM radio right?
 
The scanner won't tell you direction, a directional antenna will. What about an electronic leash? (You bury a wire in the yard perimeter)
 
Havent known too many huskies have you?.....I could hit that dog with a tazer, and if she wants through she is going......

I had an electric fence when I bought my house....she just walked right through it on high....

I know that the scanner wont give me a direction like a pointer or anything, but I was thinking it would work like a homing beacon, where the closer to the transmitter the faster the beeping noise....
 
The oscillator in the transmitter makes the speed of the beeps. The distance of the receiver has nothing to do with it.

If you use FM then the loudness of the beeps is the same when the signal is extremely strong and when the signal is very weak. An FM radio with poor sensitivity might produce a difference in volume but will not be sensitive.

If you use AM then the automatic-gain-control in the radio makes the loudness of the beeps the same when the signal is extremely strong and when it is very weak.

EDIT: The very simple tracking transmitter does not transmit beeps. It simply turns itself on and off and the radio produces "inter-station hiss" when it is turned off so the hiss turns on and off.
if the radio has muting then there won't be any hiss.
 
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If your dog gets lost, I wonder if a talking GPS receiver will guide her home: "Good dog, turn left at the net intersection in 500m."
 
The guy at my local radioshack suggested that, but the monthly fee on top of it costing like $150 kinda discouraged me...

I thought since i needed something like this it would be a good time to learn how to do stuff like this. When I was in highschool I took an electronics coarse and really liked it. Im not just doing this to fill the need, Id like to learn something new.
 
Here's another approach to the problem.

It you are not going to use a leash or fence her in there are automatic shockers used in Germany to train watch dogs used in military installations. The dogs move freely within their assigned area.

If they leave it they receive a gentle electric shock. After a very short time they have learned not to go beyond certain points.

The receiver is attached to the dog's collar and if it doesn't receive a carrier signal anymore it activates the HV circuit. (Reception range is adjustable from several meters to 1km.)

Boncuk
 
Ive tried something very similiar to that, and it works fine until a pheasant or rabbit runs by, and the bloodthirst kicks in and she will run right through it.

Since I am new to electronics, am I in over my head as far as being able to construct something like this? If this type of device wont work, what else is there? I was under the impression that this thing was like those tracking devices in the 70's spy movies....where there is a homing beacon that goes "beep beep beep" the faster the beep the closer you are.

I just would like to try making stuff like this, but of its not a practical project I could always think of another starter project. I just dont want to build something like a radio, that I probably already have 5 of...I want to make something that I dont already have laying around my house.
 
dezil said:
I was under the impression that this thing was like those tracking devices in the 70's spy movies....where there is a homing beacon that goes "beep beep beep" the faster the beep the closer you are.
Click to expand...

Don't like to tell you, but those are movies - it's a work of fiction.
 
You might be able to have a transmitter and design and make a receiver that measures the signal strength and makes the beeps quicker when the signal is strong and makes the beeps slower when the signal is weak. You would need to move the receiver pretty far to make any difference in the beeps. But you won't know the direction until you pick the correct direction or pick one of the many incorrect directions.
 
Simple solution--- get a male husky to jump da dog, she'll stay home when da pups arrive then just keep the best pup and train it to stay in the yard.
 
Yeah, I kinda figured that crap in the movies was about as real s james bond's laser watch, but you never know....Im glad you guys let me know that im chasing a unicorn here...

Bryan, not a bad idea, but since I adopted her, she was fixed when I got her.....

SO is there a link to a spot on this site of projects that are good for a beginner? I can solder and I understand bluprints for the most part, but dont know what parts do what.....capacator, resistor....I have no idea about all of that.
 
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