GPS location

[Beej]

Sorry All, maybe not the best part of the forum to post but my question doesnt fit into telemetry....

So, here's the problem. My club has a beautiful field but on two sides is surrounded by dense trees and very high grass (ie chest/head high). Being Australia, there are snakes galore in there so you dont want to spend too long poking around in there. Many (!) of our members have planes that end up in "tiger country" for one reason or another and a remarkably high proportion of members never manage to recover the model at all, or recover someone elses but not their own!. Since we live in the era of GPS, iphone tracking, cat tracking etc I was wondering whether anybody knew of a light (a few oz/grams), simple GPS tracker system that could be easily carried on board and could be used to locate downed models. Range in this case doesnt have to be huge (500m would probably suffice). I have seen a few things on the web that kind of fit the bill but other than cannibalising a "cat tracker" I cant find an easy solution. There's this thread http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=993165 about how to build an Xbee/GPS tracker but I know my soldering skills will not do this!

I bet there's a big market out there for someone who has a neat solution.

Thoughts?

cheers,

Beej

[Oops]

Dog collar GPS tracker. They used them for pig dogs while out hunting. On a small screen they can see the locations of six or eight dogs (?) and your own position. Not cheap though and I don't know the weight. But as a club you could purchase this and members use one while flying.

Just a thought.

[Sid Sideslip]

Buy a lawnmower?

Edited: The outfield at my club has longish grass too (and tiger snakes too, no doubt). I was out there a while ago looking for this guy's spinner and prop (why, I don't know, we had Buckley's chance finding it). Anyway, the range of bits and pieces I found lying around was just hilarious (no spinner, btw).

It looked like the remains of a miniature Battle of Britain.

[Keith]

This could open up a whole new industry for the kids that make extra dollars finding and selling golf balls....

[ergocentric]

you need a few months of snow to kill the snakes and some of the jungle

[rogueqd]

Concrete it all and lay down astroturf, much more hygienic.

[mkuvy]

There are GSM GPS trackers, like these two: http://www.ebay.com/itm/170795552775?ss ... 727wt_1496 and http://www.ebay.com/itm/261018715955?ss ... 812wt_1180 . I opted for the second one as I hope it is lighter.