IST Sonic Seeker Anchor Locator?

[divefan]

Chris,

Those are exactly the units I was talking about in my post. :bonk:

 

[divefan]

Well, I finally found a company that is making an underwater sonar system for sport divers. I just received my Desert Star "Dive Tracker Sport" yesterday. It came nicely packed in a Pelican case and consists of 2 modules. You can check out their website for details on the products they make. I have not used the system yet so I cannot say whether or not it works as advertised. I will post again as soon as I have tried it out in the ocean. Unfortunately, it has been blowing here nonstop for weeks. I just wanted to let those know who have been searching for a product like this that there is still one in production.

 

[rcapilli]

Well, I finally found a company that is making an underwater sonar system for sport divers. I just received my Desert Star "Dive Tracker Sport" yesterday. It came nicely packed in a Pelican case and consists of 2 modules. You can check out their website for details on the products they make. I have not used the system yet so I cannot say whether or not it works as advertised. I will post again as soon as I have tried it out in the ocean. Unfortunately, it has been blowing here nonstop for weeks. I just wanted to let those know who have been searching for a product like this that there is still one in production.

Just wanted to know if it worked very well. I am looking at purchasing one but was wondering if it is worth it. Thanks for your reply.

With respect,
Rob
rcapilli@bellsouth.net

 

[divefan]

Funny you should ask that question. Actually it worked very well for one day's diving. Without going into detail the bottom line is I had to return it to the company for a refund. The housing has a rinky dink cap system that IMHO is prone to leaking. Overall the unit is top notch other than that. I spoke to the guy that does the actual design and he said that the more expensive SPORT model is not one that he designed and has been giving them some problems. He did accept the unit back. He also recommended I try the less expensive model which he DID design. He claims it is bulletproof. I said OK and am still waiting to receive it. I will let you know how it holds up once I receive it and use it.

 

[DoUDive2]

Funny you should ask that question. Actually it worked very well for one day's diving. Without going into detail the bottom line is I had to return it to the company for a refund. The housing has a rinky dink cap system that IMHO is prone to leaking. Overall the unit is top notch other than that. I spoke to the guy that does the actual design and he said that the more expensive SPORT model is not one that he designed and has been giving them some problems. He did accept the unit back. He also recommended I try the less expensive model which he DID design. He claims it is bulletproof. I said OK and am still waiting to receive it. I will let you know how it holds up once I receive it and use it.

I wish they would install a bearing indicator. I don't like the idea of having to manually "sweep" the unit around to determine the direction back to the pinger.

Chris

 

[rcapilli]

Funny you should ask that question. Actually it worked very well for one day's diving. Without going into detail the bottom line is I had to return it to the company for a refund. The housing has a rinky dink cap system that IMHO is prone to leaking. Overall the unit is top notch other than that. I spoke to the guy that does the actual design and he said that the more expensive SPORT model is not one that he designed and has been giving them some problems. He did accept the unit back. He also recommended I try the less expensive model which he DID design. He claims it is bulletproof. I said OK and am still waiting to receive it. I will let you know how it holds up once I receive it and use it.

Thanks for your reply. I purchased the SCOUT. It was a little cheaper and I am concerned about the quality, but I am willing to give it a shot. I will be using it in August and will let you know what I think about it.

 

[rcapilli]

Thanks for your reply. I purchased the SCOUT. It was a little cheaper and I am concerned about the quality, but I am willing to give it a shot. I will be using it in August and will let you know what I think about it.

I just purchased the SCOUT yesterday. There is not a lot of info about it yet. I will also send a few pictures to my web site when I receive it. I can scan the instruction book as well and will place that up on my web site as well. I hope to get it next week so try back here say, Wednesday the 30th. If I get it sooner I will send you an email. Needless to say I am a bit skeptical about this "sweeping" idea but I have not hear a bad thing about it yet. Try www.epinions.com they may have something on it there.

 

[divefan]

Looking forward to your next post.Thanks.

I just purchased the SCOUT yesterday. There is not a lot of info about it yet. I will also send a few pictures to my web site when I receive it. I can scan the instruction book as well and will place that up on my web site as well. I hope to get it next week so try back here say, Wednesday the 30th. If I get it sooner I will send you an email. Needless to say I am a bit skeptical about this "sweeping" idea but I have not hear a bad thing about it yet. Try www.epinions.com they may have something on it there.

 

[NAM001]

chris

your point is well taked on the direction indicator. as a retired submarine sonarman i have a little background in this. first when you are sweeping around in a 360 you are manually pointing a directional listening hydrophone array. hence, when you watch for the largest/strongest signal indication you are determining the direction of the strongest signal. to have a bearing indicator, you would need a circular hydrophone array that has a series of time delays and a means of changing the delays on each hydrophone to corospond to each bearing on your indicator. this is an expensive process. the higher the frequency tha smaller of array used, the less tolerance to error the device readout has. the device has to delay each hydrophone signal and then add the delayed outputs of each hydrophone and then measure the sum. the highest sum will be on one set of many delay combinations that will be one bearing of many bearings. look at a radio direction finder, you just turn the antenna 360 degrees and you get the general direction of a radio source. do this with 2-3 stations you can find your position if you know the location of the source. ie station wls in chicago is north and wwv fort colins colorado is north west. you can figure you are perhaps louisianna as opposed to new york. if you ived in chicago you could follow the signal home. in the case of the seeker you know the location of the source. you put it there. you dont know distance only general direction. follow the direction and it will take you to the source. increasing signal strength in dicates decreasing range. if you repeatedly dive in the same quality of water you can loosly relate the number of lights to range because the number of lights is an indication of signal strengh. the streingh received like a radio is dependant on range and interferance like weather ect. similar water say mid gulf (where the underwater weather stays somewhat constant) wlll leave the range being the major factor to variation in signal strengh. in a lake or shallow water a little rain makes the water muddy and the signal attenuates more (stirred up sediment) making the # of lights to range relationship also inconsistant. hope this helps a little. the proce of a seeker set vs. the cost of a xios system is a lot because of this and the range calculations it does which is another technology. when it comes to underwater stuff, simplicity is the best choice for the buck as it appies to most tasks

regards

KWS

I wish they would install a bearing indicator. I don't like the idea of having to manually "sweep" the unit around to determine the direction back to the pinger.

Chris

 

[jenniferg]

Did you ever try out the Desert Star Scout? How was it?