Geocaching Australia

nibbler wrote:I cant help feeling that this another way to get $$$ out of cachers. Its probably just me but I cant see the point of the Chirp

gmj3191 wrote:I have just reactivated the Monument To Safety cache as a multi with the option to do the equation or use the CHIRP to find the final location.
It is still listed as a Trad but I've asked TheUmp to kindly change it to a multi.
Hopefully it will now be more muggle resistant than it was in its previous configuration.

darth trader wrote:new Garmin FAQ about the chirp (I found in a tweet)
YES. A CHIRP TWEET!

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/chirp

Happy Chappies wrote:

darth trader wrote:new Garmin FAQ about the chirp (I found in a tweet)
YES. A CHIRP TWEET!

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/chirp

Interesting that this one alludes to a potential iphone app to pick up chirp signals - I wondered how long that would take (although it seems to require the use of some specific dongle - more $$)... Would help broaden the audience a bit more without needing the specific Garmin branded stuff.

'dongle'.... i love that word.

Richary wrote:The class licence that covers 2.4 GHz allows many different things. For a start you have the 802.11b/g signals that use one of 11 specific channels for wireless lan etc. These are defined as part of a standard for wireless networking. Other (mainly older) wireless systems use frequency hopping that can be all over the band for links. Bluetooth also uses this band.

Basically there is about 80 MHz of bandwidth there you can use, in any way you like as long as you stay within the specs. There is no requirement to stay on any specific frequency or channel.

I had a brief search to see what Chirp uses without success, so I have no idea of their particular technology or method of transmitting the signals. (As background have worked with WLAN technology deployments for about 10 years)

ANT, ZigBee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and some cordless phones all use the 2.4 GHz band (as well as 868- and 915 MHz for regional variants in the latter's case), along with proprietary forms of wireless Ethernet and USB.

Wi-Fi/ZigBee and Bluetooth employ Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) schemes respectively to maintain the integrity of the wireless link.

ANT uses an adaptive isochronous network technology to ensure co-existence. This scheme provides the ability for each transmission to occur in an interference free time slot within the defined frequency band. The radio transmits for less than 150 µs per message, allowing a single channel to be divided into hundreds of timeslots. The ANT messaging period (the time between each node transmitting its data) determines how many time slots are available.

ANT's adaptive isochronous scheme doesn't require a master clock. Transmitters start broadcasting at regular intervals but then modify the transmission timing if interference from a neighbor is detected on a particular timeslot. This flexibility allows ANT to adapt to hostile conditions but ensures there is no overhead when interference is not present.

If the radio environment is very crowded, ANT can use frequency agility to allow an application microcontroller-controlled "hop" to an alternative 1 MHz channel in the 2.4 GHz band which can then be subdivided into timeslots.

ANT, ZigBee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and some cordless phones all use the 2.4 GHz band (as well as 868- and 915 MHz for regional variants in the latter's case), along with proprietary forms of wireless Ethernet and USB.

Wi-Fi/ZigBee and Bluetooth employ Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) schemes respectively to maintain the integrity of the wireless link.

ANT uses an adaptive isochronous network technology to ensure co-existence. This scheme provides the ability for each transmission to occur in an interference free time slot within the defined frequency band. The radio transmits for less than 150 µs per message, allowing a single channel to be divided into hundreds of timeslots. The ANT messaging period (the time between each node transmitting its data) determines how many time slots are available.

ANT's adaptive isochronous scheme doesn't require a master clock. Transmitters start broadcasting at regular intervals but then modify the transmission timing if interference from a neighbor is detected on a particular timeslot. This flexibility allows ANT to adapt to hostile conditions but ensures there is no overhead when interference is not present.

If the radio environment is very crowded, ANT can use frequency agility to allow an application microcontroller-controlled "hop" to an alternative 1 MHz channel in the 2.4 GHz band which can then be subdivided into timeslots.

Happy Chappies wrote:I noticed something on my laptop which I never noticed before, which was a Garmin ANT application of some form (I've never used it - it just sits on my toolbar after installing some Garmin software I guess) - Would this communicate with a chirp? Nice to know I could use it as a backup if I ever wanted to....