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  1. #1
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    RECCO Wristwatch band?

    Has anyone seen one of these?
    "True love is much easier to find with a helicopter"

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hacksaw View Post
    Has anyone seen one of these?

    Nope, I wonder how this compares to RECCO installed into certain jackets?

  3. #3
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    That would be interesting to see how they compare.
    "True love is much easier to find with a helicopter"

  4. #4
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    Recco sells a couple things that might fit what you are looking for:
    https://recco.com/shop-attachable-recco-reflector/

    I stumbled across this Recco belt on sale at REI -- am kinda tempted to grab one, and use it for my ski pants:
    https://www.rei.com/rei-garage/produ...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
    Quote Originally Posted by powder11 View Post
    if you have to resort to taking advice from the nitwits on this forum, then you're doomed.

  5. #5
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    Seems like a no brainer for Apple. Other than it’s not their own proprietary tech.

    They just applied for a patent on a shark detection watch.

  6. #6
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    Is it anything other than a body recovery location device?
    Has there ever been a live recovery using recco?
    If a phone could be utilized to do a beacon-like search with recco, it'd be great, especially for redundancy, but mostly because virtually everyone would be armed with the tech to save people and they already own it.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by El Chupacabra View Post
    Recco sells a couple things that might fit what you are looking for:
    https://recco.com/shop-attachable-recco-reflector/

    I stumbled across this Recco belt on sale at REI -- am kinda tempted to grab one, and use it for my ski pants:
    https://www.rei.com/rei-garage/produ...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
    ^^^ That belt just dropped further, now $19. Bought one. Can't hurt to have a Recco reflector; and my pants need to stay up while skiing anyway, so...
    Quote Originally Posted by powder11 View Post
    if you have to resort to taking advice from the nitwits on this forum, then you're doomed.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by splat View Post
    Is it anything other than a body recovery location device?
    Has there ever been a live recovery using recco?
    If a phone could be utilized to do a beacon-like search with recco, it'd be great, especially for redundancy, but mostly because virtually everyone would be armed with the tech to save people and they already own it.
    There are a couple of reports of live recoveries, searching back in the archives, for ex:
    2009: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ery-With-RECCO
    2006: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...for-45-minutes

    Speculation: the case for Recco may be stronger in Europe where "in-area" is different: someone could easily be off a marked piste and in uncontrolled terrain, but within the ski area and ski patrol only minutes away. In the US, it's not the same balance, but apparently a lot of US patrols do have Recco receivers.

    Tech speculation: apparently Recco operates near 900 MHz, which is not that far from some cell phone bands and much higher frequency than beacons at 457 kHz. But, the Recco transmitter is directional and I think it must be very powerful to put a 900 MHz signal thorough several feet of snow. I doubt that a cell phone has either the power or directionality to do that usefully, unfortunately.

    It's interesting that Recco is now also marketing their heli units as a SAR tool for finding missing hikers.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by coldfeet View Post
    [...]Tech speculation: apparently Recco operates near 900 MHz, which is not that far from some cell phone bands and much higher frequency than beacons at 457 kHz. But, the Recco transmitter is directional and I think it must be very powerful to put a 900 MHz signal thorough several feet of snow. I doubt that a cell phone has either the power or directionality to do that usefully, unfortunately.[...]
    The detector is directional, but not *perfectly* so: unlike a beacon, which is essentially searching *everywhere* around the searcher, the RECCO detector is *primarily* searching in the direction at which it's pointed.
    But as the manual states:
    https://beaconreviews.com/manuals/RE...2017-12-28.pdf
    Quote Originally Posted by RECCO manual, p. 16, Section 6 Distracting Signals, subsection 6.1 Sources
    Weaker signals are also sent out to the rear and sides, which may result in distracting (false) signals from radios, cell phones, GPS units, cameras, transceivers, car keys, and reflectors. Mixed metal objects – locking carabineers, keys, multi-tools, ice screws, boot buckles, etc. may create a weak RECCO signal.
    Therefore, the operator should move offending devices and gear to one’s back, or shield with RECCO Shields or Vest. Or if not needed, remove and leave behind.
    Be alert for nearby rescuers possibly wearing reflectors. Keep these rescuers behind the operator and use your body as a shield, or do not aim the detector toward these rescuers.
    The plus side of those "distracting signals" is that a RECCO detector can pick up a cell phone or other electronic devices (whether on or off, and totally unrelated of course to their transmission frequency), as these can (to some extent) double-back the detector's signal as would a RECCO reflector.
    Mo' skimo here: NE Rando Race Series

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by splat View Post
    Is it anything other than a body recovery location device?
    Has there ever been a live recovery using recco?
    If a phone could be utilized to do a beacon-like search with recco, it'd be great, especially for redundancy, but mostly because virtually everyone would be armed with the tech to save people and they already own it.
    I think the perfect use for RECCO would be for Tree Well zones at resorts.

  11. #11
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    The summer issue of the Canadian avy journal has an interesting account of a "successful" victim search with RECCO, using both hand-hand and helicopter versions.
    Definitely a glass-half-full "success" given that the victim had already been dead for almost a week.
    But the author praises the utility of the RECCO search, especially the helicopter version.
    Has lots of interesting insights into the systems pluses/minuses.
    Ditto for SAR during the pandemic, especially in late March.
    The author even manages to keep a sense of humor in a way, especially when a chainsaw is literally used for removing snow debris.
    Mo' skimo here: NE Rando Race Series

  12. #12
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    Jonathan,
    I found the idea of the electric chainsaw interesting. They they had used a 2-stroke gas chainsaw it would have contaminated the search area for the dogs. Every S&R team should buy an electric chainsaw.
    "True love is much easier to find with a helicopter"

  13. #13
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    I still remember how when I used my G3 Rutschblock cord out here many years ago in a L3 course, we had so much trouble cutting through our numerous melt-freeze layers that someone joked we needed a G3 Rutschblock chainsaw -- now that electric chainsaws have been developed, maybe it's no longer merely a joke!
    Mo' skimo here: NE Rando Race Series

  14. #14
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    I think this is the first time a reflector has ever been integrated into a climbing harness:
    https://www.blackdiamondequipment.co...hnician-recco/
    Mo' skimo here: NE Rando Race Series

  15. #15
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    Do they ever drone search with a recco device?

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by ::: ::: View Post
    Do they ever drone search with a recco device?
    I don't know about RECCO, but here in CO they have actually started doing actual transceiver searches from helicopter as at least a rough scan to gather scene information. I'm not sure what device they're using, obviously something much more powerful than a standard handheld transceiver but searching on the same frequency. Summit might know.

  17. #17
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    Just wondering as we have an ongoing search at MHM. I doubt the guy had a beacon, more likely some piece of clothing has recco. So wondering if recco could get it done [we don’t have a heli version best i know]

  18. #18
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    Adrenalated flight for life has an analog beacon that is hung under the helicopter, they can do a “fine search” once they like a location they drop a weighted marker.

    I forget what the accuracy is but I feel like it’s generally within 10 meters.

    As you said I am sure Summit has more details as my team doesn’t work as closely with FFL.

    Not sure about anyone using recco from a drone, it would need to be a different device as the controls would need to be wireless, and currently the units I’ve seen are either integrated like the handhelds or wired like the ones used in helicopters.






    Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

  19. #19
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    It requires a real helicopter to lift the RECCO antenna. It would take a drone the size of a ASTAR helicopter to do the job, so might as well use a real helicopter.
    "True love is much easier to find with a helicopter"

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by adrenalated View Post
    I don't know about RECCO, but here in CO they have actually started doing actual transceiver searches from helicopter as at least a rough scan to gather scene information. I'm not sure what device they're using, obviously something much more powerful than a standard handheld transceiver but searching on the same frequency. Summit might know.
    Yes the helicopert beacon is the same frequency, it's a 457khz analog receiver and pilot controls the gain. The antenna is slung below the fuselage, so the flight crew must decide to attach it on the ground, no air deployment, and must land again to remove it before resuming operations to insert CRAD teams or patient transport. It is quite useful for covering very large debris fields quickly, or determining if a "tracks in no tracks out" with difficult/dangerous ingress has buried transceivers. Pilots can get remarkably close with their dropped markers, like straight-to-fine-search.

    The RECCO heli unit they have in Europe is an external transceiver slung below the helo and is quite large. You could possibly power a drone unit to haul one, but like Hacksaw said, it's going to get expensive because we aren't talking about a COTS unit. However, the unique search capabilities offered are much different than a hand held unit because you could cover large areas quickly for a summer search, or for searching canyons and crevices... so they say... haven't seen it in action.

    Could you mount a R9 (1kg) on a rotating mount on a smaller COTS drone and channel the audio data back to a drone operator who can control gain/azimuth/axis? I don't see why not... assuming you could shield the unit from the drone electronics.

    Spurious reflections off of the drone is probably similar to the issue with running the R9 out the open door of a helo (and many operations, FFL, won't fly doors open period). It'd be fun to try out of the gunners seat on a UH-60 if we could get HAATS into it, but I really think the interference would be the bugger of it all. I'm sure someone at RECCO has tried this.
    Quote Originally Posted by blurred
    skiing is hiking all day so that you can ski on shitty gear for 5 minutes.

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