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First Soon to be Annual Beacon Week
Does the BCA Tracker Suck at Multi-...

Do Electronic Devices Affect Beacons? | Sisters, OR United States | 12/16/08, by powderjunky

Do cell phones affect avalanche beacons?
If you have ever taken an avalanche class or been around backcountry skiing long enough, at some point you hear the rumor that you shouldn't ski with your cell phone because it will cause your beacon to malfunction. Well we went out to finally prove or disprove whether or not cell phones and other electronic devices affect beacon performance.


Do electronic devices affect beacons?


Watch the video to see how our test went. We set up two BCA Tracker beacons, one represented "the victim" (in transmit mode) and the other represented "the rescuer" (in search mode). The beacons were separated by 35 feet and set on the ground stationary, as to ensure the most accurate results. We first tested the reading without any other electronic interference- it measured 16-17 meters... So much for accuracy!

In this very scientific test (we do our best...), we measured the beacon readings when held near three common electronic devices that are commonly carried while backcountry skiing: Cell Phones, GPS, and two-way radios.

Here are the results:

Two Way Radios
  1. Radio with the victim: Change of 0-1 meters.
  2. Radio with the victim & searcher: Change of 0-1 meters.
  3. Radio with the victim & searcher while transmitting searcher radio: Change of 0-1 meters.
Summary: Not much change to worry about.


GPS
  1. GPS with the victim: Change of 0-1 meters.
  2. GPS with searcher: Victim's signal gets completely knocked out and vanishes.
Summary: GPS WILL affect your searching if it is within 10 inches of beacon. Once it is moved more than 10 inches away the beacon picks up the lost signal again.



Cell Phones
  1. Cell Phone with the victim: Change of 0-1 meters.
  2. Cell Phone with the victim & searcher: Change of 0-1 meters.
  3. Cell Phone with the victim & searcher while calling victims phone: Change of 0-1 meters.
Summary: Not much change to worry about.

Overall Summary
The only device to worry about is the GPS. Best to turn it off if you are doing a search. Everything else gave us no reason to believe they affected the beacon. However, this was only a stationary test. Later in the week we will test these same electronics with active searching and see if the results differ at all.
First Soon to be Annual Beacon Week
Does the BCA Tracker Suck at Multi-...


That's Our Opinion. What's Yours?

John Fritzi wrote on 12/16/08 at 11:38:07 am pst:

That's great to know! Thanks for taking the time to do the research.


Kevin Annala wrote on 03/25/09 at 7:59:36 pm pst:

Try again with different types. Your tests here are very misleading. You only used one type of beacon. We did a "loose" test with 4 of us, all of who had different types of beacons (can't remember brands). The only beacon which was not affected by a cell phone was my BCA tracker. The other 3 were affected big time. Waaaay off. Not just a little.

So yes, a cell phone is a big concern, but since you only tested one type, you would never know that.


powderjunky wrote on 03/25/09 at 11:06:27 pm pst:

Good to know Kevin. We only used the Tracker as it is the most popular brand in the U.S. We wish we could have gotten our hands on more variety for sure. Can you list the types you used? Thanks for your input. The more info we have the better educated we can all become :)



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