[Scan-DC] Motus wildlife tracking on 166.38 MHz

Sat May 20 06:12:54 EDT 2023

It’s a WAG, but perhaps to match the polarization of the transmitter’s antenna?  There’s a good bit of loss of signal when you’re cross or orthogonal polarized. Possibly also reduces noise (QRM) from other sources, which as you note are often vertically polarized. 

An interesting bit, that I gleaned from the station setup docs - the arrangement of the stations and antennas is, at least in places, intended to create a virtual “fence” so that animals can be tracked as they cross a specific line geographically. There was also a good bit of text about reducing “noisy” receivers, ones getting false positives, due to needing to avoid excessive cellular data charges in the remote areas these stations are setup.

--
Dan Brown

> On May 20, 2023, at 01:13, Alan Henney <alan at henney.com> wrote:
> 
> What's the significance of horizontal-polarized antennas rather than the
> typical vertical used by land mobile?
> 
>> On Wed, May 17, 2023 at 3:55 PM ~Bill <ecps92 at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> 
>> 166.3800 would be invalid, altho there are some NTIA exceptions for
>> Wildlife tracking that allow for freq shifting/Doppler effects
>> 
>> Nearest Voice channel is 166.3750 or +/- 166.3625/166.3875
>> 
>> Also those frequencies are NTIA not FCC
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Bill - N1KUG
>> Boston, Mass
>> Cruise Ship Frequencies
>> http://scanmaritime.com/
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:
>> scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Andrew Clegg
>> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2023 12:11 PM
>> To: Larry Kumjian
>> Cc: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Motus wildlife tracking on 166.38 MHz
>> 
>> Interesting.
>> 
>> I noticed there’s no non-federal allocation for this frequency in the US.
>> 
>>>> On May 15, 2023, at 11:21 AM, Larry Kumjian <larry51 at aol.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Great antenna pictures; thanks for sharing.
>>> 
>>> I'm wondering if the MOTUS frequency is actually 166.3750. The NTIA
>> master file lists that as intermittent nationwide use for the Department of
>> the Interior (FX, FL & mob) and also specifically for the Forest Service
>> (mob & port).
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>>> [mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Daniel Brown
>>> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2023 10:57 AM
>>> To: Andrew Clegg
>>> Cc: Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
>>> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Motus wildlife tracking on 166.38 MHz
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Check the photo gallery — has some great antenna pictures, but also a
>> photo “inside the box” of the hardware they’re using for decoding signals.
>>> 
>>> https://www.northeastmotus.com/photo-gallery
>>> 
>>> And searching on cellular tracking technologies:
>>> 
>>> https://celltracktech.com/collections/digital-radio-products
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On May 15, 2023, at 9:34 AM, Andrew Clegg <andrew_w_clegg at hotmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I recently came across information about the Motus wildlife tracking
>> system. It's a network of receivers (mostly North America but some
>> international) that picks up data bursts from tiny transmitters attached to
>> migratory animals (such as birds). Motus means movement in Latin. Seems
>> pretty cool. I wonder if a receiver set to 166.38 MHz for a while would
>> intercept any Motus bursts. They must be pretty weak given the size of some
>> of the transmitters.
>>>> 
>>>> https://www.northeastmotus.com/contact
>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> Daniel Brown
>>> daniel.h.brown at gmail.com
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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