Garmin Rino GPS/radios on bicycles?

Anybody here tried Garmin Rino GPS/radios on bicycles?

It would be great to be able to see how far away the other riders are.
But I wonder how well it really works when everybody is going up and
down small hills.

It doesn't seem to automatically send position information. It must be
manually requested or broadcasted.

The 110 thru 130 models output only one watt on the GMRS channels. This
would be fine for boats on a lake, but on bicycles where there's hills,
trees, etc., I wonder how well it works.

Has anybody here tried this? Is it worthwhile?

Thanks for your help.

"Bruce W.1" wrote:


The 110 thru 130 models output only one watt on the GMRS channels. This
would be fine for boats on a lake, but on bicycles where there's hills,
trees, etc., I wonder how well it works.

They just came out with new models. see link

http://www.garmin.com/products/rino530/#

wrote:
"Bruce W.1" wrote:



The 110 thru 130 models output only one watt on the GMRS channels. This
would be fine for boats on a lake, but on bicycles where there's hills,
trees, etc., I wonder how well it works.


They just came out with new models. see link

http://www.garmin.com/products/rino530/#
=============================================

Thanks but I saw them. A little pricey. They outpit five watts instead
of one like the 100 series.

I'm an Amateur Radio operator and I damn sure wouldn't trust one or five
watts output to work over two miles if both people were in a valley.

So I guess what I'm looking for is a percentage of how consistently it
works.

If you have to push a button every time to see where your ride buddy is
located then you might wait awhile for them to be in a good spot for
communications. It should do this automatically.

If the thing only updates every ten minutes then the other party's
position could be off by three miles, which would make this device
pretty useless.

I know a guy who uses them when boating and he says they work most of
the time. Just wondering if on a bicycle they DON'T work most of the time.

"Bruce W.1" wrote:

Thanks but I saw them. A little pricey. They outpit five watts instead
of one like the 100 series.

I agree they are pricey

I'm an Amateur Radio operator and I damn sure wouldn't trust one or five
watts output to work over two miles if both people were in a valley.

I'm a general class ham as well but haven't operated in
years. haven't kept up with equip either

Surely someone has some neat HTs out now that have
amateur GPRS in them have you checked that? heck id
be interested in knowing myself

I'm in market for a GPS to mark graves for genealogy
work I'm doing on my family. If I could have an HT
that would do both and be open as far as software.....
that would be the ticket. No?

"Bruce W.1" wrote:

If you have to push a button every time to see where your ride buddy is
located then you might wait awhile for them to be in a good spot for
communications. It should do this automatically.

Don't take my word on this..... but I think I read
somewhere that the Rhino units can be setup to "poll"
each other every so often to locate them

Not 100 percent sure tho.

"Bruce W.1" wrote:

I'm an Amateur Radio operator and I damn sure wouldn't trust one or five
watts output to work over two miles if both people were in a valley.

Could you also do this with some cell phones now days?

That is..... locate varying riders via GPS on their
cell phones?

On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:28:23 -0500, wrote:
"Bruce W.1" wrote:

I'm an Amateur Radio operator and I damn sure wouldn't trust one or five
watts output to work over two miles if both people were in a valley.

Could you also do this with some cell phones now days?

That is..... locate varying riders via GPS on their
cell phones?

If you get, say, Nokia Series 60 phones (Or Sony-Ericsson p800/900/910),
which are relatively easy to develop apps for (they run Symbian, which is
vaguely related to linux), you should be able to do it. Communicate
between the phones over GPRS, have each phone communicate over Bluetooth
to a GPS receiver. It'd not be something for the faint of heart to get
that working, though.

Jasper

What you are looking for is APRS. Google for lots of informaiton.
http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/aprs.html is sort of the offical
page

There's even a good web site for tracking:
http://map.findu.com/n3kqx* (example)

The Kenwood TH-D7 is a somewhat largish dual band handheld that has a
built in TNC (terminal node controller, a data interface). This will
connect to a GPS that outputs the proper data format (most do) and
transmit your position on a common frequency (144.390Mhz in the US)
which may be picked up by other units, digipeaters, i-gates, etc. Of
course, if you just want to see the other person's position, just use
your own simplex frequency. The unit outputs 5 watts on 2 M and 70 CM,
and of course you can use them to communicate via voice as well (on a
different frequency so you don't hear the data squeal.

Sorry if I went off topic.
Eric
N3KQX

Jasper Janssen wrote:

If you get, say, Nokia Series 60 phones (Or Sony-Ericsson p800/900/910),
which are relatively easy to develop apps for (they run Symbian, which is
vaguely related to linux), you should be able to do it. Communicate
between the phones over GPRS, have each phone communicate over Bluetooth
to a GPS receiver. It'd not be something for the faint of heart to get
that working, though.

I see

Do you think it will be standard feature in cell phones
someday?

John

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 11:20:15 -0500, wrote:
Jasper Janssen wrote:

If you get, say, Nokia Series 60 phones (Or Sony-Ericsson p800/900/910),
which are relatively easy to develop apps for (they run Symbian, which is
vaguely related to linux), you should be able to do it. Communicate
between the phones over GPRS, have each phone communicate over Bluetooth
to a GPS receiver. It'd not be something for the faint of heart to get
that working, though.

I see

Do you think it will be standard feature in cell phones
someday?

Well, GPS software along the "satellite navigation for cars" model is
available both for Series 60 Nokias (and clones, it's an open platform)
and the Sony-Ericsson p910 & co, just as it is for PocketPC PDAs (Same
processor, in fact, just mine in my phone runs at a 'meagre' 104 MHz while
modern PDAs have a version that goes at 400-600 MHz). Some PocketPCs now
have a GPRS/GSM phone function built in, as well, which speaks to the
continuing convergence there. Other PocketPCs have built-in GPS receivers,
mainly marketed as cheap satnav gear that you can also use as a PDA.
TTBOMK, no PPC has more than one of GSM, GPS, or high-res VGA screen,
though, which is a bit of a shame.

So the hardware (although you need two boxes working together) with the
capability is already there, at around 300-400 dollars a pop. However, I
think that the application, at least specific to riders, is enough of a
niche that it's unlikely to be much of a commercial success, certainly not
enough to be justified as standard on phones.

On the other hand, for other niches there *is* a market. Here in Europe we
just got a mobile smartphone with a built in GPS receiver (and software
deliberately held simple) specifically marketed to the elderly -- they
press a button on the thing, it calls one of a set of duty nurses
somewhere in a central place, and that person gets voice speakerphone
contact plus the GPS coordinates of the place on her screen. Sort of the
mobile equivalent of the US 911 system for landlines, except a bit more so
(which we, at least in the Netherlands, don't have properly implemented.
There's a central alarm number, yes, but no address-on-the-screen
capabilty even for landlines).

If phones with built-in GPS ever get critical mass, we might get
"groupware" apps for youngsters (since they drive the gadget market) that
use the concept.


Jasper