Beacons and heated gloves...serious issue

**wstdeep** · 12-19-2010, 06:39 PM

A copy of a note I sent to BCA today. Not a beacon issue but one to be aware of if your buddies are wearing heated undies or such...

Hi Bruce,

I was out today working with the guys from the snowmobile club that we got some beacons for. One of the guys was wearing a battery Heated glove Gerber's brand, Core heat model. Long story is we could not figure out why his search was so poor and readings erratic with significant deviation in both range, direction and display of range as well as indicating multiple burials when none were present. As he was using a Tracker Two and it was our first time playing with that model (awesome BTW) I thought perhaps he had a bad one ...but every time I used his unit it worked fine. After changing search areas (urban environment) other beacons etc. I finally figured out that the gloves were the problem and it was SIGNIFICANT enough to render the beacon completely useless in a search. On a side note inserting a beacon inside the glove and using it for the dummy we found no significant variation in our ability to locate the dummy so it was holding a beacon in search mode that was an issue. The gloves in question are a high end glove and more likely to be on the hands of sled riders but certainly some skiers will be using them here and there as they do work well and are a very nice glove...not the normal heated crap of the past.

Loved the Tracker 2 BTW, the increased speed and range were immediately apparent."

Edited to note: we were only using Trackers and Tracker 2 models to train with today, other beacons could be even worse.

So not a likely situation to run into but something to be aware of... gloves, vests, boots are all available with heating elements of late.

**ed nauseum** · 12-20-2010, 03:40 PM

Most electronic gadgets, etc., interfere with transceiver performance. The rule of thumb is to keep the transceiver at least 50 cm away from them, and/or turn off cell phones and radios when searching. Did you try testing with the heater-gloves turned off?
Transceivers are known to affect pacemakers too, so keep the beacon on your right side instead of left if you're so equipped.

**Shorty_J** · 12-20-2010, 05:01 PM

Thanks for the heads up... I just got some heated gloves. Wasn't intending on wearing them in the backcountry anyway, but I beep inbounds so...

**CookieMonster** · 12-20-2010, 05:25 PM

Fantastic post, and great info.

I believe the general rule is that anything with electricity running through wires has the capacity to interfere with a transceiver.