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ACR Vecta-406 Portable DF

Started by sardak, November 05, 2011, 03:04:18 AM

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sardak

I was clued into this today at the International Technical Rescue Symposium. The person who told me about it talked with the manufacturer's rep at another conference. Pictures and downloadable specs here: http://www.acrelectronics.com/products/catalog/direction-finders/vecta-406/

ACR Vecta 406 Complete Kit includes

- Receiver Dish
- Removable Antennas
- 4' Mounting Pole
- Handheld Color Digital Display
- 2 Battery Chassis (1 for spare)
- 406 MHz Training Personal Locator Beacon
- 5 Pin Display Cable
- Combo Vest/Belt Harness with Antenna Rest Mounts
- Pelican Storage Case
- Pole and Harness Carrying Case

According to my source, the unofficial talking price at the other conference would buy about 10 non-406 DFs made by company L, about 1/4 of the 406 DF from company B, and about 1/2 the rumored price of company F's 406 DF.

ACR is owned by Cobham Plc, a British company which among its many holdings includes Seimac. There is a discussion of the Seimac (non-406) Pro-Find 500 DF in other threads.

Mike

lordmonar

Only problem is that it does not do 121.5....which means another piece of equipment you have to take with you.
PATRICK M. HARRIS, SMSgt, CAP

starshippe

   the specs listed at the acr link indicated that it received on 406.025, 028, 037, and 043. 406.043 is channel h, which according to cospas-sarsat, is "not to be assigned." this may be where they put the practice beacon. anyway, that leaves it with just three active frequencies, all of which are already in use. there are seven other channels "to be assigned," once the number of beacons in the first three reaches the limit. so, there could be elts in the field and/or stream, pun intended, before long that are transmitting on frequencies that this unit will not be able to hear.

   the specs did not say anything about scanning the three or four freqs. the csta #, if contained in the data burst, would have to be digitally decoded and even then would require reference to an external list in order to determine the transmitting freq. but, the receiver may be broad band enough to not require exact tuning. 

   i could not see much of the face of the unit, but the display appeared to consist of an arrow. resolution of the bearing was not mentioned.

   there was also no mention of an on board beacon message decoder, which could show the transmitted lat/lon, giving an excellent place to start the search. ok, afrcc would already have this info, and presumably have passed it on, but theres a chance it could be moving.

   and as was noted, there was no mention of an on board 121.5 receiver, which would give folks something to do while waiting the 50 seconds between 406 bursts.

   also no mention of an on board gps receiver, which just seems like a nice thing to have.

   it looks like this may have been designed for man overboard situations. it would be nice to have some feedback on it from someone who has had an opportunity to use it in our environment. it would also be nice to have some more info on how it works.

thanks for the info,

bill