Beartooth

[MarlinMark]

Anyone know much of this new technology?

https://www.beartooth.com/

 

[COlineman78]

Interesting. After looking at the limited tech specs that they have on the FAQ page, it looks like they are operating at a fairly low frequency, probably near the VHF band in order to make a 3Ah battery last 4 days and still get 2 miles of range. Without more details I can't call BS on either number, because obviously amount of use will greatly effect battery life and that 4 days may become 2 if you are talking more.

It would've been cool if they turned it into a mesh network so that messages get relayed by other users. Let's say there are 4 in your group but everyone is spread out. The 2 people furthest apart may be too far away to communicate, or maybe someone is down in a canyon where the signal can't reach, well it would be cool if you could bounce the signal off the people in the middle to get to your intended destination, but based on my reading of the FAQ it doesn't seem to do it.

 

[Dos Perros]

LOS Range: 5 Miles for Voice, 10 Miles for Text
NLOS Range: 2 Miles for Voice, 4 Miles for Text
900 MHz Digital Transceiver (US Spec: 902MHz - 928MHz)
1W Transmit Power (30dBm)
Up to -148dBm Receiver Sensitivity, 178dB Link Budget
Mesh Networking for Extended Range
FSK and LoRa Modulation with Frequency Hopping
AES 256-Bit Encryption
Bluetooth 2.0 Connection to Smartphone
4 Day Battery Life (5/5/90 Duty Cycle)
3000mAh Battery (1.75x iPhone 6S Battery Capacity)
USB Type-C Port With Fast Bi-Directional Charging (2.1A)
2.44" x 4.0" x 0.49" and 4.5oz

 

[Dos Perros]

I really like the concept of using something you're already going to be carrying with you (your phone). IMO, not enough companies fully leverage this concept. Smartphones have the very best user interfaces of any gadget, and because they are manufactured in such high quantities we are able to have hardware that is otherwise too costly for lower volume niche products. I would pre-order this product today if it were going to be out in time for this fall.

 

[COlineman78]

LOS Range: 5 Miles for Voice, 10 Miles for Text
NLOS Range: 2 Miles for Voice, 4 Miles for Text
900 MHz Digital Transceiver (US Spec: 902MHz - 928MHz)
1W Transmit Power (30dBm)
Up to -148dBm Receiver Sensitivity, 178dB Link Budget
Mesh Networking for Extended Range
FSK and LoRa Modulation with Frequency Hopping
AES 256-Bit Encryption
Bluetooth 2.0 Connection to Smartphone
4 Day Battery Life (5/5/90 Duty Cycle)
3000mAh Battery (1.75x iPhone 6S Battery Capacity)
USB Type-C Port With Fast Bi-Directional Charging (2.1A)
2.44" x 4.0" x 0.49" and 4.5oz

Awesome, glad to see they posted some tech specs! These specs look very promising. I used a 1W 900 MHz radio in my senior project and we got 25 mile range from my car to a hot air balloon. This was using higher gain omni-direction rubber ducky antennas though so 10 miles seems reasonable with a clear line of sight and an internal antenna. Most cell phones drop out at -120 dBm, so the increased sensitivity will help. The only bad thing I see is it uses a very old and not as battery efficient Bluetooth spec (2.0, the latest is 4.2).

I would consider this if I hadn't just bought some brand new 6W VHF radios. I think the $100 price is reasonable, but they are going to have a hard time at $200 per.