Avi Beacon electronics

<br>Hey all, <br><br>Can any techie-minded gurus out there comment on the complexity of the guts in an avi beacon? I can see obvious reasons that quality control, redundancy, stability in harsh conditions, etc are very important, but considering transceiver technology has been kicking around since the '30s, is there really anything in there to justify the $300 price tag? (not that your life isn't worth it...)<br>just curious-<br>cheers<br>Drew<br><br>PS. I've been lurking for a week or two, and just want to say thanks for such a great forum of interesting, knowledable folks without the bluster inherent in certain other sites (which shall remain nameless, eh?)<br>

Thanks, Drew,<br>Yeah, Charles seems to attract a pretty civil, inteligent and sharing crowd.<br><br>As far as beacons go, I couldn't comment on the electronic side of the cost issue, but looking at it from a business perspective...<br>First, take a look at the market; we're not looking at a very large segiment of the population purchasing these things,<br>Then the market already pretty competitive; several good manufacturers out there,<br>Then there's R&D costs to get your prototype functioning and reliable,<br>And liability insurance cannot be cheap for such a business,<br>Allowing for a reasonable retail markup I'd want to try to get it into the hands of the retailer for $150-$200 range.. (there will also be some distribution costs in there)<br>Pay for all that out of your pocket and then try and figure out how many total units are selling and what you will need to do in terms of dollars and efforts spent on advertising to get what percentage of those unit sales and still come out with a profit...<br>I'm actually feeiling pretty fortunate about the quality of choices we have right now... I'm thinking the 300 frogpelts are a bargain. I'm glad I'm not trying to make it in their business, even if the electronics were free.

Well, there was a couple articles in the ski mags this year about how fire departments are considering using avi beacons to help locate firefighters that may need help but can't be heard because of the intesnsity of the fire. If that happened, the market would suddenly get a lot bigger and theoretically prices would come down and perhaps the technology would get better.

There is actually a Tracker made/marketed specifically for firefighters now. I'm not sure how it differs from the one we're familiar with, but it sure looks the same. Following flux lines in a building has gotta be hard though ... I bet a unit like the new Ortovox that's comign out would work better.