Because of the feral pigs, I moved the team to some woods across from another park. Pre-Delta Hurricane fringes we did not see a single squirrel, but Cisco's transmitter, a Luksander LF-4, fell out. In New Mexico last year I lost an LF-4. That was a combination of my not checking the backpack occasionally and a short antenna stud. In New Mexico, Cisco came back with the clip still on the backpack, which meant the antenna backed off completely from the body. The transmitter was not retrievable since its range was probably just a few feet. I didn't realize until later that the wire clip was still in the backpack, and spent an hour or two trying to find the transmitter. If I had seen the wire clip, I wouldn't have bothered.
Today the whole transmitter just backed out. I knew the transmitter was fine because I have a little short range receiver/antenna rig I plug into my phone. Not good for tracking but lets you know if you are close to the transmitter (and hopefully the hawk). The signal was loud and clear. I went back to the parking lot across the street to get my receiver. Because of the car break-ins, I had to bring Cisco and Arnold along with me to find the transmitter. It took me about fifteen minutes to track it down. It's odd that it fell off. It looked OK. I fooled around with it at the house later, and may have improved it. Incidentally, a few weeks ago I put some RTV silicone gel on the unit to waterproof it. Unlike Luksander's XLF series, this one has an exposed battery. Now I can submerge the unit without problem.
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