Cat locator

[john1]

Hi,

I am thinking of making a "cat locator" and i wondered if anyone
has any suggestions. I was wondering if an audio signal might be
smaller and lighter than an RF unit as i was thinking of only a
limited range.

Or maybe a combination of audio and RF in some way.

John

 

[bigkim100]

Possible answer

How about a car battery and car horn, rigged to sound every 5 minutes, all in a cat sized knapsack. The cat could wear the knapsack, and could easily be found. If a knapsack of suitable size cannot be found, then double-sided tape, or Duct Tape could be used in a pinch.
Kim

 

[dknguyen]

asd

Use audio..then you can use your ears instead of having to build a receiver. Why don't you just stick a "car key" finder onto your cat's collar or something?

 

[john1]

Hi,

There are cat finder units available, but the various cat type forums
don't rate them much.

The audio type of thing reminded me of a tale about a bloke who lost
his watch in the dark, in long grass.
Back home he remembered that it was set to alarm daily, and he went
back to find it when the alarm went off. He got his watch back.

I dunno, i don't fancy having the cat bleeping anyway, i would
want the unit to be small enough that it won't bother the cat,
and also i would like it made so that it only sends an RF beep upon
a signal from 'home'.

I reckon a transmitter could be made really small and run from a tiny
battery cell. If it were dormant most of the time, then maybe it could
last a very long time.

Such a project has intrigued me for a long time now,
I would be interested in any ideas or suggestions.

John

 

[akg]

an rf kind of thing may work well in somewhat open terrian , but i have doubts in the case of a 'home environment'

 

[philba]

it's been my experience that cats get lost when they want to and unlost when they are hungry.

 

[zevon8]

Dog

Could not resist.

 

[The Mad Professor]

How bigs the "cat" lol

Miniature AM radio transmitter module (7.5 x 11.5 X 4.5mm)
SAW controlled frequency stability
No adjustable components
Transmitting range up to 30 Metres
CMOS/TTL Compatible input.
Current consumption 2.5mA (typ)
Single supply voltage 2.5 -12V
Compatible with R.F. Solutions AM receivers
MPT1340 License exempt

 

[john1]

Hi Professor,

That certainly looks interesting.
Curious that it only has two connectors, cw only ?
30 metres is a bit short of the distance i'm looking for,
but its a start, and might be ok.
The batteries would probably be bigger than the unit
unless i can get very very small batteries.
You didn't mention the vendor.
The cat is usual cat-size.

Next item is some way of telling it to operate.
Don't want it running all the time.

John

 

[The Mad Professor]

Here's my local link ,


Device is a AM-TX1-433 , Google should turn up a local supplier.
The site may still be worth poking around as they do various other Tx/Rx modules both AM and FM as well as GSM and GPS

"The R.F. Solutions AM Transmitter module offers a miniature hybrid modular RF transmitter providing on-off keyed modulation, which can be used to transmit data from any standard CMOS/TTL source up to 1200
baud."

Datasheet **broken link removed**

 

[Hero999]

Where's the RF output?

Does it use one of the leads?

I imagine you connect it to the power supply via a choke then connect one of the leads to the antenna via a coupling capacitor; is this correct?

 

[tom muleady]

to hero ,yes that would be my guess,or biased like an electrec mic,res for dc and capto ant

 

[tom muleady]

I should have looked at madprof web link says it all.