🧰 Care, Equipment & Facilities · 5 min
Telemetry
Why this matters
Telemetry is what turns a lost bird into a delayed pickup. It is also required by regulation for one category of bird.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- Describe what a Yagi antenna is and its practical range
- Explain the weak-response setting and why it matters
- State when transmitters are legally required
The gear
A Yagi is a sensitive hand-held telemetry antenna, three or more elements mounted at right angles to a central boom. Practical range is a quarter to one mile with both bird and falconer on the ground, and ten miles or more from an aircraft.
Reading the receiver
Tuning across the dial you will find the signal at two settings. The strong one is normal, for maximum sensitivity. The weak response is useful for close-in work when the signal is overwhelming. Learn to hear the pitch change as you turn the dial so you know which response you are on. Not recognising the weak response is a good way to walk in circles around a bird thirty yards away.
Cold
Frigid temperatures alter both the dial settings and the transmitter signal. Every unit drifts differently. The manual's test is worth doing before the season: turn the receiver on, put the transmitter batteries in the household freezer, and watch how far it drifts as it cools. Then let the transmitter stabilise at room temperature and put the receiver in the freezer, and see how the dial setting moves. Now you know your own gear's behaviour on the coldest morning of the year.
When it is required
Telemetry is not on the required equipment list for a newly trapped bird. But 173.5(e) requires all hybrid raptors to carry at least two radio transmitters when free flown. That is not optional and not a matter of judgement.
This lesson is part of the NY Falconry Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.