Ski more, film less

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Some of you might like to know this

Message below from Mtn Guide James Blench:

Today I had an interesting experience. A guest had a GoPro in her pocket (turned on) during a transceiver training exercise. Everyone near her was getting very wacky readings rendering their searching transceivers useless when they were within 3 meters of the Go Pro. It took us a while to figure out that it was the GoPro causing the interference. We turned the GoPro on/off several times to verify that it was the culprit. It was a very new GoPro; Blue Tooth enabled but without the remote control. I did not have time to investigate further but felt a heads up was warranted.

Stay Safe

James Blench

CMH has been aware of this conflict for over a year now so we do not allow guests to use a go pro camera when skiing.

Tim Pochay

Seems like for whatever reason the GoPro gives way more interference than other gadjets. For example, iPods, radios and Cellphones do interfere with searching transceivers, but only if very close (30cm is the recommended minimum distance when searching; this may change when the next study is done). Sending transceivers are not affected by these other electronics (ie your radio or phone right beside the beacon is OK for sending) but the GoPro seems to be the exception to the rule…

The solution? Ski more, film less.

Cheers

BRENDAN MARTLAND

Avalanche Forecaster; Snow Safety Supervisor
 
If you got rad, got it on camera and then died senselessly in an avalanche... are you really rad?

 
Thats what a ski buddy is for. To double check your radness. And find you if you get caught in a avalanche.
 
no you don't. You die pointlessly. Just like mr. bishop said. Not to be hater but avalanches are no joke.

S.I.P Patsy 12/12
 


Beacon & GoPro Test from Joel Bettner on Vimeo.

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Saw this on TGR a while back. Don't know about new ones, but with the hero2 turn it off if you're searching. I did the same test with my hero2 and BCA Tracker 2 and had similar results, though my gopro had to be quite close to interfere with the searching beacon. Still, absolutely not something I want to deal with in a life and death backcountry rescue.
 
Was gonna say something about how you are clearly joking and people were taking you too serious, then I saw you username which made me think back to the Always Sunny episode about Charlie's musical. I laughed.
 
I'd go 99%.

I don't know how people can ski around the whole day with it on their heads. I'm constantly taking it on and off (and I rarely shoot pov).
 
From an electronics engineer point of view: no.

It's not the WiFi

crap they built in which causes the interference. Avalanche transceivers

are working with 457kHz whereas WiFi works somewhere between 2.4 and

5Ghz. No chance that these two get in the way. Even if there is Bluetooth or some other communication interface built in, I hardly doubt I would be the reason. What's more likely is that the electromagnetic field, caused by every single current flow on

the gopro circuit board causes the problems.

That also explains why only the search mode is affected. In send mode the beacon sends its 457kHz signal, no matter if there is EMF around or not. Broadcasting a signal isn't a delicate issue, but receiving it is. In order to maximize the search radius the receiving electronics in such beacons are extremely sensitive and my guess is, that, if near enough to a gopro and "too far" away from a sending beacon, you can get problems during search.

So the solution pretty much is to turn off and drop your gopro when searching.
 
is it just go pro's or other cameras as well? surely its a problem that go pro should've addressed?
 
You do realize gopros are used by big film companies for pow/big mountain shots in their videos so your made up statistic is highly inaccurate. Nice try though.
 
I'd like to know this too, but why would you have a camera in the BC that isn't on your head? I sure as hell wouldn't bring a DSLR out of the park for filming.
 
not sure about other phones/smart phones but the iPhone is pretty bad for messing with your transiver signal as well.

From what I've read, most electronics (including the GoPro) start to interfere with the signal from your beacon at around 2 to 3 feet. It's something that can be avoided while searching, but if you are the 'victim' and your all curled up in a ball under the snow putting your head mounted GoPro near your beacon (or if you have the chest mount on), it could cause problems for your friends to find you in an efficient time frame.

While the easy way it so just not bring electronics with you while touring, it won't necessarily happen. I mean hell, the best way to practice safe sex is to not have any, you know?
 
this is more what worries me, i film mainly inbounds stuff. when im in the bc iv got my phone on pretty much constantly and this really scares me. it seems like this a big area for research and could easily become a pretty solid profession.
 
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