Avalanche Transceiver Interference—is it real?

In a recent study published by the Alpine Club of Canada and the Canadian Avalanche Association, electrical engineer Ivar Finvers and mountain guide Doug Latimer looked at transceiver interference sources and what you can do to mitigate them. The team used a variety of items (ranging from electronic devices to tinfoil) to test interference levels on two different brands of transceivers. The results were pretty interesting but not altogether surprising and the lessons learned were what you can do if you encounter interference while searching, they are:

1. Tighten the initial search grid to 20m until the signal is acquired.
2. Physically mark the location where the signal is first detected.
3. From the marked location, grid search using only the numbers on the transceiver until you have a strong signal (15m or less)
4. Finish by using a normal induction search.
5. If strong interference is suspected, consider having a second searcher begin a 5m microstrip search in likely burial locations.

Give the full article a read on BCA's web site here.