Reducing commotion on stand while calling

L

LionHo

New member
Hey guys:
Having to reconsider my whole mode of calling with this new MP3 player, and I'd like to get input about how you all have your MP3 tracks organized and how you actually use your players on the stand.

First, I need to be as hands-free as possible to call stuff to 50 feet or closer, in order to keep them critters bamboozled long enough to photo them full-frame. Yesterday while responding to another post, I remembered that for the longest time I just used a foot pedal switch for my old cassette player. Simple, and it worked really well. Missed that feature with the CD player I've used in recent years.

Yeah, what really didn't work well with the CD player was that it was just too bulky to velcro to the back of the camera or the tripod and so I ended up balancing it on my leg. Seemed I was always having to move my head to turn it on and off or program it or look at what track was playing... which won't be a problem with the little MP3 as I'll be able to velcro either it or its remote to the back of my camera.

But the one thing that I did like about the the prior CD player arrangement--what would be great to do with the MP3-- is that any sequence of tracks (incl. silent tracks) could be programmed on the spot and looped. Until a critter came in close, I sometimes didn't have to fuss with it but once, so long as all the tracks I wanted were on the same CD (rarely!). Unfortunately the $30 cheapo CD didn't keep programming in memory after shutting it down, or if squeezed or bumped and it shut down by itself... well, you get the picture. Happy to retire it.

My new PoGo Riplash Plus 128 just arrived Friday and already I've converted and downloaded 50+ sounds. Even with some rock and roll tunes cadged off the web, there's still 90 megs of memory left. Have another 50 or so critter tracks to download yet. With so much room to spare there's a bunch of ways to go in how I organize stuff. And if it gets jammed for memory, it takes external flash cards too.

So, what I'd like to know is, are you guys mostly sitting out there with your MP3s hitting the replay button on single tracks, are you mixing long sequences with a variety of sounds including pauses in Goldwave, are you carrying around extra flash memory cards...

IOW, what's working for ya, especially how are you reducing commotion to not blow your camo cover while sitting on the stand using these things?

Thanks!
LionHo
 
Lion Ho, your MP3 player should have settings/optins for looping, or playing consecutive tracks, or just playing a single track once. If I'm understanding you correctly, that should cover most of your concerns. With my MP3, I never could get to where I could accurately change tracks and such without having to actually look at it. Which always iritated me. It's one of the things I really like about the Foxpro remote - I can use all the functions without ever having to look at it, and take my eyes off the stand.

- DAA
 
I use 6 different tracks on my Rio. I set it to loop each sound. I have one track that I combined different sounds that is 10 minutes long. All the others are from 1 to 3 minutes and all have 1 minute of silence at the end. It's simple, was cheap to build and works in every situation I've encountered.

Working with 50-100 sound tracks must be difficult. The last thing I want to have on my stand is something difficult. For that reason I've chosen the setup I have. I'd be very interested to know how well your system works and how you catalog your sounds.

Ed
 
Hi Ed:

Went out with my new PoGo for the first time last night, trying to call in one of the lions roaming around up here. Didn't call a lion first time out with the new caller (dang!), but I'm a happy camper nevertheless.

Easy-to-find buttons on the PoGo, so mute, volume, start/stop, or up/down one track are a snap without looking, already.

Having a gazillion tracks on the thing might be more manageable than I'd thought. The "ID3" feature scrolls whatever name I choose for the track across the display--but some need renamed for clarity since the scrolling doesn't start until the track begins playing.

Already have my single unmixed sounds grouped together: rabbits, mice, fawns and does, mountain lion vocalizations.

Your suggestion of making calling sequence mixes is a well taken, and is the next thing on my list. Easy to do in Goldwave, gotta be better than programming a playlist at the start of every stand like I was doing with my balky CD player. (Why didn't I just burn CD mixes? Would've, but needed a newer less balky CD burner, too. Decided instead to spend the bucks on the MP3. Good decision.)

Half a dozen sequences should do it for 90% of predator calling situations here.
 
Sounds like that new MP3 is the real ticket to better calling. What kind of batteries does it take? What kind of expansion cards does it use?

Keep us updated. It's not that I'm not interested in the mass produced models, I really want to hear how average people are solving the calling situations in their area.

Ed
 
AAA's (2 each) and Smart Media Cards.

It doesn't seem to eat batteries, but I'll pick up some NiMH rechargeables anyhow. These and 9V NiMH ($10 each) for the Nady will doubtless save bucks in the long haul. Also on my list is to grab a higher capacity 9V NiMH Radio Shack race car pack ($25) for the the Nady and the Hobbytron 7W amp and Specos, should they ever arrive.

Last time I was in the local Target I saw SMC flash cards for $40/128MB; I think they're common to digital cameras. Which is something to look for in a digital camera, as well, since I love a good two-fer whenever I can find one.

Which gets to why I went with this arrangement rather than a commercial caller myself. It's more than just a two-fer, more like a four-fer: it's a)a predator-caller, b) an itty-bitty field recorder for digital capture of animal sounds in the field with an external mic, ie the Nady c)a note recorder that also works with it's internal mic d) an MP3 player that I can cleverly conceal in my pocket and actually listen to tunes! (okay guys, let's see you try THAT with one of those all-in-one commercial jobs, just to try to get a new camo'd Foxpro or Loudmouth or Predation job past airport security /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Also, if or when something better comes along next year I won't be out $300-600, just $100. Easy enough to upgrade the player later on.

I'm not a gadget freak, particularly, and tend to stay with older stuff as long as it still works... but already this is just soooo much better than the old cassette player (BTW, my first one was a Panasonic that recorded too that also cost $100--15 years ago!) or the CD player (which involves running 40 miles to the office to burn a new CD) that the learning curve is actually kinda sweet and therefore not so steep after all.

-LionHo
 


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