FM800 w/HSL Yagi vs. UHF 100 questions...

I think I am finally going to bite the bullet next season and upgrade to a Marshall receiver from my Tracker (probably going to sell it). My birds never range far and so the Tracker has been a small, convenient, reliable receiver for tracking general direction of my birds (I fly HH casts). It has always led me to my birds when I need it. But it can have a lot of back-signal and it is not designed for really close-in directionality (i.e.: finding a lost TX in a sea of grass).

As I weigh the FM 800 vs the UHF 100 I have competing concerns. I want a small receiver (this rules out the FM 100 w/full-size yagi). I love the size of the UHF unit - not much bigger than my Tracker. TX power (long range) isn't really a big concern for me - but battery life is (I love the long life on the VHF Scouts). I also already have three perfectly good VHF scouts right now - that I will have to sell if I buy a UHF system.

Beyond these concerns is my final tipping point - close-in directionality. Are there any significant areas where one system outshines the other?

Any thoughts you have would be helpful.
Thanks!
Mike

UHF is the future of falconry telemetry. I heard Marshall has stopped investing time and money into improving their VHF and is going to concentrate on UHF and GPS. So why by a system that is outdated. Only drawback to UHF is price and battery life but with that comes a more powerful signal and shorter antennas and a small Yagi on your receiver. You're going to get people from both sides of the fence but if it was me I'd go with a new UHF 100 or find a used Marshall VHF 800 and use your existing Transmitters.

See thread: Telemetry-Which is better suited UHF/VHF by Troy Moody. Troy ran some side by side tests of UHF vs VHF. At the end he purchased an MRT 434-100 with no further heartburn.

Note, Troy does urban guerrilla hawking, and the interference on 216 made the reception very poor in suburban areas. If you hawk far rural to outright wilderness this may not be a factor.

The recent MRT receivers have a very strong attenuator. Works well on the "inside 5 feet" mode. If you are working mainly short range get the shortened antenna for super compact in the UHF receivers.

I offer a low cost solution for long run time UHF transmitters. You can have Marshal program a transmitter for shorter beeps and longer between beeps to get a long run time.

Regards,
Thomas of the Desert