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Doogy sorry yes you are right the bio telemetry collars are even worse than the Titley collars. The two best collars in terms of power are Tracker & Wildlife...by far. Which is the best system?? Depends on what you mean doesn't it, best distance, best build quality, best price, best longevity, easiest to use, how much money can I throw at it?? If I was hunting in thick stuff and wanted great reception, it would be hard to go past Tracker with its small size, excellent quality and great range...but I would have to be willing to spend time learning how to use it properly. If I hunted where I could carry around a yagi based system, but didn't have a lot of money and wasn't concerned about long term quality...maybe a Wildlife..but only with there long distance collar. The Titley receiver still requires a yagi antenna and while good quality is also expensive and would need tracker collars to really perform so would end up costing a lot more. But they do provide great service. Sorry I can't be more definitive than that

hazedog I don’t think the information you have been given so far is particularly helpful or accurate so I will attempt to answer your question. But first let me say that I have more than 25 years experience in complex radio systems engineering and have also used a number of tracking systems here and overseas. And no I do not work for any of the suppliers!!!...lol Tracking systems consist of 3 important components: 1. Transmitter (collar) 2. Receiver 3. Receiver antenna system The transmitter plays a key part in determining the range (or distance) that the signal will transmit. The more power (measured in mW) the transmitter and the better its antenna system the further it will transmit. The maximum legal power output in Australia is 100 mW. The receiver is also very important as it must be able to detect very weak signals, this ability is known as sensitivity and is measured in –dB, the higher the –dB the better. As the radio signal travels through the air it loses power and is harder to detect, the better receivers can detect very low powered signals at long range. The receiver antenna system combined with the receiver also assists in detecting very low powered signals and feeding them to the receiver. Most systems use half yagi antenna’s (large) because “Tracker” brand owns the patent to its unique design antenna system and no one can legally copy it. Performance of tracking systems is therefore a combination of all these elements. Now to put all of that in perspective, no TRUE tracking system in Australia will go less than 10 kilometres in open rolling hill country. All tracking systems are affected in the same way in mountains or thick vegetation, so statements like “the only system that works in the mountains” are just urban myths and defy both engineering principles and real world testing. Even if a tracking systems has a transmitter that gives it 20 kilometres in open country and another only 10 kilometres, neither can penetrate through a real mountain…so the range performance is negated (unless the mountain is more than 10 kilometres away!!!) In Australia I know of only the following suppliers currently, Wildlife Materials, Tracker, Titley, Sir Track (NZ Govt) & Bio Telemetry. Only two of those are world class products Tracker and Wildlife and Bio Telemetry (unless it has recently changed) cannot be classed as a tracking system as it is simply a radio scanner connected to a yagi antenna and is the worst performing of the lot (although it might be enough for some users). On the world market, Wildlife is well down the scale of technologies, using quite old designs and construction methods. In its home market of the US it is out played by many tracking systems such as Marshall, QuickTrack, MN etc. Tracker is a rather unique design with very powerful collars and a very small receiver, which has a range of around 20 kilometres, hampered somewhat by its difficulty in learning how to use it close in where the power tends to “swamp” the receiver. Experienced users tend not to have any problems, but technically inept or impatient users do have problems. Titley make great receivers if you are happy using large yagi antennas, their collars unfortunately are not very powerful and the hidden antenna wire also reduces range. The comment someone made regarding trackers not being able to receive signal at 300 metres is absolute rubbish, unless the loaded coil wire that connects to the antenna was broken (not uncommon), and a simple repair. Do not believe the advice that you can buy a system from overseas on a “legal frequency” and then use it; you may as well buy one on illegal frequencies..you are still breaking the law. All radio products sold in Australia must have an Australian “C” tick from the Australian Communications Authority, and that needs to be an Australian firm…why?? So that should the device cause interference, they have an Australian company to sue!!! Devices found without a “C” tick sticker are subject to on the spot confiscation. I would suggest that you organise a test of the units you are interested in to see if they meet your needs considering things like size, battery consumption, ease of use. I am sure that any reputable supplier will have a test unit for you to trial if you pay a deposit. If not, then they are not serious and have something to hide! Good luck