Falconry World

Well its time for the summer brood grouse counts, so yesterday morning at 5am i made my way to Wemmergill moor in the north of England. The weather was poor, but the counts were good. Another year of high brood counts with a ratio of 3.5 young to adults, which is great. I’ve been so busy with Marshall telemetry (which is going great) but also dealing with silly things on the falconry forums it was a great feeling to get on the moor and remember what all this is about. The English pointers worked well in the rain and so did the new canon 40D digital camera. It was also the first time I’d really tested out the Marshall tracking collar on the dogs. It’s so easy to loose the dogs here if they go on point out of sight, or in the mist. The marshall collar even gives out a double bleep if the dog is pointing as opposed to running. Great bit of kit that should pay for itself over and over this year. I’m sitting here at present feeding my jack Merlin on fist after sorting out the many parcels leaving this office. It won’t be long until he’ll get the chance at larks and hopefully give a ringing flight. Well that’s all for now, I hope you like the pic…….

I set off for Salt Lake City from Manchester Airport early on the 28^th May 08. I was up at around five and was sitting chatting away to the boxer Ricky Hatton by 8am whom I’d filmed on the 24^th May in Manchester Cities football stadium beating Juan Lazcano. His swelling had gone down and he was in good spirit and looking forward to his next fight in the states. I had my own battle to contend with. A long haul flight to Chicago. Hang around for four hours in the airport and then another three hour flight to Salt Lake City.

I eventually got to Salt Lake City at 9pm Salt Lake City time or 4am back home. It was a long day and I was relieved to see Robert Bagley and Dave Marshall some 23hours after I’d got out of bed back home. Robert had also just got back from Australia the day before so goodness knows what time his body clock was at. I was stopping with Dave Marshall, who’s house was on the side of mountains that frames the city on nearly all sides. The view from his living room window was fantastic. A million street lights, with black mountains rising into the sky filled with shimmering stars.

It was an amazing sight, but I needed some sleep. I went to bed at 11pm and was up at 7am just like at home.

The view in the morning was even more spectacular. I’d expected a vast desert but as you can see it isn’t. The great thing with the city is that in the day it looks so wooded. Apparently Dave tells me, nearly every tree in the city was planted. From up here for the most part all you can see is trees except for the Central Business District. On the roof of Daves garage was what a Californian quail.

They were all over the city running around in pairs. Just the right size for a sparrow hawk or should I say sharp shin now? Dave took me to a diner and we got the day started with an egg and bacon bagel and a fine cup of tea. Marshall Head Quarters is about 15 minuets from the city in a now industrial area. We go past a large oil refinery, built during the Second World War to prevent the Japanese bombing the fuel supply and pushing up prices….If only they’d have known. Anyway, the HQ is just like the picture on the Marshall web site. However inside are a number of rooms with technicians, working on receivers with microscopes,

Checking the board on the new digital field marshall before testing and “Burning in” for 24hrs

engineers working machines slicing solid blocks of aircraft aluminium into the smallest part from a remote computer.

The noise inside is like a falconers nightmare; Bleeps from every direction yet it is somehow very peaceful with everyone just going about there business. After a quick introduction I was given the guided tour….

Here’s Jess wearing a new Marshall radio 173 frequency dog tracking collar, full review in future when I’ve completed an in-depth test. Certainly works well after contact with water….

Falconry World is visiting the home of falconry telemetry that is the HQ of Marshall Radio tomorrow. I’m just finishing off some last minute packing and then will be flying out to Salt Lake City in the USA to get a first hand account of the Marshall Radio HQ.

Both Dave Marshall and Robert Bagley will be showing me around the base were all falconry and dog tracking telemetry equipment is manufactured. I’ll be writing an in-depth review of the visit, along with pictures of falconry telemetry and dog tracking collars. Marshall is set to make a big announcement for the European market in the very near future and I should have all the details when I return.

If you haven’t read the review I did some months ago on the new Digital Marshall receiver then click here. I maybe able to update the web site whilst I’m away, but otherwise I’ll be reporting back from the radio telemetry hub of the world when I return.