BearTooth the Comms Device

Discussion in 'Survival Communications' started by BTPost, May 30, 2017.


  1. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    OK, here it is.... My pair of BearTooth Devices came in the mail Yesterday..... Yea, I know, Nobody is supposed to get Mail on a Federal Holiday, but apparently nobody told the Bush Pilot...... IMG_0348.
    So, BearTooth is No Longer VAPORWARE, and I have my two devices, charging up as I type this..... I have downloaded the StartUp.PDF from their Website, and loaded the Beartooth.app into both my iDevices... (iPhone5S, & iPad Retina) More info to come, as I get to using them, once they are Charged Up....
     
    Idahoser, GOG, T. Riley and 5 others like this.
  2. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

    make that :5s: :)
     
    Seepalaces and T. Riley like this.
  3. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    Nice try, guys - my gold stars are filled with delicious chocolate, much like my stash of gold coins
    upload_2017-5-30_16-57-18.

    Eagerly awaiting review...
     
    GOG, techsar, Ura-Ki and 2 others like this.
  4. hitchcock4

    hitchcock4 Monkey++

    Don't keep us in suspense.
    Do you like it? Mine have not arrived yet.
     
  5. T. Riley

    T. Riley Monkey+++

    Here and charging....

    upload_2017-6-6_13-52-23.
     
    3M-TA3 and sec_monkey like this.
  6. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

    [coo] (y)
     
  7. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    @T. Riley Make sure you get the upDated .App before you start getting to know the devices....
     
    sec_monkey likes this.
  8. DarkLight

    DarkLight Live Long and Prosper - On Hiatus

    Any update on performance/capabilities? Nothing since your post on May 30th @BTPost
     
  9. T. Riley

    T. Riley Monkey+++

    Thanks...Will do. Still on the long charge....I will leave it to you to write a review. I'm not good at it and you know the tech stuff much better than I.
     
    sec_monkey likes this.
  10. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    It is my "busy time of year" for another few weeks, so it will be a while before I can get these rung out... Kind of wish it can come a month sooner, but " Fish are coming" and I am swamped...
     
    GOG, sec_monkey, DarkLight and 2 others like this.
  11. bumpshadow

    bumpshadow Monkey

    So, was anything happening with this or is it just kinda dead?
     
  12. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    The product is available NOW.... MY testing will happen in October... as I am getting ready for winter just now...
     
    sec_monkey likes this.
  13. DKR

    DKR Raconteur of the first stripe

    These still on 150 Mhz or was they moved to 900 Mhz?
     
  14. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    The BearTooth are 900Mhz Units... The GoTennas are the 150 MHz Units.... To different products...
     
    sec_monkey and DKR like this.
  15. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    This is in the reply, AND my original Email, to the BearTooth Folks Regarding the BlueTooth
    vulnerability , recently reported.....


    From: Ellie (Beartooth) Subject: Re: [Beartooth] Tech Question
    Date: September 14, 2017 at 9:55 AM To: Bruce G

    Your request (12363) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.

    Ellie (Beartooth) Sep 14, 11:55 CST

    Hi Bruce
    (1) We wrote all of code in house over the last 3 to 4 years
    (2) No
    (3) See #2
    (4) The attack is made on the smartphone, not the device so you need to make sure your smartphone OS is up to date!

    Please let us know if you have additional questions.

    E
    Ellie || Beartooth
    Bruce G
    Sep 14, 11:19 CST

    I am an early adoptor of your device, and I have a TECHNICAL Question....
    I the recent Tech News, some significant BlueTooth vulnerabilities have been found in the Bluetooth Protocol Stack
    that allow hackers within the the Range of a BlueTooth Device to compromise the Device and initiate outside Code,
    and maybe Imbed new Code into the device... So the Questions are:
    1. Who wrote the BlueTooth Protocol Stack for your device, and when?
    2. Is your BlueTooth Protocol Stack vulnerable to these exploits?
    3. If so, is there a Patch forthcoming, to secure your devices?
    4. If not, Why is your device NOT Vulnerable, as Most other BlueTooth Devices ARE?

    Thank you for your attention to my query......

    Bruce (semiretired powderman & exFCC Field Inspector for Southeastern Alaska)

    Bruce G * Debora G R.N.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 14, 2017
    3M-TA3, Yard Dart, techsar and 2 others like this.
  16. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Hello Beartooth Community,

    While preparing for the release of Apple's iOS 11, we discovered an issue with the operating system that prevents certain Bluetooth accessories from functioning correctly.

    This issue prevents the Beartooth app from working correctly on iOS 11. We are working directly with Apple to address this, and expect a fix to be released with the first maintenance update for iOS 11. Such updates are typically delivered approximately one week after the initial OS release.

    What to do now?

    For those who have already updated:

    While we're confident that Apple will have this fixed shortly, we will continue to try to find a workaround. We need beta testers to assist in this effort. If you'd like to help us out, send a note to support@beartooth.com indicating you'd like to participate.

    For those who have not updated:

    At this point, we recommend delaying updating to iOS 11 until Apple releases it's first maintenance patch. This problem is not limited to Beartooth, and you may experience issues with other Bluetooth devices after updating.

    As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions by responding directly to this email or sending a note to support@beartooth.com

    Thank you,

    The Beartooth Team
     
  17. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    IMO, that fish is starting to stink, been out of the water too long.
     
    Yard Dart likes this.
  18. hitchcock4

    hitchcock4 Monkey++

    Just like @BTPost I have received my Beartooth devices but was a bit busy to test. Tonight I was walking the dog and had an opportunity to test these.

    I got 4 and have connected them all to various android devices. The newest Android device is a Google Pixel running Android 8.0 and the oldest android is a Droid Maxx running Android 4.4.4. It works on iPhone/iPads but I have none. [Ask @BTPost he will be testing on the Apple products.]

    Overall I like the idea of the product -- as long as you download the app onto your phone before going out into the wilderness. With 4 beartooth's and 4 phones/tablets, you could have 4 separate parties without wifi and without cell access, but through the Beartooth be able to communicate to each other. Each party would need a modern smartphone (or tablet) with Bluetooth enabled -- that's how the Beartooth communicates to the phone. Then the beartooth-to-beartooth communication is using low-watt 900Mhz radio waves. [I believe power is limited by the FCC to 1 watt in the 900MHz range, so I assume that is the max watts put out by this thing.]

    So my testing is pretty limited at this point. All outdoor testing done within an hour, so there could be limitations that presented themselves that may not exist on another day. [It was a clear day outside at least.] I previously did some troubleshooting indoors as time allowed with other tasks. But in a 2200 sq ft home, you really cannot get 1 beartooth very far from the other, so I didn't consider any of that a real trial, just troubleshooting.

    Maybe my inexperience with the product shows, but sometimes even just getting the product to regularly pair (via bluetooth) to a phone was at times problematic. My next post will show the steps that I use that now work 99% of the time to pair with the phone. My comparison is with pairing bluetooth headphones or even pairing my car to a phone -- which (generally) once paired, you can come back the next day or the next week and pair your headphones simply by turning them on. Not always so with the Beartooth.

    I put a beartooth in the window sill and another 15 feet from the window. When I left the house -- guess which one I lost contact with first? As you might predict, I lost contact with the one deep in the house about 0.15 miles away. The furthest that I was reliably able to connect with the Beartooth in the window was 0.27 miles away, according to measurements on the beartooth app.

    If I sent my GPS coords and got a reply that the other beartooth could not be contacted, then sometimes simply turning my body back in the direction of "home" helped and I was then able to send my GPS coordinates.

    Once (bluetooth) paired with the device, and then go into the Android app to fully establish communications with the Beartooth (solid orange LED on beartooth) then you can disconnect it from power.

    Pros:
    1)If the connected/paired phone is powered off, the Beartooth recognizes the loss of communications and also powers off to save power.
    2) GPS coordinates, text messages, and voice messages can all be sent.
    3) Firmware update can be done through the phone, by the user. There are no currently announced updates (a timeline) that I am aware of.
    4) Now that they have shipped, communications with the technical staff is quick to respond.

    Cons:
    1) I would say that overall the product is finicky and could use some work. Being a technical person, I'm used to troubleshooting issues and could handle it. On the other hand, I wouldn't just hand this off to my (non-technical) wife without some clearly written out troubleshooting techniques. In short, wait for generation 2 of this product, or a firmware update that is less finicky.
    2) In my testing, I lost signal at 0.27 miles. Not that far away, IMHO. Granted, the Beartooth I was relaying GPS coords back to was indoors (but it was on the windowsill).

    Suggestions to Beartooth, if you are listening:
    1) Work on the Android app, make sure that the device can re-pair with the phone on the next day or next time the device is taken out.
    2) I would like to see a way to connect an external antenna, or possibly increase the power output. If you are an amateur radio license holder, you are allowed by the FCC to transmit at up to 50 watts in the 902-928 Mhz range -- in most areas of the USA, but now near White Sands. I doubt Beartooth will increase the power, but ham operators may find a way to do it.
    3) Add a "breadcrumb" feature to the app. By this I mean I shouldn't have to send my GPS coordinates by thinking about it every 5 minutes. Have a feature that lets the user select a minute range between 2 minutes and 60 minutes. At each interval, automatically send out the GPS coordinates to the connected user (or group). So if I select every 5 minutes, it would send my GPS coords every 5 minutes until I hit "stop" or turn that feature off. Yes, it will use the battery quicker, but I think this would be a very useful feature for two (or 3 or 4) parties on separate hikes. If each party has a beartooth and a phone, then a party is much less likely to be "missing" at the end of the day. If someone is, one can see their last known coordinates and the time at which the signal was sent.

    Questions?? I promise to put down my "reliable method" for pairing through bluetooth. The funny thing is -- the android device that never needed to re-pair was the oldest one that I own, running Android 4.4.4
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2017
    ghrit and 3M-TA3 like this.
  19. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Need to update this Beartooth thread…. It turns out, AlaskaChick, when packing up a bunch of my Radio Gear, to ship south, found and packed my two Beartooth units… I never did get back to doing the Evaluation of this technology, back in 2017, and the devices slipped into the mass of Bruce’s Comm Stuff, and disappeared… only to surface in the Comm Stuff that got shipped south…. So… Now that I have extra time on my hands, I can get back to this Long Lost Project.. I plugged them into my multiport USB Charging Strip and they immediately started charging… Then showed up on my list of Bluetooth Devices local to my Computers… So my plan is to start messing with them, and see if I bought a “Pig in a Poke” or a nice Secure Comms Device… We shall see
     
    Altoidfishfins likes this.
  20. Esar145a

    Esar145a New, but not very fresh...

    IMG_20211214_160831. Wish you better luck than me! I went with the 900mhz GoTenna devices. Bought four and started to get paired up with devices. Got a pair to work together and set out to get the next setup and WHAM. Firmware update. Never got them to work again. Two were totally bricked and the others not linking up. Tried support and never got resolved. Hope to setup a local net but all hope went down the drain. Now have 4 sitting in their boxes in junk box. Too bad had two 10w bidirectional amps just waiting to go on hills around town. Going to an app that'll allow you to message over an analog radio. Looks like a good option with minimal outlay.
     
  1. DKR
  2. William Warren
  3. bumpshadow
  4. hitchcock4
  5. DKR
  6. Bandit99
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  11. Asia-Off-Grid
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  13. ED GEiN
  14. ED GEiN
  15. BenP
  16. Idahoser
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