i know I've seen people with the Marco Polo tracker on the Inspire 1 but I wanted to make sue, does this cause any interference in any way or cause any other problems with the inspire 1. Thanks.

Yes works great!

The Marco Polo transceiver that you would place on your Inspire 1 does not transmit any RF energy  until you activate it with the handheld locator. While in standby mode the transceiver only cycles its receiver on once every 10 seconds to listen for a signal from the locator, so, no, it will not interfere with any of your other systems.

Mechanically, the transceiver only weighs 12 grams (0.4 oz.) so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on the balance or flight characteristics of the aircraft.

Finally, there are no magnetic components in the transceiver, as some buzzer type locators may have, so there are no magnetic fields generated that could impact your navigation equipment.

Here is how I mounted mine using Velcro I also added some braided fishing line about 20# test and a quick connect Angler clip. As you can see I also put my phone number on it, although you would think I could track it if it fell off in flight.  You can also see how I transport it in the camera gimbal box. Hope these images are helpful.  If you have a preflight check list make sure you add to charge the Marco Polo, attach it , connect the backup tether and turn it on.

stuzphotos@gmai Posted at 2015-3-7 09:02
Here is how I mounted mine using Velcro I also added some braided fishing line about 20# test and a  ...

Thanks so much for sharing that.  That's a good place to mount it and good idea with attaching it with a clip. Thanks!

Thanks for posting the photos.  I thought I'd share my mount.  I have the pet version and used 3M heavy duty adhesive tape.  Fits well.  I don't need to remove it when i place the Inspire back in the case.

The unit previously pictured is the dog collar version (heavier, 90 day standby time versus 30 for the RC version)the RC version works great though and is much lighter, I have flown with it many times. Manual states it operates on 900 MHz so shouldn't be able to interfere with controller or video signal. I fly in an area with no cell reception which it why I chose this one, but others are available which have greater range via cell service, although most require a monthly subscription.

So what's the difference in Pet & R/C version besides the weight................

mmalik4 Posted at 2015-4-11 05:33
So what's the difference in Pet & R/C version besides the weight................

size, weight, battery life, and RC version has no clips for dog collar

The RC and Pet versions of Marco Polo transceivers use the same circuit board and software but the RC version has a Li-Po battery that is 1/3 the capacity and a heat shrink covering instead of an ABS enclosure.

The pet version weighs 46 grams and the RC version only 12 grams. The actual "standby" time, that is the time from when you take of with a fully charged battery until the tag is unresponsive, is up to 30 days for the pet version and 10 days for the RC version. The longer times, 90 days for pet and 30 days for the RC version, are in the monitoring mode where the tag wakes up at a precisely controlled time to communicate with the locator once every 40 seconds. This is primarily used for monitoring wandering pets but could be useful for a UAV if you wanted a warning that your rig was moving on its own when it wasn't supposed to be.

I know it is counter intuitive that the standby time would be less than the seemingly more active monitoring mode but in standby the tag transceiver wakes once every 10 seconds and scans 50 frequencies to determine if a locator is searching for it. In monitoring mode the time and frequency for the communication is established and the tag wakes once every 40 seconds, quickly exchanges packets with the locator and goes back into sleep mode mode.

On the RF side it is the same power and sensitivity for both versions of the tag but the antenna gain is about 4 dB higher in the RC version. For RF propagation close to the ground 4 dB doesn't make a huge difference but it does help. Ironically, when the RF path conditions are really good and you are already getting miles of range the 4 dB improvement can be pretty noticeable but if you are slogging  through the dense forest with the UAV upside down in a ditch and the range is already as bad as it's going to get - the extra 4 dB will get you only a few steps further.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Pet and RC versions of the tag can be mixed and matched on the locator up to a maximum of 3. So 2 dogs and a quad, a quad a plane and a cat, whatever combo you need is possible.