Telemetry BackPack Harness

[Hawkmaster]

Firstly start with a good piece of leather, I suggest Kangaroo, not Buffalo as I did here. I cut and made a little template to use over and over, BUT will probably change this one too.

[Hawkmaster]

Make sure you stretch the leather in ALL direction first, not as I did here and then found out the shape was all over the shop.

[Hawkmaster]

Add the slits for the ribbon to slip through. They must be the same width and cut at an angle to make the leather sit more flat.

[Hawkmaster]

Teflon Ribbon, especially made for falconry is used to attach the harness on to the hawk. Here seen from above.

[Hawkmaster]

Seen from below, with the very important twist to give a flat profile again.

[Hawkmaster]

Here you can see it placed on the birds back to give you an idea of the lengths of the straps and where to make the cross-over.

[Hawkmaster]

This is what is looks like off the bird.

[Hawkmaster]

In the above image you can see the two slits cut in it near the top in the centre, this is for the brass telemetry mount. Now fitted.

[Hawkmaster]

View from below, where it is closed around the leather. Now also notice the twisted Teflon is super glued into place, after the fitment on the bird to judge where it should go.

[Hawkmaster]

Cut another copy of the template out of very thin soft leather. Glue this to the underside, but for now only half way as you will need to fit and make the end of the tape more permanent.

Here you will observe how the ends thread in and cross-over, where they will be glued.

[Hawkmaster]

Seen from above.

[Hawkmaster]

Where the tape crosses in front of the chest, just below the V of the neck on the Sternum, so the bird can still comfortably take a crop of food, you will need to make it a permanent fixing.

So when on the bird cross it over the hawk and basically fit the whole thing. Now get hold of and keep the shape of the crossed tapes and their you must sew and super glue them. Sew first and then glue, but only on the side that will not touch the birds body.

[Hawkmaster]

This view may give you a better idea?

[Hawkmaster]

Now fit to the hawk and make the adjustment to give a good straight fit, with about a finger or 10mm space under the backpack for movement. Be sure to add your glue before bringing up the two ends. Use a small long nosed pliers to speed up the job of getting them through the holes.

[Hawkmaster]

Here is the harness seen from the front.

Please notice, some mistakes here, that I made and you can learn from. 1. As mentioned before, make sure you glue and sewn the cross-overs on the correct side for when it is on the hawk.
2. Keep the shape of the cross-overs in their natural direction when you do a test fit. I made then square, ooops wrong so had to do it again.

[Hawkmaster]

Once fitted properly and the mistakes were rectified and the bird had roused a few times, all you see is the transmitter.

Hope this helps you and get you into Backpacking your hawk, it will put the TX in a higher, safer position and allow you the also put atransmitter on the tail and therefore you increase your chances of not loosing your bird.

I personally hate leg mounting as I have experience TX failure that way as they stoop and KNOCK it about. Goodnees alone know what the damage will be to the hawk if a leg mount gets caught up.

I will upload a newer design if you are interested? 8)

[Dude]

sure! let us see!
;)

[Jackie]

i wa not sure about it until i saw the pic of the bird at the end its a very good idea. and very tidy . well done .
now lets ee the other one .

[TiercelR]

-Jackie: -And now are an innovation in the materials of the back-pack:
http://www.marshallradio.com/falconry/fproducts_accessories.asp
-Have good falconry!

[Moses]

looks great hm

[CooperMan]

Hawkmaster,
Where can you get the teflon ribbon from, I have never seen it anywhere and would like to give these bakpack mounts a go.

[Hawkmaster]

From the States, but you will have to buy a roll, and it is not cheap. You can get some here in the UK for about £8 a foot.

[CooperMan]

do you have any contact details m8

[Hawkmaster]

PM me how much you want and I may be able to sort you out :wink:

[Bird_Dog]

You can buy a track-pack replacement kit from Marshall. It has teflon ribbon and a crimping ring. Not cheap, tho.

-- BIRD_DOG

[Saker-Clive]

The only place I know of is Bally Ribbon Mills in the US. I got the info. and prices for 1/4" teflon ribbon but as HM said it isn't cheap and you have to buy a minimum of 25m. I think it worked out @ $7.25 per metre, can't remember off hand but all you need to do is contact them, tell them that you are needing it for a business and they will get back to you.

http://www.ballyribbon.com/comm.htm

[Leo 1]

i will upload a newer design if you are interested? 8)[/QUOTE]

yES PLZ HM

[Hawkmaster]

Chris I made so many different ones I personally would now suggest you simply buy on from Marshall or TinyLoc as they rock!

Although I have an improvement to test out on them too:wink::supz: