The Forestry Forum

I just started using a DME in the woods while cruising timber.  It saves a lot of time on borderline trees and seems to stay calibrated throughout the day.  It never varies by more than a 10th of foot so far.  I've calibrated it every morning, noticing that it's off by a 10th and once 2 10ths. 

Anybody else on here using a DME?  Any comments? 

Welcome to the Forum, wmrussel. I am just south of you.  Don

I've used the sonic ones and loved it. The laser ones don't work in the summertime, too much undergrowth.

Yep, I'd imagine the laser ones would be useless to me.  I'll be standing by a tree and not even able to see plot center, sometimes. 

Don, I do a bit of work for Rayonier not too far west of you.  Ever get over to Lowndes & Monroe counties?

I have had real good luck with them, just calibrate regularly and you should have no problems.

The staff the transponder sits on is a little weak or I was a bit too hard on it.  The top popped of once and rolled into a boomer hole... never to be seen again.

Yeah, I was warned about the top, that the little legs break easily.  I've tied the transponder to the pole & never let the stand hit anything. 

I calibrate mine once a day & check it a couple of times a day.  Never gets off by more than a 10th/foot.

Well they say that the only dumb question is the one that never gets asked so I guess I will be the one to ask, whats a DME ??? ???. Also how is it used? :-\

Distance Measuring Equipment. You put one piece at plot center and you carry the other as you cruise timber. Lets you know if the tree is in or out of the plot radius. The ultrasonic ones work a lot better in undergrowth because you don't have to have direct line of sight. The laser ones don't work very well in the underbrush, but have a distinct advantage in that you only need one piece; you can stand at plot center and beam each tree to get a distance, you don't have to tromp around a big circle. (There are issues about reflectivity and is the center of the tree actually in the plot, and so on).

If you stay at plot center, how do you measure ALL the diameters?    :D

Well, you do need to calibrate your eyeball every so often too!

DME, Just guessing but is that similar to the one used in aircraft? Accuracy within a couple tenths of a foot anit too bad. Does it have the ability to plot corners or do you use it in conjuction with a gps to see boundrys?

The theory's the same, the application is different. Transmitter, receiver, and math (distance rate and time). The range is much more limited and it isn't used for any kind of surveying. In statistical sampling, you need to know if trees fall in or out of a sample plot, and that's what the DME tells you.

The sonic ones are kinda like sonar (distance to the target) and the laser ones are laser rangefinders.

Tech. is cool, especialy when it helps everday life. 8)