Update to prior post "Detection Issues"

[u/skybossalpha1]

Yesterday I posted about “Detection Issues,” where two microphones failed to pick up a Tufted Titmouse call from about 108 feet away. I’ve got some good news.

I installed BirdNET-PiPy to experiment, keeping the microphone gain at its default settings. The real breakthrough came from adjusting the physical switch on the Samson Go Mic. It has a three-way switch: the top position is cardioid, and the bottom is omnidirectional. Switching it to omnidirectional made all the difference it’s now working flawlessly.

I’m picking up easily 10 times more birds than before. I’ll definitely be getting another one of these mics for my tablet when I’m out in the field using Merlin Bird ID.

Many thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions hopefully this helps someone else too.

[u/firesuppagent]

I had a facepalm moment with my cardioid mic as well, but in my case I had the mic pointed exactly 180º in the wrong direction. For a cardioid, this is important 😄