Trackers

Hi,

I am interested in doing some high altitude flights, but I need a tracker... I don't want to spend anymore than $150 on it (preferrable less than $100). Is there anyway I can make one myself? Or is there a setup that can do it for that much money?
I think radio broadcasters are pretty cheap (but I would need a powerful one). But what about the antenna?

ghost said:

Hi,

I am interested in doing some high altitude flights, but I need a tracker... I don't want to spend anymore than $150 on it (preferrable less than $100). Is there anyway I can make one myself? Or is there a setup that can do it for that much money?
I think radio broadcasters are pretty cheap (but I would need a powerful one). But what about the antenna?

Click to expand...

BigRedBee is the only way to go, hands down. FM Radio broadcasters are cheap but don't work worth a dang, and it's illegal to use a powerful one, and harder to find one that is powerful at low cost since they are illegal.

https://www.BigRedBee.com

If you don't want to buy a $59 antenna from arrow antenna, you will need to make your own, but plans are easy to find and the costs of materials if you wish to build are low cost.

You can get your Ham License in two weeks studing the practice tests here:

https://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl

Yes these are the real live questions and answers, just take this TECH test three times a day for 3 days a week for two weeks and you are all set. You see as you miss questions, they will tell you why the answer is the answer.

then go to https://www.arrl.org and chose exams in the top left corner. Pick your zip code and take a test for $14. Good for ten years and you have ham radio fun for the rest of your life.

I got mine when I was young and have had lots of fun for decades with my ham radios.

So the Transmitter package deal sounds good, which antenna do I get from Arrow (or even better, how do I make my own)?
And lastly, will any radio work with this? Or do I need a special HAM radio?
Thanks

ghost said:

So the Transmitter package deal sounds good, which antenna do I get from Arrow (or even better, how do I make my own)?
And lastly, will any radio work with this? Or do I need a special HAM radio?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Any Scanner that can pick up the Ham 440 band will work. A ham radio will work even better for extreme range since it will be tuned for that frequency directly rather then being broadbanded like a scanner.

But I don't think you are tracking a 25,000 foot rocket at black rock yet, so I would venture a guess yours or a friend's radio scanner would work fine.

here is the link to the Arrow Antenna:
https://www.arrowantennas.com/440-7ii.html

here is a link to build your own:
https://www.tfs.net/~petek/rockets/RDF/70ant.html

But I will tell you, the antenna is critical, so I always buy an arrow, I got a few for other needs besides rockets.

Well I tried the practice test and here is the damage:

Test Complete
The elapsed time was: 17 minutes and 51 seconds.
You have passed the test with a score of 77.1 percent. You should keep studying before you take an official exam.

Click to expand...

Pretty good for the first try
Any idea what the passing score is?

Also, I don't have a radio tracker.... any links to cheap ones?

Thanks again

passing is 26/35

ghost said:

Well I tried the practice test and here is the damage:


Pretty good for the first try
Any idea what the passing score is?

Also, I don't have a radio tracker.... any links to cheap ones?

Thanks again

Click to expand...

You passed, it's 75% irate:

I told you the BigRedBee.com is the radio tracker to use;

or do you mean a scanner/receiver to use with it????

Sorry... I meant scanner/receiver. will any old radio work <a smiley of me crossing my fingers goes here...>

Also, before I make a $200 investment, are there any cheaper (like <$50 FM transmitters i could try?... including the receiver)?

Thanks!

Hi Ghost,

I'll add a few things to what Art has said.

1) I use home made antennas, and they work just fine for me. I'm sure that there are better antennas, but without a means to tune and measure their performance, it's hard to say which one will actually perform better.

2) When it comes to receivers for the 70cm band, you can get a bearcat scanner off of ebay for $50 or so. But, a DJ-S40 transceiver (new) will let you send and receive for less than $100.

-- Greg

I've tried various antennas and have been happiest with the 5 element Arrow Yagi: https://www.arrowantennas.com/440-5ii.html
It's a little smaller than the 7 element (see Art's link above) and the directionality and gain are fine for my needs. Avoid the Arrow 3 element Yagi, it's not directional enough.
I also built one according to the Pete K plans (see link in Art's posting). It works very well, but isn't as rugged as the Arrow and it isn't collapsible.

Good luck! Haven't lost one yet with a BeeLine and I fly in pretty dicey recovery conditions here in the North East.

Jim

This discussion is on track here as the BigRedBee is the right choice, but one comment on the antenna selection: go with the 7-element but spend the extra $6 and get the two-piece boom. Then you get the best of both worlds, better reception, compact storage.

Whoops... saw the subject line of this thread and thought I was being paged.

I just got one from BigRedBee recently (I still have my ham certification from 10 years ago), and it works great. It has really opened up the possibilities for out-of-sight flights. Today I sent up a tiny rocket to over 4000 feet on an E15-7, and the shock cord broke. The nosecone, the BigRedBee, and my altimeter were all by themselves in the weeds, but I was able to find them because of the tracker. Now if we can just get a BigRedBee that fits in an 18mm tube! I think a belt sander and some tube ovalization might do it, but I haven't gotten a chance to try that yet.