Vintage Altimeters...where'd they all go?

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ep29030 said:
Wow....what a trip down memory lane. I have several rockets hanging in my basement, each with a different altimeter.
I have a collection of electronics. Been too long since I've looked at some--forgetting model names!

Transolve Flux Capacitor
Transolve P5
Skyward Altimeter
Adept ALTS 22
Cambridge IA-X96 (also have Chuck's daughter board for it)
Blacksky AltAcc 2A (think it's A)
Olsen FCP-M1
Missile Works RRC3
Missile Works RRC2 mini
Missile Works RRC2 classic
GWiz LC Deluxe 800
Pratt Hobbies ECS-2 (radio event controller)

Amazing how much you collect in 15+ years of the hobby.
Click to expand...

That is a quality collection. The Cambridge was pretty awesome for the period. What is the function of the daughter board?

The Olson's were pretty cool too.

I have two Rrc2 and they just work. I also picked up the rrc2+ , but have not yet had the opportunity to fly it.


Mark Koelsch
Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum
 
I have an ALTS-2A I bought off someone getting out of the hobby a long time ago but I have never flown it.
 
Wow! I feel like an old codger now! I was around when Transolve was building alts in an old flight shack on an FBO. He was a certified avionics guy with the means to test and calibrate his stuff to FAA standards. Adept was starting off on his kitchen table in Colorado. I flew with Scotty before Blacksky was born and bought one of the first timers he made. You have to remember this stuff was kinda expensive back in the day and there wasn't many of us around to share the load. You bought from guys you trusted and many long distance phone calls could be involved before you actually committed to a piece for a project. Alex Boyce (of the short lived Boyce Aerospace) and I got the first staging timers (hand written instructions) from Adept the night before a planned two stage flight (which, thru operator error with other avionics, deployed at M2 and smeared the timer over a boulder face!) but the point is IT WORKED. All these 'antiques' still work as planned and made the companies we see today. Just as you might take out your Model A Ford on a Sunday drive now, you have to remember 'back in the day' the roads (and rockets) were rough, so they had to perform. I still fly my stuff, as bulky and heavy as it is, because they STILL WORK. Yes. I have newer, sexier stuff, but my first gen Adepts and early Missileworks (esp the RRC2's) will fly until I crunch or lose them. There is no truth to the rumour the first altimeter was a rock and a string...it was a reel and fishing line...LOL!
 
I have used an Olsen and Cambridge a couple times. I had a blacksky that I traded away. I wish I had the skill to design my own.
 
Have to find the paperwork, but the daughter board enhanced the ease of use for Cambridge. Gave you a beeper/continuity test, individual connections for each event and battery, on/off switch.....been too long to remember accurately. It was created by a member in Huntsville,AL in 2000, IIRC.
 
Dang you motivated me to do an altimeter inventory. Some older, some newer:

(3) Original ARTS
(2) ARTS 2
GWiz HCX
(4) GWiz MC 1.0
(3) GWiz MC 2.0
Pico AA2
(3) Raven
RDAS Tiny
Missileworks RRC2+


Let's just say I have more altimeters than rockets to put them in :rolleyes:
 
My RRC2 classic still works great! I have an original PET2, kinda older.
 
I still have a functioning Adept ALTS 25 from 1999.
It has 2 flights on it both with my L3 rocket ( including the cert flight).
One downer; it seems to want to deploy +200 ft higher than programmed.

I have decided to upgrade to newer electronics;
SL-100 to take it's place.


JD
 
Anybody with an RDAS Compact (not Tiny) they want to unload PM me. I love those things.
 
I should probably be more specific...I have an affinity for older accelerometer units. GWiz MC's, AltAcc's, ARTS. There has to be a TON of them out there somewhere. I'll also warn that I'm not out to buy them all up, just casually interested in seeing what's out there and who's still flying them.

There's risk involved with buying old units. Calibration concerns being the biggest, not to mention that as time increases the risk of storage damage increases. Moisture and handling trauma are the main concerns.
 
The ARTS had some issues when going between XP and Win 7 64 bit.
Any info you typed describing the flight; turned to Chinese characters under Win 7. I could never figure out why???


JD



S
patelldp said:
I should probably be more specific...I have an affinity for older accelerometer units. GWiz MC's, AltAcc's, ARTS. There has to be a TON of them out there somewhere. I'll also warn that I'm not out to buy them all up, just casually interested in seeing what's out there and who's still flying them.

There's risk involved with buying old units. Calibration concerns being the biggest, not to mention that as time increases the risk of storage damage increases. Moisture and handling trauma are the main concerns.
Click to expand...
 
JDcluster said:
The ARTS had some issues when going between XP and Win 7 64 bit.
Any info you typed describing the flight; turned to Chinese characters under Win 7. I could never figure out why???


JD



S
Click to expand...

One of the reasons my shop computer is an XP tower...
 
patelldp said:
I should probably be more specific...I have an affinity for older accelerometer units. GWiz MC's, AltAcc's, ARTS. There has to be a TON of them out there somewhere. I'll also warn that I'm not out to buy them all up, just casually interested in seeing what's out there and who's still flying them.

There's risk involved with buying old units. Calibration concerns being the biggest, not to mention that as time increases the risk of storage damage increases. Moisture and handling trauma are the main concerns.
Click to expand...

Here are a couple that I have flown in the past:

Adept OBC2 recording altimeter
Cambridge Avionics IA-X95 and IA-X96 recording accelerometers
Black Sky Altacc
RDAS compact

-John
 
I flew an Altacc2a until 8 months ago, when it died in a crash . . . my fault, forgot to attach the thru bulkhead wires to the altimeter.

Still have G-Wiz LC and LCX that I use.
 

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