Does anyone know the current status of Walston Retreival Systems?

Their web site is still up. I've sent email but no response - is he a "you gotta call him on the phone" kind of guy, or is he out of business, or what?

Thanks,

His email does not work. You can call him on the phone. I have had hit and miss service from him the past year. The last time I ordered something from him it arrived in a week which was good. The time before that I had to contact him 3 times before I was shipped my product.
I don't know if he has health issues. He forgets things very easily.

I think Jim Walston makes a good product, but if I recall correctly I think he is getting up there age wise. Not picking on anyone, but that might not bode well for future support as I think he is a one man show. I say this as an owner and user of his product for something like 14-15 years.

I am entertaining something like the BRB, ComSpec, or possibly an Egg Timer GPS.

Alan Whitmore gave permission to repost his comments from the Nc-rockets listserv:

Because of the increasing problems with customer service at Walston Retrieval Systems, there has been a lot of interest in other suppliers of small radio-tracker transmitters that can be used with our current Walston receiver, which is working fine. I have done some research and come up with a few companies and web-sites that you may all be interested in looking at. [Dang! I just ended another sentence with a preposition. The grammar police are definitely coming after me some day.]

www.marshallradio.com Look at the Scout VHF transmitter. You can request any frequency in the 216, 217, 218, and 219 MHz range (remember that our club-owned receiver covers the 216.000 to 216.160 MHz range, so ask for something in there, unless you want to buy your own receiver.). Jim Livingston has one of the Scouts, and it works extremely well.

www.radiotracking.com/xlf.html Look under the tab labeled "aero models". this is the LL Electronics tracker that the flyers from VA and MDRA have been using for years, and it is also excellent quality and works well in rocketry apps. The website does not mention transmitter frequencies, so be sure to be specific if you do business with them. This is a much stronger device than the Walston, because transmitter, batteries, and antenna base coupler are all contained in an aluminum tube.

www.merlin-systems.com click on the "Rocketry" tab. 216.000 to 216.160 transmitters are available upon request. I've never actually seen any of their products in action, but the product looks good.

www.telenax.com/en/ This is a British company that specializes in wildlife tracking equipment of ALL sizes. They don't actually have a dedicated 'Rocketry' section of their website, but that doesn't mean that the product wouldn't work extremely well for our purposes. I was especially fascinated with the implantable trackers that could be placed in bats for tracking their movements. About the size of 2 match heads. You could put one of these in the nose cone of an Estes Mosquito, and not upset the flight characteristics! Cool!

I decided to order another transmitter for my older system. I did talk to him on the phone and he took my order and credit card info. I will reply here when (uhhh, 'if'?) I get it.

Hi all,

Just got back from a short vacation and my new Walston transmitter was waiting for me. I have checked it out and it works great. From the time I phoned in the order to delivery was about two weeks.

So he seems to be open for business just fine? Anyway I've go no complaints :handshake: