Low cost reliable rocket tracker that doesn't require a licence?

I'm currently in the process of designing a 54mm minimum diameter rocket. To date I've never flown anything high enough to lose sight of it, but this project will change that. If I'm going to go ahead with this project I'll need a tracker.

Requirements:
-Has to fit into a 54mm filament wound nose cone leaving enough room for a DD altimeter such as the RRC2+ or StratologgerCF.
-No HAM or other licence required.
-Not too expensive (I found this one: https://www.bigredbee.com/brb900.htm but at over $300 US it will cost more then the rest of the rocket combined!)
-Range should extend far enough for flights slightly over 20,000 feet (predicted max altitude for the rocket).

Thanks!

Eggfinder possibly. I haven't used to 20K.

Eggfinder with rubber ducky antenna will go 20k. Only about 120$ for everything you need to start. Of course it comes as a kit and needs to be assembled.

Titan II said:

Eggfinder possibly. I haven't used to 20K.

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conman13 said:

Eggfinder with rubber ducky antenna will go 20k. Only about 120$ for everything you need to start. Of course it comes as a kit and needs to be assembled.

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I've heard of the Eggfinders, though I don't know very much about them. Not sure I'm very keen on assembling them though... I do have a soldering iron, though I've never had occasion to use it as I tend to favour crimp connectors in my av-bays. I'll keep it mind, but I'm hoping for something that doesn't require assembly.

Another option is Com Spec radio transmitter. Check with your club, they may have a receiver to borrow so all you need is a transmitter which can easily be taped to shock cord. The transmitter is about $50.

https://www.com-spec.com/rcplane/index.html

Regarding the BRB900, I have one, and I can testify to its excellence. You can transfer the transmitter from one rocket to another, and it's not something you need to buy twice.

As for the Eggfinder, it is way cheaper, but does require soldering. Ted Chernok says that it is a piece of cake to assemble following the instructions. He also told me that there may be someone on the forums that will assemble it for you for a nominal cost.

Yes I'm the one that assembles the egg timer rocketry products. An eggfinder assembly is $26. So ultimately the total of the entire system would be around 140$. They are certainly easy to use though. Comspec may be the way to go if your club has the recieverbecauee that is pricy.

rocketgeek101 said:

Requirements:
-Has to fit into a 54mm filament wound nose cone leaving enough room for a DD altimeter such as the RRC2+ or StratologgerCF.

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I'll note that if you go with the Eggtimer TRS instead of the Eggfinder, you can address both the tracker *and* the DD altimeter at once, and save the cost of the RRC2+ or SLCF if you don't have them already. It sounds like you were planning on having both in the NC anyhow, if you were planning on an altimeter in a lower avionics bay and the tracker in the nose it might complicate things to combine them (mainly since a centrally-placed av bay usually contains all-thread which is not so good for a tracker antenna). Having the LCD unit to talk to the TRS is nice because you can do some things like ground testing via the RF link, can check battery and continuity visually rather than counting beeps, etc. The TRS is harder to assemble (it uses mostly SMT parts while the Eggfinder is mostly thru-hole), so if you're less comfortable soldering I'd definitely suggest having someone like Connor take care of that for you.

rocketgeek101 said:

I'm currently in the process of designing a 54mm minimum diameter rocket. To date I've never flown anything high enough to lose sight of it, but this project will change that. If I'm going to go ahead with this project I'll need a tracker.

Requirements:
-Has to fit into a 54mm filament wound nose cone leaving enough room for a DD altimeter such as the RRC2+ or StratologgerCF.
-No HAM or other licence required.
-Not too expensive (I found this one: https://www.bigredbee.com/brb900.htm but at over $300 US it will cost more then the rest of the rocket combined!)
-Range should extend far enough for flights slightly over 20,000 feet (predicted max altitude for the rocket).

Thanks!

Click to expand...

my suggestion would be to first go get your ham license. it's easy if you study a little on hamstudy.org. then you can buy the right tracker for you without worrying about weather it requires a license or not. I've been using eggfinders with great success but will also be using a BRB RF tracker in my L2 cert flight if I put that L1030 in it!

RKeller said:

my suggestion would be to first go get your ham license. it's easy if you study a little on hamstudy.org. then you can buy the right tracker for you without worrying about weather it requires a license or not. I've been using eggfinders with great success but will also be using a BRB RF tracker in my L2 cert flight if I put that L1030 in it!

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I've had six out of sight flights, five with small rockets and they would not have been found without a tracker. A real time GPS mapping arrangement gives peace of mind and cues one "where to look" for main deployment but even then, with a small project, might not even see the successful deployment of the main chute. Only sign of a successful flight is when you walk up to it and see that all the events occurred nominally with it lying on the ground. Realtime costs but a manual system (input lat/long into a handheld mapping GPS) is still very workable as long as one inputs the data with the correct units.

Use some sort of Rf tracking if you plan to go out of sight regularly. Folks out west tell me they get away with it out in the wide open spaces but in farmland, to easy to lose a rocket even if you're 20 feet away from it. Kurt

I put one in the trees last weekend, and the BRB900's coordinates took me right to it.