DARS Launches - Dallas Area Rocket Society

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It is 11:15 on a Saturday on what is to be the coldest night in at least a year, and I have two fine gentlemen from Milestone Heating and Air in my attic because my furnace decided to take TONIGHT as it's first sick day in 8 years. It sounds like they are making progress, but at $199 just to show up (and I ain't complaining about what they are charging given the circumstances) the furnace is definitely going on the naughty list.

Sorry, not rocketry related, but I really needed to vent.

Edit: heat has been restored with no further fee for the moment, but apparently my blower motor is on the way out...yeah! I need to go to bed before something else breaks.
 
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It is 11:15 on a Saturday on what is to be the coldest night in at least a year, and I have two fine gentlemen from Milestone Heating and Air in my attic because my furnace decided to take TONIGHT as it's first sick day in 8 years. It sounds like they are making progress, but at $199 just to show up (and I ain't complaining about what they are charging given the circumstances) the furnace is definitely going on the naughty list.

Sorry, not rocketry related, but I really needed to vent.

Edit: heat has been restored with no further fee for the moment, but apparently my blower motor is on the way out...yeah! I need to go to bed before something else breaks.

I've had to replace capacitors on fan coil and condenser motors over the years. On the fan motor, I grabbed a ruler and stuck it in the squirrel cage and gave it a spin and sure enough it worked, it just couldn't get going because of the capacitor. When the condenser fan motor went out, I grabbed my shop fan and ran an extension cord around the house and used it for heat rejection just to get us by for a day. Of course this always happens when it's no less than 100 degrees outside :facepalm:.
 
It is 11:15 on a Saturday on what is to be the coldest night in at least a year, and I have two fine gentlemen from Milestone Heating and Air in my attic because my furnace decided to take TONIGHT as it's first sick day in 8 years........

I hate it when that happens!

I ended up not working at work, but working on my van (2006 Honda Odyssey, 200634 miles) Saturday before it got cold. It was throwing some minor emissions related check engine codes for the last few months. Last year I got one of those nifty ODBII code readers that plug into the car and connect to your phone and a diagnostic ap lets you view the codes, turn them off for retesting and evaluate lots of data. The little ODBII modules go for under 15 bucks on EBay and Amazon. Highly recommended.

Got those pesky codes all turned off yesterday with some adjustments and a couple of new parts for thousands less that the dealer wanted. Did the drive cycle needed to prove to the ECU that all is working correctly and today, the scanner shows ready for inspection with no codes!

Color me extra happy today.

Saved some money to spend with Robert and some of the rocket kit dealers...and RC airplane kit dealers...:)
 
Here are some more pictures of the Gunther post-Turkey Day launch last month.

The Art Applewhite Crossfire copter:

image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
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Merry Christmas everyone! Thoroughly enjoying the array of toys that Santa brought for my son and daughter; although I heavily question the decision to introduce a drum set to the household :rolleyes:....
 
Merry Christmas everyone! Thoroughly enjoying the array of toys that Santa brought for my son and daughter; although I heavily question the decision to introduce a drum set to the household :rolleyes:....

If you ever want a solution to the noise...

Give 'em private lessons and soon that drum set will sound no more.
 
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The DARS website is showing a possible launch at Gunter on Friday, Dec 30, noon until dusk, weather permitting.

I have most of those week off and might be able to make it. Wind forecast is 10-20, though.
 
The DARS website is showing a possible launch at Gunter on Friday, Dec 30, noon until dusk, weather permitting.

I have most of those week off and might be able to make it. Wind forecast is 10-20, though.

Yep, TARC practice. Suzy said y'all are welcome. :) Class 2 6k AGL waiver.
 
Yep, TARC practice. Suzy said y'all are welcome. :) Class 2 6k AGL waiver.

Interesting. You must have figured out a field layout for the current Gunter space to accomodate a class 2 waiver, after all.

Very cool. Even more likely to be there...:)
 
Yep, TARC practice. Suzy said y'all are welcome. :) Class 2 6k AGL waiver.

Is this really true??? That means Class 2 = H & I right?

The kids and I have the entire week off, so should be able the get a few flights ready. Hope the weather holds.

Jack
 
Is this really true??? That means Class 2 = H & I right?

The kids and I have the entire week off, so should be able the get a few flights ready. Hope the weather holds.

Jack

Besides the altitude limit wind speed and direction are limiting factors. We don't have permission to recover north of Stiff Chapel or south of the fence so we really really really need to make sure we fly the field. I don't think anyone has tried an "I" there yet. Also if parts of the field are too wet, range location may not be favorable for big motors. Game time decisions, be prepared.
 
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Anybody go to the launch today? We went camping Wednesday night, so the turnaround was too quick for me to make it today...had to clean up all the stuff that just got dumped in the garage yesterday when we got back.
 
I couldn't make it either. I was having way too much fun with this.....

[video=youtube;my-bZWSFtc4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my-bZWSFtc4[/video]

Yuk!
 
I made it with my two boys. First time at this part of the Gunther fields. Winds were a bit brisk and cool, so launch site was at the top of a hill near the southern fence line. Local flora was plentiful devils claw seed pods that attached to everything and had the interest of the kids.

TARC teams got a few flights in and appeared to be busy with data collection.

We had a visiting flyer from Detroit with several nice H - I flights. Al had several great "spare parts" rockets with nice flights.

My crew started with a few crayons, and where prepping a kit bashed Super Neon "Spider Fin" and Estes SLV when there was a medical emergency with one of the flyer's.... not launch related. Launch cut short by the medical issue. Sam B and Jack S will have to fill in the rest.

Fun day with a somber end.

Jack
 
Happy New Year Everyone!

I have another order going into AeroTech next week so if you're in need of anything I don't currently stock then now would be a good time to piggyback on the order. We can meet locally or at the DARS meetings. Let me know what you're looking for and I'll take care of the rest. Thanks.
 
Not sure if I'll make it, but who all is going to tomorrow's meeting?
 
I plan on being there. Still trying to sell off duplicate or surplus kits so that I can spend the money at buyrocketmotors.com. Guess you can call it a Fire Sale.
Buy kits, build them, and fire them.

Chas
 
I was hoping to make it, but looks like family plans are in the way. Take some notes and share the key points please.

Sorry, didn't take notes but key points that I remember (possibly inaccurate) are listed.


Officer Elections: Same people with the same jobs, though I don't think Jack is President again (yet), he mentioned the earlier bit but after nobody offered for president, he said they would hold elections for that during following meetings.

Need editor(s) for shroudlines.

Jack would like, if you have one or know where one is located, a picture of Al Y smiling.

DARS site was uploaded to the cloud, unfortunately, the code for some of the file names us now read incorrectly. (or something like that) The important part is that if you can't open a file on the site, email Jack, and if you had the credentials to edit the site before, also contact him because they don't apply anymore.

Contest on February 18th, 25th is the backup, launch site TBD (either that or I forgot)
John was talking about it. There's going to be an "A PD, D Superroc, E... Wait, let me rephrase that... No, no E events. A Parachute duration, as in... SQUIRREL!"
Ok, someone else will have to fill you in on the contest.
Edit: Listed in the new calendar as a Gunter launch.

No contact yet with the owner of the Prarie Hill Site.

There was also an update on the aftermath of Gunter's launch. There will be a section in shroudlines about it.


I think that covers most of the meeting.
 
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We are going to fly High Power at Prairie Hill, on Sat. January 28th
K motor Class-2 to 5K AGL (maybe higher depending on conditions)
Set-up at 10am, launch till 3pm
$20 HP flyer fee
 
We are going to fly High Power at Prairie Hill, on Sat. January 28th
K motor Class-2 to 5K AGL (maybe higher depending on conditions)
Set-up at 10am, launch till 3pm
$20 HP flyer fee


Great finally get another chance to look for my rocket should be a lot easier to find with all the grass dead.
 
Just got back from walking the field and it is already drying nicely. The forecast for Saturday is 10+ mph winds and chance of rain starting around 3ish. Bring your favorite flyers, A through G power. A decision on high power flights will be made "on game day" so you may bring 'um if ya got 'um but realize that the actual winds and range location may dictate a no go.
 
How did the Gunter launch go today? Turned out to be a nice day....until my son started feeling bad and the doctors confirmed it's the flu :(.
 
I went to the Gunter launch today and had fun. I had the black D rocket (which I figure is a Stormcaster) and the Pro Series Majestic. A little windy
at times. My first launch of the Stormcaster ended up in the next county. This was my first organized launch to ever attend, and can't wait to do it
again. Does anyone know if the level 2 certification flight was a success?
 
I went to the Gunter launch today and had fun. I had the black D rocket (which I figure is a Stormcaster) and the Pro Series Majestic. A little windy
at times. My first launch of the Stormcaster ended up in the next county. This was my first organized launch to ever attend, and can't wait to do it
again. Does anyone know if the level 2 certification flight was a success?

I think I got a pic of a Majestic, could be yours. Photo album for today's launch: https://flic.kr/s/aHskT65Eet

Also, yes the L2 was a success. I got a few pics of that in there too. Hope you'll make it back to another launch.
 
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