Question about Rocket Locator App.

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DHays

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Hello,

I am new on the forum and please direct me to the right place to answer my question if I have over looked it.

I have the Missile Works T3 GPS locator and I have down loaded the Rocket Locator App on my Android phone. I have used it several times on the ground before even putting it in my rocket just to get the hang of everything. I used it at MWP15 twice and it works great. Sometimes I will just turn on the app without the T3 being on just to see the aerial view of where I am at. Then within a day or two, I have a minimum of 100 pictures on my phone in the Gallery that I was not aware of. It looks like it just took numerous aerial pictures without me being aware of it. I know that it is something that I am doing wrong, I just don't know what it is. Has this ever happened to any one else or do you know what I am doing wrong?

Thank you!
 
It is saving some of the map tiles probably for a baseline. With GPSRL one can purposely download map tiles in advance at various zoom levels they desire to
be independent of the internet. If one does have an internet link onsite, it still behooves one to download the tiles in advance and then count on the
onsite internet link to be able to "get" any missing tiles that are needed.

If your Android device allows you to move the tiles to an Sdcard for storage that is preferable to occupying the on phone storage that might best be served
by executables. One's mileage may vary with that though. Thing I hate about Android is one might not be able to optimize it to their liking without having
root access and even then they still might not be able to get it to do what they want. Kurt
 
Thank you so much for the reply. Then I probably can't disable this function? I just have to go into my phone and delete the tiles that I do not need?

I just have one more question. Now when I turn on the Rocket Locator, It seems to be working and I am getting the pings, but I a have a white background instead of the google earth aerial pictures. I do see my blue dot location surrounded by a lighter blue circle, but no aerial tiles. I went into map provider and clicked on "open street map, and that is working fine. So I clicked on Google, thinking that it will show me google earth, but it doesn't. Do I need to uninstall Rocket Locator and re-install it to make it work properly?

Thanks
 
The files are stored in a directory called mapCache. There are 2 sub directories one called google and the other one called osm. Delete them and it will free up the memory. Kurt
 
Steering this thread in a different direction,
My Rocket Locator App only shows a map view when using Open Street Map and a blank background when using Google Maps. I don't see a way to change to a satellite view.

I'm using Android 7.0 and Rocket Locator v 1.3.3 on a Samsung S7
 
Steering this thread in a different direction,
My Rocket Locator App only shows a map view when using Open Street Map and a blank background when using Google Maps. I don't see a way to change to a satellite view.

I'm using Android 7.0 and Rocket Locator v 1.3.3 on a Samsung S7
Same here.

Sent from my LGL44VL using Rocketry Forum mobile app
 
Yes. mine is doing that too. When I first installed the Rocket Locator app, about a month ago, it had Google Maps on it. Now it is just a blank white screen, but the location of your rocket still works. I E-mailed Rocket Locator and his reply was, It's broken. Everybody has the same problem......so I'm hoping that it will be working again soon?? It has been a good app.
 
From what I understand, Google Maps is no longer supported in GPSRL. Change to Open Street Map, and you can preload the maps (I don't use it much, so I can't tell you how, though. It WILL download your current location, assuming your launch site has cellular data).
 
That's what I was thinking about doing was just use Open Street Map.

I was looking at Bluetooth GPS but I was unsure if it used Google Earth or not. ( I'm still in a learning curve ) :)

Thanks!
 
That's what I was thinking about doing was just use Open Street Map.

I was looking at Bluetooth GPS but I was unsure if it used Google Earth or not. ( I'm still in a learning curve ) :)

Thanks!

Google doesn't want people to use their Tiles for free. If one jumped on the bandwagon, they could have downloaded the tiles to memory at a variety of Zoom levels of their favorite launch sites and kept them in memory. Those who have done so might want to save the maps to a memory stick for future backup use. Kurt
 
So I wonder if that is going to be the same if I use the Bluetooth GPS App? In the last screen they show the Google aerial view. Do you think that it will go away after a few weeks and I will get a blank white screen like in Rocket Locator Or should I download some of the views of my launch sites to memory? Thanks again for your help.
Don
 
So I wonder if that is going to be the same if I use the Bluetooth GPS App? In the last screen they show the Google aerial view. Do you think that it will go away after a few weeks and I will get a blank white screen like in Rocket Locator Or should I download some of the views of my launch sites to memory? Thanks again for your help.
Don

With this app you have to have an on-site internet link in order to use it. It has to be able to download map tiles on the Fly
Depending on your data plan that could add up real quickly.

In the upper right pull down of GPS rocket locator , one could select to download the screen currently being reviewed. The tiles could be saved to storage and then called up with no internet link. It takes time to get a variety of Zoom levels one night need to track on their home launch site. One can still save the open-source tiles and be able to use those offline if desired.

The other problem with Bluetooth GPS is one can only see where they're rocket has gone, it doesn't help them do live navigation. Kurt
 
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Get both apps. I'll fire up Bluetooth GPS while the rocket is on the pad just to see what satellites the tracker is "seeing". If without an internet link the map doesn't
show up but the data on the satellite constellation is there. I then "stop" and "close" Bluetooth GPS and be careful with closing B/T GPS. If not done correctly the program will run minimized and if you fire up GPS rocket locator, the blue dot becomes the rocket and you'll wonder why the read pushpin is not coming up.

You can tell this as there is an indication in the upper left tool bar of your Android device. Stop B/T GPS and fire up GPS Rocket Locator and go.

Kurt
 
Worst case, view the logs of either Bluetooth GPS or RocketLocator to see the lat/lon coordinates and type them into another navigation device/app. I carry my trusty Garmin Etrex for just such an occasion.
 
That's great advice, thank you for that.

I have been experimenting with the Bluetooth GPS on my other Android phone. ( I have two Androids. Rocket Locator on one and Bluetooth GPS on the other to see which one I like the best.) When ground testing the Blue everything will link up just fine, I see the satellite positions and in the map section I see the "yellow man" on the map as the transmitter location. I will leave my phone and base unit at point A and get in my car to drive the transmitter to point B about 600 yards away or so, leave the transmitter there, and drive back to look at my phone. When I look at my phone, the transmitter location has not moved and when I check my compass window, all of the satellite location dots are gone. Then I will grab my phone, (and base unit), put it in the car with me and slowly drive towards my transmitter. Only then, once I get within I would say a 100 yards or less, I will get a reading again. My Rocket Locator app on my other phone will not do that. It seems like it has a longer range? So I know that I do not want to launch a rocket on Blue afraid that it will loose connection and I will not find it. I could probably find it with my eyes before the GPS would lock onto it and give me a position??

One thing that I do like about Blue is that it gives me Log/Lat positions.

Sorry for rambling on but I'm sure that it is something that I am not doing right, or just not understanding. :)

I have often wondered about the RF trackers, (plus getting a Technicians License) but figured that the GPS trackers would be easier to learn on? But I guess once the transmitter is on the ground, the ground absorbs most of the signals that the transmitter is putting out anyway?

Thanks!
Don
 
Thank you Buckeye.

Silly question, but where do I find the lat/Lon coordinates in Rocket Locator? I was hopping that this app would have that.

Once I have the coordinates could I punch those in on Google Earth also?

Thanks!
Don
 
Thank you Buckeye.

Silly question, but where do I find the lat/Lon coordinates in Rocket Locator? I was hopping that this app would have that.

Once I have the coordinates could I punch those in on Google Earth also?

Thanks!
Don

Upper right corner menu (3 dots) > logs screen. Yes, you can type the coordinates into Earth or any other navigation tool.

The log files are also saved (if enabled in setting) to the folder "rocket" in your storage.

The recorded path, however, is saved to the root directory, not in "rocket" directory. Kinda annoying. The path gets overwritten each time, so there is only one occurrence of that file.
 
When doing a range test, try and do the test out in an open field. Buildings and obstructions will really ding the range with 100 mw, 900 megahertz trackers. One quarter mile or more can be had with the tracker lying on the ground in a level field. Up in the air, the range is much farther. To extend the range a little bit further, use vertical dipole antennas meant for the 900 megahertz range. The issue here is that a tuned antenna might be a little bit longer than one has space for. If one has the room for the longer antenna on a Tracker, certainly go for it.

For a sport flyer who simply wants to have an edge on recovery when there is tall grass around, the wire antennas do well. One simply has to be certain that the wire antenna doesn't get squished or smashed inside the rocket. If the antenna gets distorted Lord knows how far it will be able to propagate.

On the receiving end, circularly polarized antennas can be had from the Drone suppliers. These helical antennas have a tendency to be wide so they would be space limited on the transmitting side. A patch antenna cut for the band and up on a post would give one the best antenna for in flight tracking for very long range stuff. Avoid 900 megahertz yagi antennas for in flight tracking. The Beam width might be too narrow to be effective for tracking a moving rocket in flight.
Once down and more less stationary, a yagi can extend the ground footprint of the tracker. I found this out for myself with a real-world recovery. I used a Yagi antenna for a ground recovery and as soon as I started receiving a signal on the eggfinder LCD, I switched back to the small vertical dipole. The signal disappeared when I switched to the vertical dipole. Went back to the Yagi antenna and the signal returned. The rocket landed 1.66 miles away from the starting point . Kurt
 
On Rocket Locator, is there a way to change the coordinates from decimal degrees to degrees, minutes, seconds? I have my setting on Imperial. Or if not, what set of numbers of the decimal degrees to you enter?

Plus is there a way to pause to constant GPS number feed out that Rocket Locator provides so I can write the coordinates down?

Thanks again!
Don
 
On Rocket Locator, is there a way to change the coordinates from decimal degrees to degrees, minutes, seconds? I have my setting on Imperial. Or if not, what set of numbers of the decimal degrees to you enter?

Plus is there a way to pause to constant GPS number feed out that Rocket Locator provides so I can write the coordinates down?

Thanks again!
Don

Nah, you want to use degrees and decimal minutes on your receiver. That is more common in the devices/apps I have seen. Change your Options in Google Earth, instead.

Take a screen capture, maybe? Really, only the last digit or two may be fluctuating, so the numbers scrolling by are not very different from each other.
 
Ummmm........... Wait, can't you just read the lat/long off the EggFinder LCD screen? Oooooops. Stupidhead here now sees that Don is using the MW T3. I got one of those too. Ahhhh, now I see why folks are asking Mr. Amos to try and get his
LCD receiver for the RTx/GPS system to read the data coming in from the T3. Kurt
 
Ummmm........... Wait, can't you just read the lat/long off the EggFinder LCD screen? Oooooops. Stupidhead here now sees that Don is using the MW T3. I got one of those too. Ahhhh, now I see why folks are asking Mr. Amos to try and get his
LCD receiver for the RTx/GPS system to read the data coming in from the T3. Kurt

You can probably mount a MW T3 receiver in the Eggfinder GPS case and connect the input to the LCD's board (leaving out the Hope RF radio module in the Eggfinder LCD). Obviously I haven't tried it, but since it's just an NMEA stream the Eggfinder should be able to decode it. If you're interested send an email to [email protected].
 
That would be interesting. There's a whole lotta room in a stock EggFinder LCD case. So Cris, you think it would be possible for the EF LCD receiver to be dual purpose? The T3 uses a Ublox GPS chipset and I have noticed with my hacked EggFinder trackers using
the Ublox engine the lat/long is fine but the report of the number of GPS satellites is a bit screwy as is the GPS altitude.

The hacked EggFinders were "broke" when the GPS antennas snapped off from ground based accidental dropping. (Before laying an epoxy bead) Kurt
 
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