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JimZNJ

JimZNJ

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As a testament to the quality of the Jolly Logic Chute Release, mine was found and returned to me after spending months lost in a farm field. When I got it back I opened it up, cleaned what little gunk I could see inside it, and then charged it. By all indications it was alive!

Fast forward to today, I decided to see if it really was completely functional. First I had it ride along on a flight, not holding the chute, just to see if it would indeed release on the way back down. I was excited to see it did! I then decided to use it in its intended role on a maiden flight of my latest Estes Pro Series II Nike Smoke build. It indeed released the chute at about 300 feet, as set, on the way down. However, the one big tree in the park decided to snag it about 50 feet off the ground. So my miraculously found and functional Chute Release is now again lost! Tried and tried to get it down, but it was just too high. Oh well! That's rocketry for you!

Jim Z
 
I have a JLCR, nosecone, and chute hanging in a tree in S Kansas for maybe two years now? That kevlar isn't letting go anytime soon.
 
I could have both of those rockets out of the tree in about 1/2 hour and never climb or shoot the tree.
I use the items below
wrist rocket sling shot
1 oz "barrel" fishing weight
100 pound test fishing line
1000 foot spool of orange colored parachute cord
and a old sheet or peace of plastic.

you put the sheet or plastic on the ground to prevent snagging grass or twigs
attach fishing weight to fishing line and use wrist rocket sling shot to shoot fishing
line up over shock cord or over parachute .
get the weight to pull the fishing line down to the ground and attach parachute cord to fishing line .
pull parachute cord pack up and over rocket and back down to the ground . Grasp both ends of the parachute cors and pull rocket down :)

DO NOT try this method with a rocket on power line !!!!!

I used this method to recover several rockets from Whitakers NC launch field

a BT 20 diameter rocket was recovered this way from a 100 foot high pine tree !

Bobby aka "birddog"
 
Takes a surprising number of shells if the branches are green and springy
 
bobby_hamill said:
I could have both of those rockets out of the tree in about 1/2 hour and never climb or shoot the tree.
I use the items below
wrist rocket sling shot
1 oz "barrel" fishing weight
100 pound test fishing line
1000 foot spool of orange colored parachute cord
and a old sheet or peace of plastic.

you put the sheet or plastic on the ground to prevent snagging grass or twigs
attach fishing weight to fishing line and use wrist rocket sling shot to shoot fishing
line up over shock cord or over parachute .
get the weight to pull the fishing line down to the ground and attach parachute cord to fishing line .
pull parachute cord pack up and over rocket and back down to the ground . Grasp both ends of the parachute cors and pull rocket down :)

DO NOT try this method with a rocket on power line !!!!!

I used this method to recover several rockets from Whitakers NC launch field

a BT 20 diameter rocket was recovered this way from a 100 foot high pine tree !

Bobby aka "birddog"
Click to expand...
OK, I admit, I recovered at least two rockets from power lines after some "scary" power to ground testing with my body and a wet shock cord test (dont try this at home).

From the Ether...
 
dixontj93060 said:
OK, I admit, I recovered at least two rockets from power lines after some "scary" power to ground testing with my body and a wet shock cord test (dont try this at home).

From the Ether...
Click to expand...

OMG, don't ever risk that. Call the power company, have them come and get the thing down. Thirsty had a great story about how even in crazy California, the power company came out and got the rocket down, and nobody was charged any money or sent to jail, which was what I would have expected in the PRC (People's Republic of California).
 
The_Lone_Beagle said:
OMG, don't ever risk that. Call the power company, have them come and get the thing down. Thirsty had a great story about how even in crazy California, the power company came out and got the rocket down, and nobody was charged any money or sent to jail, which was what I would have expected in the PRC (People's Republic of California).
Click to expand...

This is absolutely correct. Carbon residue on a shock cord makes it into an imperfect conductor and it could easily carry enough current to maim or kill you. 100 milliamperes is enough to stop your heart but that’s not always how it works. If it doesn’t stop your heart immediately and if the voltage is high enough your bodies lymphatic and circulatory systems serve as heating elements cooking your tissues from inside, which means you feel fine that day but then as your tissue dies you get worse and worse. I’ve know two linemen who survived electrocution (one lost an arm and the other ended up with a desk job) and I’ve known of two others who died on the scene. The toll on all them, their families, and their friends was terrible.


Steve Shannon
 
dixontj93060 said:
OK, I admit, I recovered at least two rockets from power lines after some "scary" power to ground testing with my body and a wet shock cord test (dont try this at home).

From the Ether...
Click to expand...

When a highly respected rocketeer such as you posts something like this it just encourages similar acts. You’re an example to many. Please don’t be a bad example.


Steve Shannon
 
Of course it's the AC that is killing at such low ma. That's why Tom Edison purported his 3 line DC distribution. Unfortunately physics didn't allow for long range,
efficient transmission of DC over long distances and George Westinghouse with AC won out. Kurt
 
ksaves2 said:
Of course it's the AC that is killing at such low ma. That's why Tom Edison purported his 3 line DC distribution. Unfortunately physics didn't allow for long range,
efficient transmission of DC over long distances and George Westinghouse with AC won out. Kurt
Click to expand...

Actually because reactive losses are nearly nonexistent, DC is better for long range transmission. The problem was the cost of the equipment needed to convert voltages. A transformer is all that’s needed for AC and transformers are relatively simple. DC voltage conversion is much trickier, but those challenges are being met. Switching DC is a lot trickier also, but technology continues to advance. We will be seeing more and more high voltage DC lines.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current



Steve Shannon
 
Last edited:
Steve Shannon said:
Actually because reactive losses are nearly nonexistent, DC is better for long range transmission. The problem was the cost of the equipment needed to convert voltages. A transformer is all that’s needed for AC and transformers are relatively simple. DC voltage conversion is much trickier, but those challenges are being met. Switching DC is a lot trickier also, but technology continues to advance. We will be seeing more and more high voltage DC lines.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-voltage_direct_current

Steve Shannon
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I remember reading recently about using DC current to transport electricity over long distances...I can't remember where, but that wikipedia link you sent referenced this article, which explained a lot:
https://www.economist.com/news/scie...thousands-kilometres-requires-new-electricity

(my dad was an electrical engineer, and I lived in NJ close to Edison, so I remember him telling me way back about the "smack-down" between AC and DC back in the 1800's...)
 
didn't we recently lose someone trying to recover a rocket from powerlines? never attempt to recover from powerlines. its not worth it
 
qquake2k said:
Blow the limb off the tree with a shotgun.
Click to expand...

I think this is a joke, but I do not think this would be a good idea, especially since he mentioned it was lost in a park. I do not think the city police would be very happy about you discharging a shotgun in a public park, let alone to blow the limb off of a tree that belongs to the city.
 
Mendal said:
I think this is a joke, but I do not think this would be a good idea, especially since he mentioned it was lost in a park. I do not think the city police would be very happy about you discharging a shotgun in a public park, let alone to blow the limb off of a tree that belongs to the city.
Click to expand...

It was a joke.
 
Mendal said:
I think this is a joke, but I do not think this would be a good idea, especially since he mentioned it was lost in a park. I do not think the city police would be very happy about you discharging a shotgun in a public park, let alone to blow the limb off of a tree that belongs to the city.
Click to expand...

Up at GRITS last month that’s exactly how a flyer got his rocket down. Local farmer volunteered his shotgun. They blasted away at shock cord & down it came. Rocket intact less one nylon shock cord. Not sure if it would’ve worked if it was Kevlar.
 
I work for a power company and have personally called in rockets in the lines. Tell them how the parachute is catching the winds, moving the wire around, ready to cause an outage and they will respond. The crew will likely have a good laugh, but will get the rocket down.
 

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