LUNAR is ON for Dec 2, 2017

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I don't know, I didn't see any of yours, either.

Mine were all picture perfect thankfully. Successful tests of my 3D printed motor retainers, rail buttons and a new X-style parachute. (It was a lot slower coming down than I thought given that it was a 32" replacing a 28" octagonal...)

See you at SARG on the 16th!!
 
Reconsidered... But we may have to get back to it. :(
 
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I have to ask...

Last Saturday... Did anyone see any of the students "hanging out" near the petroglyphs? (The rock outcropping just behind where we set up the away cell.) If you were flying a drone with a cam on it, and got any footage of the area near the petroglyphs, I'd like to see your raw footage.

There was an incident involving the petroglyphs. I'll spare the details, but it ain't good.

Another incident like this, and we could very well lose Snow Ranch as a launch site. The landowners are pissed off. So am I. If I find the individual... They will never leave Snow Ranch. I'll bury the body out there.
 
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That's a bunch of crap that people would not respect someone else's property. I met a guy who said he wanted to pull his drone out. He took my info, I'll see if he contacts me. Sorry I am horrible with names.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
 
The adult sponsors should be speaking up! they are the responsible parties. Snow ranch is priceless in so many ways, we can't let the few ruin it.
 
We had several photogs out there (Gordon just uploaded his photos to the LUNAR webpage). I didn't know there were glyphs out there. But if you let us know the location, I can have him go look through all his photos and see if he happened to catch anything.
 
:facepalm:

Really? You know, one of the reasons I came back to this hobby was to get away from the knuckle dragging mentality of my previous hobby. I tell people all of the time that Snow Ranch is a MUST visit launch site. I've actually thought of asking if I could just come to explore the place some time. We've already lost Moffett. If we lose Snow Ranch it's going to be a huge blow to the club.
 
We had several photogs out there (Gordon just uploaded his photos to the LUNAR webpage). I didn't know there were glyphs out there. But if you let us know the location, I can have him go look through all his photos and see if he happened to catch anything.

There is a rock outcropping just behind where we set up the away pad. There weren't any big flights Saturday, but Mike P flew his Arduino controlled finless rocket out there.

That rock outcropping contains a petroglyph. Millennia old. Studied, but to my knowledge, not understood. It must be protected.

It's going to be protected. If I have to sit out there with a 12 gauge loaded with rock salt.

Why don't people understand "Take only photos, leave only footprints?" It's not rocket science.
 
OK, so it's the not the rock outcropping behind the mid and high power pads, it's the one "out in the field". I do recall a few folks heading out that way when that launch happened, I wonder if there were a few others that lingered.
 
I was out recovering my rocket about 50 yards away when the finless launched. Might have been a dozen people out that way. But there was a drone in the air.

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James, if you’re going to mention an incident, then you ought to explain it for those of us who weren’t there. I really hate being left in the dark. Start talking . . .
 
Possible last flight of Super DX3 "To the Moon."
IMG_0988.jpg

Was able to get a long delay from Mike @ BAR but had to rely on just motor ejection and the Chute Release due to a last minute altimeter installation snafu.

Went up to great effect on a J575 Fast Jack. Lost it in the haze but then picked it up close to the ground way to the north, booster and payload bay separated but no chute. Finally found it and noticed paint chipped off around the base of one fin and a big crack in the payload tube at the nosecone shoulder. Chute was still wrapped up with a CR rubber band holding it together.

Regardless, great day at Snow Ranch with the most cars I've ever seen. Might have set an attendance record.
 
My friend Olga counted 110 cars. The highest she ever counted was 125.
 
That second sentence has me rolling on the floor, laughing. I’m sure she can count further, regardless of how many cars are there.
 
OK... I guess I'll spill the beans.

On the 2nd, some idjit decided that the 10000 year old petroglyph was incomplete without his/her initials, so they did some touch-up. Carved their initials into the rock. I know the scientists at UOP that have been studying that rock will be impressed.

We have made an effort to remove said initials. This further damages the rock. It's not good.

The petroglyph will now be off limits. It will be monitored. There will be a mandatory flyers meeting at the beginning of every launch, and folks will be informed. Pretty simple... Stay away from the ancient rock carvings. Take only photos, leave only footprints.

It's not rocket science. We use the ranch. We need to leave it in better shape than when we arrived.

Sans initials.
 
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OK... I guess I'll spill the beans.

On the 2nd, some idjit decided that the 10000 year old petroglyph was incomplete without his/her initials, so they did some touch-up. Carved their initials into the rock. I know the scientists at UOP that have been studying that rock will be impressed.

We have made an effort to remove said initials. This further damages the rock. It's not good.

The petroglyph will now be off limits. It will be monitored. There will be a mandatory flyers meeting at the beginning of every launch, and folks will be informed. Pretty simple... Stay away from the ancient rock carvings. Take only photos, leave only footprints.

It's not rocket science. We use the ranch. We need to leave it in better shape than when we arrived.

Sans initials.

That is SO sad. Maybe the initials will match up with the artist...
 
I realize this is an old thread, but I live in the Bay Area and am interested in checking out one of the LUNAR events (whenever this bug has run its course anyway). I have a few questions about these launches... Can I just show up as a spectator to check it out or do you need to be a member? Are there any low power rockets being launched for the little ones or is it all big kid toys? How many launches can one person get on an average day?
 
I realize this is an old thread, but I live in the Bay Area and am interested in checking out one of the LUNAR events (whenever this bug has run its course anyway). I have a few questions about these launches... Can I just show up as a spectator to check it out or do you need to be a member? Are there any low power rockets being launched for the little ones or is it all big kid toys? How many launches can one person get on an average day?

The following are pre covid answers...
Spectators are always welcome
you can just show up
There is a big mix of rocket sizes from small Estes rockets with A motors to L and some times M motors
How many can a person do...depends on the rocket size and how far to recover them. You could fly 30 Estes B flights or 3-4 high power flights

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=snow+ranch+rockets
Tony
 
I realize this is an old thread, but I live in the Bay Area and am interested in checking out one of the LUNAR events (whenever this bug has run its course anyway). I have a few questions about these launches... Can I just show up as a spectator to check it out or do you need to be a member? Are there any low power rockets being launched for the little ones or is it all big kid toys? How many launches can one person get on an average day?

What Tfish said is correct. Also, here is the LUNAR website. https://www.lunar.org/ It’s a good idea to sign up for the email to stay in the loop.

A lot of us fly with multiple clubs. Here’s another local one you might want to check out when things get back to normal. https://sargrocket.org/index.html That club is smaller and more focused on mid-power and low-power launches for now — their current field cannot allow for high-power flights.

And here’s another that some of us fly at. https://tccrockets.com/v2/ That club is mostly focused on high-power. There are pads for low and mid too, but it’s mostly about high-power flights.
 
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