billdz
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2017
- Messages
- 1,377
- Reaction score
- 121
For my tracking, I use a BRB900, which requires no cell service. Locks onto GPS satellites. It comes with a transmitter and receiver, about $310 total. Receiver gives coordinates.
To walk out to the rocket, I use a cheap, old Magellan hiker's GPS. Input the coordinates from the BRB receiver, select your favorite interface, and walk to the rocket. I like the interface that looks like a road. As long as you stay on the "road," you are walking at your rocket. I got the Magellan on eBay for $20.
That $330 will feel like nothing when I launch my Formula 200, which now has about $1700 in it after the cato, on an N to 8300' at Red Glare.
The BRB is similar to the Telemetrum in that both work without cell service. There are a few differences between the BRB and the Telemetrum, for example: 1) Telemetrum is a dual deployment altimeter as well as a GPS transmitter, and 2) Telemetrum requires a ham license. On the receive side, the Telemetrum uses AltBT, a GPS receiver and Bluetooth transmitter, which connects via Bluetooth to a cell phone app that provides audio and visual tracking info. The BRB receiver provides an LED readout of the latitude and longitude, which you then can enter into a phone or free-standing GPS device such as the Magellan. Both systems work well, and if a Magellan is only $20 I may pick one up on eBay to use as a backup, thanks for the tip. Of course, for either system to lead you to the rocket, the phone/Magellan/other device must be able to accurately detect the position where you are standing. That's where my phone GPS let me down. The Telemetrum and my backup cellular tracker both worked exactly as they should but the phone GPS failed, perhaps because of the heavy trees or perhaps for some other unknown reason.