Rocket Track - Open Source GPS Tracker for Smartphones

Pyropetepete said:

How do you do this?

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That receiver is an EggFinder LCD: https://www.eggtimerrocketry.com/attachments/File/Eggfinder_LCD_Assembly_Manual_1_9d.pdf The output from the receiver is being fed to the input where one ordinarily wires the bluetooth module.
Alternative program is the Android App GPS Rocket Locator. Kurt

ksaves2 said:

That receiver is an EggFinder LCD: https://www.eggtimerrocketry.com/attachments/File/Eggfinder_LCD_Assembly_Manual_1_9d.pdf The output from the receiver is being fed to the input where one ordinarily wires the bluetooth module.
Alternative program is the Android App GPS Rocket Locator. Kurt

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Just want a super super cheap display. I use an iPhone and iPad so IOS support is out. If said display told me the numbers I can input that to a GPS app.

would it be possible to use the xbee pro 868 instead of the xbee pro 900 ?

chriscovany said:

would it be possible to use the xbee pro 868 instead of the xbee pro 900 ?

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That's what I've done as the law in then UK doesn't allow 900.

what range are getting with that? the xbee manual says 40 km.

i have been using the Eggfinder gps with dipole antenna for many flights and have had success above 21 k with no loss of signal all the way up and back. it seems many users of the Derek gps system lose signal on the way up. Why?

chriscovany said:

i have been using the Eggfinder gps with dipole antenna for many flights and have had success above 21 k with no loss of signal all the way up and back. it seems many users of the Derek gps system lose signal on the way up. Why?

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Obviously, their rockets fly faster and break the cocom limits on the up side!:wink::grin: Yours don't:smile: Just joking. Don't know why the difference but they are two different devices with different chipsets. That might have something to do with it. Kurt

Loss of GPS lock is different than loss of signal. I've never had Derek's tracker lose signal, but it does lose GPS lock. It'd surprise me if the Eggfinder GPS doesn't lose lock too, but maybe not. Sudden dynamics confuse most commercial GPS chips to varying degrees, they aren't designed to move vertically thousands of feet in a few seconds.

fyi. I flew one of Derek's transmitter boards to 38,000 feet last week at Black Rock and was able to track it the whole way. So anyone using the 250mW Xbee radios, the claimed 9 mile LOS range is realistic. I maintained signal the whole way although GPS lost lock till a little after apogee. I was using an L-com 5dbi rubber ducky on the ground. Also the Big Red Bee 100mW 70 cm GPS was my primary means of tracking. The Xbee was a backup.



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MarkH said:

fyi. I flew one of Derek's transmitter boards to 38,000 feet last week at Black Rock and was able to track it the whole way.

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Mark -

Great push to 38K! I'm especially interested in your experience as my RTx system can use the same radios. I've not had the opportunity to push my alpha hardware anywhere near your flight, and the radio operations are of great interest to me. A few Q's for you:

- What indication in your hardware setup are you using that represented a valid radio link "the whole way"? (there's several missing epochs in your Google earth overlay).
- How was your radio performance once the rocket landed?

Anything else that you can share about your tracker and/or radio performance would also be great.

Jim, see attached files. The first is from the BRB GPS onboard logging. The second is the telemetry log coming from the Xbee. The BRB file is out of order (descent is at start of file, launch is closer to the end) . I should have cleared the BRB flash before launch but didn't and things were recorded out of sequence. The launch happened at 09:50 and the rocket landed at exactly 19:50. The BRB file shows more fixes at apogee.

The telemetry data had some gaps of maybe 5 seconds at a time, but I can't say I was holding the antenna consistently upward (I may have put it down to scratch an itch or something), and the changing orientation of the falling rocket probably makes the signal come and go.
Once it hit the ground I had no signal but it landed only 1.5 miles away and I could see the parachute kicking up from the wind.

While looking for a slightly smaller antennae while still keeping with more solid hardware, I found these. Has anybody tried them with the Rocket Track?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-RFDesi...MA-/231537451038?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368

Thank you for any experience before jump in...

Brian

Look for those Linx antennas some are tuned closer to your frequency of use would be better. If you can tolerate a little longer antenna, you might enjoy
more effective range. Kurt

caveman said:

While looking for a slightly smaller antennae while still keeping with more solid hardware, I found these. Has anybody tried them with the Rocket Track?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-RFDesi...MA-/231537451038?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368

Thank you for any experience before jump in...

Brian

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OK, I purchased a TX and an Xbee Pro S3B with Sparkfun usb dongle and cannot get them to talk. Using the new X-CTU software, the Xbee on the dongle shoes up, but it will not see the TX. Is there a way to test the TX without removing the Xbee that is soldered to the board? I already tried multiple antenna, the ones listed above and with the proper 1S lipo. Apparently they were working before I bought them and installed matching antenna.

Thanks for any help with this. Probably just missing something obvious.

After updating the firmware on the RX, the green LED's light up, but XCTU does not see the TX even after changing the API mode. I will try to open up the SJ1 and 2 to see if that helps. Do I need to re-solder those after updating the TX if it works?

I opened up the SJ1 and SJ2 pads on the TX and was able to update the firmware to 1071, now the RX and TX talk properly. Do I need to re-solder these pads before using as the GPS TX?

Thank You

Just finished soldering sockets onto the Mini TX and hope to have a new Xbee Pro 900HP here soon to load that into the NC of a LOC Aura!

caveman said:

I opened up the SJ1 and SJ2 pads on the TX and was able to update the firmware to 1071, now the RX and TX talk properly. Do I need to re-solder these pads before using as the GPS TX?

Thank You

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Yes you have to solder them again.

Done. Thank You!

Just got the Mini working with an XSC Pro S3B, forced the firmware to match the RX.

Has anybody with a Mac been able to pull gps info from this device? I've been trying with GPSbabel and have not been able to get any data.

Thank You
Brian

Picking this project back up. Wanting to try using the transmitter via my UAV (Quadcopter). Ideally to power it directly off the flight battery using a UBEC to reduce the voltage as flight battery is 25v.

Whats the voltage input on the TX, i forget.

I also fixed the TX end by fitting a new JST connection as it has broken off. Charged the lipo and tested. Got it talking to the 2nd Xbee vi a USB adapter on the laptop and running FastTrax Workbench 5 was getting DATA. I still then get a dropout of connection and unable to regain the link after 5 mins or so

Pyropetepete said:

Whats the voltage input on the TX, i forget.

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the voltage regulator has a max input voltage of 5.5v, so a 5v bec should be fine.

Sorry I haven't been following this thread lately but I've been flying quad copter more than rockets. I'm glad to see you guys are still keeping it alive!

Derek said:

the voltage regulator has a max input voltage of 5.5v, so a 5v bec should be fine.

Sorry I haven't been following this thread lately but I've been flying quad copter more than rockets. I'm glad to see you guys are still keeping it alive!

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Brilliant I'll get it wired up to a spare UBEC.

Biggest issue I got is dropping the link after about 5 mins. Any ideas

Pyropetepete said:

Biggest issue I got is dropping the link after about 5 mins. Any ideas

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do you mean the xbee link? are you sure the battery voltage is ok at both end the entire time?

Derek said:

do you mean the xbee link? are you sure the battery voltage is ok at both end the entire time?

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TX is now running off a 5V 3A UBEC which is off a 6s 10,000 mAH

RX is off USB 3 port on my new laptop.

If anyone is thinking about starting this project, but has yet to purchase anything, or if you are wanting to build more, send me a PM, please.

I was over at Element14 and saw a link to an interview with the owner/operator of OSH Park, thought it might be an interesting read, and it was. Linky link
The most intersting part though was a photo.
First thing that struck me was how pretty it was.
Second thing that struck me.....
Can you see it?

Viking said:

Can you see it?

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No Takers?

maybe if I crop......