Recovery Tags

After losing a really nice Rocketarium Arcturus to the wind gods, I decided to have Gordy at Excelsior make me up some return tags in the event that someone actually finds one of my babies.

Great idea but I'd loose the address and email. Way too much info in the wrong hands. A first name and phone number will do the job. ---H

I use a Brothers P-touch label machine. Check E-bay-used, they only go for a few bucks.

+1 like fyrwrxz. Just name and phone number.

I use a P-touch or dynamo labeler dependign on whcih one I grab going out the door.

Here in Canada we have the CIRN , it's a website where we keep the data of our rockets, each rocket we enter in the database as it's serial number, we can then print a label, if someone find it , he go to the website and send to the owner a message, so no phone or adress is public. it's a very nice tool as we can print our flught card from there too. I like it because it keep an inventory of my rocket with configuration

here an exemple of a rocket, on the web site the 4 last digit are hide, it's for avoid fake report, only the owner of the rocket and the label on the plane as the 4 last digits


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Wow- absolutely sterling! Is that a national thingy, like government supported or just strictly a volunteer site?

fyrwrxz said:

Wow- absolutely sterling! Is that a national thingy, like government supported or just strictly a volunteer site?

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it's all volunteer, it's "budwheizzah" member here who build it.

That is a great idea! I wonder if this is something that nar could do?

Excellent idea! It would be very simple to implement.

Envelope return address labels. Word and WordPrfect have formats for them included in the software Mine have name and phone. Stick one inside the airframe and one on the recovery device. Sometimes, however, the Sky Gods are pissed at me. Don't know why.

Mike

fyrwrxz said:

Wow- absolutely sterling! Is that a national thingy, like government supported or just strictly a volunteer site?

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If your a CAR or Tripoli member you can register your rockets on CIRN and print off identification labels.

Actually here's the scoop with CIRN...

I am indeed near completion, but at the time I've only made the most part public for our local club in the province of Québec. Reason being I want the usage scenarios played out entirely before I launch to the masses. I have to keep in mind that when the masses come, the database gets massive, the traffic, the load; all massive. At that point if there's too many flaws the system would... well... suck.

CIRN does a few things at its core:
1) Rocket registry... you can register your rockets with some specs (the base specs required to generate flight cards) and each is assigned a unique tail number, which comes in use for identification, and lost & found labels.
2) Flight log registry. Once you have your rockets in there, you can then log all the flights you do with it, retroactively, in the future, privately or done at club events.
3) Club event information & launch log: Every "regional club" (For example the Québec Rocketry Club, which works for this province, affiliated to the CAR, or another example Broward Rocketry Club, which is affiliated to TRA) can have a few administrators post their upcoming events, the details (forecasts, information, road directions) and of course after the event, a professional looking log can be generated in PDF format for submission to your national authority; in our case we submit them to Transport Canada after our events. Members who enter their club-event-flights on CIRN save the LCO a lot of time, as they won't need to re-type the flight info, instead relying on your entry and their report (if the flight was successful or not, and if it was a cert)
4) Club event RSVP: This feature still isn't quite sorted out, but it is very well present. If a member adds a planned flight for an upcoming club launch event, they're automatically added to that event's RSVP list. I eventually intend to generate manifests with these, so clubs can sort of know what to expect in terms of attendance for an upcoming launch.
5) Lost and found by unique tail number. If you lose your bird and it's got a nicely waterproofed CIRN label, odds are you'll get notified VIA CIRN. Those who find your rocket with the CIRN label on it may very well read the instructions, visit the website from where they can report your aircraft found, by using the tail number.
6) Access levels: You can be a plain user, a club administrator, a province/state administrator or a global administrator. Users get rockets & flights, club admins get that plus the ability to manage their local club (assigned through the system by a global admin), province/state admins get that plus the right to manage ALL the clubs in their province or state and global admins get to do everything.

Now... why isn't this super public yet?

1) Registration process: This isn't Facebook. It's a registry... I need to keep security at a maximum and that involves revising applications for a new account. As one may see from visiting www.cirn.ca I haven't even gotten there yet.
2) Form process-flow: I am in the process of organizing the data input forms to make them as simple and friendly as possible. I've already gone a long way but I'm still not totally cool with the result yet. There's room for misunderstandings and I'll want to solve them before launching - avoiding myself hundreds of support requests over simple interface confusion.
3) CIRN REMOTE : I am working on an application that an LCO can download off the website, carry with them on their laptop and use it to create a launch log using CIRN data, but without having an Internet connection. Yes, I know; a lot of us can manage an Internet connection on the field, but it's still to rare to rely on. This app would allow the LCO to fill a log on-site over the weekend, then would allow them to upload that log back to CIRN when they return home to a good solid connection. It's been tested only once, but this feature is uber promising, saving the LCO so much time - there's a point where you don't even enter the member's names anymore because it "remembers" everything.
4) News-Bulletin system: Club/province/global administrators can post news bulletins which are shown to users after they log in on the welcome page. The news a user sees will depend on what province or state they're from and what local club they're affiliated to. Their club's news first, then the province/state's and then other news.

The plan for the near future:

1) Obviously as soon as I create a self registration request form, the requests from which I'd have to revise, or get some folks to help me with that part, the system is gone public... so when I put that page up it's fair to say "Have at it Hoss" to anyone who wants in.
2) Until then, if anyone is interested here, I can give you access... but I'll need a few pieces of information from you first (PM me me this stuff, it's better that way):
-Your email
-Your local club and its affiliation
-Your CAR/TRA number
-Your first and last name
-Finally your state/province and country.
I'll create you an account - at first you'll be made users which will just let you insert rockets and flights. Over time I can sort out who gets to administer & manage their local clubs. If you can have your actual local club's chairman or president send me a request and correctly identify themselves, they're the ones who should be getting that access. It would allow them to input all the club's launch events and thus create launch logs and public information pages for them. We'll slowly sort that out - again as you see from the above I'm not quite set for the masses yet, but having you guys try out the rocket & flight input is fine with me.
3) Over this winter I will finalize my wish list. I can't crystal ball this one but I'll give you a crude timeline... I'm hoping to e full-public by the beginning of 2014, in time for the coming big season which mostly happens during late Spring and Summer. Problem being during the season I tend to work more on my rocketry projects than my rocketry programming
4) No NAR for now. I'm operating from Canada where most the folks I closely work with are either TRA or CAR. Not a single NAR. Furthermore the NAR is a bit of a different Universe to us given they do not accept any equivalency, which TRA fully does.
Now, having said all this I want to make a note... Every rocket input in the system produces a public page for it.
They're accessible by going to https://www.cirn.ca/crafts/(public tail number) for example my first experimental bird's page is https://www.cirn.ca/crafts/C-227E
Something took me by surprise, too... Post as much as one link like that on another website and Google will eat it up. Just search for C-227E on Google, you'll see what I mean. The search engine eats up our tail numbers. Pretty awesome.

Anyway I'll be checking back later to see who wants in.

Here's some goodies for the curious...

https://www.cirn.ca/video/overview/01-overview-admin.flv
https://www.cirn.ca/video/overview/02-overview-user.flv
https://www.cirn.ca/video/overview/03-overview-links.flv
https://www.cirn.ca/video/overview/04-overview-lostandfound.flv

Now keep in mind these videos are old and show the very first interface look, but it's really not deviated enough to render these videos irrelevant - they are to a good extent helpful in knowing what CIRN does at the base. Of course the system's been enriched quite a bit since and a lot of wonky interfaces have been improved. Also, sorry for the direct FLV format... VLC can play these fine.

PS: Geez, yes, I know I sound as cold as Nintendo's Iwata LOL

Oh my goodness, what an amazing idea! And as many have often said of late, "What a great time to be in rocketry!"

Best wishes on the continuing development of CIRN. Can't wait to see how this all turns out.

This CIRN thing is kind of a neat idea.. but in all honesty, I really want to make it really easy for the guy that finds my rocket to contact me. Even LPR models have about $20+ dollars invested in them.. let alone a MPR or HPR at $60- hundreds of $$$ + a motor casing!

I've put my name and cell number in or on some of my rockets in the past. Lately I'm considering adding a QR code as a decal or tag (connected to my recovery cord). A quick and easy QR scan on a cell phone and 1 button press to call me! Making someone log onto a website to contact you is counter-productive. Why make them work for it??

Just a thought...........

Jerome

I'm trying to keep a sort of divide between rocket finder and owner... reason being the owner can make sure the guy isn't waiting for him with a shotgun or something. I'm not so keen of leaving my phone number on a high power rocket. Some folks might find your aircraft and get the very wrong idea. Not to mention using the CIRN process is akin to writing someone an email, which IMO is more comfortable than calling someone you don't know.

CIRN tags are ID safe, whereas you get your aircraft identified easily but you yourself never really have to identify yourself until you're comfortable with the person who's trying to make contact with you. Basically the CIRN form will make the person submit THEIR contact info to you. Let's keep it real if you notice they're freaks sometimes your privacy might be worth more than your rocket.

Also, it's not much work given the Internet is at the fingertips of just about everyone, especially for just a three field form; and some may feel much more comfortable using that method than the phone. A QR code could be possible... in fact when I can add it, I will. This would basically pop open the CIRN lost & found report form when scanned. Plus I find asking someone to fill out a form much less than asking them to make a phone call to a number they don't know.

Also, CIRN comes with the whole registry around it. Tail numbers are just one of multiple core features.

PS: Funny scenario... what if a telemarketer network operator finds your rocket? Your life is over! LOL Ok, I'm totally pushing it now.

JeromeK99 said:

Lately I'm considering adding a QR code as a decal or tag (connected to my recovery cord). A quick and easy QR scan on a cell phone and 1 button press to call me! Making someone log onto a website to contact you is counter-productive. Why make them work for it??

Just a thought...........

Jerome

Click to expand...

This is a great idea.

For you linux/unix geeks, there's a CLI utility, qrencode. Most distributions have it or you can grab ths sources. There's a win32 port too. Can't get much simpler:

https://fukuchi.org/works/qrencode/

budwheizzah said:

I'm trying to keep a sort of divide between rocket finder and owner... reason being the owner can make sure the guy isn't waiting for him with a shotgun or something. I'm not so keen of leaving my phone number on a high power rocket. Some folks might find your aircraft and get the very wrong idea. Not to mention using the CIRN process is akin to writing someone an email, which IMO is more comfortable than calling someone you don't know.

CIRN tags are ID safe, whereas you get your aircraft identified easily but you yourself never really have to identify yourself until you're comfortable with the person who's trying to make contact with you. Basically the CIRN form will make the person submit THEIR contact info to you. Let's keep it real if you notice they're freaks sometimes your privacy might be worth more than your rocket.

Also, it's not much work given the Internet is at the fingertips of just about everyone, especially for just a three field form; and some may feel much more comfortable using that method than the phone. A QR code could be possible... in fact when I can add it, I will. This would basically pop open the CIRN lost & found report form when scanned. Plus I find asking someone to fill out a form much less than asking them to make a phone call to a number they don't know.

Also, CIRN comes with the whole registry around it. Tail numbers are just one of multiple core features.

PS: Funny scenario... what if a telemarketer network operator finds your rocket? Your life is over! LOL Ok, I'm totally pushing it now.

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Huh?? If somebody is this paranoid, perhaps rocketry isn't for you.

Jerome


There free online websites that will generate QR codes for you too!

JeromeK99 said:

Huh?? If somebody is this paranoid, perhaps rocketry isn't for you.

Jerome


There free online websites that will generate QR codes for you too!

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it's farmers who live around fields, they don't know what is a QR code. If rocketery is not for budwheizzah, 99.99 % of the peoples on this forum should play solitaire instead of launch rockets. You have no idea of what this guy is capable of.

I'm talking about paranoia not capabilities. bud there is obviously very skilled to be able to organize and code a website of such magnitude. it also takes skill and effort to build rockets, no question there.

But I don't quite get the "somebody is going to shoot me for finding my rocket" or paranoia of lost privacy for giving my name and phone number out in hopes of getting back my beloved rocket.

Maybe it's a rural thing.. or differences between Canadians and Americans.. I just don't know...

A farmer might not know what a QR code is.... then again there's that techie "internet", but I would hope that in 2013 a farmer knows what a phone number is! :eyepop:

Seems odd to me, that's all.


Jerome

I have to admit I'm with Jerome. I put my email address & mobile number on rockets with a P-Touch label; in my line of work I get to size up nutjobs every day at work, so I'm pretty sure I could figure out someone is in a rage over the phone.

If I was that paranoid I'd put nothing on my rockets and write them off. Usually I'm pleasantly surprised at the inherent goodness in people.


All the best, James

JeromeK99 said:

This CIRN thing is kind of a neat idea.. but in all honesty, I really want to make it really easy for the guy that finds my rocket to contact me. Even LPR models have about $20+ dollars invested in them.. let alone a MPR or HPR at $60- hundreds of $$$ + a motor casing!

I've put my name and cell number in or on some of my rockets in the past. Lately I'm considering adding a QR code as a decal or tag (connected to my recovery cord). A quick and easy QR scan on a cell phone and 1 button press to call me! Making someone log onto a website to contact you is counter-productive. Why make them work for it??

Click to expand...

Ease is the key.

If you make the finder go to a lot of work to find you, unless your rocket has done damage that they want you to pay for, they're likely not going to bother.

I don't know about your area, but most of the landowners that I see aren't typically carrying smart phones, with the ability to scan a QR code (and contrary to what many think, lots of people in the world still have no clue what a QR code is).

If you want a landowner who came across your rocket to tell you they found it, make it easy for them to do so. If you make them get on a website, enter an ID, or jump through other hoops, more than likely it's just going to end up on the burn pile, or get left to rot.

Remember, you're asking them to do you a favor and tell you that they've found your rocket. Make it easy for them.

-Kevin

If I will risk to loose the rocket I will put the phone # , but I don't as I use tracking transmitter


I don't use CIRN just for the serial # , the best feature for me is that I can prepare and print my flight cards without fill all the same info all the time. I don't do model rocketry, I do mainly experiment with my rockets, so I name them EXP falowing by the last 2 digits of the years, a model and the version of the model and then the CIRN as Serno



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i had mark at stickershock make these decals for me last year. i put one on every rocket component. one of the sheets is in background. nice and thin and priced reasonable. if one wayward part finds its way back home thats a huge savings. Stuff happens.

Wow, that's neat, but if Homer sees a label like this he may think his farm's under attack by the govnment... just sayin'.

Area66 said:

If I will risk to loose the rocket I will put the phone # , but I don't as I use tracking transmitter


I don't use CIRN just for the serial # , the best feature for me is that I can prepare and print my flight cards without fill all the same info all the time. I don't do model rocketry, I do mainly experiment with my rockets, so I name them EXP falowing by the last 2 digits of the years, a model and the version of the model and then the CIRN as Serno



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Oh ya... I even put a sticker on the tracker! Redundant system. People are lazy and 95% are not likely to look up a registration number, so I make it easy to find me. Goverment has allready tracked us so its everyone else that needs to find me.

JeromeK99 said:

I'm talking about paranoia not capabilities. bud there is obviously very skilled to be able to organize and code a website of such magnitude. it also takes skill and effort to build rockets, no question there.

But I don't quite get the "somebody is going to shoot me for finding my rocket" or paranoia of lost privacy for giving my name and phone number out in hopes of getting back my beloved rocket.

Maybe it's a rural thing.. or differences between Canadians and Americans.. I just don't know...

A farmer might not know what a QR code is.... then again there's that techie "internet", but I would hope that in 2013 a farmer knows what a phone number is! :eyepop:

Seems odd to me, that's all.


Jerome

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It's not paranoia; not as in I'm expecting everyone that finds a rocket to run back with a shotgun. It's basically a conservative approach at an easy retrieval system that just doesn't divulge more than what's needed within the confines of a lost & found process. As for farmers not checking the no. , I've seen two on-board videos where the rocket is picked up by farmers. The conversations are really interesting... they talk about how it's probably tracked and the owner's on his way. On the first one I've seen I can hear the farmer say to his wife, jokingly "You watch, now... NASA is coming to pick this up!" When the person doesn't come to retrieve it (they realize this shortly before the battery runs out on the second one I saw) they're worried and curious. Normally they'll call the organizer (80% of the time they're part of the group of folks that sign the TC auth for the range so they know who's launching) who then contacts the owner, but I definitely see them noticing the label and taking that direct step given the tone of curiosity I heard in those vids. (Rocket eavesdropping... too cool lol)

Not to mention as my detailed description shows... it's a bit of a bummer that this thread is all about tracking tags and nothing else. L&F is only 5% of what the registry itself has to offer - notably the ability to register your rocket, keep a neat flight log and as I make my "upgrade pass" next winter eventually detailed stats on your flights; cool stuff you would normally have to do a lot of things to get: Cumulative altitude, success/fail ratio, highest flight, etc. It's more than just a rocket finding system. Take for instance one of my experimentals that's registered on there... each aircraft gets a public page, a bit like on the airplane registry websites: https://www.cirn.ca/crafts/c-227e

Not to mention it helps the clubs connect with members and it's loaded with tools to help with log-keeping at the launch, even offering an offline synchronization tool for those who want to build a CIRN launch log on a range that doesn't have any Internet available.