Recommendations for easy-to-use tracking device for total newb with no smartphone.

I have never done any kind of electronic tracking. But I am going to need it soon. I know nothing about it--how to, cost, availability, etc.

I would like to know what people are using, how hard it is to learn, where you got it, and what you paid for it.

I read up on most of the devices on BigRedBee, but I think I don't know enough to understand what I'm seeing. I certainly don't need GPS data to download to my PC or anything like that. I just want something that will help me find my rocket if it gets way up there and out of sight.

Thanks.

I've been using the CSI RF tracker.
https://www.com-spec.com/rocket/index.html

It's about $450 with tracker and transmitter.

It's saved quite a few rockets of mine.
I did run into an issue at URRF where other people had the same frequency.

JD

Eggfinder with an LCD screen. Gives you coordinates to walk to the rocket.

What is the project you are working on? What altitude do you plan to hit? What diameter is the rocket? What kind of weight and space limitations do you have? Do you have a Ham license?


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wfcook said:

What is the project you are working on?

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Building a new Giant Leap Vertical Assault to replace the one that blew up at URRF II.

wfcook said:

What altitude do you plan to hit?

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10,000'

wfcook said:

What diameter is the rocket?

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3"

wfcook said:

What kind of weight and space limitations do you have?

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Don't know enough to answer the question.

wfcook said:

Do you have a Ham license?

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No.

blackbrandt said:

Eggfinder with an LCD screen. Gives you coordinates to walk to the rocket.

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I like the price, but it looks like you have to connect it to a laptop. What do you do -- eyeball it in Google Earth, and then start walking in that direction?

Here's my thoughts on trackers, from another thread. TL;DR you can't go wrong with simple. Unless you're flying to 30k+' at Black Rock (where RDF gets eaten by the playa monster), you'll be just as quick with RDF as with GPS, but you're out a lot less cash if you lose it, and it never loses lock.

The eggfinder LCD does not require a laptop...it has an LCD readout. I have just ordered one, but have no practical experience with it.

It is a kit and requires that someone solder it together. Know your limitations there. I plan to ask a friend for help, because among my skills I do not count 'soldering'. I just don't.

As with any system going up to 10,000 feet, it should be tested thoroughly before flight, lest it come down rather too quickly on top of something that someone cares about.


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Just a thought...why build the same rocket twice? Nothing to be learned there.


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daveyfire said:

Unless you're flying to 30k+' at Black Rock (where RDF gets eaten by the playa monster)...

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How much worse is RDF range at Black Rock? I'm assuming it's still OK with the rocket aloft and only gets bad after landing, correct?

mikec said:

How much worse is RDF range at Black Rock? I'm assuming it's still OK with the rocket aloft and only gets bad after landing, correct?

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Yessir! If you're on top of things (and follow Sue's directions) you can get a pretty good track on it while it's in the air.

wfcook said:

Just a thought...why build the same rocket twice? Nothing to be learned there.

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Lots to be learned there. I built it, flew it three times, did my first DD on it, but made some mistakes and it blew up. I would like to build another using what I learned the first time to get it right this time. If I build something else, I'll make new mistakes and probably lose that one too.

And anyway, the Giant Leap kit comes with lots of accessories that you have to buy separately with other kits, making it extremely affordable.

mikec said:

How much worse is RDF range at Black Rock? I'm assuming it's still OK with the rocket aloft and only gets bad after landing, correct?

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I had a great read on my rocket in the air for quite some time. It was a CSI tracker. Some very experienced people were telling me 1 1/4 miles or so on the ground at Black Rock. At the new AeroPac launch site, the winds blow North East into this cove area. About 3.5 miles from the launch site, the playa was damp and we were warned not to drive on it. This was about 1/2 mile from the dunes area, which is also hard to drive in. Maybe a 4-wheel truck or a dirt bike can get in there. I saw a number or rockets heavily blown on the ground on the playa. I had one move quite a bit, but it was light and had a big chute. I had another that did not move (heavier, and a comparably smaller chute). The point is, if your rocket is capable of being blown on the playa after landing, it can move considerably, and could get into a place that is difficult for a car to get into, and also could obscure RDF transmissions if the rocket got into the dunes area. My rocket had the antenna exposed, and if the rocket were blown, it could have snapped. All things that I did not really consider. Curt von Delius told me to use a real small chute and bring the rockets down fairly hard. Probably some wise advice.

JDcluster said:

I've been using the CSI RF tracker.
https://www.com-spec.com/rocket/index.html

It's about $450 with tracker and transmitter.

It's saved quite a few rockets of mine.
I did run into an issue at URRF where other people had the same frequency.

JD

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You can get a comparable BigRedBee transmitter for under $100, and a matching Yaesu for about $150. Add your home made Yagi, and you're all set for well under $300. Substitute an inexpensive Chinese radio and you can get the price closer to $200. AND you can choose any frequency you'd like!

Greg

daveyfire said:

Here's my thoughts on trackers, from another thread. TL;DR you can't go wrong with simple. Unless you're flying to 30k+' at Black Rock (where RDF gets eaten by the playa monster), you'll be just as quick with RDF as with GPS, but you're out a lot less cash if you lose it, and it never loses lock.

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x 2 on the Com-Spec AT-2B transmitters.

I have 2 of them and our club has several of the handheld trackers. I was at URRF and used them in 2 of my launches, and without it I would of never found one of my rockets. Someone else would of likely stumbled across it but it was nowhere near where I thought it was and I ended up just walking straight to it using the handheld receiver. Down-side is the requirement for your ham license, unless you are already licensed. Beyond that the transmitters are relatively inexpensive, light and have a decent range, which is going to depend on many factors. You also need to think about where you will locate which ever tracker you use, these are roughly 12" long by 1" wide at the widest point, and I tie wrap mine inside my nosecone.

On a side-note, a good practice is for the LCO or whomever is appropriate at the launch to list frequencies on a board, like URRF did or at least inform someone to avoid a conflict. In reality you may not get everyone to do this so it's always a good practice to test on that frequency before you launch, to both test your equipment and avoid a conflict. One of the guys from my club lost his tracker, which fell off his recovery harness, but because of a conflict, post his pre-launch check, he never found it.

Having said that I do like the look of the BigRedBee products and I am doing some builds which I am interested in more than simple tracking, so I will be contacting them, as well as looking at the TeleMetrum. In reality if my club didn't already own several receivers, and I was looking for something beyond simple tracking, I would of likely opted for one of the GPS solutions mentioned above and in the electronics and recovery threads.

I use a Walston RDF setup. It's owned by the club and any club member can use it. You buy the transmitter if you lose it, but we have 3 of them right now. If you're going to fly at BattlePark, let me know. You may want to try out the RDF before you buy a system.

I have been very pleased with my Big Red Bee, and it is definitely the most economical way to go. The tracker is less than $100, I got a Baofeng radio for $50, and you can make your own antenna. (I bought an Arrow Yagi antenna and attenuator.) I signed up for a Ham test, crammed test questions for two hours the day before the exam, and got my license no problem. I will get GPS at some point, but if the simplest, smallest, and most economical option is your goal, I would look hard at BRB.

Handeman said:

I use a Walston RDF setup. It's owned by the club and any club member can use it. You buy the transmitter if you lose it, but we have 3 of them right now. If you're going to fly at BattlePark, let me know. You may want to try out the RDF before you buy a system.

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Good suggestion. I think MDRA has a receiver as well. Of course, when you are dependent on what receiver the club has, then it limits where you can launch, I guess. I almost exclusively fly at MDRA for HPR, but Battle Park is worth a visit. And I hope to keep going to URRF each year if I can.

Another vote for a UHF BRB transmitter, a simple yagi antenna (with attenuator), and hand held receiver. You can go the Chinese route on the hand held, or get a higher end used handheld for about the same price.
As far as licensing you could certainly work with other hams at your launches who can either program your transmitter to their callsign for that launch, or loan you theirs. You can then take your time and study for the tech level license. As a former ARRL VE and VE liason, I would encourage you to read a tech study guide, and understand a little about operational practices, rather than simply memorizing answers you won't recall a couple of weeks later. There are a lot of things you can do with amateur radio that overlaps with rocketry that a basic understanding would be most helpful for.

Bat-mite said:

Good suggestion. I think MDRA has a receiver as well. Of course, when you are dependent on what receiver the club has, then it limits where you can launch, I guess. I almost exclusively fly at MDRA for HPR, but Battle Park is worth a visit. And I hope to keep going to URRF each year if I can.

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A few of us from Battle Park will be at the MDRA launch in August. I'll bring along the Walston and you can check it out.

Handeman said:

A few of us from Battle Park will be at the MDRA launch in August. I'll bring along the Walston and you can check it out.

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That would be great. PM me when the time comes. Thanks.

There are probably as many (or more) opinions as people, but I think it comes down to a number of choices.

1) GPS vs RDF. In this choice, you decide between reading where the rocket says it is and going there or using a directional antenna to find the rocket. Both have advantages and disadvantages. The range on GPS is not as great typically, but if you go to the last reported location, you typically will be close enough to get another. And if you keep track of the direction, you can certainly get close enough to pick the signal back up. (The same can happen with RDF as well.)

2) Ham band, or not. If you get a Ham license, you open up a lot of opportunities. Also, if you have to buy all your equipment, you can save some money along the way (most of the time). You can also take this opportunity to get another hobby with a lot of great people in it as well.

Now for cheap and easy, I would second the Egg Finder LCD option. You get the transmitter and receiver for $120. If you don't solder, then hopefully you can find someone to help. Otherwise this option isn't a great one since you then would need to buy solder equipment and learn to use it. If you don't have a GPS unit (I noticed you don't have a smartphone), then you need that as well ($110 for a low end one new).

The Big Red Bee transmitter would cost you $85 for the transmitter. You can buy a cheap radio for receiver at $50. Plan another $60 for attenuator, and $25 for antenna. You also need to plan on study time to get your test, time to take said test, and time to build your antenna.

A Walston will cost $160 for a transmitter, $429 for a receiver, and looks like $99 for the antenna. There are other options, but this should give you a quick overview.

Sorry, should have also mentioned that Big Red Bee also sells a 900 Mhz setup for tracking with GPS. In a similar setup with LCD on the receiver already built, you are looking at just under $400. Again, you need a GPS to walk to your location.

I've been very happy with the BRB900. Not the cheapest option, but not terribly expensive either. I got the receiver with the LCD option and it's worked well every time I've used it. Just plug in the battery to turn it on, wait for it to lock, and toss it in any bay/nosecone the rocket. It outputs lat/long, so you do need some kind of GPS to make any sense of it, but it's license free and brain dead easy to use.

I have a Garmin GPS navigator, and I don't think I want to go the ham route; so let me see if I got this right.

The Eggfinder LCD will cost me about $220, and I have to solder it. Not a big deal.

The BRB900 will cost closer to $400. With both units, I stick the transmitter into the rocket, turn on the receiver to get a lat/long set of coordinates, enter those coordinates into my Garmin, and start walking. No license, no big antenna necessary.

Do I have it?

Bat-mite said:

Do I have it?

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I'd say that's right; can't go wrong with Beeline. Probably more info than you want, but I posted a recent article on GPS Tracking.

Here's the TL;DR summary:

One other useful thing, I'm not sure about other units, but the brb900 LCD also gives you an altitude readout, useful when trying to find your rocket in the sky if you lose it on the way up.

JohnCoker said:

I'd say that's right; can't go wrong with Beeline. Probably more info than you want, but I posted a recent article on GPS Tracking.

Here's the TL;DR summary:

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After the No to the ham question, you should have another split for soldering, and have the Eggfinder. Also, if you have a laptop the Aim XTRA is another option.

Thanks, guys. This is really helpful. :w:

The Eggfinder LCD Starter Set is $120, not $220. This gives you the latitude/longitude readings that you can plug right into your Garmin, nothing else required. It also displays the GPS altitude, although it lags the actual altitude due to a variety of factors, so the main function of having it is to see if your rocket has landed.

Bat-mite said:

I have a Garmin GPS navigator, and I don't think I want to go the ham route; so let me see if I got this right.

The Eggfinder LCD will cost me about $220, and I have to solder it. Not a big deal.

The BRB900 will cost closer to $400. With both units, I stick the transmitter into the rocket, turn on the receiver to get a lat/long set of coordinates, enter those coordinates into my Garmin, and start walking. No license, no big antenna necessary.

Do I have it?

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