At what point do I need a tracker?

[ac2fv]

@KenECoyote I fly at METRA also. When those crops start to come in, retrieving a rocket can become a search with many rabbit holes. Better to have the tracker....

 

[pathtouch]

Check out that 29mm blue tube slapped on the harness with electrical tape. Inside is a featherweight tracker and antenna. Doesn’t need to be pretty and you can retrofit to almost any rocket.

 

[Handeman]

Classic pictures of even small furrows and short crops 'disappearing' even moderately large rockets!

The lack of cell service at some fields is what led me to purchasing a GPS product (Missile Works RTX) that had native 'walk to' capabilities on the hand held RX.

We have good cell service at BattlePark, but what is nice about the Missile Works T3 system is the RX bluetoothes to the phone. Even without cell service or downloading maps, the Rocket Locator app I use will still direct you to the rocket. All that cell service gives you is google satellite maps for your display.

 

[KenECoyote]

We have good cell service at BattlePark, but what is nice about the Missile Works T3 system is the RX bluetoothes to the phone. Even without cell service or downloading maps, the Rocket Locator app I use will still direct you to the rocket. All that cell service gives you is google satellite maps for your display.

How old is the phone you're using? I used to use Rocket Locator with great success back about 8 years ago, but that phone died. My new phones have the app, but it doesn't seem to work any longer with the Eggfinder stuff that used to work.

 

[Handeman]

How old is the phone you're using? I used to use Rocket Locator with great success back about 8 years ago, but that phone died. My new phones have the app, but it doesn't seem to work any longer with the Eggfinder stuff that used to work.

I just got the new Android phone about 3 months ago. I'm using Rocket Locator with a 3 year old Missile Works T3 system so can't speak to what the Eggfinder would do.

Actually Rocket Locator seems to work much better now than a few years ago. I think they worked out the issue with Google Maps.

 

[KenECoyote]

I just got the new Android phone about 3 months ago. I'm using Rocket Locator with a 3 year old Missile Works T3 system so can't speak to what the Eggfinder would do.

Actually Rocket Locator seems to work much better now than a few years ago. I think they worked out the issue with Google Maps.

Great to hear and I'm envious!

Maybe it was some update, so I'll try again. My past inquiries went unanswered by the app contact person.

 

[SkyFire]

I lost an Airstrike 354 on a clear day. (7' tall rocket with a 6' red and white chute)
A contractor found it in the desert 9 months later. Everything was in great shape!
Got lucky. Now I use a tracker.

 

[ghuber]

I've had two situations where a tracker has saved me despite not thinking I'd need it. The first was at URFF when my failsafe triggered the main at 8000 feet and the rocket drifted 1.5 miles. I typed my eggfinder coordinates into google maps and drove to the rocket. The second was at METRA on my son's roll controlled 3" rocket that flew to max 1000 feet. It landed in a patch of soybeans maybe 100 feet wide x 500 feet long that was 250 feet from the pad. It might as well have been at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In this case my homebrew GPS with the "walk to rocket" feature let them find what was an otherwise invisible needle in a soy stack.

(I've also got a rocket stuck in a tree in the middle of a swamp. I know where it is, but I just can't safely get to it. I almost wish I didn't know where it was.)

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/homebrew-gps-tracker.166814/page-4

 

[cerving]

Here's an actual example of mine from last year of what I noted above.

A tracker like this is imo invaluable if you launch anywhere where you can lose sight of the rocket.

Last year I was using a TRS (older Eggtimer altimeter that has GPS tracking and I also linked it to a handheld Eggfinder Rx unit) and my 4" Patriot on an I600 had the main deploy at ~2700' (still not sure why, but have a few leads).
View attachment 577391
It went far away behind a grove of trees (in the right background of the above pic) and landed in some different section of the farm.

Hours of searching was fruitless. I had GPS coordinates on my rx, but no phone service out in the far fields and it was getting dark, so I left.
View attachment 577392
When I got home, I plugged the coordinates in and got a spot right away.
View attachment 577393
The next morning I went to that spot and it was right there! It was smack dab in the middle of a field and laid low, so it was just far enough from every side path for it to not be visible.
View attachment 577394
View attachment 577395
View attachment 577396
That saved me a big rocket, plus casing and dual altimeters!

This year I know better to get a GPS map of the area beforehand or get to an area with phone reception.

That's why we recommend getting the LCD-GPS updgrade for the LCD receiver ($40)... it will tell you which way to go and give you an arrow that points to it. Also, you may want to consider having another nav app on your phone, one that doesn't care if you have Internet or not... that would also take you to your rocket. Lots of hiking apps are out there that have a "take me there" capability without having to download a map or requiring Internet access.

 

[Handeman]

Great to hear and I'm envious!

Maybe it was some update, so I'll try again. My past inquiries went unanswered by the app contact person.

I've emailed the developer a few times. He created the app, but hasn't done anything to fix a couple of bugs in the display and doesn't plan to. He hasn't done any Android apps in years and doesn't want to start now.

 

[KenECoyote]

That's why we recommend getting the LCD-GPS updgrade for the LCD receiver ($40)... it will tell you which way to go and give you an arrow that points to it. Also, you may want to consider having another nav app on your phone, one that doesn't care if you have Internet or not... that would also take you to your rocket. Lots of hiking apps are out there that have a "take me there" capability without having to download a map or requiring Internet access.

Embarrassingly I had that upgrade, but had only installed it the night before and it didn't seem to be working for me at the time. How should the rx be held... laying flat or pointing up with screen pointing at you?

 

[cerving]

Embarrassingly I had that upgrade, but had only installed it the night before and it didn't seem to be working for me at the time. How should the rx be held... laying flat or pointing up with screen pointing at you?

It depends on your case, but as long as the GPS' antenna (the square brown thing on top) is pointing at the sky, or reasonably so, it should be fine. Some of the older 3D printed cases that I've seen pre-date the LCD-GPS module, so they don't really have a place to mount it... a lot of people had it pointing at the ground, which is not good. The latest BlackAero case has a spot for it, just below the display, and works fine.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I sure wish I would had a tracker in my PML MR-1 rocket that I lost last summer.