rocketgeek101
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
I am looking for advice on choosing a tracking solution for my rockets. Up until now, I have relied on noise makers or bluetooth Tile trackers to assist in locating my rockets.
I am in the planning stages for my next HPR build, which will be pushing the envelope a bit more than my current fleet, and I plan to outfit it with proper tracking among other things.
For the time being I'd prefer to stick to systems which are license free. Not because I don't plan on getting my license in the future, but rather just to keep things a bit simpler for the time being since I am new to this and also quite busy with school and other things. That being said, I would welcome recommendations for any tracker since this is something I will no doubt pursue further in the future.
There is quite a bit of information online, and having limited experience with this particular area has left me feeling a bit overwhelmed... that being said, these are the systems I have found so far that seem like they could fit the bill:
1) MissileWorks RTx/GPS
2) Featherweight GPS tracker
3) Big Red Bee 900
I'd be curious to hear about people experiences with any and all of these systems. I have quite a bit of experience flying dual deploy using MissileWorks altimeters and am planning to use the RRC3 in this next project. From what I gather the MissileWorks RTx has built in integration with the RRC3 which makes it an attractive choice. It is also the cheapest of the 3 systems which considering the USD to CAD conversion being what it is makes it all the more attractive. I am a bit unclear as to the differences between the standard and navigator systems though. From what I gather, the navigator does everything the standard does, but also reports the bearing and distance to the rocket instead of just the coordinates. Is there more to it than this ? And would it be worth the extra $40 to opt for the navigator over the standard?
On paper the Featherweight looks the most interesting and feature rich of the bunch. As an iPhone user, I also like that it would work with my phone unlike the other two. While not a requirement, the ability to receive spoken telemetry would be very cool and it seems like the Featherweight tracker will soon support this. From what I can tell, the other two I've listed don't support this. It also has the longest range of the three. At the moment though this seems like it is still somewhat of a beta product so I am a bit unsure if it is wise to opt for this tracker at this time.
In terms of features the BRB 900 looks to offer the least, but from what I can gather these systems have been around longer than the other two, and most things I have seen in regards to these trackers seem to be positive (though it is also the most expensive system in my list).
For me the most important requirement by far is system reliability and GPS accuracy (i.e. the tracker should allow me to find the rocket pending catastrophic failure during the flight). The spot where I fly is full of dense bush which can easily swallow even a large rocket if one does not have a pretty good idea of it's landing location to begin with. As long as I can get the coordinates of the landing spot from the tracker to punch into Google Maps or my GPS unit I'll be happy, and as they say, the rest is gravy
So please let me know the good and bad. I'd also be curious to see pics of these systems installed in your rockets! Hopefully this thread can become a reference for folks like me looking to get into tracking, and are not entirely sure where to begin.
Thanks!
I am looking for advice on choosing a tracking solution for my rockets. Up until now, I have relied on noise makers or bluetooth Tile trackers to assist in locating my rockets.
I am in the planning stages for my next HPR build, which will be pushing the envelope a bit more than my current fleet, and I plan to outfit it with proper tracking among other things.
For the time being I'd prefer to stick to systems which are license free. Not because I don't plan on getting my license in the future, but rather just to keep things a bit simpler for the time being since I am new to this and also quite busy with school and other things. That being said, I would welcome recommendations for any tracker since this is something I will no doubt pursue further in the future.
There is quite a bit of information online, and having limited experience with this particular area has left me feeling a bit overwhelmed... that being said, these are the systems I have found so far that seem like they could fit the bill:
1) MissileWorks RTx/GPS
2) Featherweight GPS tracker
3) Big Red Bee 900
I'd be curious to hear about people experiences with any and all of these systems. I have quite a bit of experience flying dual deploy using MissileWorks altimeters and am planning to use the RRC3 in this next project. From what I gather the MissileWorks RTx has built in integration with the RRC3 which makes it an attractive choice. It is also the cheapest of the 3 systems which considering the USD to CAD conversion being what it is makes it all the more attractive. I am a bit unclear as to the differences between the standard and navigator systems though. From what I gather, the navigator does everything the standard does, but also reports the bearing and distance to the rocket instead of just the coordinates. Is there more to it than this ? And would it be worth the extra $40 to opt for the navigator over the standard?
On paper the Featherweight looks the most interesting and feature rich of the bunch. As an iPhone user, I also like that it would work with my phone unlike the other two. While not a requirement, the ability to receive spoken telemetry would be very cool and it seems like the Featherweight tracker will soon support this. From what I can tell, the other two I've listed don't support this. It also has the longest range of the three. At the moment though this seems like it is still somewhat of a beta product so I am a bit unsure if it is wise to opt for this tracker at this time.
In terms of features the BRB 900 looks to offer the least, but from what I can gather these systems have been around longer than the other two, and most things I have seen in regards to these trackers seem to be positive (though it is also the most expensive system in my list).
For me the most important requirement by far is system reliability and GPS accuracy (i.e. the tracker should allow me to find the rocket pending catastrophic failure during the flight). The spot where I fly is full of dense bush which can easily swallow even a large rocket if one does not have a pretty good idea of it's landing location to begin with. As long as I can get the coordinates of the landing spot from the tracker to punch into Google Maps or my GPS unit I'll be happy, and as they say, the rest is gravy
So please let me know the good and bad. I'd also be curious to see pics of these systems installed in your rockets! Hopefully this thread can become a reference for folks like me looking to get into tracking, and are not entirely sure where to begin.
Thanks!