LDRS 42 GPS Frequency Tracker Spreadsheet

[darrenf]

Didn't see anything like this posted yet. Figured I'd put it up so that we can eliminate issues.

Post it if you got it!

GPS List

 

[wonderboy]

This is a great idea darrenf! Quick question: has anyone ever put up a frequency board like you'd use at an RC flying club (in the pre-spread spectrum days)? Or as an alternative a dry erase board could be placed at the RSO table to just jot down your frequencies or check which ones are free before you fly.

At any rate, I'll add my info to the spreadsheet (once I confirm what I'm actually on, LOL).

Great idea!

 

[darrenf]

This is a great idea darrenf! Quick question: has anyone ever put up a frequency board like you'd use at an RC flying club (in the pre-spread spectrum days)? Or as an alternative a dry erase board could be placed at the RSO table to just jot down your frequencies or check which ones are free before you fly.

At any rate, I'll add my info to the spreadsheet (once I confirm what I'm actually on, LOL).

Great idea!

I have thought of that, that would really be the best thing, to have it at the RSO table. I can't say I've seen it before but I've never been to an LDRS before.

 

[wonderboy]

Just for giggles, I'll pack a dry erase board with me and chat with the guys at the RSO table and see if they're agreeable to let us leave it there for people to record their frequency. BUT, I'll still add my info to your spreadsheet.

 

[markg]

Great idea. I had a difficult time retrieving a rocket at a launch a couple of years ago when someone else ignored the dry-erase board and used the same freq as me (after my launch). My receiver brought me to their rocket and I had to wait until they showed up so they could turn it off.

I'll add mine to the list this weekend.

It would also be great if the RSO could ask fliers if they have a tracker and if so to make sure they are on the list.

cheers - mark

 

[Kane]

Thanks for coordinating this. We did this for the last Red Glare at MDRA.
Put my info into your spreadsheet.

 

[darrenf]

Thanks for coordinating this. We did this for the last Red Glare at MDRA.
Put my info into your spreadsheet.

That’s where I got the idea.

 

[darrenf]

So far there are over 60 BFR flights listed for LDRS on URRG's website, but only 5 people have placed an entry on the frequency tracker. If you want your telemetry to work, I highly suggest you put your name and frequency in and look for others who might use the same frequency. There are already enough things to go wrong with rockets, why add to the risk.

 

[Kane]

So far there are over 60 BFR flights listed for LDRS on URRG's website, but only 5 people have placed an entry on the frequency tracker. If you want your telemetry to work, I highly suggest you put your name and frequency in and look for others who might use the same frequency. There are already enough things to go wrong with rockets, why add to the risk.

Maybe post on the official LDRS 42 thread and link to this thread?

 

[darrenf]

Maybe post on the official LDRS 42 thread and link to this thread?

Good idea. Thanks.

 

[VAXman]

I added my frequency to the spreadsheet.

Let me just state that I have been to other launches where this sort of thing has been tried and I always find some other clown on my frequency.

 

[mtnmanak]

Hi Everyone!

Apologies for not responding to this thread earlier, but we will have a frequency tracking board at the RSO desk on the field. The intent is that the flier must register their freq/ID on the board once they have their rocket RSOed. We will ask each person to come back and erase the freq registration within 15 min of coming back from recovering the rocket. We will have a full set of procedures written in the packet you will get at the launch, but the important thing to know here is that the official freq registration will be done per launch on the field.

We have hundreds of registered fliers for this event, so we must have a solution on the field.

We really love the effort here - thanks for helping out!!

 

[darrenf]

Hi Everyone!

Apologies for not responding to this thread earlier, but we will have a frequency tracking board at the RSO desk on the field. The intent is that the flier must register their freq/ID on the board once they have their rocket RSOed. We will ask each person to come back and erase the freq registration within 15 min of coming back from recovering the rocket. We will have a full set of procedures written in the packet you will get at the launch, but the important thing to know here is that the official freq registration will be done per launch on the field.

We have hundreds of registered fliers for this event, so we must have a solution on the field.

We really love the effort here - thanks for helping out!!

Perfect! Thank you!

 

[mtnmanak]

I am going to be building this freq board over the weekend (using a 4 ft x 8 ft whiteboard)

Does anyone have a list of the Featherweight channels/freqs? I could scroll through on my phone app and copy them one at a time, but it would be great if anyone has them in a list (@Adrian A ?)

Mainly, I am concentrating on the Eggtimer and Featherweight freqs/channels with open space on the board for other brands, HAM, etc. Does anyone know if there are any freqs/channels between Eggtimer and Feather weight that conflict?

 

[darrenf]

I am going to be building this freq board over the weekend (using a 4 ft x 8 ft whiteboard)

Does anyone have a list of the Featherweight channels/freqs? I could scroll through on my phone app and copy them one at a time, but it would be great if anyone has them in a list (@Adrian A ?)

Mainly, I am concentrating on the Eggtimer and Featherweight freqs/channels with open space on the board for other brands, HAM, etc. Does anyone know if there are any freqs/channels between Eggtimer and Feather weight that conflict?

I know the new Fluctus flight system is on 915 Mhz.

 

[cerving]

FYI, the Eggfinder 900 MHz channels are 909-925 in odd steps (909,911, 913...) and ID's are 0-7. That's a total of 72 combinations. The 70cm frequencies (TRS and Quasar) are 920.050-949.950 in 100 KHz steps. That's 300 possible frequencies... chances are pretty good you can find one that nobody's using.

 

[Adrian A]

I am going to be building this freq board over the weekend (using a 4 ft x 8 ft whiteboard)

Does anyone have a list of the Featherweight channels/freqs? I could scroll through on my phone app and copy them one at a time, but it would be great if anyone has them in a list (@Adrian A ?)

Mainly, I am concentrating on the Eggtimer and Featherweight freqs/channels with open space on the board for other brands, HAM, etc. Does anyone know if there are any freqs/channels between Eggtimer and Feather weight that conflict?

The Featherweight frequencies are 903.0 through 924.6, in 0.8 MHz steps. There is an A and B channel for each frequency. The new app has a channel list feature which shows all the channels and which Featherweight channels are occupied.

The Featherweight and Eggtimer channels shouldn’t have much if any noticeable effect interference between them because of the different modulations that are used.

 

[cerving]

Confirming what Adrian said, I know people who regularly fly both Eggfinders and Featherweights together, they've never had an issue with either of them.

 

[KenECoyote]

FYI, the Eggfinder 900 MHz channels are 909-925 in odd steps (909,911, 913...) and ID's are 0-7. That's a total of 72 combinations. The 70cm frequencies (TRS and Quasar) are 920.050-949.950 in 100 KHz steps. That's 300 possible frequencies... chances are pretty good you can find one that nobody's using.

The default frequency shipped out is 915 (is that 0 or 1?), so I'd guess there's a higher risk of that frequency being used my multiple people, right?

I have one from ~2015 that I believe was fixed frequency at 915 and I always worry about using it. I have another old one set at 913 (-0 or -1?) that I plan to bring and use. Most people seem to avoid that number.

 

[cerving]

The default for all Eggfinders is 915/0 (unless you bought a matched TX/RX set). DO NOT use that frequency/ID combination out in the field... it's for testing. That being said, people sometimes don't change it from the default... until they run into somebody else that didn't change THEIRS from the default, and tracking their rocket leads them to one sitting on the pad.

 

[mtnmanak]

Thanks all for the feedback!

Attached is my proposed board format - ignore the fact that the headings are all smooshed, they will be fine when I lay out the actual board.

Basic layout is all the Eggtimer and Featherwight freq/channel possibilities are explicitly listed and the last section open for other brands, HAM, etc

On a 4' x 8' board, the cells are 1.5" high and about 6" wide, so they should be more than big enough to get name and cell number in them with a dry erase marker.

Anybody see any issues?

 

[ac2fv]

Currently I'm on freq 907, but on the Featherweight it's easy to change. As long as there's a frequency board, all is good.

 

[ksaves2]

I mentioned that 18 years ago for a large local launch a frequency board would be helpful but that was way before there were 900Mhz GPS trackers.
There were only "unlicensed animal" Rf trackers in the 1.25 Meter (200Mhz) band that left a bad taste in every
licensed Ham who used the 1.25 Meter band. Turns out not many Hams use 1.25M so there wasn't really a conflict as launch
sites are isolated and 1.25M really is for local and not distance communication. 70cm (400Mhz) and to a lesser degree 2M (144Mhz)
were the only game in town with 400Mhz mainly used. There were no 2M APRS rocket trackers as the optimal antennas are longer
and the equipment of the time was too large to fly. Big Red Bee was the ONLY GPS/APRS tracker in town when I started out and one had
to be a Ham and pay a hefty price to get the tracker. I got two of them and they still work.
I would suspect a frequency board is a requirement now and posting it online before a launch will help fliers plan frequency strategy.
Also one last comment on RF/GPS tracking. The tracking transmitters are low powered and once the rocket is down, the ground Rf footprint
is measured by a radius of a few hundred feet and that's not in a depression or hole! That Rf footprint is highly UNLIKELY not going to interfere
with any commercial/Ham radio networks.

 

[ghuber]

Does anyone know if a Lora transmitter on these frequencies would conflict with either system (featherweight or egg timer)? My gps trackers are lora based.

 

[Steve Shannon]

Even though it’s older technology, frequency coordination for RDF trackers, such as Walston, might be important also.

 

[darrenf]

Thanks all for the feedback!

Attached is my proposed board format - ignore the fact that the headings are all smooshed, they will be fine when I lay out the actual board.

Basic layout is all the Eggtimer and Featherwight freq/channel possibilities are explicitly listed and the last section open for other brands, HAM, etc

On a 4' x 8' board, the cells are 1.5" high and about 6" wide, so they should be more than big enough to get name and cell number in them with a dry erase marker.

Anybody see any issues?

@Ulyu Any thoughts on this?

 

[darrenf]

Thanks all for the feedback!

Attached is my proposed board format - ignore the fact that the headings are all smooshed, they will be fine when I lay out the actual board.

Basic layout is all the Eggtimer and Featherwight freq/channel possibilities are explicitly listed and the last section open for other brands, HAM, etc

On a 4' x 8' board, the cells are 1.5" high and about 6" wide, so they should be more than big enough to get name and cell number in them with a dry erase marker.

Anybody see any issues?

Looks awesome. I tagged the creator of the Fluctus flight computer to see if he could list his frequencies for you.

 

[mtnmanak]

After playing around with the layout of the board, I have decided to rotate it into a landscape mode and build a down and dirty easel for it. I think it will be more user friendly and it will handle multiple sections better. If I make each row 1.3" high, it will fit 36 lines across the board. This will give Eggtimer (with 72 possibilities) two sections exactly, Featherweight (with 55 possibilities) about 1.5 sections and leave two full sections (72 lines) for other brands, HAM, etc. If need be, we can use the blank lines left in the Featherweight section, but this board could handle a theoretical 216 fliers at any given time, which should be plenty to get through a day.

While I would love to list all the other brands explicitly, I don't think there will be enough people bringing other brands to justify that. I think leaving 2 full sections open for "other" will cover all the various permutations of trackers.

 

[darrenf]

After playing around with the layout of the board, I have decided to rotate it into a landscape mode and build a down and dirty easel for it. I think it will be more user friendly and it will handle multiple sections better. If I make each row 1.3" high, it will fit 36 lines across the board. This will give Eggtimer (with 72 possibilities) two sections exactly, Featherweight (with 55 possibilities) about 1.5 sections and leave two full sections (72 lines) for other brands, HAM, etc. If need be, we can use the blank lines left in the Featherweight section, but this board could handle a theoretical 216 fliers at any given time, which should be plenty to get through a day.

While I would love to list all the other brands explicitly, I don't think there will be enough people bringing other brands to justify that. I think leaving 2 full sections open for "other" will cover all the various permutations of trackers.

Looks great. Thanks for doing this!

 

[ksaves2]

Even though it’s older technology, frequency coordination for RDF trackers, such as Walston, might be important also.

Walston/Rocket Tracker is in the 1.25 meter/220Mhz band. The frequencies were just below the 222 to 225Mhz Ham radio band and Hams really loathed that people could use that band without a license even though it was out of the given Ham band assignment. The trackers were around 216Mhz or so and the Rocket Tracker and Walston stuff cost a big pile of money back in the day to acquire and use. ($1500.00?) They were "ostensibly" listed as "animal" trackers to get around FCC rules to be used without a license. They went out of business with the modern trackers that were/are more economical to use.
I got my Ham Radio License due to an impetus to Rf track and learned a lot about radio tracking from my study. Got a Ham callsign and still have a Marvin White 220Mhz legal Rf tracker that transmits my callsign every few seconds in Morse code. Perfectly legal for me to fly today. Along with a 220Mhz Yagi and attenuator I paid a bunch for even though they were kits.
APRS and GPS stuff came out, prices did eventually drop and then................ Unlicensed 900Mhz GPS trackers came out on the cheap. They work fine especially for sport fliers. Don't expect any positions on ascent. Might get one on apogee and for the high speed drop under drogue might get nothing due to tumbling. It's after the main comes out a 900Mhz GPS tracker settles down. Blow the main as high as one can tolerate at their prospective launch site. THEN positions will come in on 900 Mhz to give that last position before landing. That's the key for recovery for out of sight stuff. The Big Red Bee Ham Band APRS stuff performed better on descent under drogue. I think they're still available if one is disposed to get a Ham Radio tech license to use them.
I saw a Walston unit in use on a launch site a very long time ago and was impressed. Found out how much it cost and that spurred me to get my Ham radio license. Built a pile of Rf trackers most of which are legal to fly today as they give out my callsign either by voice or Morse Code. (Remember Morse stuff is still legal in the radio world.)
Oh I did purloin a Walston tracking system from a prefect one time during the winter season. Walston/Rocket Tracker modulated their signals so if one had a Ham radio that could receive the frequency it would be hardly detected on a standard FM Ham radio. I could hear it up close but not 30 feet away. Don't know if they used CW modulation or some proprietary form of modulation which is different but most Ham radios handi-talkies at the time couldn't do that on the 1.25M band.
I'd be EXTREMELY leary to buy a used Walston/Rocket Tracker device for tracking unless one is a collector and not going to fly it. Cripes, lose a transmitter and no replacements to be had. Plus there hasn't been dealer support for I'd guess going on 10 years? Correct me if I'm wrong on that.
Why do RDF when there are GPS trackers galore nowadays?