Hello,
I am new both on the forum and into rocketry so apologies if I make any mistakes!
I am working on developing the GPS recovery system for my rocketry club and have been considering two options
1) Developing my own tracking system & ground station
2) Buying out-of-the-box solutions
For the first option
1) I was wondering about anybody's experience with creating their own tracking system and setting up their own ground station & transmitting systems.
2) If they were able to create their own system on a non-licensed band. I have seen that some out-of-the-box solutions utilize non-licensed VHF/UHF bands but none for self-made tracking systems and was unsure why. The self-made systems I saw all used APRS protocol and that only operates on HAM bands, but surely a self-made system could be made to operate on a non-licensed Frequency band as well?
For the second option
1) What are peoples recommendations?
I've seen options from Featherweight, EggFinder, and Big Red Bee. But I am still a novice in this area and am unsure as to the pros and cons of each. We are thinking of buying a Featherweight Tracker, and just the tracker with no ground station, and making our own ground station. Of course, that means I'd have to figure out how to develop the ground station. (If anyone has any good resources on how to do so would be amazing to have them!!)
This leads me to my last question.
1) Do you have any resources (websites, books/journals) that you could link to help in this process?
I have a much larger preference for creating my own entire tracking system & ground station as its much cheaper. But I couldn't quite find good resources on how to create a system, so if anyone has any recommendations would be much appreciated!
I am new both on the forum and into rocketry so apologies if I make any mistakes!
I am working on developing the GPS recovery system for my rocketry club and have been considering two options
1) Developing my own tracking system & ground station
2) Buying out-of-the-box solutions
For the first option
1) I was wondering about anybody's experience with creating their own tracking system and setting up their own ground station & transmitting systems.
2) If they were able to create their own system on a non-licensed band. I have seen that some out-of-the-box solutions utilize non-licensed VHF/UHF bands but none for self-made tracking systems and was unsure why. The self-made systems I saw all used APRS protocol and that only operates on HAM bands, but surely a self-made system could be made to operate on a non-licensed Frequency band as well?
For the second option
1) What are peoples recommendations?
I've seen options from Featherweight, EggFinder, and Big Red Bee. But I am still a novice in this area and am unsure as to the pros and cons of each. We are thinking of buying a Featherweight Tracker, and just the tracker with no ground station, and making our own ground station. Of course, that means I'd have to figure out how to develop the ground station. (If anyone has any good resources on how to do so would be amazing to have them!!)
This leads me to my last question.
1) Do you have any resources (websites, books/journals) that you could link to help in this process?
I have a much larger preference for creating my own entire tracking system & ground station as its much cheaper. But I couldn't quite find good resources on how to create a system, so if anyone has any recommendations would be much appreciated!