Kurt, I appreciate your input. So far, I plan to have flights that go up, come down and are hopefully recovered readily. I don't mean to be flippant, but I'm realizing (I think) that I guess I don't really know what questions I should be asking myself or of the community. The differences that you've pointed out don't tell me anything, because I don't know what impact they have. What I mean is, it isn't something I would've known to compare despite trying to read the BRB user guide (clearly not written for someone at the bottom of the learning curve) or by trying to use this site's excuse for a search function. So, I guess I need to back up to very basic first principles here.
I can tell you this, and maybe that will help frame where you'd steer me next. I'm an L1 flyer. I've not ventured beyond 3-grain 29mm reloads yet, though I've recently purchased a longer 29mm case and, now, a 38mm case to start this season with. I only have one rocket so far that'll take the 38mm case; more are planned later. I hope this season to fly upwards of 4-5000' - so far, I've only tickled about half that. My stuff is single-deploy, and have become adept at using the JLCR to get stuff to drop nearby. But I feel that really anything going over 2000' or so should probably carry a tracker.
All that brings me back around to now I'm starting build with the assumption that I'll have to accommodate a tracker. The Radial Flyer is built with the nose kit, and I'll likely retrofit my 38mm 3" MAC Scorpion with something equivalent. But right now, I hadn't reached any conclusion as to what that tracker would be, only that it should be there at somepoint. Thus, this question about building/finishing the rocket.
No, I didn't take your response negatively at all. All of the GPS systems out there for rocketry are a little bit different and that's what I meant by considering the differences of the
100 mW EggFinder and the 250mW Missileworks. If you're really going to be punching up modest sized rockets really high that have the chance of drifting far, higher power Rf output can be desirous, If you are sticking to 38mm, the Eggfinders and even a TRS can fit and work well. I don't think they'll fit in 29mm but maybe an EggFinder can. Anyone correct me there on that.
Smaller rockets are harder to see at a distance and 38's can really disappear. At 1 to 1.5 miles away under a 36" fluorescent chute there's a good chance one isn't going to see it even if the chute deploys properly.
I've had a good 8 flights with small rockets that really didn't land that far away that I walked right up to and it was obvious the main deployed nicely. Even though my mapping trackers
cued me where to look to get a visual on the main deployment, they weren't seen by me or anyone else under chute, drogue or main. Additionally, I've had a couple of fiberglass rockets that came in with stiff parachutes that didn't fill after being released by the Jolly Logic Chute Release. Didn't see them at all except the EggFinders survived and were giving me positions with the rockets on the ground. That's what is in that message photomap link I posted above. Never saw the rocket coming in but knew exactly where it was at. If I had done that without a tracker, I would have likely been lucky because that was the direction I travel to get back to the main road.
I'd say a tracker is more important if punching smaller rockets above 3000' in windy (> 10mph) conditions. Winds aloft can send them every which way too, not necessarily in the direction of the prevailing ground winds.
Venue plays a part too. If flying at a major launch, people stumble into others downed rockets and return them. I do a lot of flying with few other fliers with
a 15k waiver. I lose it and likely nobody else is going to stumble into it. That's why I'm addicted to the GPS trackers. Fly it, find it fast and can get back fast
to fly the next rocket not dawdling around looking for the last one.
Yeah, once you send small rockets above 2000-3000 feet strange things start happening the longer time they remain out of sight. I'll send up my 38mm motored
ASP WAC Corporal on a 38mm 2 grain H242 but I stuff a 14 second smoke delay in the plugged motor and use a magnetic anomaly detector to deploy the apogee only main chute (with the JLCR) The long smoke gives me as much a chance to maintain a visual but I'll tell you the yellow rocket is hard to see on descent with that restrained chute. I'm lucky if I see a few flashes of sunlight reflected off the paint and it's hard to follow the rocket down. Once the chute is out, it's easier to see.
Other thing I suggest and I do this on all my tracker flights in a newly built rocket is do a first flight that doesn't necessarily spend that much time out of sight so I can shakedown the tracker installation and the rocket. It comes back so I can see it visually and I don't have to worry about losing it on the first flight.
I then start punching with harder motors once my confidence goes up with a given configuration.
Early on I had a deployment failure with a 70cm Ham BeelineGPS and that $259.00 loss was hard to swallow. Farmer found the remains and I got the motor casing back 18 months later at least. The altimeter survived surprisingly but the BLGPS was pulverized to bits.
One other thing is with an unfortunate "sight unseen" ballistic flight, a GPS tracker can lead you to the remains or the hole in the ground. Once the rocket is in the death dive, you just need "one" position. The lower the better. You go to that position and the hole or the fincan sticking up will be nearby. Had one of those too.
If using an RDF tracker, one is likely not going to be able to hold a steady bearing once the tracker is dead as is likely going to happen with a ballistic descent and
crash. Kurt