Use of an Eggfinder TX and Eggtimer Quantum in MD flight.

[Late Skies]

Hello everyone!

I'm currently a 4th year engineering student attempting my L2 certification flight soon on a MD 54mm rocket utilizing a Loki Research K960 (or K690, have yet to decide) motor. My plan is to use the Eggfinder TX and Quantum I purchased last year for telemetry but have a few questions regarding these two electronics.

1) Does anyone know of any reliable software I can use on Windows that will be able to provide real-time GPS data during the flight? I noticed that MapSphere is mentioned on the Eggtimer Rocketry website but have been unable to reach the website for the software and was curious if modern alternatives are available.

2) According to my sims in OpenRocket my rocket is estimated to reach 12400' at apogee and travel at around Mach 1.8 max velocity. The TX module will be mounted via sled in the nosecone, which has an aluminum tip. Will the interference caused by the aluminum tip pose a problem for this transmitter?

Any helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated and I apologize if these questions have been answered before, I have yet to find a forum post regarding these specific questions.

 

[cerving]

Do you have the LCD receiver? That will give you the GPS coordinates during flight, and if you get the LCD-GPS Module it will also do the navigation for you; it will show you which way to go and how far. You can add an OpenLog to the LCD receiver, and use Google Earth afterwards to get a pretty picture of your track. If you're looking for some software to give you the track in real-time, I don't know what software you could use... but you're not going to be looking at some screen while your flight is in progress anyway.

Aluminum tips are not a problem, as long as you keep the antenna a few inches away from it.

 

[waltr]

Well you got the answer directly from Cris.

As a user of his Eggtimers & Eggfinders I completely agree with his suggestions.
I have add an OpenLog SD Card into the LCD receiver to record the NMEA sequences from the GPS. Then Easy to import into Google Earth to see 3D path.

 

[Worsaer]

And if you want complete detailed post-flight data for analysis, add an onboard data logger.