I was a member of NAR all of 6 months due to the local club being NAR. Found tripoli and dropped NAR. Tripoli is the best thing since sliced bread
Ben
Well, I'm glad to hear that TRA is working out well for you, Ben, because for what you do, Tripoli is really your only option.
In my case, the nearest Tripoli prefecture is even farther away than the nearest NAR section. To get to ASTRE's (NAR #471) meetings or one of their launches, it is a 3 hour drive for me each way. I don't even know where METRA's meetings are held, but their launch field (Pine Island, NY) is double that distance, or six hours of driving each way for me. Tripoli is a fine organization, and I am interested in getting to know some of its members and in learning from them. But since I am not interested in making my own motors, I don't see what joining TRA right now would do for me that NAR doesn't already do, especially since it is extremely unlikely that I would ever get to a meeting or even attend a launch. What constitutes the "best" organization is always a personal decision, based on things like your circumstances, your location, and what you really want to do in rocketry.
I joined NAR in 2006, two years after becoming a BAR. I didn't join it when I was flying model rockets in the late '60's (although I wanted to), because back then I could barely scratch together the money for a handful of kits and enough motors to fly each rocket two or three times. (And when I put them away in 1971, I still had a few motors left over. In my four years of participation in model rocketry as a kid, I think that I did a grand total of about 8 flights with my 5 rocket fleet.) I simply could not put the money together for a membership back then, even though I wanted very much to join. If I had kept going with the hobby back then, I am certain that I would have become a member within a few years, though.
MarkII
