A Voice for Your Eggtimer GPS and Telemetry

[cerving]

I played around with adding an audio amplifier to it, but ultimately the issues were 1) how big speaker can you put in the case, 2) How much will adding that speaker and amp jack up the cost, 3) would people really use the speaker or would an earphone/AUX output be more useful? Ultimately, having just the jack won out... especially for GPS tracking. You have the flexibility of connecting it to whatever amplifier you may have, your car's AUX input, or using earbuds.

The problem with Bluetooth (besides sucking a fair amount of power and adding cost) is that you are forced to use a Bluetooth-enabled audio device. If your chase vehicle doesn't have that (i.e. my 2004 XTerra), it's not going to do you any good. If you don't have Bluetooth headphones, you would be forced to go out and buy some. You can do virtually anything with a simple 3.5mm audio jack... almost everybody has earbuds laying around, and the ones you get at the dollar store work just fine with it.

 

[John Kemker]

With a jack, you can get an inexpensive BT audio dongle. Plug it into the jack and you're good to go.

 

[cerving]

An update... just got the PC boards, put one together and took build pictures for the docs. They'll be ready to ship later this week, just in time for the Holiday Sale... but that's another thread.

 

[cerving]

The Asssembly/User's Guide for the Eggtimer Voice Module is now on the web site... http://eggtimerrocketry.com/eggfinder-lcd-receiver-support/

 

[MikeyDSlagle]

@cerving
I am just now catching up here...
Would I need an LCD with GPS module for the Eggbot to lead me to the rocket?

 

[cerving]

If you want it to tell you exactly where to go to get your rocket, yes, you'll need the LCD-GPS module. That's what the GPS does for you... without it, you can get the compass direction and distance from a single fixed point (usually the launch pad or your work table), but if you lose line of sight to that point it would be difficult to track with that. The Compass Screen is primarily for keeping track of which direction your rocket is drifting under chute... not so much for tracking.

 

[maddmaxx11]

Very nice! Now I have to add this to the list with the TX and receiver. Can’t wait to build these soon….

 

[cwbullet]

This is a huge plus! Can't wait to build one.

 

[BEC]

Necro-ing this thread to say I just finished one of these to use with the telemetry module so I can have some live callouts. I assembled it this evening and got it integrated with my rev A1 LCD receiver and a new Black Aero case all in about 3 1/2 hours. This included removing the receiver from an older Black Aero case, doing a GPS-ectomy, and changing the battery powering the receiver since the one I had in the other case won't fit in this one with the voice module mounted as shown at the beginning of the thread.

I expect I'll be testing it this weekend as I've already been flying the telemetry module fed by an ION with good results.

My immediate motivation is provide a means for NARAM Scale judges to know there is real telemetry coming down from my (not yet built) scale subject when they should be watching the flight rather than an LCD screen by piping the output to a small powered speaker on the range. But I expect I'll use it from time to time for fun even after testing it.

And yeah, I'd love to have different voice choices but for twenty bucks what do you expect? As usual Cris has created something both useful and affordable. And it worked on the first try!

I also may well get another for the to-be-built second receiver for GPS tracking. But that's for later.