Agree it's a good way to find a rocket and folks have been doing that for years before GPS tracking was viable. RDF is extremely helpful with rockets that land a fair distance away but
one gets a "visual" at the limits of vision just before touchdown. At least there is a visual bearing augmented by the tracker as to how to proceed. Locking a bearing on a completely sight
unseen flight takes practice and the goal is getting within the ground footprint of the tracker to pick up a signal to home in on. If there is a tracker failure in flight, one can be out of luck
if a visual is not seen on descent.
If going with a completely sight unseen rocket flight, an edge can be had if one sims the heck out of the intended flight and note the total flight times. Get a list of the times and
use a stop watch when the launch button is pushed. The elapsed time can give some empiric idea of the flight events, although it seems the Tele-Mini can telemeter that info to make it even
easier. When it's expected that the rocket should be getting lower, that's the time to really concentrate on getting a good bearing and lock it in before the signal is lost.
I think an electronic attenuator is smoother in that regard as opposed to a mechanical one.
One other thing to optimize the final fix is to use a handheld mapping GPS that in Garmin parlance is "Sight n' Go". One can sight a distant object and lock a bearing "to" that object
to maintain the bearing. This is great for modrocs one sees landing at a distance that perhaps end up in tall grass. Sight it up and lock it in before touchdown. Just keep walking that line and there's a good chance it will get you close. Now if it's completely sight unseen with an RDF rocket, one can hold the mapping GPS parallel to the Yagi beam and once the signal is lost, lock the bearing. They now have a line they can walk under auspices of their GPS that will greatly increase one's chances of getting within the ground footprint of the tracker and not experience randomly getting off course.
The thing to do would be to have the mapping GPS at the "Sight n' Go" screen readied before the flight. Once in flight, if it appears that there is no visual to be had, whip out the Garmin have it parallel to the Yagi beam, ready to get a lock once the signal is lost. I have an Etrex Vista HC I can wear with a lanyard around
my neck at the ready for that purpose.
Remember, the goal is to get that sucker back in time to fly the next one. Kurt
No, in the open.
