Introduction, Obsession and a Video

[AndrewW]

Hello everyone on TRF! I finally wanted to introduce myself on here. My name is Andrew and I live in the Hudson Valley area of upstate NY. I have been lurking on the forum for over a year now and have finally decided to go out on a limb and say hi. This is the first time I have ever posted on any forum in my life so this is a bit of a departure for me.

I got into rocketry about a year and a half ago after visiting NASA with my family. Upon our return home I ordered some Estes kits to put together with my then 4 year old son Henry. After building and flying the kits I made the mistake of searching around online to see what the current state of rocketry was and that was pretty much the beginning of what I would now classify as a full on obsession. It started with Estes Ventris MPR kit and the thought that I would never get certified or get into HPR. That lasted about a month before I was building a Madcow DX3 for L1 cert attempt. Things got a bit out of control from there. I eventually got my L1 followed by my L2 shortly thereafter. To date I have been to launches at METRA, MDRA, URRG, and MARS and have a fleet of 10 High Power Rockets with several others in various stages of construction. I must thank everyone on this forum as I have gained an immeasurable wealth of knowledge from so many of you. My real passion is for learning and there is obviously no shortage of things to learn in rocket science so this hobby has really satisfied something in my soul. Along with the knowledge I have gleaned from this forum I have also learned how to machine metal, construct with composites, design circuits, and build electronic devices using SMT.

One final thing I would like to share is how much I appreciate that this is a hobby that I can share with my family. You may have seen me at one of the launches mentioned above with my son. I am the one that is typically recovering my rocket with a 5 year old on my shoulders and a DSLR and GPS tracker in my hands. I have also gotten my father into the hobby as well and he just received his L1 at URRF. As much as I love flying and seeing the results of all the work we put in by far my favorite thing to do is to spend time learning and building with my son well into the evening in my shop. I must also acknowledge all the wonderful people we have met along the way including vendors, club members as well as other rocket enthusiasts.

As a thank you I am post a video that I am hoping at least a few of you may enjoy...

[YOUTUBE]YyjLdz7Yfeo[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Lowpuller]

Very cool, please tell me how you did the video with flight info included??

 

[AndrewW]

The flight info is from the Eggtimer Quantum altimeters and is displayed using Dashware. I used an existing guage template and modified it to display what I wanted. It also required a bit of manipulation of the CSV file to show max altitude and velocity

 

[neil_w]

Welcome! Sounds like you jumped right into the deep end...

 

[dhbarr]

Bwahaha, we got another one.

No but seriously, welcome!

 

[ksaves2]

Great video! You obviously know how to do creative editing and such. I had to give that up after 16mm movie film lost the mainstream. Kurt

 

[Nytrunner]

Haha! The ventris was my first Mid-power too!

Now what camera did you use on that Arcas?

 

[Steve Shannon]

Great video! Everyone has something to teach. I look forward to learning from you.

 

[snrkl]

Nice! Welcome welcome welcome!

 

[Nick@JET]

Very impressive Andrew - glad you posted. What editing software did you use? I'm stuck in movie
Maker and would like to step up on the video side

 

[AndrewW]

I use an older version of Sonys Vegas Movie Studio that came on my laptop. It is somewhat unstable and has a fairly steep learning curve but it was free.

 

[AndrewW]

The camara was a Mobius in an Additive Aerospace shroud.

 

[Bat-mite]

Yours is a familiar story. Start with LPR, then try "just one" MPR for kicks. Then suddenly, "I could put an H in this and get level 1...." Next thing you know, you are deep in debt and spending $1000 on an N motor for your level 3. It is a sickness, but like you said, with many rewards. Welcome to the loonie bin.

 

[Bdpeters]

welcome, very nice video. as you already know this is a great family activity. it is great your kids and your father are involved.

 

[K'Tesh]

Oh... WOW!!! You obviously know how to make an entrance!

After the first two or three seconds of video, I knew I needed to open YouTube, and set that to full screen. WOW!!!

Thanks for editing out the 6000'... I was getting dizzy!

Welcome!

 

[AndrewW]

Thanks so much for the compliments. That ARCAS flight was the highest I have flown with a camara and I really liked the view from above the clouds but boy does it spin. I have made some other videos that are a lot more stable but go no where near as high.

[YOUTUBE]lXjnIIBfyW0[/YOUTUBE]

 

[neil_w]

I really love the instrumented videos. One suggestion, if the software gives you the option: I would choose analog gauge-style displays for speed and altitude (the second video has a good altitude dial running along the right edge). The reason, particularly for speed, is that the numbers vary so quickly (and seemingly jitter back and forth quite a bit) that it's hard to make much sense of them. The brain could interpret a wiggly pointer on a dial much more effectively.

But again, I don't know what options you get with the software. Either way the videos are great!

 

[AndrewW]

The software has a great variety of gauges available including analog dials as well as the ability to design your own. I have experimented with some of the analog type but was never very happy with how they looked for speed. Because velocity is derived from the barometric altimeter it is not very precise and exhibits a lot of fluctuation especially on trans and supersonic flights and when mapped to an analog guage it tends to be all over the place. I am working on an algorithm to try and smooth the data but have not quite figured it out yet.

 

[MaxQ]

A belated welcome aboard.
Methinks we'll be learning a few things from you.

 

[AndrewW]

I will share what ever limited knowledge I have.

 

[SCP]

Welcome! Awesome video, especially like the instruments as have a few others. Fellow NY'er here also, I am not far from Geneseo and need to get to some launches again darn it. Great job, again welcome!

 

[AfterBurners]

The guy charged you $100 really?

 

[AndrewW]

Yeah. He was really angry, it was the second rocket to land in his field that day and it sounded like there where some issues in the past so he said he was trying to send a message. I hated to pay it on principal but it is was one of my favorite birds with a motor case, camara, and two altimeters that I would hate to lose. In the end I paid and just decided to call it quits that day.

 

[AfterBurners]

Yeah. He was really angry, it was the second rocket to land in his field that day and it sounded like there where some issues in the past so he said he was trying to send a message. I hated to pay it on principal but it is was one of my favorite birds with a motor case, camara, and two altimeters that I would hate to lose. In the end I paid and just decided to call it quits that day.

I guess I can understand him wanting to send a message, but gezzzz $100. It's not like your rocket caused any damage. I could see him maybe getting pissed off if the rockets landing on his property were causing damage and that would justify a reimbursement, but WTH? Sounds to me the guy has a racket going and figures he would just make money on someone's misfortune. I believe in Karma.

 

[AndrewW]

Yeah I almost suspect he had something shady going on over there and he didn't like uninvited guests.