loudest motors

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r1dermon

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well, the pyro junkie in me has really surfaced for this one...

strictly commercially, what are your guys opinions on the loudest motors available? please keep it to commercial loads, and it'd be good if we could get a concensus on the loudest of each motor class...thanks guys, can't wait to see the responses!
 
This sounds like it might be fun!

Unfortunately, I can offer only one contender in the 6mm class--the MMX.
 
unless something has changed in the past few years, my choice for F class would be the SU F20.
 
The CTI Pro38 1-grain Classic G that I fired a couple of years ago was so strikingly loud that I got startled and dropped my camera! The ignition sounded like a shotgun blast at close range. (And it was a perfect burn, too, not a cato.)

For C motors, the German-made Quest C's struck me as being a bit noisier than the Estes equivalents. They have a distinctive "rattlesnake" sound, as I recall. (I haven't burned one in a couple of years, though.) Oh, and you can really hear the delay grain hiss and pop as it burns.

MarkII
 
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unless something has changed in the past few years, my choice for F class would be the SU F20.
The AT F25 puts out a pretty respectable amount of noise, too. I haven't heard either one of the new Aerotech F's yet, though.

I know that this doesn't count, but the loudest "E" that I have ever fired was a cluster of three D12's. :D

MarkII
 
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Whatever APCP motor that goes off in my vicinity when I'm not aware it's going off! :jaw:
 
Do I hear a Skidmark?:D

The 38mm H123 is pretty loud for an H.


Al
 
At Plaster Blaster 8 today, AeroTech demonstrated some new reloads named "Loudmouth".

The goal was to have the loudest audio signature.

These reloads were pretty loud. :D
 
I agree two I320 LoudMouth Whites were flown today and they were nice and loud.
If I got one of those and brought it to a launch, would that mean that there two loudmouths present? :confused:

MarkII
 
One of the most outrageous motors I've heard was the 3Grain 54mm CTI J1520 VMax motors. I heard the LCO announce it, and I turned around to "watch" the rocket fly. Even knowing it was coming I nearly fell over. I went right over to the dealer and bought one. I'm really looking forward to flying it.
Hard to get the full feel for it but still, check this out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtIpq17QWFU

LenB
 
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It all depends on where you are when the motor ignites. If you are at the minimum personnel stand-off distance then it's probably the Aeroech J2135N-P at 100'.

Bob
 
ok, good point...so lets call it the loudest motor's at the minimum recommended safe distance...
 
If you account for the combination of rocket engine size, how close you are to the pad when it launches and the rocket you fly in and give bonus points for "coolness" of sound, I'd suggest the Semroc "The Point" flying on a simple C6-3. It goes up slowly so you hear the chuuuuuuush sound for the full burn time....

(before I get 'blasted' on this forum, let me point out that the ORIGINAL "The Point" was from Centuri. :) )
 
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If you account for the combination of rocket engine size, how close you are to the pad when it launches and the rocket you fly in and give bonus points for "coolness" of sound, I'd suggest the Semroc "The Point" flying on a simple C6-3. It goes up slowly so you hear the chuuuuuuush sound for the full burn time....

(before I get 'blasted' on this forum, let me point out that the ORIGINAL "The Point" was from Centuri. :) )
Your overall point is so true. My remarks about the German-made Quest C's were made after flying some saucers on them (C6-3's as a matter of fact). The slow ascent and low maximum altitude meant that the motor never got that far away from me. As a result I could hear the entire burn very distinctly, as well as the surprisingly furious delay grain burn as the saucer started to descend. To follow up on Bob's observation, how "loud" a motor sounds has a great deal to do with factors that are external to the motor itself. The acoustics of the particular launch site, weather conditions (I think that any breeze that is present will attenuate the sound), the placement of the observer in relation to the launch pad and the level of ambient noise are some of the physical variables that would presumably affect the level of perceived noise from a firing motor. And then there are psychological factors, such as the "expected" noise level, the level of attention that the observer is paying to the launch, the degree to which the observer is "focused" vs. being preoccupied with such things as prepping his or her own rocket for flight or with obtaining a motor, for instance, as well as possibly other variables.

I will readily admit that some of the factors that affected how loud that CTI Pro38 Classic G reload (that I mentioned earlier) sounded me were: it was the last launch, made at the end of the day after everyone else but me and the LCO had left; it was also made at a late fall launch (in October) and it occurred near sunset because of being at that time of the year, when things in nature seem to quiet down anyway. Along with all that was the fact that it was my first ever reload and my first ever attempt to install and ignite a composite motor with a long 2-lead igniter, and that all the while as I was prepping it, the LCO was urging me to hurry up because he wanted to pack up the range and go home. And then I had struggled frantically to locate a 1/4" launch rod to put on the pad, only to find that the pads were only drilled to accept 1/8" and 3/16" rods (no MPR pads had been brought ot the launch), so I had to set up the rocket on a pad with a 3/16" rod. And so because we were losing the light, I was struggling with the prep, and I was anxious about having put everything together and installed properly, my stress level was pretty high. Oh, and then I was also attempting, for the first time ever, to capture a lift-off shot of a rocket with my camera. I am going into all of this boring detail in order to illustrate the large number of factors that are not intrinsic in the motor that can affect one's perception of the motor's sound when it is fired.

But even considering all of the above, I still maintain that the reload was really LOUD! :eyepop:

MarkII

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for Me it's the N2801 Skidmark, one loud critter, so far it's the winner, but I have heard louder from a EX P-8700 fast blue.:y:
 
KBA M3500R

Had to put on ear muffs when testing this motor. We were only 50 feet way (behind a blast barrier), but the first one left my ears ringing.

John
 
KBA M3500R

Had to put on ear muffs when testing this motor. We were only 50 feet way (behind a blast barrier), but the first one left my ears ringing.

John
If you want to count motor certification tests behind a barrier, that I'd say the AMW N motors we certified at Pelham where we were 35' away behind the blast barrier. They were loud even with the earmuffs.

Bob
 
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