NARAM heavy lift altitude question

[NikeRam]

Why does the NAR never fly the heavy lift payload events; e.g. United States Model Rocketry Sporting Code section 25, motor classes F or G, at the NARAM competition ?

It seems the mid-power competition enthusiasts are not getting their events flown at the national meet.

 

[Buzzard]

Never? At NARAM 54 last year they flew G Eggloft Altitude. E Dual Eggloft Altitude at N52. While not a payload events, G Super-Altitude was flown at N49 and F altitude at N48. That is as far back as I took time to look.
All NAR events are hosted by NAR sections that either volunteer to hold the event or are asked to when there isn't a proposal. It all comes down to a section having a suitable field where higher impulse events can be held with a good chance of safe flights and recoveries. NARAM-52 was held in Pueblo, CO and they held a few high power contest events that were not part of the NAR competition. I have flown NARAMs where the site was surrounded by corn fields and others by forests. Without a suitable field, flying F and G events is not practical. The section holding NARAM-55 this July has a small field and scheduled suitable events to fly on that field.
Next, you have to consider the logistics. The host section has to provide the eggs used. Contestants do not have to fly eggs that have already been flown, so for a dual egg event, that is up to four eggs per contestant. Eggs must meet size and weight requirements, so enough eggs have to be purchased to ensure that enough eggs are available. For the Payload events, the NAR uses one ounce sand payloads (used to be a lead weight) and E, F, and G events use 2, 3, and 4 payloads respectively. The host section either needs to provide the payloads or they have to certify the contests' payloads meet the requirements. Manpower and time considerations for any section.
Finally, since there are age requirements for the purchase of F and G motors, some sections split the event and have the juniors fly a lower powered event while the seniors fly the bigger motors. This is another event to track and trophies to provide.

So, if you have a suitable field, the volunteers to staff a NARAM, and the time to prep all the logistics, I am positive the NAR Contest Board wants to hear from you and your proposal to fly F and G payload events. I am not being snarky as it is a valid question, but it is a yearly problem for the NARAM and the National Sports Launch to find sections to propose hosting the events. FWIW, my first NARAM was #11 in 1969 and I served nine years on the NAR Board of Trustees.

Chas

 

[Dale Saukerson]

Altitude events (as opposed to duration only) add to the challenges of hosting a contest.
Historically it was far easier to get folks to run a stopwatch then obtain and use theodolites.
Onboard electronic altitude recorders may change this eventually.

 

[Buzzard]

Thanks Dale for bringing up the tracking issues. I had that as a point, but my soapbox got a little wobbly there and I forgot to mention it. Tracking is a lost art as there are not any premade trackers available. Measuring one or several baselines is tough, although I have seen it done on smart phones using GPS which does beat dragging a 100 meter tape across a field. At NARAM 11 they did not account for the difference in elevation between the tracking stations which caused quite an error.
Altimeters are the up and coming solution, but they have to be certified for use in competition. The team that I fly competition with set several records, subject to approval for altitude flights using altimeters. Mainly because they were new events and records had not be set yet or recent ones were exceeded.

You know tracking is an issue when sections ask who has their Centuri Skytraks from the late '60s...

Chas