This all sounds like the genesis of a good book - Canepa were are you?
Reminiscing: How rocketry electronics have changed in 25 years!!
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Yeah but it's so cool to use a vintage altimeter and if it augers in, in a beater rocket, you can say you gave it a good death. I think I have a Cambridge around or one related to it but if not, the early deployment altimeters were of monstrous size. One of the problems is getting the early programming software to work on WinBlows "so and so". Not so hard if one keeps a "vintage" computer around!!
I've got an altimeter that has 4 channels for deployment from the early days, I have to go downstairs to look up the name. Has like 200 pages of instructions I printed off from a computer and I never had a rocket or a chance to fly it. Did connect it up to an old computer and it checked out o.k. Would have to use a serial port to get it to connect. Don't know if my old WinBlows computer will boot up for it now. Compatibility is an issue with old electronics. I had to connect a battery to the programming cable directly (came with it when I bought it used but it was extra cost otherwise) to get the altimeter to communicate to the computer! That is freaking outrageous in this day and age. It worked though back then.
Oh and all the "stuff" cost extra back in the day. battery cables, programming cables and such with quite a markup that one couldn't avoid if they didn't have a deployment device that had simple jumpers to do the settings with. If one could set the jumpers, if "ya" wants to get the data off the thing ya's got'sa pay extra for the freaking cables for your freaking computer!!
I started getting back into rocketry around the early 90's for a frame of reference but there were old deployment devices floating around for a long time thereafter some of which I picked up.
I need to go downstairs and see what I got. Got off track when my wife died and I retired to take care of the home and my mentally handicapped son. He's doing well and I could get back into launching if I could get out in my workshops, garage and basement, clean up and get back into building.
Nowadays, it's usually easier to get data off a "device" as a cable is provided or Bluetooth is used to make it easier or harder as it may be.
Had most of my altimeter programming software working under Linux back in the day and had a version of Rocksim running fine under VMware and actually WINE in Linux. Now if only I could find those "danged" hard drives and remember the stupid passwords!!! (I pulled them from various laptops. Still think I got them around.)
Got sidetracked by work, my life, my son and my wife's illness.
Glad to be retried now.
Kurt Savegnago
Oh shoot,
I think I just remembered the the name of my old deployment altimeter in my basement that was state of the art back in the day.
It was called the "Mission Controller". The instructions were terribly hard to get through and close to 200 pages single side. I suspect not many were sold but if I remember correctly, some folks did some complex flights with them. Correct me if I'm wrong. Kurt Savegnago
RandyM
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My first altimeter was a Transolve P5-K, if I remember correctly. After assembling it, I couldn't get it to work but after exchanging a few emails was told to send it in to him to take a look at it. Got it back a few weeks later with a note saying it was his fault. He got a bad batch of circuit boards that weren't plated through for a few connections which made me feel much better. I had been building electronic kits for years, the biggest being a Heathkit Oscilloscope so I really didn't think it was me and was happy to find out that was true. I flew it in my first dual deploy rocket at a Southern Thunder. Just flew a few years ago and it still works great. Although, I fly it with a second altimeter now a days. 
Does anyone have pictures of an Olsen or maybe Olson Altimeter? I think I saw one once and it had an lcd screen on it.
Ken
Ken
My first alt and it still works! Winged Shadow ‘How High’ circa 2006 or so. Quest had a licensed version as well.
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I've got one. I'll have to dig it out of the rocket tho... It's a power hog. Next time I fly it, I'll hook up two 9v in parallel to keep it going.
I was happy to find that there are several different 1080p cameras for sale on amazon and ebay for $20.
They don't seem to handle ballistic recovery very well; maybe I should pot the new one in epoxy...
They don't seem to handle ballistic recovery very well; maybe I should pot the new one in epoxy...
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Great! Now I gotta go digging. I know I have one, but never flew it. Crazy small, originally designed for (I might be assuming) S8E flyers and those of other ilk that follow the things with wings program. I bought it for a rocket glider that was never born.
The various flavors of "How High" devices were quite interesting and worked very well. They have a really low sample rate (1 Hz) but if your flight is reasonably vertical, that's good enough to get an apogee within about a meter. I think that was the first dedicated rocket altimeter (well, at least suggested for rocketry use, but out of the model airplane world) that I flew.
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My first altimeter was a BlackSky Altacc. That must have been before 2000. But they say memory is the second thing to go and I forget what the first is. And unlike most, even today, the atlacc used in accelerometer. It was simply to mount, two screws through you body tube, and simple to use. Close the screw switch and count the led blinks. Never had it fail. BUT to read out the barest of data, you needed a serial cable and their proprietary software. Alas I still have two AltAccs and accord to the self test one can do, both work. But the software is hard to come by and my disk is long since gone.
Next I moved on to Missile Works. And the RRC2 was also super easy. Which is why I got two. And the RRC2+. I still have both RRC2s and RRC2+'s and they still work.
Next I moved on to Missile Works. And the RRC2 was also super easy. Which is why I got two. And the RRC2+. I still have both RRC2s and RRC2+'s and they still work.
Ah, the RRC2 was a good one.
https://www.rocketreviews.com/missile-works-rrc2-rocket-recovery-controller--by-al-casper.html
We are such a niche hobby and lucky to have such robust options for altimeters and trackers.
https://www.rocketreviews.com/missile-works-rrc2-rocket-recovery-controller--by-al-casper.html
We are such a niche hobby and lucky to have such robust options for altimeters and trackers.
If you want electronics to work, even after a 100g ballistic recovery, you have to pot it in epoxy. Humaseal will help to a point, but not like the right potting epoxy.
PayLoad
I don't do spirals
Heck, Y'all youngsters or what?
I actually had one of these when I was 7, (50 years ago) my parents got me one for Christmas - The Estes Cineroc. I took it apart to try & see how it worked & never got it back together again. I still do stupid stuff like that.
I actually had one of these when I was 7, (50 years ago) my parents got me one for Christmas - The Estes Cineroc. I took it apart to try & see how it worked & never got it back together again. I still do stupid stuff like that.
Transolve magnetic apogee detector. Olsen altimeter. Pratt Hobbies had a two-event R/C style event system.
I have one I built completely from parts, but that is an old story.
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I have an Olsen timer. Also still work I believe. Also a magnetic apogee detector. Not transolve. Never had the guts to try it.
Is the MAD unit one of Dr. Galejs's? If so I flew a bunch of them awhile back and they worked just fine. I dorked one of the units in building and he fixed it for me! I think I built 3 of them. Great guy.
There are no safety circuits involved just raw apogee only deployment. Have to turn it on with the rocket upright on the pad. Link to a review is here: https://www.rocketreviews.com/plans---robert-galejs-magnetic-apogee-detection-sensor-yitah-wu.html
If the motor igniter failed on the pad, I'd to turn it off and personally let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes upright on the pad. Then I would move the rocket up to put a new igniter in. Yeah overkill but I hand tested a bunch of homemade ematches with a Galejs MAD unit in my hands with safety glasses and it was interesting to see it would pop the match based on whether the unit tipped over towards the North, South, East or West direction. I can't remember but the rocket had to be further "pointing down" in the North/South or East/West direction before the match was fired. I did a bunch of testing by holding the Galejs unit in my hand and popped a bunch of homemade ematches tilting it in different directions. Used an LED sometimes to save on ematches. It was a different angle in each direction and it would blow the match but was totally adequate for apogee deployment even though there was a slight difference in "angle". I found out it depends upon the latitude one lives at.
I tried to launch my rockets totally "straight up" including pointing them downwind slightly so they'd weathercock into a curving "sort of" straight up flight. Experienced fliers will know what I'm talking about.
I remember Dr. Galejs (he had a Phd) sold a kit that was dirt cheap back in the day.
When the Jolly Logic chute release came out, I was able to get "pseudo" dual deploy with a single ematch. Blow the chute out at apogee with the Galejs MAD unit and have the Jolly Logic release device unfurl the main down at a lower release altitude. I bet a "ton" of people do that now!
Had many who thought the main wasn't going to unfurl and the rocket was going to crash. I released the main up high, 1000 to 800 feet as we had the room on the launch site.
Nowadays, folks are more aware of these devices. I think I have a later MAD unit I forget who made it that had more safety circuits in it in the way of a G switch so if one tipped the armed rocket over, it wouldn't blow the charge. Rocket had to be accelerating before it armed after turning it on. Anyone remember who made it? Still have it on the bench and flew it several times too. Kurt Savegnago
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Yes, it had a 2-line LCD display. I think I have one in a rocket stored away. If I can find it, I'll post a picture. I have several of the old units. I need to get them all out and take a photo. 20 years of electronics history.
I think I have one of those too but don't remember who I bought it from! I have a Mission Controller deployment altimeter which I think was one of the last sold. Had four deployment channels on it and the programming software was a nightmare. The software loaded on a WinBlows computer just fine but there were a "buttload" of parameters one had to set! I had to connect a 9V transistor battery up to the programming harness so I could program it through a computer! That was ancient times! What a PITA! Never flew it as I never had a complicated rocket that needed the 4 channels on it. Was an impulse buy as most deployment altimeters only had two channels for deployment at the time and I had some money to spend. Two channels was all I needed. I bet if I connected it up to an old computer and figured it out, it would work. Actually, I probably could fly it as I kept it in the proverbial "cool and dry" place!. Kurt
For awhile I flew cardboard rockets. If there was a major deployment failure, aka lawn dart, they splattered in the cornfield. I was lucky if I could dig out the nosecone. Had a 4 inch Loc tubed project that went in. I learned early on to bring a spade and a shovel to a launch site. If not my project I gratefully loaned my digging hardware to an unfortunate flier. A similar rocket is in the picture above with my lovely late wife. That rocket still survives as I "mastered" sort of flying thin walled, cardboard rockets. Apogee deployment has to be "spot on" to avoid a zipper. It's a thin walled DD Loc tubed rocket that took me 8 years to get a nominal flight out of. The fincan is bullet proof and I could always replace the upper tubes for one reason or another (mainly zippers).
With a lawn dart, electronics were always splattered and I didn't want to pot them in epoxy as the idea was to have a "successful" recovery to fly again! Shoot, I used a fresh battery every time but "something" got disconnected!
I'd "pot" if I had a "super duper" high G rocket on the "upside" but I'm not going to go there. Besides, I wouldn't trust an electronic device that lawn darted in. The "rare" events (sic) I had the electronics weren't potted and trashed. Even if they'd been "potted" I wouldn't have trusted them thereafter. Best to toss them in the junk drawer to cannibalize for parts. Kurtn
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