Ah nuts, sorry to hear that. Hope you and the students still had a good time at the launch. Will you try again?
I see your point, but disagree.While I do like the idea, I can't agree with the concept. Yup, lost more small stuff than I'd like to remember, but it's technically preparing to fail..
Ah nuts, sorry to hear that. Hope you and the students still had a good time at the launch. Will you try again?
I'm a fan of redundancy, but prepping to recover lost parts in advance is a different game.In my mind that effort would be better spent avoiding failure. Again, just my opinion.
and today it went above the cloud ceiling
I wouldn't call it preparing to fail, I'd call it insurance. You don't buy car insurance with the intent to get into a collision. But having insurance sure makes it a lot easier to recover if you do.While I do like the idea, I can't agree with the concept. Yup, lost more small stuff than I'd like to remember, but it's technically preparing to fail..
I keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen at all times.Do you keep a fire extinguisher next to your stove when frying chicken?
Painfully obvious that there will be no end to "this". I'm out. Enjoy..
I like to think of it as being prudent and planning for contingencies.but it's technically preparing to fail..
+1. Inside the pantry door, right next to the range.I keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen at all times.
I like to think of it as being prudent and planning for contingencies.
+1. Inside the pantry door, right next to the range.
View attachment 398860
Also keep a portable one in the range box. Lit up a balsa fin with a misfire once.
View attachment 398861
Also had a small one in the car glove box, but didn't replace it when it expired.
Back to the subject,
For the OP, if space allows consider using a small GPS or radio tracker and hardware. Expensive but you'll stand a much better chance of getting your rocket back.
In reply to the question about a fire extinguisher... I don't cook, or at least, not on a stove. However, I do keep a fire extinguisher in my home. At one time, I had a couple of them (those are currently residing in the crawl space under my mom's home).
In re-reading my first post, I realize that the word "streamer" was left out, and there may be some confusion in my method of recovery. I've edited that post.
Basically, I'm not saying that the streamer should be the method of recovering the payload bay section. It should be inside the payload bay in the event that whatever causes the shred tears the payload section open, scattering the components like the prizes from a pinata.
In thinking about this more, I think I'll try this for all builds where the rocket is likely to be able to go out of sight... Attaching a small section of "chrome mylar" (perhaps some Trim Monokote, a small ribbon cut from an old balloon, or a scrap of candy wrapper) placed somewhere on the shoulder of the nosecone, the parachute, or the shock cord. In sunny conditions, you might get a flash of light (like I did with my L1), that'll help you spot it. To show you what I mean, I'll add the video of the flight. The flashes become visible around the 1:08 minute mark. Rob's comment about the "glistening" references the Union Jack duct tape that he gave me to repair the damaged nosecone from the previous failed attempt at my L1 (and IMHO a bit of wishful thinking from one of the nicest Brits you could ever meet ).
There are 4 strips of Trim Monokote on that rocket, one (1/2" long) on the shoulder of the nosecone, one on the top edge of the body tube (somewhere around 3/32" visble), and two below the black decal wrap Stickershock made for me. The concept was designed to look like a real (big) can of bug spray, made from "metal", and designed to repel all those Mega Mosquitoes that were being flown after Estes put them on sale.
I had a radio tracker in it...still couldn’t find it somehow...searched about 4 square miles for it. It’s like it vanished.
Having never used a radio tracker on a rocket (have yet to fly high enough to need one) does the tracking equipment on-board the rocket have a permanently attached power source? Any chance that the tracker got disconnected in flight?
Typically I use an antenna “guard” if you will, and I did not this time pretty much because I forgot and didn’t think it was required. My theory is that the antenna was damaged in the separation phase. And yes, mine had a battery shrink wrapped to it, I used a 70cm radio beacon, and tracked it with my home-made yagi antenna+ham radio. I will be upgrading to 70cm APRS probably for next launch...little easier to track and get information from.
So the power source was secure but the antenna may have been damaged. I get it. Sorry to hear you lost equipment. That's my biggest fear with putting pricey stuff into a rocket.
Right, safety rules state you shouldn't fly into clouds. It is up to the flyer to take measures to avoid this from happening.That is a judgment error
Flying through the cloud ceiling means you cant see what's in your rockets flight path. Check altitude of cloud ceiling whenever attemtping an extreme flight.
For the OP, if space allows consider using a small GPS or radio tracker and hardware. Expensive but you'll stand a much better chance of getting your rocket back.
Right, safety rules state you shouldn't fly into clouds. It is up to the flyer to take measures to avoid this from happening.
Or another part to lose!
Connecting to the original post, do you attached the tracker to the other hardware or to the rocket or both?
If the hardware separates from the rocket, which one do you want the tracker on?
Seems reasonable to attach a gps locator to expensive hardware, especially when the hardware is worth more than the rocket. Jolly Logic Chute release comes to mind.
You could attach a tracker to a tracker so you don’t lose the tracker if it doesn’t track.
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.........
No guilt, I've seen quite a few models blow thru the clouds. All we can do is try to keep it under.The rocket I flew went much higher than expected. Lesson learned.
Our club will not let us fly anything that "might" approach the cloud ceiling. They're very strict about it..Right, safety rules state you shouldn't fly into clouds. It is up to the flyer to take measures to avoid this from happening.
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