August 2023
Quote from Eric Becher on August 8, 2023, 2:55 pmIf we want, perhaps we can add a section on the rocketry hub page, where we point out some of these tips and tricks to help people succeed. Also point out some pitfalls.
I love that idea! We definitely need a tips and tricks page, where we provide a "what works and what doesn't work" gleaned from the years of experience from Charlie and Poohbah. "How to fold a parachute" wouldn't be a bad idea either as the girl that was being timed on Sunday had TWO failures of her chute to exit the body tube and on the third try it came out tangled. While it might sound like we're re-writing GH Stine's Handbook of Model Rocketry, providing some basic info might help out a lot of newcomers.
Some of you may know that my Fat Boy took a left off the pad and went into the woods. I did go back after the launch and searched but never found it, even with Eric's help. Well, I went back today hoping the storms might have knocked it loose. I walked around a bit and didn't see anything. I then tried a drone that I received for Christmas a few years ago. It was the first time I tried it out in the open. Bad move. It went out of range quickly and just kept going. I tried chasing after it hoping to get into range but you can't move fast through the woods. However, while on that misadventure, I looked down and saw the body of my rocket. I gave up on the drone and pulled the parachute and nose cone down. Many lessons learned, one being that drones aren't that great at finding rockets but they can point you in the right direction.
I'm not sure if I should say "Yeah! You got the rocket back!!!" or "Oh man, that sucks that you lost the drone." I suppose I can say both.
Was it anywhere near where we were looking? Is it still fit to fly?
OK. The next plan is to launch the rocket in that direction again, and while looking for it, maybe you'll find the drone.
It was near where we were looking. It was pretty well covered by the leaves in the tree. Barely saw the parachute. Couldn't see the nosecone until it was coming out of the tree.
It is damp but I think it will be fine to fly again. I think the drone went way out. I need a better drone. Some have a feature that if it goes out of range, it flies back to the start. From what I saw, the camera really couldn't see the detail of a rocket unless it was on top of the tree and pretty close.
Nice that it should fly again. If it stays a little soft after drying out, maybe you can stiffen it up by coating the inside with CA or something.
I have an old drone but rarely fly it. It's very light and the wind just takes it away if I'm not keeping it low and paying attention. The camera also saves to a memory card only, so you can't see anything in real time. But the stills and video are decent enough. I should remove the camera and mount it on a rocket somehow.
Even though this was an inexpensive drone, it used wifi to connect to the phone. All the video went to the phone. You could even navigate using the phone although I would have needed a lot more practice for that.
I think that's how most of the lower to mid priced ones are these days. If I had a smart-@$$ phone instead of my idiot flip phone, I might get one of those. I think you should be able to use it to find a rocket sitting atop the tree canopy, if the quality is good enough, and wind isn't too strong. But finding it and retrieving it are two different thing (although you would be at least half way there just finding it).
BTW, my silly old drone does do one thing kind of fun. It flips 360 with the touch of a button, in any direction. It's more fun to fly around than it is taking pictures, although I did make a Christmas video with it on the block one year. I thought it was fun, but it creeped out the neighbors a little.
FYI: They sell "drone trackers" like MARCO POLO that point you to your lost drone. They also work on rockets. After the last launch, I bought a couple of very creap radio trackers, and I also bought two "screamers" that will supposedly alarm when the nose pops, *if* I set it up properly.
As for the drone, Sorry -- I lost a drone a month ago, given to me free -- my first test flight, I had no idea what I was doing and sure enough, it got away from me in the small park, and disappeared behind someone's house. Oh well. Looked the whole thing up on Amazon, and it's $60, so if I want to try again... well, I need a bigger park.
Lesson we've all learned is that things that fly (drones, planes, rockets) get lost. That's apparently part of the process. But next month, I'm already planning some lower-powered flights to try and keep them in the range of the field.
Quote from Eric Becher on August 11, 2023, 10:02 pmI should remove the camera and mount it on a rocket somehow.
I have a similar camera. If you can figure out how to make it work, let me know. Mine has 3 wires, I'm assuming two are power and if the third goes hot it starts making a movie. But that it also does stills makes me think that there's some other trick to it, but if I blow it up, no harm. I'm going to figure it out and try to attach it to a rocket.
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