I starting my chickens on a diet of milled carbon fiber and kevlar. I hoping that should do the trick.

Now THAT is funny!!!!!! Cracks me up! (good pun, eh?)

In all sincerity, there seems to be considerable discussion on an H999 contest. This seems a bit odd, since we can hardly get folks to fly the good 'ol SSS. Adding layers of qualifications on this, i.e. flying eggs, etc. seems to be a bit much. I'd be delighted if we got ten guys to just do an SSS. Last year, something like 3? of us flew. This year it was perhaps 5? if we complicate the contest by mandating that we fly eggs, bringing them back intact, etc. my hunch is that even fewer will fly. I think we'd have exceedingly few entries... and fewer actual flights.

What can we do to generate more interest in the SSS? I'd love to see a huge kitty, with guys coming from all over the place to try and win it. I'd LOVE to see a $600, $800, or higher pot. Thoughts?

john, see my other post on the sss 07. I think we should follow the model of TARC--have sectional qualifying events and a fly off at LDRS. TRA does a lot of things right but they miss the mark with competition, which NAR does exceedingly well. I think we could get a g80 kitty of a few thousand $$ this way, but why stop there? Lets do s^3, S^4,S^5 with g, i. and l classes respectively. Drop the particular motor requirement. Lets compete in HPR on a nat'l basis. With $$, forget record logs as the incentive! I think we need to allow proxy flighs as well.
J

What can we do to generate more interest in the SSS? I'd love to see a huge kitty, with guys coming from all over the place to try and win it. I'd LOVE to see a $600, $800, or higher pot. Thoughts?

I am all for the SSS! the problem is this contest is 130$ to do if you think about it.... 20$ ante, 20$ G-80T 60$ altimeter 30$ to build a sweet rocket.
and you all have the luxury of looking for long hours and never finding the sucker again! kinda rediculos IMO.
SSSS is not much better cause you will need to have a transmitter to find a rocket cause a 6' rocket 2-3 miles away is next to impossoble to see so to enter in the SSSS its $130 for Case, $45 for reload, 70$ for ALT, 300-600 for location beacon & transmitter, and price of rocket and materials and the ante is $20 so to enter this contest and be able to retrieve its in upward of 300+ dollars

Egg contest is this much approx
altimeter $70 (which most of us have) motor case $35 for H999N-P(most have closures), reload $25, custom made rocket to hold egg....scrap tube to 100 bucks for carbon and what not, and 10$ ante,
but benefits are we get to eat some omlets and see if we can keep an egg from breaking at 115+g forces! and for some we can kinda do our own mythbusters experiment to see if the yolk breaks or not 🙂

Doc S,

With all due respect your economic analysis misses the mark--it lacks rationalization, a skill we all need to be consummately well versed in--as without it, you may come to the very sober realization that it might be cheaper to buy and build a gyrocopter or dragster.

As to SSS: you can't add the cost of the altimeter--this is an essential piece of gear anyway. The motor can't count count either as you're flying a rocket and get the 2 seconds of visibility anyhow--granted at 10 bucks a second that equates to $36000/hr. Well that cost is defrayed by the countless hours of intellectual stimulation (how many DVD rental charges can you save by poring over Rocksim flights and minute adjustments that in the real world likely amt to nothing, but thats besides the point as it is protective against cognitive decline, and the therapy involved in actually building the rocket once designed. Priceless. I think you get my drift 😉
John S

... you may come to the very sober realization that it might be cheaper to buy and build a gyrocopter or dragster.

Or a full-scale space shuttle.

If you are counting your pennies, this is not the hobby to engage in. Imparting an economic cost/benefit ratio is not prudent.

This is like elk hunting. My buddy once told me that he was pretty sure we had finally gotten the elk meat down to under $200/lb. I'm not so sure of that, myself. I'd say we have a ways to go yet..........

Now THAT's funny... I clearly remember my ex-wife complaining about what I spent on a Remington 700ADL and a top-end Leupold scope, hunting clothes, and a whole bunch of other stuff to hunt deer and elk when we moved to Colorado. After a whole bunch of deer and a couple elk, I figure I'm probably down to $10 a pound or so by now...

Back to rockets though... cost/benefit is never a part of a hobby... hobbies are where you burn spare money because of the kick it gives you. Doing the egg competition or the SSS or SSSS or even the proposed SDSSS (K, L or M motor) is nice if the pot is big enough, but still worth doing for bragging rights alone or just the thrill of doing it. This is a hobby after all... and if you can't burn some money on it, why are you here? Fishing is a lot cheaper.

Warren

Fishing is a lot cheaper.

Warren

You've clearly never been flyfishing (one of my other great passions). VERY expensive gear. Oh well.

Point is that if you like horses, skiing, sailing, skydiving, insert-your-favorite-passion here, it will cost money. Lots of it.

My cousin loves to sail. I asked him to teach me. He said that as a litmus test I should just fill the bathtub with ice, add a bit of water, and lay in there for a while. Then, every 15 minutes or so, I should reach over to the toilet and flush a $100 bill. He said that if I liked that routine, I'd love sailing.......

John, I've flyfished probably as many places as you - the Madison, the Firehole, the Galatin and damn near every fishable mile of the Platte and scads and scads of backwoods places in Colorado including almost every lake, pond, creek and river in the National Park. I haven't fished Alaska, but I have fished outside Banff and Jasper and a few places in BC and even caught a few Grayling and an Artic Char.

About 3 years ago, I gave away probably $1500 worth of Grade 1 hackle and most of my fly tying equipment since I hadn't tied a fly in 10 years or more. I kept a lot of stuff, but gave away 2 vices and tons of other stuff. I still have my great Uncle's 1920 vintage Orvis split bamboo rod and a number of graphite rods. Yes I do know how expensive fly fishing is. It might even be one of the reasons my first wife and I parted company. Whirling disease is what ruined it for me. I still go up and run the Green below Flaming Gorge every year or two and I'd love to do a drift trip with you sometime.

Warren

Im not worried about costs! im just saying its kinda what you get into when you want to play... you have to pay to play! Try playing in RC heli's
every hobby store loves to sell heli's cause they know you will be back for parts:) rockets can be one of the cheaper hobbies (unless you are Art Hoag who philosophy is i think is "go big or go home" 8) )

I just like this challenge cause it would be interesting to see the results of what an egg can do in a modified rocket. An estes scrambler and all the other model rocket egg lofts are neat, but this contest takes this to a more extreme level. which is not crazy money to get something up but a lot of ingenuity and thought processes to make an egg withstand the force that is created upon it. its not just about lets getting to 20.000 ft on a J350 motor, its about you making your cargo survive and going as high as one can go with a H999N

I like it too, and if it goe well can even see a dual egg loft alt with a fast I or J. More fun than the cannon balls (baby Bowling balls) IMO.
Tho, that has challenges of its own.
John S