Adrian

Rockets are safer Wink8ONo doubt.And I must say that website is much cooler than your slide rule one.I traveled over 20,000 miles, raced a total of 72 main events and brought home just as many trophies.Mike, when you go, you…   Read more»

Somehow I missed this earlier.I have been using exclusively Estes ignitors for my deployment charges, and they have been 100% reliable with the Parrot and tiny Li-poly battery cells. I haven’t tried using the Parrot to ignite Estes motors, but…   Read more»

I think that using a lower-impulse motor that would keep it in the visible range is a great idea. That way, we can leave it up to the competitors as to whether they want to deal with the hassle of…   Read more»

Take a look at Freeze Frame. It had a 10 pound camera 3 inches lateral distance off of the centerline and it was stable. Another example is cluster where one motor doesn’t light. The may have curved trajectories but if…   Read more»

Yes, you can really notice the mass offset in the Ellis G37 motors when you roll them, since they have an offset core.

Thanks Doug. The rocket im building now it stable in Rocksim. Yet my SSSS was stable in rocksim but never flew straight, everytime it did cartwheeles. Im assuming its because i just didnt have enough stability from such small fins….   Read more»

If I had a lathe, I might be tempted. But mostly I’d like to use a certified motor so that I can set a record. I think the I and J records are do-able with our launch site and existing…   Read more»

I emailed Tom Rouse to see if I can get some flush aft closures in 38mm. They would be not only good as a sustainer coupler, but should help with base drag in altitude shots.With a flush aft closure, it…   Read more»

If you go with a little more space and it’s too sloppy, you can always tighten it up again by putting a thin coat of epoxy/microspheres on the outside of the airframe, and sanding it to get just the fit…   Read more»

if you are able to change calibration on site, soothing/manipulating data before sending in your data for an altitude record, it is. NO one is doing any of that before they submit their data, only you.I’ll repeat what I said…   Read more»

James,Of course the Parrot doesn’t need to be recalibrated. I already said upthread that I rechecked the accuracy after the flight, just to be sure, and the accuracy was damn near perfect. The only reason I proposed bringing my chamber…   Read more»

I always put a sealed bulkhead between the altimeter and the deployment charge. In the case of the booster converted to a single stage that went to 8241 feet, there were actually 3 separate pistons so that it could do…   Read more»

Thanks, Mike and Warren, for the constructive feedback.Mike, help is on the way in the form of a PC interface program that Jim Yehle has been kind enough to provide, which will simplify the downloading and interpretation. It’s about 1…   Read more»

I may have a somewhat different take on the record list than some people. Some view it as a contest like the upscale contest, in which it’s possible to exclude some people from participating. I view the list as a…   Read more»

But why not shut up all the critics and just fly you rocket with another altimeter? If you can set an altitude record with the parrot, why not do it with another altimeter?I can fit a Parrot and a Beeline…   Read more»

James,The Parrot altimeters, like all barometric altimeters, measure pressure. The Parrot does so very accurately. I know it’s accurate because I checked it against an accurate pressure reference gauge. I paid extra to have that reference gauge calibrated against a…   Read more»

Some food for thought:The “ideal” situation of presenting a beeping rocket to an LCO has a fundamental limitation:There’s no way to prevent deployment or other transients from corrupting the data. If I had flown a peak-reading altimeter in this G37…   Read more»

James,I’ll be happy to send the altimeter that sent the record to anyone that can calibrate it against a NIST-referenced standard. I have such a calibrated reference, and this morning, I verified that the calibration of the Parrot I used…   Read more»

Mike,I saw someone in the distance due East of the pads. Was that you? Chad now believes, (based on an impressive use of balloon sounding data) that my rocket should have landed 2300′ E and 7200′ N of the launch…   Read more»

Mike,Thanks for bringing the rocket by and dropping it off on that car hood (yours?) where I could find it. Hope you weren’t put off by the fact that we parked further North up the road to be a little…   Read more»