John A. Wilke

Jeroen and I came in via the Carr road as well. There were a bunch of cars parked along the N side of the road that were for hunters who walked into a public spot up there. There is a…   Read more»

There are plenty of hunters who are “real sportsmen”. FWIW, the antelope that was shot near the gate was shot by a 12 year old kid on his very first hunt. While on the surface it may have rubbed non-hunters…   Read more»

One other bonus of moving Oktoberfest a bit is that it won’t conflict with antelope season. We’ve never had a problem, and odds are that we never will – but that always lurks in the back of my mind. It…   Read more»

Maybe we bring our calendars to the annual meeting and put our heads together there. The dates for BALLS should be announced by then. Something like this takes some serious coordination.Black Rock is an epic place. It sure is a…   Read more»

Don’t know if this makes a difference, but LDRS is in June next year at Lucerne. Also, don’t forget at NARAM in Pueblo in August. So many choices…DougI had heard a rumor somewhere that the Lucerne site was in a…   Read more»

Pretty cool how they dump all that H2O, seen at 10-12 seconds into the video (while the rocket is still on the the pad…) They do that for the shuttle, too – it is for sound abatement. Seems like I…   Read more»

No real gaping holes (other than most of the “up” part) 😯 Values were returned from on the pad, then a large gap occured during ascent…. and then ?30 seconds later more values came in that were incrementing higher, and…   Read more»

… But reliably being in lock at apogee is still an issue. ….Adrian, I think everyone concurs that the GPS will not return the exact apogee of the rocket – it will almost assuredly return something a bit less, because…   Read more»

Soooo much depends on the rocket being flown. Adrian, you made some comments about size, weight, etc. that are clearly appropriate to a 24mm rocket that weighs 100-200g. As one moves up the alphabet, size and weight quickly become less…   Read more»

Hi David -I sent you a PM… check that, or ping me at 3dogsrocketery@comcast.netThanks,JW3DR

Jeremiah, the carbon fiber in PR kits comes in two types – convolute (which is rather mundane looking) and filament wound, which looks something like snakeskin… a very exotic, patchy, sort-of-repeating-but-not-quite-repeating pattern… it looks absolutely awesome. If you have seen…   Read more»

The I600 is a 38mm load… you indicated you had a 29mm cone. Are you stepping things down?

MAYBE……… I say “maybe” because my hunch is the grass is as bad out there as it is at the N. site. I’ll run out there next week — that is where I watch the Leonid meteor shower 8) if…   Read more»

Mayhaps I’ll wade into the fray myself… The rocket I’d have to fly is apogee deploy, so the weatherman would have to be nice to us.If the weather IS good, the alphabet will heat up again, too – I know…   Read more»

I may have to dig out “Beyond Consolation” for a blast. Adrian, will you have your tower at the next launch?

Showing my ignorance here – did we change the rules to allow multiple shots in the SSS / SSSS? I wasn’t at the meeting last year. Seems to run a bit contrary to the spirit of “Single” Shot Sweepstakes. I’m…   Read more»

no one else has flown. I’ve toyed with it… we’ll see how the weather is in November?Maybe some kid will lob an 8# rocket up to 2,000′ and claim your 20-spot, Adrian!JW

I think the root of the issue — no pun intended — is wooden fins. PML is a great, low-cost resource for cutting G10 fins. The fins are a bit more expensive up front, but when you calculate all the…   Read more»

Hey Tony, that’s a great shot of you and Steve! We need to get you guys to come this way for a launch sometime… Our ground is a bit harder so you won’t have to dig as deep 8OWould love…   Read more»

There have been some who have suggested or tried lighting a smoke canister with a timer LONG after landing, to facilitate finding a lost rocket. That sounds like a great way to burn up several hundred thousand acres of grass…   Read more»