John A. Wilke

It really looks great on the home page! Nice work to all –

Strange weather pattern – my office is between Greeley and Windsor, and they got maybe an inch there. We got 7-8″ in Windsor, but as you go west there is a LOT more snow. I wonder what they may be…   Read more»

OK, i get that the balloons are sampling pressure at various altitueds. How is the altitude of the balloon when the pressure is sampled determined?GPS or radio location. The other NCR Ken works for the company that makes those now,…   Read more»

Word is TRA records committee will not be accepting any altitude records over 25K without GPS including the full raw stream data capture. Baro or Accel derieved altitudes will not be accepted.WarrenThat’s true now (though I think the cutoff is…   Read more»

NOW we’re talkin’! That’d be a fun contest…

Great discussion! I say we sort this out a bit east of Gerlach, NV next summer???Jeroen – any chance there’d be a 9KNS 75mm motor in production by then?JW3DR

That’s gotta be a Black Rock shot, right Sean? I’m planning to go to one of the BR launches myself next year, though BALLS may be tough due to so many other diversions that time of year (Oktoberfest, hunting, etc.)I…   Read more»

“I’ll bite”… That IS a good pun. Ha! There are two kits that are stellar for L3 – the Competitor 4 and Intimidator 4. They are $199 and $219 respectively. Both are 4” diameter and 75mm motor mount.The Competitor 4…   Read more»

Gosh, that makes me want to let my certification lapse so I can do the L3 thing again!By the way, not to horn in here, but 3 Dogs has some killer kits that would fit this scenario nicely 🙂 Get…   Read more»

Mark, does that scale go to the 2nd decimal place on grams? I’d like one for mixing epoxy in *tiny* batches… even one decimal place on the gram scale would rock.I use mechanical pencils.. the lead comes in a little…   Read more»

For my part, I think a total NS tally would be better. If someone goes out and flies 38 “M” hybrids, they ought to win… right now hybrids don’t really get much (any?) of a tally.

Ken, that is a very good point (about battery mounts). I don’t trust them anymore. I use black tape and call it good, even on the most aggressive of boosts…

I didn’t have a drogue. None. Just shock cord. When you get into 250 knot winds, you have issues….I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used a drogue chute or streamer. I typically come down as…   Read more»

I landed 7.28 miles from the flight line. Never once lost signal. It was about 2 inches from where the GPS said it was 8) I’d never have looked within 4 miles of where I landed had I been using…   Read more»

After relying solely (and successfully) on transmitters for many years, I used a DC20 on my minimum diameter M shot last year. I was back at the flight line in thirty minutes. I used it by itself, no transmitter backup….   Read more»

Actually, it was indeed a Garmin “Doggie Collar” unit that Mike K. had issues with… I”m not sure if it was a DC20 or DC30? It was in very close proximity to his other electronics, and they were not shielded.Regarding…   Read more»

Indeed, it was a real treat to have Jeroen visit us! As most Americans (me included) can’t roll our R’s, I suggested “Dr. J” and it stuck. By the way, the “doctor” has a PhD in physics, so “Dr. J”…   Read more»

75 GRAINS ?? What is that?! One of those Wimpy Girly Guns?! 8OWe have always used 110 grains 8)And If there aint a big fog bank, after you fire, how do you get any protection from the enemy?Actually, I shot…   Read more»

Curiousity got the best of me, so I looked up my muzzleloader info. I use 75 grains of 777 Pyrodex in my gun. “777” is considered to be the premium material as it has less smoke, less fouling, etc. It…   Read more»

Surgical tubing works waaaaaaaaay higher than 25K. The Q project had surgical tubing charges that provided separation at over 59,000′. Unfortunately, the rocket was coming out of mach right about that time (doh!!). I have seen several clean recoveries from…   Read more»