club multiple launcher - useful features? (long)

No single person "has to". That's the point. ONE of MANY has to bring a

1/8" rod, a 1/4" rod, a 1/2" rod, a rail, a hybrid GSE, a L3 pad. ONE. (or more).

Moron.

You should attend TRA launches. You NEED the nannystate.

The launch fees are 10x as high and the lines are extremely long, but hey!~

Man of NO faith whatsoever.

Tis true, at least for two or three at a time drag races. MASA has had some gi-normous drag races (over a dozen UFOs, for example), and that would put a lot of pads close together, or a lot of amperage through one firing circuit. But certainly it isn't a frequent need....

I currently have four different lights in use. They're attached to the pad numbers.

My Pad 1 has a Radio Shack personal alarm strobe that runs off a single A cell via a tiny 12v relay that sucks power out of the same tractor battery that runs everything else. My pads 2 through 6 use 12 v auto style marker lamps in orange-lensed housings like you'd see on a really cheap trailer. Not very bright in direct sunlight, but adequate. [See the picture of the launch of the pink rocket here for an idea:

My pads 7 through 12 use landscaping floodlights that I got on clearance for like $1.50 each. These are plenty bright, and there was room in the back to mount the

110v socket that I plug the igniter leads into.

These all work by tapping off of the same wire that activates the pad select relay, which means that I need three wires to each pad--a common ground, a pad select wire for the light, and a +12 lead to the igniter. This only affects the connection from the spider box to the pad (and extension cords have three wires in them, anyway).

My own single pad launch system uses a single pixel from an electronic billboard. Here:

has 14 or so red LEDs that are very bright when hooked to 12v batteries. The power requirements for this thing are strange; I found a converter circuit for running both the red and the green but I don't know if I'll ever get around to building it. They're a bit pricey, though. Pretty soon we'll be able to get LED replacement lights from the autoparts store that are as good, I think. Those will be ideal. (Have you seen any of the solid-state police light bars yet? Those are even better. Overkill, perhaps, but cool nonetheless).

None of these things draws more than an amp or so (the LEDs draw milliamps), and none of them stay on long enough to appreciably drain the launch battery.

FWIW,

--tc

I agree. In real life though, it seems that a lot of folks are more willing to build large rockets if the club already has large pads available to handle them.

Agreed! Both times I attened LDRS, I had specific rail requirements. Both times, I hauled the club's rail along, and verified in advance it was compatible with the provided pads, to make sure I was covered.

-Kevin

"Supply creates its own denamd."

Jerry

We have fliers coming up from Tucson because of our wavier and using other club member's equipment. One gentleman in particular received his level 3 because of one our flier's love (it's an illness really) of Hypertek. The same system has been used to certify many level 3's as well as my level 2. If someone is interested in big rockets, they only need ask we'll get the thing in the air. We love to watch them fly too! I carry 2 Estes pads just-in-case and always bring my rail and case of rods.

Someone has to get a club system. Bring it out, set it up, tear it down and haul it back. We do have club equipment. PA, flags, table/chairs for LCO and RSO, flight cards, neat little pad markers,... all in a trailer. We've had missed communication on someone fetching the trailer and guess what? We could still fly. If the trailer with a club's pads and controller gets a flat on the way to the launch, do you still have a launch? We did,.... I should say THEY did,... I was pulling the trailer (TWO flat tires,...).

Whatever the method chosen for the club, make sure the controller can be safe'd for people working on a pad.

Joel. phx

Other features at our launch, no waiting. There's a build up of fliers at the RSO first thing, but that's hard to avoid. After that you're installing rockets at your pad (or borrowed pad) and as people finish, they drop their card at the LCO who announces and proceeds to launch. People working at pads close to launch back away and return as soon as they see the chute. People at far pads just watch for the chute then finish up. Misfire? Just wait your minute and if no one is launching right near you, fix it and drop the card back in the box. No long wait because the clips were touching.