I'm new to the rocketry hobby and pretty geeked about it. Of course, I built and flew a million Estes kits as a kid in the 70's but I never knew it went beyond that until the late 90's when I read something about high power rocketry. So I searched out the vendors and ordered a LOC IV in 1999 and built it but had nowhere to launch it because I thought that only happened out west in the desert.
Then last month I found (random surfing) there were three clubs within an hour or two of me (Toledo) and I've been to two launches since. Rock on!! What strikes me most is how helpful everyone is to newcomers. Very cool (big thanks to Gary Dickinson, Jay and Lee Barry, Mark Palmer and the guy at Commonwealth Displays). My only regret is that I wish I would have found out about this earlier in the year so that I would have had time work on domestic policy agendas and re-route the family 4th of July vacation to Genesco!
Anyway, I'm sure this question has been asked here many times but...I want to join NAR or TRA for all of the various benefits but mostly in anticipation of an L1 cert. I know there's all kinds of reciprocity between them, but what are the pros and cons of each? Short of any clear cut rational answer, I'm kind of liking the name "Tripoli".
Mark Bostleman snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com