I've decided to get into telemetry as my rockets are going higher and farther.
GPSflight is intriging but I want something small that will fit into a 29mm
tube.
Which is better...Walston or Rockethunter? I'm looking for ease of use,
battery availability, service, and of course accuracy.
Thanks for the help.
Jim
<< Which is better...Walston or Rockethunter? I'm looking for ease of use,
battery availability, service, and of course accuracy. >>
I haven't seen the Walstons in action, but the folks at our launches swear by
the Rockethunter trackers. I've seen them locate rockets even in the dark.
I've used both. Rockethunter is the best by a long chalk. Range and
accuracy seem much better, the trackers themselves are far more rugged
(the Walston antenna connection is a serious weakpoint) and the
batteries are user replaceable on the Rockethunter. Joe Mullins is
also an excellent guy to deal with.
Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck mailto: snipped-for-privacy@yordas.demon.co.uk
MARS Flight Crew http://www.mars.org.uk /
I haven't compared the 2 but I watched a drag race of Shadow Composite kits.
One was tube launched sabot style. The only thing I saw was foam floating
down (and that's all the video saw, plus some smoke). The owner thought it
drifted West of the site and headed out. When he came back he said he got
to the road and found RH pointing him to the East side of the range and it
was already down. Led him right to it a couple of fields over East of the
range, I'm guessing 1/2 to a mile from were he first checked. I'm a
believer.
Joel. phx
On 25 Jun 2004 19:23:19 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (RayDunakin) wrote:
Loss of signal or inability to track the rocket while in flight.
Walston is much easier to track in flight.
Rocket Hunters seem to lose their signal dramatically while on the
ground. Walston loses some but nothing like RH.
I own a RH but am looking at Walston.
I own a Watson. I wouldn't give two cents for the Adept. It is a terrible
system, period. The Watson is excellent. The transmitters have an incredible
range. The heart of the system is in the receiver which is very sensitive.
Basically, the Watson is just a Wildlife Material system with the Watson
label attached -
(http://www.wildlifematerials.com/Products/Receivers/16s.htm ). You can cut
your cost in half by buying from wildlifematerial. You can purchase a
similar transmitter from Wildlife or other vendors specializing in tracking
falcons or small animals. The range these units deliver are excellent. More
important, the user base is large and involves tracking objects that travel
great distances and land in areas not transmitter friendly. The larger user
base ensures greater reliability otherwise they would not be in business for
over 20 years. The units are for animals and are built rugged and can take a
beating and keep on transmitting. I always put a beacon on board even though
I have been using GPSFlight tracking system to do most of my tracking. The
beacon will transmit for months and will function even after very bad
landings. The 2m band makes it a good choice when you launch in wooded
areas are areas with lots of grass.
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