bsmith@cherry.cis.ohio-state.edu (brentley r smith) (03/04/90)
My roommate and I are involved with building a rather unique model rocket.
We have a concern that once launched, we may never find it again due to
unexpected winds, etc etc. The question is: Can someone provide a simple
schematic (doesn't have to be that simple) for a homing device. I envision
a small transmitter in the nosecone or somewhere and a hand-held device that
will indicate the rocket is to the left or to the right of the direction the
device is aimed. Is such a device worth the effort? What kind of range
could we expect. Could someone e-mail or USmail a schematic? We have
searched all the libraries and book stores and are getting kind of desparate.
Thanks, Brentley
E-mail to: bsmith@cis.ohio-state.edu
U.S. mail: Brentley Smith
315 E. 19th Ave. #1
Columbus, OH 43201logajan@ns.network.com (John Logajan) (03/05/90)
brentley r smith <bsmith@cis.ohio-state.edu> writes: >My roommate and I are involved with building a rather unique model rocket. >a small transmitter in the nosecone or somewhere and a hand-held device that >will indicate the rocket is to the left or to the right of the direction the For long range use, you'll probably need a radio xmitter, as you suggest. The DF (direction finding) techniques for radios are pretty much all in the receiver end of it. Not my specialty. However, once you get near the "crash" site, I would suggest a loud pieso beeper. We've searched for hours in weeds and tall grasses for small rockets that were within a few feet of us. A beeper would have reduced that time to seconds. -- - John Logajan @ Network Systems; 7600 Boone Ave; Brooklyn Park, MN 55428 - logajan@ns.network.com, john@logajan.mn.org, 612-424-4888, Fax 424-2853
payne@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Andrew Payne) (03/05/90)
In article <1990Mar4.192004.3701@ns.network.com> logajan@ns.network.com (John Logajan) writes: >brentley r smith <bsmith@cis.ohio-state.edu> writes: >>My roommate and I are involved with building a rather unique model rocket. > >>a small transmitter in the nosecone or somewhere and a hand-held device that >>will indicate the rocket is to the left or to the right of the direction the > > [.. stuff deleted ..] > >However, once you get near the "crash" site, I would suggest a loud pieso >beeper. We've searched for hours in weeds and tall grasses for small >rockets that were within a few feet of us. A beeper would have reduced >that time to seconds. > This is an excellent idea. In fact, a loud piezo buzzer may be all you need. My dad and bother used one out of a smoke detector to locate downed RC planes. In a test, my dad put the unit several hundred yards back in the woods, on the other side of a hill. My brother and I had absolutely no trouble finding it -- those things are loud! One thing though, when we got near the buzzer, it got a little hard to tell what direction the sound was coming from. But at this point, we were so close all we had to do was start using our eyes. Another idea, though I've never tried it: get one of those "bionic ears", and put an active RC audio filter tuned to the frequency of the piezo buzzer. I would guess you could hear the thing from a mile away with that setup. -- = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Andrew C. Payne, N8KEI UUCP: ...!cornell!batcomputer!payne INTERNET: payne@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu