Bryan's New Blog

My son Bryan has started a new blog for this year's Science Fair project. This year he is building a GPS tracking device! Wow! You can follow along at his new blog address: http://brysci.blogspot.com/.

He calls his new blog "Brianz Scienz"!

It's Done

Hank Kaul (KH6HAK) is my hero! He has wedged a 1 watt ATV transmitter into our ATV rocket bay, and included an improved antenna and a battery that will run for over 4 hours! We have 10x the power of our last project! Looks great Hank! Jesse, when we gonna go flying?

Successful Endurance Test

Hank did a battery endurance test today that went very well. He transmitted into a dummy load for 4 hours straight and the battery was still going. For a rocket flight we don't need more that an few minutes of run time, but if the transmitter is on anyway, we can use it as a radio source to find the rocket if it is lost or blown far away. We'll use a directional antenna to zero in on the transmitter and may even have a visual clue of where it is we looking at the video.

We'll do an actual range test sometime next week.

Work Continues....

Work continues on the rocket. There have been some difficulties with the fin assembly, and Justin has decided to add a piston to the top of the rocket to ensure that the parachute is deployed. A piston pushes the parachute out of the body tube.

Our ATV project is still active but on the back burner. When a launch date is set, no doubt work will begin in earnest.

A Better Battery

Our better battery arrived! It's a Lithium Polymer battery and it fits nicely and really helps us conserve weight. We just have to make sure it doesn't explode when being charged! (Kinda joking and kinda not.)

"The Knack"

I hope you enjoy this hilarious Dilbert cartoon!

KITV's Coverage of last rocket launch