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Showing posts with label rockets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rockets. Show all posts
Monday, March 30, 2015
Rocket Launch, 1969
Through Facebook, I have re-established contact with my fellow members of the Waters Edge Rocket Research Society. That's me, age 10, hitting the button on a homebrew launch controller.
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Labels:
Knack Stories,
rockets
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Launch of the new Orion rocket
The Saturn V was, of course, far more impressive and beautiful. But the Orion is pretty cool. When I was looking at the drawings depicting the various stages of the spacecraft, that Apollo-shaped capsule brought back some deep memories. I was 10 years old when Apollo 11 launched.
A page from the scrapbook I made during the flight of Apollo 11.
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Labels:
rockets,
space program
Thursday, September 25, 2014
The Amazing Apollo Board from Carbon Origins
Wow, lots of possibilities here....
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Labels:
Arduino,
microcontrollers,
rockets
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Moon Launch from Virginia (video)
NASA launched a mission to the moon last night. The rocket went out of Wallops Island, Virginia and was visible from Washington D.C. I forgot about it, so we missed seeing it ourselves, but this fellow got a nice view from the balcony of his Washington apartment.
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Labels:
rockets,
space program,
video
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Ontario Knack Story
Bill:
I think I’ve finally earned the right to contact you. I have a really severe case of the knack. I did not realize it until I discovered amateur radio. My thinking is that there is no hope for those afflicted with the knack. I believe that amateur radio helps those afflicted to deal with the condition. It alleviates the symptoms.
For years I wandered
through the technical wilderness dabbling in physics (I have a M.Sc. in Nuclear
Physics), aircraft (I was a tow pilot at a gliding club for several years),
high power rockets (www.napas.net), electronics and amateur radio. The
most enjoyable part of radio is not the QSOs it’s the building and the
satisfaction of a working device.
I am relatively new to
amateur radio but I’ve always had a passion for all things electronic (and
technical). I am a self-taught electronics geek and have been playing
around with digital electronics (PIC microcontroller) for some time know. I
starting building altimeters for high power rockets that has the capability of
setting off onboard charges to separate the rocket. When your
rocket reaches 10,000 feet, you cannot open a chute at apogee because it’s
going to drift too far and you need to open the rocket at apogee (no chute) and
then open the main chute at about 1000 feet to minimize drift. I routinely
travel to the US to attend LDRS (large dangerous rocket ships).
Anyway I had to get my
amateur ticket for onboard video camera and trackers (beacons). Once I got
my license and got into radio, it was like a drug!!
I am now home
brewing everything in my shack.
When I came across
Soldersmoke that was like a super drug. I downloaded and listened to
EVERY episode (seriously!). I followed you and Mike’s journey and I
learned soooo much. I was devastated when I found out about Mike.
You inspired me to build
my own transmitter. Earlier this year I built a 20m CW transmitter for my
rocket that will eventually send telemetry (in CW from a PIC microcontroller)
completely from scratch – no kits – no one’s design. Your early episodes also
pushed me to learn LTSpice which I used extensively to model transmitter design
of others as well as my own. I’m thinking of calling the transmitter
“kaputnik”.
My design is based on a
Chinese AD9850 DDS module which generates a square wave followed by a class E
amp (with a tuned circuit). Puts out 1 watt of power with harmonics down
by about 40db. The reason I used this module with that I can easily
change frequency (with mod to tuned circuit) – after all the DDS module
is programmable. All I need to do now is clean up key clicks because the
carrier is turning on too fast. I playing around with slowly increasing
the bias on the mosfet to allow the power output to increase slowly. Any
advice/tips/tricks would be appreciated.
Next project is a remote
antenna switch. However, you have me close to tackling a SSB
transceiver.
Anyway, keep up the
great work and I’m looking forward to listening to another 150 episodes!!
Take care and “stay
thirsty” my friend.
73Dave Rajnauth, VE3OOI
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Labels:
Canada,
Knack Stories,
microcontrollers,
rockets
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Video Model Rocketry
Our plan is to strap a key-chain video camera to the center of gravity on this mean green machine. Using Duct Tape (of course). Kind of like this guy did:
http://www.teamten.com/lawrence/projects/video-camera-on-model-rocket/
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Sunday, September 23, 2012
SolderSmoke Podcast #146
SolderSmoke Podcast #146 is available.
Sponsored by: SMT Solutions: http://www.smt-solutions.net/
Trip to the Dominican Republic: Puerto Plata and Samana
Evading Hurricane Isaac
Honda Accord as an emergency generator
On the air on 75 and 40 AM
17 Meter Azores rig works...THE AZORES!
Working (STILL!) on 20 meter DSB rig. Soon to be JBOTed
Building model rocket with Billy
Book review: "Martian Summer"
Einstein on staying young
Primo Levi on QRP
HOT IRON: G3ROO's Regen wins West Country prize
Commodity Investment Opportunity: SILVER MICA!
MAILBAG:
SolderSmoke is on 478 THz in Salt Lake City
WA3EIB's HT-37
Radio-Erotica in Hallicrafters Ad
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Friday, December 23, 2011
Find your Estes Rocket Catalog Online
On Wednesday we were all waxing nostalgic about 73 Magazine. (Did anyone figure out how to download ALL 511 of them?) I mentioned that I read many of the early 1970s editions from cover to cover. This morning I found on the Maker blog links to another publication that was burned permanently into my adolescent memory banks: The Estes Model Rocket catalog. Wow, I spent a lot of time studying the tech stats on the various rockets and rocket engines. (A8-3s!) I suspect that many SolderSmoke fans were also Estes enthusiasts.
Here are ALL the catalogs:
http://www.estesrockets.com/customer-service/full-catalog/
I think mine was the 1971 edition (above). I still feel bad about losing my Astron Big Bertha. And guilty about all the frogs I killed in the Astron X-Ray. I forgot all about the rocket with the 8 mm movie camera.
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
Labels:
rockets
Monday, October 10, 2011
Amateur Rocketeers Reach 121,000 feet (36,880 meters)! AMAZING VIDEO!
Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20
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