Software, Hardware, and Rockets -- T-Zero Systems (videos)

There is a lot of really cool stuff in these videos.  I am a hardware guy, devoted to HARDWARE Defined Radios.  But these videos are a reminder of the importance of software, of the things we could never do with our older, analog technology.  

Watching him build his rockets, I even get ideas for my comparatively low-tech workshop: that small jig-saw that he used to cut the rocket fins looks like something I really need. 

This fellow is a professional rocket scientist who likes the work enough to take it home as a hobby.  It looks like he is working in Florida.  

Watching the videos and hearing him discuss the joys and frustrations of his endeavors reminds me a lot of what goes on in ham radio homebrewing. He often seems to have the same kind of haunted, obsessed look in his eyes that we are so familiar with.  That is what Jean Shepherd must have looked like when he couldn't get his Heising Modulator to work properly.  Oh, the humanity!   

Here it the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TZeroSystems

Here are some videos and stills of our 2017 rocket launches from Virginia's Shenandoah valley: 

https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2017/05/still-photos-and-slow-motion-video-from.html

Go WERRS! 

Jack NG2E's Winter SOTA Marathon in the Shenandoah

  

Our friend Jack NG2E is a homebrewer.  He is also a Summits-On-The-Air guy. He does much of his SOTA operations along Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. Jack's Story Map method of documenting this SOTA trip is very cool. 

Elisa and I are frequent visitors to this amazing park.   Both my kids went to college in the Shenandoah valley, and the park starts just one hour by car west of us.  It is a beautiful place. The Appalachian Trail runs through the park;  we have crossed paths with "through hikers" who are walking from Maine to Georgia. We have also met up with more than one Black Bear in the park (see below).  My son Billy and I launched our Green Hornet rocket from a farm in the Shenandoah valley: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2017/05/still-photos-and-slow-motion-video-from.html

I really like Jack's use of both HF and 2 meter FM.  This makes me think that I should blow the dust off my Baofeng HT and bring it out to the Shenandoah next time we visit.  Jack's 20 meter CW contact with Christian F4WBN in the Pyrenees added a nice element of transatlantic mountain symmetry.  

Check out Jack's Shenandoah Story Map: 

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c9ff4a13eca24b37bc9dcda0d2dce989

Here's another story map from a SOTA trip into the Adirondacks with info on his gear: 

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/594ca069a27147c1a8d8b79dc1513a72

I know that Jack wants to include a homebrew rig in his SOTA operations.  That would significantly add to the already very high level of operational coolness.  Perhaps Colin M1BUU or Paul VK3HN could provide some suggestions or encouragement in this area. 

Thanks Jack.  Happy trails. Regards to the bears!  

Awesome Video of Perseverance's Landing on Mars

When we watched the landing on February 18, Elisa kind of complained that they were using simulations -- like the rest of us, she has come to expect actual video of important events.  Well, now we have it.  Actual video of the parachute deployment, the decent, heat shield separation, dust from the Sky Crane rockets, the whole thing.   Wonderful!   See above. 

The full press conference is worth watching:

Here we learn that the placement of these cameras was inspired by the sports camera that enabled one of the NASA/JPL guys to watch his daughter's gymnastic back flip from her perspective.  As they discussed the images from the spacecraft,  I found myself thinking of my little Astrocam Estes rocket in the Dominican Republic, our kite-camera adventures in the Azores, and the key-chain video camera that Billy and I flew on a rocket in the Shenandoah Valley. 

We also learn that the parachute color pattern contains a hidden message... (see below for the solution, worked out by a fellow in France.) 

One of the JPL guys noted that we've all had a tough year, and he hopes that these images will bring some joy to people.  Indeed. 

And wow, there are microphones!  They show the mic in the press conference video, and they play audio of the sound of Martian wind. 

There was a nice shout out to Sojourner from 1997 (the year my son Billy was born).  

------------------------------

Someone cracked the code in the parachute coloration: 

"DARE MIGHTY THINGS"

and the JPL Coordinates

https://twitter.com/FrenchTech_paf/status/1363992051734478852

Still Photos and Slow-Motion Video from Shenandoah Rocket Launches

The above slow-motion video of launch #3 is pretty cool.    You can very briefly see a bit of the yellow parachute deploying. The best video from this flight is at the end, as the rocket floats over the farm buildings and comes perilously close to landing on top of one of the silos.  I put some snap shots at the end. Five other launch videos are available here: https://www.youtube.com/user/M0HBR/videos

SNAP SHOTS

Launch crew visible -  N2CQR with hat, Billy to his left. Randy's son (next to Billy) launches the rocket!

Smoke trail back to the launch pad.

MECO! And you can see the smoke trail up to the rocket

The view across the Shenandoah Valley.

Skyline Drive runs along that ridgeline

Here is a hunk of flame-proof wadding ejected by the rocket.

We were afraid it would land on the silo.  It was close.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE! And a smoke trail.  

Part of the deploying parachute is visible.

SolderSmoke Podcast #196 Rockets, Pete's EXPULSION, SDR, DiFX, '602 rigs, T.O.M.

View from rocket. I'm in front of the swing-set, with hat on. Billy to my left.

SolderSmoke Podcast #196 is available.
5 May 2017
http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke196.mp3

Shenandoah Rocket Launch -- With video!

Pete and the QRPARCI HOF: We thank you for your support! 

Note the strange seasonality of these kinds of events... Always in the Springtime...

April is the cruelest month. Especially the FIRST DAY!  

Feel Tech Follow-up -- the DC blocking cap issue.

HBTV?  Roku Challenge? 

A tube of Desitin?  Why?

SDR Misadventures. 

SDR on a tablet  Just like WA7HRG

Pi Day   More RaspPi Linux observations  TOO HARD

The problem of Si5351 and updated libraries -- old sketches don't work!

My SDR question: If we go with direct sampling, no need for I and Q at front end  No image problem, right?  But why is there often a digital I and Q in the direct sampling receivers?

BITX MODULE

Getting RF in through the DDS jack.

Electric Radio:  Reading from the history of SSB.  And from the T.O.M. article

Joe Carr K4IPV : Homebrew Hero from Falls Church Va.  Any more info on him?

Pete's newest DifX

Pete's new digital scope.

Bill's NE602 RIG, Epiphyte History.

He put AADE crystal filter impedance match circuits in backward  That's why he needed RF amp. Duh.

The perils of a crowded box 

Building RF amp board (BITX Module design) for the NE602 rig.

NE602s do not put out a lot of power. uW

BITX Module Amp circuits very stable.

Chassis as the heat sink.

Mic amp?  We don't need no stinkin' mic amp!  But yes, we do. 741 on the way.

Parts on e-bay very expensive!  Back to the hamfests. On to Manassas!

Congrats to Tony Fishpool G4WIF, who received the Don Cameron, G4STT, Award for an outstanding contribution to low power amateur radio at the RSGB AGM meeting in Cardiff.

MAILBAG

Rocket Key-Chain Camera Video!

This project started almost 5 years ago when Billy, his friend Ben and I built a nice BIG Estes Model Rocket that Elisa had bought me for my birthday.  Here is the original post about this:
http://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2012/09/video-model-rocketry.html

Building the thing was no problem, but finding a place to launch it was.  Model rocket launches are prohibited inside the Washington DC beltway, and when you get outside the beltway it is hard to find a suitable open field. Out rocket camera sat in a box.  We said "someday" for five years.

Yesterday I was going out to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia picking up Billy after the completion of his freshman year in college.  I decided that yesterday would be the day.  I used Google Maps to look for places with a big open field near the highway.  I recharged the key chain camera.

At the first of my possible launch sites we found lots of fields, but also lots of fences, and cows and horses who might not like our noisy rocket.  We were about to give up hope when I spotted a farmer at work.  I explained the situation to Randy.  He agreed to let us launch, but wanted us to do it from his nearby house so that his family could watch.  This was very nice of them.

After one failed attempt, WHOOOSH!  That D12-3 engine really pushed that thing up there!  The family loved it.   It was  great.  The parachute deployed perfectly.  Billy would run across the field to retrieve the rocket (you can see him running up to get it in one of the attached videos).  When we got home I was amazed to find that the little camera had worked perfectly on all three launches. 

The Waters Edge Rocket Research Society would be so proud of us.  VIVA LA WERRS! VIVA!