The Thrifty Rocketeer

 The Thrift Rocketeer blog continues.... It didn't occur to me until after I had done it. I wanted so badly to launch a low power rocket or two, that I gathered up my stuff on a Sunday and headed for our club launch site. To be fair, I shouldn't have tried to fly on such a windy day, but I did pay close attention to the wind direction and speed in the weather forecast prior to the weekend.  It turns out that the winds were 8 mph out of the NW with gusts to 13.  And I thought if the wind slowed, I could get one up in the air on an A8-3. Turns out I was only half right, as the winds were slowly picking up, and it turns out the anemometer is not placed in the optimal position for monitoring the winds.  Just a convenient spot near a one story building.  This means the winds may be dammed up against that building, or lift over it, affecting the accuracy of the reports. I did get my lone rocket into the air on an A8-3, but I wasn't very satisfied with the flight. It d...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... It wasn't all that long ago that I posted about alligator clips and launch pad leads.  But I'm going to do it again. Cause something minor has come up. Before we start our spring launch season each year, we inspect our equipment and make repairs, improvement, corrections... to our gear.  This may mean new launch rods, or a new extension cord, or maybe clean and re-solder the alligator clips. Now, it wasn't all that long ago that I was under the impression that there was only one size of alligator clip.  I was wrong.  There is a micro-size that I understand goes by the name "test clips" and is typically the size that you find attached to the end of the Estes-style launch controller leads.  Sometimes these clips have flattened ends, like a duck bill, to press flat against each other.   Sometimes the clips have small teeth to bite onto the ignitor wires. More frequently, the next larger size is a more traditio...

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues... It popped up on my newsfeed without much warning... an orange fireball picture of a raging wildfire along with the headline, "Out of Control wildfire due to Rocket Enthusiasts burns Housing Development". My heart sank in my chest as I realized what I was looking at. Then, after examining the spectacular shots, I took a closer look at the headline and posting. I had slightly misread it. A Fire Department had determined that a wildfire that consumed an area known as "The Compound" had been caused by rocket enthusiasts testing a motor.  There was no indication if this was current, local or an older article. I looked more closely at the photos.  There was no indication that they were actually photos of the fire, OR if they were stock pictures of fireballs and wildfires.  In short, there was no claim that the fire, whenever it had happened, was depicted here.  But the attention getting photos had done their job...they grabbed ...