GPS tracking for model rocketry

I am a novice when it comes to GPS so hopefully some of you gurus can't
point me in the right direction. I am researching GPS tracking for high
power model rockets for recovery purposes. The ideal set up would have a
small transmitter to be placed in the rocket that will communicate to a
handheld unit that will provide distance and direction to the rocket. The
transmitter may be subjected to high Gs on launch so it needs to be tough.
Upon landing, there may not be a clear line of site so the signal strength
would need to fairly strong.

There is a product called the BeeLine GPS that would fit this bill but that
requires a ham license which I'm not really wanting to do if there are
alternatives.

Some have used the Garmin Astro which looks great except for the drawback of
the large transmitter which is 3.5" wide, limiting use to a 4" or bigger
rocket. Would it be possible to replace the antenna with one at a 90 degree
angle or even a whip antenna of some type?

Thanks for your assistance.

Until you get a better answer .....

This isn't GPS but have you investigated 'LOC8TOR'

http://www.loc8tor.com/

They can be purchased in the UK or the USA -- maybe elsewhere.

I use one for locating my car sometimes when it is parked in a massive
parking lot.





t
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txeagle01@verizon.net (MLM) wrote in


The BeeLine transmitter is available on custom frequencies in the range
of 300 to 900MHz.

http://bigredbee.com/BeeLine.htm

The advantage of going with one that operates in the ham bands is that
equipment for those frequencies is easy to come by.

The Morse code requirement for ham licenses is gone, so getting a
license suitable for your application is pretty easy.

http://www.hello-radio.org/doityourself.html

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@iphouse.com

For GPS as of right now, BeeLine seems to be the way to go. Maybe I'll have
to sit down and get some ecukation for the ham license but I was hoping
there was an alternative not to have to do that. The other questions I have
is what exaclty are you seeing with the BeeLine? I haven't seen one in
action and the description at Red Bee is limited. It does state you need ot
get a receiver such as the Th7P or something..... So I take it the GPS
module will transmit to the receiver, the receiver needs a TNS? to decode it
and then the coordinates will be displayed, from there you could enter them
into a handheld GPS to map it? I'd like to see one in action one of these
days. So two negatives for the BeeLine as I see it, the amateur icense and
all of the required componants are not in one box.

At the moment I'm leaning towards a tracking system offered by
http://www.radiotracking.com/ , a bit more pricy than I was hoping for, but
those trackers would fit jst about in anything.

High Gs would not be a problem apart from the consideration what part of
the rocket could act as antennae: it would have to last through the
landing impact. I'm trying to figure out what 'high power' means in this
context -- how long a flight would last and how far from the launch site it
might land.


How far ?

The thing I'm thinking of right now is Garmin's Astro:


which seems to be ideal.

Simon.
--
http://www.hearsay.demon.co.uk