Australian Ham Radio Discussion Forum ( AHRDF )

Hi,

I am new to the forum and very new to all this radio stuff. But keen to learn.

I belong to a model rocket club and we regularly launch rockets up to 10,000 feet (3km)....and sometimes higher.

Most of our rockets have GPS trackers on board, but I thought it would be fun to experiment with radio trackers.

So I have been reading about homemade pet trackers which would probably work well in rockets because they are small and light. This is a good example of what I am trying to explain:
https://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/artic...et-tracker

So I am interested to learn if this kind of tracker is feasible in Australia (I live in NSW) and what license I would require. I spent a few hours on the ACMA website and I am now more confused than when I started.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks.

For license class have a look here https://www.acma.gov.au/licences/low-int...ss-licence

The pet tracker would fit in that class.

Thanks Terry.

Does anyone have any thoughts on where I should start when researching transmitters?

I guess this is the kind of thing I need:

https://rcbeacon.com/blog/?product=lost-...ao2woZjchU

How easy would it be for me to make my own?

My first thoughts would be have you contacted other clubs to see what they are using.

I'm assuming you want something for use in locating a lost model and it is a sure bet that other clubs have been down the same path and settled on various methods, one of which may be suitable for you/your club.

As for the linked RC beacon and working from the description, I postulate that it is not much more than the pet tracker you have already mentioned with the addition of a timer to start it up after 30 minutes.

What is the average duration of a flight? I'm assuming that waiting 30 minutes for the beacon to start working is probably a bit long.

Most other people use GPS units. Typically they buy them from the US and they cost over $300. I am looking for a cheaper solution.

Average flight time is about 12 seconds on the way up and 5 minutes on the way down. But normally the rocket isn't launched immediately. It gets armed and then sits on the launch rail for while. So 30 minute delay is fine in must circumstances, but he also sells a 15 minute delay version.

Well, hasn't this got some ideas in my noggin turning over.

A small GPS Rx -> NMEA co-ordinates sentence ->a small LIPD Tx sends the co-ordinates -> Rx which decodes co-ordinates -> NMEA to handheld GPS then simply head to the last sent co-ordinates...

(Just thinking out loud here)

Just remember the weight has to be kept 'way down low' Colin - how about something like the APRS trackers that get sent up with balloons?

Does mean of course the OP would have to be a licensed amateur to use them.