Post your personal or team best here.

[WRA2]

The new standings page is online.

http://wra2.org/WRA2_Standings.php

Suggestions are welcome.

[U.S. Water Rockets]

This is a video of our "personal best" altitude. This is the first flight of a record attempt that we can't count because the camera broke due to the g-forces at launch when we launched the second flight. With no video, we can't submit the second flight, therefore... no record. But we learned a lot and can do better now. We fixed the camera but it took a few days and then we didn't get any more chances to fly.

It's one of our nicest videos. Enjoy!

[Spaceman Spiff]

Cool!

[Mark Chen]

That's impressive. I can't believe how you were able to track that rocket all the way down. That thing had some serious hang-time. I had a question too. What's that buzzing whirling sound?

[U.S. Water Rockets]

That's impressive. I can't believe how you were able to track that rocket all the way down. That thing had some serious hang-time. I had a question too. What's that buzzing whirling sound?

Thanks Mark! Glad you enjoyed the video.

First off, the parachute segment is only a fraction of the descent because we can't get good video of the rocket from so far down below. We never get good video of the first portion of the descent because the rocket is so far away it is too small for the camera to resolve unless set for maximum zoom. But, at max zoom it's impossible to hold the camera steady enough to frame the shot. We just keep the zoom in the middle until the rocket gets somewhat lower and becomes more visible in the viewfinder, only then can you zoom in close. When it drifts laterally as it comes down it also becomes easier to frame because the view is more oblique and not end-on, so there's more of the rocket to see. After a few launches it becomes easier to keep the rocket centered in the viewfinder once you have it in range. It just takes practice.

We had a clear sky with no clouds to confuse the focus and good light so we were able to spot the rocket sooner so we were able to tape a lot longer descent footage. Maybe the extra altitude gave so more time to drift and for us to see it too?

The sound you hear is just the compressor running we thought a few seconds more air pressure wouldn't hurt!

Trivia Question: Do you notice anything strange about the water in the bottom of the screen when you first see the onboard video view (just before it launches)? There's something in the water there. Know what that is?

[Andromeda]

I can't tell. It looks like leaves in the water.

[Tim Chen]

Trivia Question: Do you notice anything strange about the water in the bottom of the screen when you first see the onboard video view (just before it launches)? There's something in the water there. Know what that is?

It's hard to tell, is it from the rocket? Maybe could it be soap bubbles or something you add to the reaction mass floating on the surface?

[Mark Chen]

That's impressive. I can't believe how you were able to track that rocket all the way down. That thing had some serious hang-time. I had a question too. What's that buzzing whirling sound?

Thanks Mark! Glad you enjoyed the video.

First off, the parachute segment is only a fraction of the descent because we can't get good video of the rocket from so far down below. We never get good video of the first portion of the descent because the rocket is so far away it is too small for the camera to resolve unless set for maximum zoom. But, at max zoom it's impossible to hold the camera steady enough to frame the shot. We just keep the zoom in the middle until the rocket gets somewhat lower and becomes more visible in the viewfinder, only then can you zoom in close. When it drifts laterally as it comes down it also becomes easier to frame because the view is more oblique and not end-on, so there's more of the rocket to see. After a few launches it becomes easier to keep the rocket centered in the viewfinder once you have it in range. It just takes practice.

We had a clear sky with no clouds to confuse the focus and good light so we were able to spot the rocket sooner so we were able to tape a lot longer descent footage. Maybe the extra altitude gave so more time to drift and for us to see it too?

The sound you hear is just the compressor running we thought a few seconds more air pressure wouldn't hurt!

Trivia Question: Do you notice anything strange about the water in the bottom of the screen when you first see the onboard video view (just before it launches)? There's something in the water there. Know what that is?

I wasn't talking about the compressor sound, I could tell what that was. I was asking about the sound in the onboard camera views. It's hard to hear at first but then when the rocket lands it gets pretty loud.

I have no clue what I'm looking at in the water. I can't think of anything that hasn't been guessed already.

[U.S. Water Rockets]

Okay... the answer to the trivia question is: ICE! The water in the image has a thin ice sheet all around the shore where it's shallow. We had to chop through it to get our recovery boats deployed. The whole lake froze over within a day or two and that prevented us from trying again for the record.

The noise after splashdown is the camera picking up the radio signals from the telemetry transmitter. If the antenna touches the water the signals don't radiate away so the camera gets a dose of EM energy. Not a big deal.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Okay... the answer to the trivia question is: ICE! The water in the image has a thin ice sheet all around the shore where it's shallow. We had to chop through it to get our recovery boats deployed. The whole lake froze over within a day or two and that prevented us from trying again for the record.

The noise after splashdown is the camera picking up the radio signals from the telemetry transmitter. If the antenna touches the water the signals don't radiate away so the camera gets a dose of EM energy. Not a big deal.

Are you going to go after the record again now that it's springtime?

[Team Seneca]

The new standings page is online.

http://wra2.org/WRA2_Standings.php

Suggestions are welcome.

Should there be different rocket categories for the personal best? I think I set the top height for an unreinforced single bottle. It went 467 feet! Perhaps there could be classes for 2l and 1.5l and spliced and multiple stage rockets?

[Tim Chen]

Since this is just a list of personal best records I don't think we need to go into categories and stuff. If you want maybe just list the size and type of rocket in the list next to the altitude and leave categorization as an exersize for the reader?

[Team Seneca]

Since this is just a list of personal best records I don't think we need to go into categories and stuff. If you want maybe just list the size and type of rocket in the list next to the altitude and leave categorization as an exersize for the reader?

Okie then, I would like to see a description or details column added to the "Personal Best" list. How about we make a chart with a few parameters in columns? This would be nice.

[Cloud Dancers]

407 feet from my 5 liter spliced rocket. Flown tonight. I tried a second flight with more pressue but one of my joints started leaking. I will fix it and try again.

[Daan.[D&P]Rockets*]

Team.[D&P] Rockets* best flight so far with an altimiter is 529` or 161 meters:
[youtube][/youtube]

We are gonna get higher