things to do and ideas for next year

We need a list of equipment that needs to be fixed, improved or added for next year. If you can think of anything please post it here. I'll start:

the right rear taillight on the trailer is burned out
the small controller needs a door so the wires won't fall out


How about doing next year's night launch earlier in the year? I was thinking maybe starting one of the Acton launches in the afternoon and continuing it until it gets dark. Or maybe a night launch only in Acton or Sudbury in September. Those fields are usually covered with soccer players during the day but I think we should be able to get one at night.

billspad wrote:

We need a list of equipment that needs to be fixed, improved or added for next year. If you can think of anything please post it here. I'll start:

the right rear taillight on the trailer is burned out
the small controller needs a door so the wires won't fall out

I know there has been a problem with at least one of the speakers - sound not coming out or not clear, not the stupid things coming out of it.

billspad wrote:

How about doing next year's night launch earlier in the year? I was thinking maybe starting one of the Acton launches in the afternoon and continuing it until it gets dark. Or maybe a night launch only in Acton or Sudbury in September. Those fields are usually covered with soccer players during the day but I think we should be able to get one at night.

One word: mosquitos. Maybe something early in the season; April and September have similar sunset times. It was definitely more pleasant during the NORG flights throughout the summer and fall months

KennB wrote:

One word: mosquitos. Maybe something early in the season; April and September have similar sunset times. It was definitely more pleasant during the NORG flights throughout the summer and fall months

How could I forget about my arch enemy? September is probably the best since we usually don't have a place to fly then anyway. The mosquitos are still around then but citronella tiki torches on either side of the launch controller should keep them away.

April would be difficult. We'll have a TARC launch early in the month, I'll be at the SLI/USLI launch the third weekend and we usually have an Amesbury launch at the end of the month.

harleybagpiper wrote:

We were talking about that on our way home from the last launch. Would a Live sound system work for the PA issues? We're willing to bring a power amp, mixer and mics, and possible speakers to the launches we attend if we can figure out how to power it.

Chris

To tell you the truth I didn't notice a problem with the PA other than some distortion. We can't make it any louder without annoying the neighbors. We do have an FM transmitter but I didn't set it up this year because we were having mixed results using it. It's hard to find an open channel.