Posted by Gary Mortimer on October 2, 2009 at 9:13am
Still a couple of weeks to run on this round which other than for a few brave souls seems to have proved impossible!Next time lets try and break that Stanford record in 300' steps. If you don't have a clue what I'm on about, watch the video above and listen to the guys from Stanford on the Podcast for some advice.G
Ios, no worries: it's a "virtual altitude" record. The plane flies in circles (within VLOS) climbing and decending between 100ft and 400ft. You add up these 300ft steps until you've hit the record (25 laps)
Can't wait for next month's contest, now with the OBC behind us, I can't wait to get back into it,..but given that we can only operate legally below 400ft (in oz anyway), is this realistic? Also, what about the line of sight thing?
I think the idea is that if you invest your energy in construction instead on formalities, you can get better results. It is normal that unofficial records are so much better, without cheating.
Those FPV types are proving nothing, unless there altimeters have been calibrated.
When I flew up to 30k, our tracking, APRS was in a foam beer cooler with a heat stick broken in it to keep the batteries warm enough to live. That worked.
I thought for the moving map that I could see keeping a laptop in a case would provide enough heat, I was wrong the first one gave up at 22k. The guys on the ground could see though.
I can believe Maynards records, others I see, well.
If they want to get somebody out from the FAI then I will believe it.
Those Stanford guys got the clearances and set a record, they even left an entire 4kgs for the next person to add.
I hear what your saying about the weather Chris, I solve that by flying south, to South Africa ;-)
Ultimately I'm not sure how we will make the weather thing fair, bit when its good up north its rubbish down south and vice versa, so perhaps mother nature makes it fair.
The interesting thing though would be to end up with an airframe and autopilot that does pretty well at all things, perhaps not winning any one, but doing a good job of each.
I can completely see the Stanford airframes were made for one thing only and are simple, they were made by some peeps with no previous experience,
Comments
Can't wait for next month's contest, now with the OBC behind us, I can't wait to get back into it,..but given that we can only operate legally below 400ft (in oz anyway), is this realistic? Also, what about the line of sight thing?
How will we make contests fair for people entering around the globe, to get back on track?
I have no doubt that systems people have can get higher than the record set.
But I suppose we shall see!!!!!!
When I flew up to 30k, our tracking, APRS was in a foam beer cooler with a heat stick broken in it to keep the batteries warm enough to live. That worked.
I thought for the moving map that I could see keeping a laptop in a case would provide enough heat, I was wrong the first one gave up at 22k. The guys on the ground could see though.
I can believe Maynards records, others I see, well.
If they want to get somebody out from the FAI then I will believe it.
Those Stanford guys got the clearances and set a record, they even left an entire 4kgs for the next person to add.
What will we do about the seasons in the Northern and Southern hemisphere??
Ultimately I'm not sure how we will make the weather thing fair, bit when its good up north its rubbish down south and vice versa, so perhaps mother nature makes it fair.
The interesting thing though would be to end up with an airframe and autopilot that does pretty well at all things, perhaps not winning any one, but doing a good job of each.
I can completely see the Stanford airframes were made for one thing only and are simple, they were made by some peeps with no previous experience,
People here should be able to destroy there work!
I have been to 30k in a balloon, stood outside in the cold, trust me, its a mission.
I cannot believe any FPV has happened at 40k
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next