SEN issue 1118 - 25 July 2007

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Category: Archive 2007
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Table of Contents - SEN issue 1118

  1. GPS Chasing
  2. Woodhouse images from Odessa
  3. Big Al's F1A Flyoff


GPS Chasing
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Several people have asked me about using GPS to chase models after my experience using it in Odessa.  I recently wrote a friend some details about the famous "Henning Method", although it has been well documented by others as well, so I thought those words might be of interest to SEN readers:
I really like using the GPS for retrieval and this was the first time I really put it to the test. It is most effective for long chases in nasty conditions and yes, I use the Henning method although there is really nothing special about it at all. If you just think about it for a minute you can figure it out. The key is that you have someone on the flight line with compass/binoculars. When the model lands they give you a bearing of exactly which direction the model landed from their perspective. You are downwind with the GPS, and you have the flightline location marked in the GPS. So you just tell the GPS to give you a bearing towards the flightline. When your GPS bearing is 180 deg from the binocular bearing you are on the line of the model.

So it allows you to stay right on the line of the model even though you are way downwind, although there is typically an error of a few degrees that you need to figure out. The GPS also gives you your exact distance from the flightline, and if you know the average windspeed and the time of the model in the air, you can estimate the distance. So with both bearing and distance the GPS will take you very close to the area where the model should be. You still need the radio beacon in the model to track it the last couple hundred feet or so. The difference is that you will find the model much quicker with the GPS because you go directly to a spot that is very close, whereas if you are using only the radio beacon you will spend more time going this way, then that way...

I bought a small Garmin wrist-band type unit that was really convenient.

-Ken


Woodhouse Images from Odessa

A few of the images from Odessa.
Michael J Woodhouse, Norwich, UK.


F1A Flyoff results for Big Al FAI 
From : The Leaper


{for SEN, por favore]
Hi Roger,
I thought I should report to you, for general publication purposes,
that last Sat, 21, July, 7AM @ Perris Field, we completed the FO
which was postponed from Memorial Day.
1st:  Rene Limberger        294 sec
2nd: Ken Bauer               281 sec
3rd:  Lee Hines                 30 sec...ahem [low batt...no function!]
Excellent conditions with very low drift and no lift detected.
Ciao,
Lee
Notes to Lee - a typical Perris morning. Electronic timers need Electrons - so a freshly charged battery is required!

..................
Roger Morrell