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2.4GHz Wireless Video from Model Rocket

ExidyBoy writes "While the Gates Brothers fly entire camcorders in their rockets to record onboard footage, a cheaper alternative is to use off-the-shelf 2.4GHz wireless video senders. The Aussie RocketCam site has Windows Media and QuickTime clips of the spectacular results that can be obtained."

30 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Handbook of Model Rocketry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Classic Guide by the "Father of Model Rocketry" Now Completely Revised and up to Date... This new edition of the model rocketeer's "bible" shows you how to safely build, launch, track, and recover model rockets--and have fun doing it. Whether you're a beginner or a veteran model rocketeer, the Handbook of Model Rocketry, the official manual of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), will become your well-used reference book. G. Harry Stine has been a model rocketeer since 1957 when he founded the NAR and started the first model rocket company. Stine's Handbook, after satisfying rocket enthusiasts for nearly three decades, remains the definitive resource. Recent technological progress has had a major effect on the model rocket hobby and sport. This revised and updated edition covers such new technology as:

    • revised computer programs that use improved versions of Basic composite propellant model rocket motors
    • recently approved reloadable model rocket motors building and flying large model rockets
      radio-controlled boost gliders and rocket gliders
    • solid-state, microchip, computer-readable modules used to measure temperature, pressure, acceleration, and airspeed
    Quoted from: Amazon

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  2. The bad part by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is that even with WEP, someone can sniff your traffic and see your rocket footage.

    1. Re:The bad part by bobthemuse · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is an analog video signal transmitted on the same frequency as 802.11b, but that's the only relation. WEP doesn't apply. Anyone can sniff.

    2. Re:The bad part by focitrixilous+P · · Score: 2, Funny

      Quick! someone port GPG to analog wireless web cams!! I'll payapal you a buck. two bucks if it has a GUI!

      --
      SAILING MISHAP
  3. Cool, but nothing new by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While this is kinda cool, it is nothing new. Putting a cam in a rocket is the next best thing to being in the rocket itself.

    The thing that I would like to see is for them to have some degree of control over the rocket. Unfortunately (here in the US), and RC rocket is classified as a "missile" and is a big no-no.

    It's also good to see this hobby being kept alive,

  4. Sure this is impressive, by gotr00t · · Score: 4, Informative

    But I still think that the project for that Linux powered balloon is better: http://vpizza.org/~jmeehan/balloon/ Though there is no motion picture, the still images taken from over 80,000 ft up are very impressive.

    1. Re:Sure this is impressive, by twoslice · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is the properly crafted URL. What a maroon!

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  5. I toyed with this idea once... by TWX · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... with my cheap X-10 camera, but batteries, rather than the camera, seemed to be the problem. It wouldn't have been terribly hard to launch them, it just would have been difficult to recover the rocket intact with all of that weight.

    A radio controlled car ended up being a much better, and more fun choice. It's probably good that this technology didn't exist at a feasible price point for me when I was in junior high school, for I'd likely have gotten into a lot of trouble...

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    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:I toyed with this idea once... by cbreaker · · Score: 5, Funny

      You purchased an X-10? So you're that guy!! I was wondering who their customer was.

      --
      - It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
    2. Re:I toyed with this idea once... by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Interesting
      You just need more horsepower and a bigger parachute. Decades ago when I was a jr. highschool punk, I built a rocket that was powered by a cluster of 6 Estes "D" engines; it was 7 feet tall and weighed several pounds. It probably could have hoisted a small camcorder. It made a flawless gentle landing with a 48-inch parachute sewn out of plastic garbage bags.

      OTOH, you're probably wise to not put expensive equipment in a rocket, given that I probably crashed more rockets than I recovered back in those days.

    3. Re:I toyed with this idea once... by TWX · · Score: 3, Funny

      "You purchased an X-10? So you're that guy!! I was wondering who their customer was."

      And I was less than impressed with the women that came with the camera, too...

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    4. Re:I toyed with this idea once... by TWX · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Getting the rocket up wouldn't have been a problem. I once launched a rocket with an Aerotech Cobra series G engine. That sucker could be heard all of the way up until it fired its ejection charge. My problem, probably a lot like yours, was the reliability of the landing and recovery. Several pieces of rockets are sitting my rocket box, where one half wasn't found, and some rockets that became about four inches shorter are in there too...

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    5. Re:I toyed with this idea once... by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 2

      Don't worry, even the NASA has problems with this sort of thing.

      --
      Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
  6. 2.4GHz Wireless Video from Pet Kitty, Mittens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Okay. I'll admit it. I'm the one who attached the wireless camera to the cat.

    But it didn't do any harm! Ran around. Chased something. Probably the antenna. The cat was perfectly fine!

    Well.

    Until I affixed the cat to a model rocket. But wow! That cat went higher than Armadillo Aerospace using a rocket jump.

  7. So what? by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's not like any of us are going to be able to see these videos. Maybe slashdot should have an option to block stories that link to useless multimedia (until Taco extracts his head from his rear and sets up a /. bittorrent server.)

    --

    How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
  8. Is slashdot 2nd grade? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Funny

    a cheaper alternative is to use off-the-shelf 2.4GHz wireless video senders.

    And, to save money on the receiver side, just use off-the-shelf wireless video getters.

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  9. I used to have... by Illbay · · Score: 3, Interesting

    one of these when I was about 13.

    --
    Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
  10. BitTorrent to the rescue! by Jaeger · · Score: 5, Informative

    In an experimental attempt to turn the Slashdot effect back on itself using BitTorrent, and exploit my subscriber access, I hereby offer a zip file of the website itself and all of the movies (three of them) I could get off the site before it was slashdotted into oblivion.

    1. Re:BitTorrent to the rescue! by loraksus · · Score: 2

      well shit. . . I'm impressed.
      Karma whore or not, thanks ;)
      Say, how does bittorent scale thru a slashdotting?

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    2. Re:BitTorrent to the rescue! by Have+Blue · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sorry, there's just something odd about using BitTorrent for a 2MB file. Maybe you should switch to BitSquirt?

    3. Re:BitTorrent to the rescue! by Jaeger · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Say, how does bittorent scale thru a slashdotting?

      The short answer is that we're about to find out. :) The advantage of BitTorrent is that everyone who downloads automatically uploads as well, turning the Slashdot effect back on itself, at least in theory. The only real concern would be the tracking server, since it's the only non-redundant piece of the network. So far, twenty minutes into the experiment, my tracker isn't breaking a sweat.

  11. Mirror by JeffSh · · Score: 2, Redundant

    here's the 11.5 meg wmv format video, 25% slowmo

    http://comcastchargesmetoomuchmoney.home.comcast .n et/serpentine5_slo_long.wmv

    1. Re:Mirror by JeffSh · · Score: 3, Informative

      oops....

      linky

  12. Gives a totally new meaning for by Aliencow · · Score: 4, Funny

    /()*!)(*%)(!/*%) NO CARRIER
    BOOM!

    (random crap so the lameness filter shuts up)

  13. I've done similar by GigsVT · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I launched a tethered balloon with a 450Mhz transmitter to transmit video. The 450Mhz stuff is better in some ways, it's less directional, and you can receive it on a regular VCR or TV card tuner.

    Some Pictures

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    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  14. What's wrong "standards" for video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why Quicktime or WMV?

    What's wrong with MPEG 1, 2 or 4???

    Hell, have we all embraced Microsoft and Apple now?

  15. worlds smallest wireless camera by Beowulf_Boy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Today at work (I work in a university's Instructional tech dept) I got to play with what is sold as "the worlds smallest wireless camera".

    And well, it was really small. About the size of my thumb plus a 9 volt battery. The stock range sucked though. I put on a 5ft Extension on the antenna (the antenna attached to the base via a coax adapter, so I just used a coax cable), and that about doubled the range.

    We were able to use it 1 floor up and about 100 feet away. This was around the tech dept though, so tons and tons of live electrical and data wiring.

    Anyways, what I am asking is, has anyone considered using something like this?
    I have a wireless card in my computer, and I start getting a bad connection about 150ft from the base station.

  16. Similar USA Site W/ Pics: Vidroc by cmholm · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I've flown an X10-based rocket using the description and photos at the Vidroc website. Hanging my ass on the line for no good reason, the maiden flight was during a school science fair. I got in a hurry and forgot to feed the video into a VCR, but the parents and kids watching the live feed of the rocket-eye view on a monitor in a nearby classroom said it looked great.

    The X10 hardware turns out to be pretty rugged, as I found out when the carrier rocket took a 200' death plunge into a nearby field. All of the wire leads broke, but they resolder easily, and the short bit of harder to fix coax was fine.

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  17. Re:Airborne pr0n? by localghost · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sorry to disappoint, but I don't believe they do that in flight.

    [Disclaimer: IANAO (I am not an ornithologist)]

  18. That's just mean by Daikiki · · Score: 3, Funny

    2.4 Ghz transmitter and receiver: $100
    Bullet Camera: $75
    Hosting at netspace.net.au: $44.95 / month up to 100 MB
    Having your 15MB mpegs slashdotted: Priceless

    Literally.

    --
    I want the fire back.