Recent news
Door prize for Banquet dinner – the LDRS37 98/10240 case!
Aerotech will be doing a demo of M1955 Dark Matter (75/7680) and also demonstrating the new Quest A3/B4 QJet composite motors. Be sure to stop by the Aerotech booth to see these and other new products.
Aerotech has made a limited edition, one of a kind, LDRS37 special 98/10240 case available for the Banquet dinner door prize … be sure to drop your dinner banquet cards into the raffle drawing box once you receive them — drawing to be made after Steve’s presentation.
We had over over 100 flights today! Two of todays large vehicles below; more to follow this week!
We had a lot of folks coming in today, almost all of our vendors are on site!
If you have stories or news articles, please visit Robert Utley on site (at the Rockets Magazine base camp – see map).
NOTE: previous post had a typo – the price is $159 FOR ALL VENDORS.
Madcow Rocketry has delivered 10 kits at the discounted price of $159 available at on site vendors. Only 10 available, make sure to show up at AMW or Bay Area Rocketry tomorrow at 9am.
We have thousands of dollars in raffle prizes … be sure to goto the registration booth first thing tomorrow to purchase tickets; Drawings will be done on Saturday!
Special thanks to everyone who showed up today for setup, we got the entire site mapped out from GPS on the website, setup parking and began setup of the pad areas and LCO, Registration and Certification areas.
Tomorrow we should finish setup by the afternoon and be ready to start Wednesday at 9am. Please check into the registration area when you arrivedto get your registration package. As a side note – the weather is gorgeous!
The LDRS Frequency plan has been finalized on-line; for any last minute additions, please visit the registration area for reserving your frequencies (whether it be and Eggfinder or HAM radio). The most current copy will be kept at the registration area.
The parking map has been improved for access and some slight access improvements have been made, the final update has been made – if you’re in need of assistance please visit the registration booth. See here for the latest parking map.
We have 8 Double-Wide Porta-potties (16 total) spread down the main access road for 2000′. Washbasins are included and they will be serviced during the launch. We have added a dumpster for all trash at the West side entrance for registered fliers and a complementary trash-bag is included in your registration package. STAR Sanitation will be available Thursday and on demand for Trailer servicing or contact Amador 559-554-8591 for the LDRS RV special ($65 service including up to 15 gallons of water).
The Harris Ranch banquet and site map is online off the Launch Site page, this map will show the locations on site for the banquet dinner and TRA meeting. Stay tuned for some important updates later this week.
Here is a list of Aerotech reloads for CTI pro 75 and pro 98 hardware. Also some important details and new product announcements we may see at LDRS – stay tuned!
Madcow Rocketry has done it again – Madcow Rocketry is celebrating LDRS with a Hump Day Happy Hour Sale! The new 4″ Nike Tomahawk will go on sale at 4PM 05/16/18 (First Day of LDRS). Be sure to order your kit first thing in the morning – this will be a one of a kind kit, like the Avalanche a high quality construction with a special $159 price ($289 normal list price). Visit here for details!
We’re 7 days from LDRS! Some notes and updates before the launch and before you plan your travel …
Blackrock Bistro will be serving through LDRS, come in and get breakfast, lunch, or dinner every day. See the online menu for details.
When you check in at registration; be sure to purchase raffle tickets ;we have thousands of dollars of high-quality rocketry prizes! We also have prizes for the kids as well! We also have the LDRS Poker contest and LOC Magnum competition so there will be fun and prizes for everyone who participates.
Mike Smith has updated the Area map and also some key waypoints close to the launch site in the Greater Fresno area. Be sure to visit the links above for details; note that these maps will be in your registration packets but the online links are good to familiarize yourself with the area.
Thanks and more in the days ahead …. !
To: All Certifying Fliers coming to LDRS 37
From: TCC Prefect Bruce Rohn and President James Dougherty
Greetings,
We are pleased to host you at our first ever LDRS event! We hope you enjoy your flight experiences during your time with us. To assist us in helping you complete your certification success, we have a few suggestions to pass onto you.
Documentation- All supporting documentation that you bring with you to the Launch will really help us. When you became Tripoli members, unless it was very recently, you should have received your Tripoli Membership Handbook. Inside the Handbook at the front will be your Tripoli Rocketry Association Member Certification Form. This will have your TRA Number, your name and address and it will have spaces for the Prefect to fill out when you successfully certify for all Levels 1 to 3, including when you pass your Level 2 written exam. This shows your past cert activity. Your current Tripoli Membership Card will have your current Certification Status, even if it is Level “0”. If you became a Tripoli Member recently, then a copy of an email showing membership payment to Tripoli will suffice (even is you have no Membership Number assigned). Please also bring any proof that you already passed your Level 2 exam, so we won’t have to make you take it again at our Launch before we let you attempt your Level 2 cert flight.
Certification Requirements – You will be expected to know what the certification requirements are when attending our Launches. You can find these requirements at the Tripoli rocketry Association Website, and our Tripoli Central California Website. In addition, our president James Dougherty will conduct Fliers Meetings at the beginning of the Launch. These meetings are mandatory. At these meetings we will review Safety Code Rules to follow and particular things to keep in mind regarding the property on which we Launch.
You can always come to the Prefect/Certification Tent to ask questions and get information about Certification.
A word about Recovery Systems used – Whatever approved recovery system you use for your certification flight, our policy is that the entire recovery system must work as designed. This means if electronics are to be used to deploy the parachute, then it must work as designed. If you are using Dual Deployment as the recovery system for you Certification Flight, then both the Drogue and the Main must deploy for successful certification. This is a safety issue! Rockets descending fast because the drogue failed to open, even if the main deployed, can be a danger to persons or property when striking the ground. Cert flights where one component of the recovery system failed to work, even if the rocket is recovered intact, will not be certified.
Presentation of your rocket– We want to inspect your rocket for your certification flight, both before your flight to ensure it can fly safely, and after the flight to ensure it did not sustain excessive damage that would make it unsafe to fly again. We make every attempt to watch the rocket all during its flight, in the case it cannot be recovered from loss, to ensure it stayed together and intact during its flight.
Thank you all for your great support and see you at LDRS!
Bruce Brohn, Prefect
James Dougherty, President
Animal Motor Works has just found out about a new LOC kit series, “LOC 1 SERIES”, that ar
e 1” diameter and fly on Estes engines. Well we want to promote the first one off the line.
The LOC 1 SERIES MAGNUM
To welcome it in we are going to have a contest. With contest starting Thursday morning.
$20 for the kit, engine & glue.
Be the first one to bring your kit to us after you have built and flown it and win a new kit. With special prizes for 2nd & 3rd.
Also all in stock LOC Kits & Components 20% off. Excluding LOC 1 SERIES kits.
There are 5 participating vendors who have donated to this contest. With the purchase of an item from each of these vendors the first 50 fliers will receive a playing card. To prevent swapping of cards amongst fliers the cards will be dated and signed by the flier and vendor. Collect all 5 cards for that date from each of the 5 vendors. At the fliers meeting, the next morning, the flier with the highest poker hand will receive a prize from the pool of donations! In the event of a tie the fliers will draw a card from a deck and high card wins. Save your cards from the weekend and the person who has collected all days that can make the largest hand from his cards wins a special prize!!
We will be bringing along the newest member of the Zoo – “ The Scalded Tiger “
We will also have the New Baby Red Max, a cute 2.2” diameter fiberglass kit.
And for those who prefer “Cardboard Kits” we have brought out a 4in Red Max with 0.25 plywood fins.
Cannot make NSL? Then pick up your commemorative NSL Kit at LDRS for the special price of $39.95 WOW!!
Also be sure to stop by early and pickup your White Thunder and C-Star motors from CTI while they last. THEY’RE BACK!!
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TCC and the LDRS37 staff would like to put a special Thank You out to Tony Alcocer & AeroPAC, Mike Ostby & ROC, David Raimondi & LUNAR for all of their help and support at the LDRS launch; it’s really great to see all the California Rocketry clubs come together for LDRS – we’re going to have a great time!
Steve Sawyer has done an excellent job putting together a detailed, scale version of the launch site. You can download the latest copy here.
If you registered online before the cut-off period, you’ll get your own fully personalized badge generated from the Gecos information which was captured when you created your account on this website. We’ve made a few changes to the badges we’re using this year at LDRS37, we’ve selected Duracard as our vendor and decided to go with a standard 3×4 lanyard-punched badge. These will be a high-quality 10mil Teslin full-color print with 10mil lamination on both sides, printed double sided. We’ve also added a digital signature and a QR-Code which fully encodes a VCARD 4.0 contact – it includes your Name, Email address, TRA/NAR and Level and will allow you to input a phone number before adding as a contact to your Mobile phone. Please install QRReader (by TapMedia) to process the QR Codes (available for both Android and iPhone) – there are a number of apps you could also use but the above were tested at 10cm scan distance with both iPhone 6 and Google Pixel.
A custom Tripoli Central California lanyard will also be included in your Registration package.
A lot of folks have been asking, so here it is, we have a total of 168 registered fliers, an additional breakdown of Level cert and Vendors as below.
This week we voted on the side dish for the banquet, we sent the survey out Friday 04/27 and finalized on Sunday 04/30. There are 99 people registered for the LDRS banquet and 66 people responded. Results are below:
FRIDAY from 5-8PM we will have our LDRS Banquet dinner at Harris Ranch. We went through all of the meal options and finalized on Steak with or without Mushroom sauce and Chicken with or without Marsala sauce. You’ll have either Ranch or Basil Vinaigrette dressing with your salad (some folks selected no dressing) and your choice of Chocolate Mousse or Strawberry Shortcake for dessert. Finally, looks like we will have Au Gratin Potatoes for the side. We’re also going to have some guest speakers and more details on that in the weeks ahead. This is a great venue and we’ll all be sure to have a wonderful time.
We will have a live band on Friday and Saturday night (details to come soon).
We’ve kept the registration open to order Saturday Night Dinner’s at Black Rock Bistro – please support our vendors and sign up for dinner night. We’ll close registration end of the week.
We plan to have a dumpster for trash onsite; we will also have 8 double-wide Porta-potties with wash basins (16 total). Potable water can be acquired at the Helm store (corner of Kamm and 145), a short distance from the launch site.
More news in the weeks ahead… get your rockets ready!
We’re 28 days from launch! Staff media expert Nathan Montalvo made this video to get you ready!
Last day for on-line registration will be April 21st (this Saturday) and has already been extended. Make sure you sign up before then to avoid the extra $10 cost for on-site registration during the launch, people who sign up online will get their own personalized Duracard(TM) badge. After April 21st, the LDRS store will be offl-ine and you’ll pick up your order at the registration booth on Wednesday or throughout the launch and bu T-Shirts, Hats, stickers, etc.
LDRS starts Wednesday morning at 9am. Monday and Tuesday we will be setting up the range and launch site; if you signed up for range setup you will get a separate email with details in the weeks ahead. Be sure to check out the updated parking and range map online. Parking is first-come/first-serve however the range will not be open until Wednesday AM. If you have special travel arrangements or space requirements be sure to email [email protected]
If you are a prefect or TAP and have a few hours to spare during the launch; we could use your help for certification – please sign up for certification support below or on the range-duty page (just show up at the certification tent during the launch).
[sign_up_sheet ID=’11’]
We have 93 people registered for the Banquet dinner at Harris Ranch!
Main courses
Desserts
Sauces
Salad Dressings
If you did not order your banquet dinner before it was sold out, we will have some extra tickets you can purchase at the registration booth – but this will be first-come/first-serve.
Through the gracious generosity of our sponsors – LDRS37 has amassed thousands of dollars $$$ worth of raffle prizes – rockets, electronics, recovery gear, motors – be sure to purchase raffle tickets at the Registration booth. We will have raffle prizes every day!
Stay tuned for more important details and updates in the weeks ahead, and get your rockets ready!
Everyone who signs up for the APE Mass Monkey Loft on the sign-up sheet below will receive a free monkey at the APE vendor table at LDRS 37. (Limit 12)
For your planning purposes, these monkeys measure 18” from fingertip to toe and weigh 5.8 oz. Monkeys are known for flexibility, and these can easily be folded into a ball and wrapped in a fireproof chute protector to form a monkey burrito that is about 9” long and fits easily into a 7.5” airframe. You provide the parachute (18” – 24” recommended), chute protector (18” works well), chute release (if desired), large-diameter monkey-lofting rocket (7.5” diameter recommended), and H or I class motor.
To allow the mass launch to be conducted on the closest bank of high-power pads, the APE Mass Monkey Loft will be limited to H and I motors. There will be two heats, one for H motors, and one for I motors, and there will be a prize awarded for each heat.
Flying a large diameter rocket on H and I motors can result in some very low flights, which is exactly what monkeys prefer, and is what is recommended for the Mass Monkey Loft. Aim for flights between 600 and 1,000 feet for the best monkey viewing, simulate your ejection charge delay timing accordingly, and pick motors carefully to ensure adequate thrust and speed off the rail.
Some examples of high-thrust, and relatively low-impulse motors you might consider are CTI H295, H340, H399, I345, or AT H283, H550, I300, I357. These are just some of the examples that may provide safe, low flights, depending on the weight and size of your rocket, and there are other options as well. Choose wisely!
Note: Please know the exact total impulse of your motor at the time of the launch so that we can show that the total combined impulse of all the rockets in the Monkey Loft complies with the limits for a drag race complex launch.
The Monkey loft is divided into two heats, one for H motors and one for I motors.
Note: Due to rules governing drag race complex launches, we may launch four full I motors simultaneously from the 300’ bank of high-power pads. And if the motors are smaller than full I motors, we may be able to launch more in one drag race, up to as many as seven I motors simultaneously, depending on the total combined impulse of all the motors. For this reason, we have four positions in the I motor heat designated as the first salvo, and four positions designated as the second salvo. Depending on the number of fliers and the motors selected we may be able to launch the I heat in one salvo, or we may need to break it into two salvos.
Sign up below. Pick up your free monkey at the APE vendor table at LDRS 37. And get ready for monkeys to fly out of your rocket!
[sign_up_sheet ID=’12’]
To give your monkey a fun free-fall and dramatic chute deployment, you may want to use a Chute Release:
To keep your monkey and his chute safe from ejection charges, you may want to use an additional large chute protector, separate from the one used to protect your rocket’s parachute:
The monkey wrapped in a chute protector fits easily into a 7.5” airframe, like those used in rockets such as the LOC Warlock or Doorknob. When the monkey’s chute protector is attached to the shock cord, it helps to pull the monkey out of the airframe when the rocket’s chute is deployed:
Good luck, monkeys!
