aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

I am new to this and thought it would be interesting to know how high I am flying.

Is there a device, or a method that will allow me to easily and cheaply determine altitude above the ground? I am not interested in expensive devices, I just want to get a good estimate of my altitude. Say +/- 10 %

BillHarris

Casio, _et al_ make altimeter watches that have been used to record altitudes.

Another way is to compare relative size of the button on the tip of the TX antenna to the wingspan of your sailplane and guesstimate that altitude. The exact value depends on your "personal equation"; for me, when the button matches a 2M winspan, the plane is at 1000 feet altitude.

YMMV.

FLYBOY

My Feedback: (11)

How many forums did you put this exact post in?

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Similar post in two other forums to ask the question of different groups who might have different experience or approaches.

wildblueyawner

Re devices, what Bill said - cheap & simple is an altimeter watch having max altitude memory feature.

The next step up would be a data logger:
http://www.lomcovak.cz/lolo/lolo.html
http://www.emsjomar.com/main-0.htm

A pricier, more elegant, solution is the Picolario variometer http://www.picolario.com which provides, in addition to the aural vario output, real-time altitude and battery voltage via spoken announcements.

If you have a large glider that would not be significantly affected by a few extra ounces, a GPS device with altimeter capability could also be installed - The GPS would, however, have to be based on barometric, not GPS, sensing, as the latter will not provide accuracy within 10% when considering typical r/c glider heights. Barometric sensing is only available on upper-end units.

Jack Hyde

My Feedback: (1)

My antenna button is about 0.3" , the distance from base to end of ant is 48". If I rest rhe radio base on my nose, when a wing with 78" span looks the same size as the button at 48", the wing is a little under 600' away. Did i do it wrong?

rogerflies

My Feedback: (3)

I put a Casio altimeter watch in my 42% Spacewalker (135" wingspan), and flew it until I could no longer see it well enough to control it. The difference between the reading on the ground and the max altitude recorded on the watch was 3840 feet.

When I lost orientation on the plane, I cut the throttle and put it in a spin. That's the safest way to lose altitude quickly without the risk of overspeed.

The highest I've flown the watch on a sailplane is 1240 feet, but that's far less than I've flown a sailplane without the watch. Wrapping the watch around the fuselage leaves a bit to be desired.

Roger

Check out the new Sport Winch with the divided drum. You keep the extra line in the storage area when you set up on a short field. The winch always "feels" the same, and you always get the best performance from the motor. It's got a Chevy 350 starter motor for power.

Jack Hyde

My Feedback: (1)

I made a mistake in my reply. I used 2 meters = 3.5 ' instead of 6.5'. The altitude when my button at 48" looks the same size as the 2m wing is a little over 1000'.

BillHarris

Jack--

You did it right this time. About 1000'. I made an error in my first post and called it 2000' .

Here is the math from your example:

Proportioning things out:

78" wingspan divided by 0.3" button is
260. This is the ratio between "button" and "wingspan".

Similarly, this is proportional to the ratio between the eye-to-button and the distance to the sailplane.

48" (antenna length, eye-to-button distance) times 260 is 12,480" or 1040 feet.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

These are some great tips.

Thanks for the links to the expensive hardware. Someday I may want one of those talking altimiters.

The button trick is pretty interesting.

I am learning alot!

R/C Skyjumper

Check out a company called -Winged Shadow - they sell a altimeter that works and size of a postage stamp and weights almost nothing and can be read as is or use a 34 dollor recorder in screen readout , This is the best I have found and one that works as I need to know how high I am for RC Parachute dropping , Contact me if need more info on this
Don

likeswindinhair

I was looking at rc dudes , they have one pretty reasonable. Is anyone using it with any sucess

tkallev

Try this, the Winged Shadow How High ... $45.00 plus shipping.

http://www.wingedshadow.com/hhsp.html

They also have a readout device so you don't have to count flashes: http://www.wingedshadow.com/seehow.html

tk

CBM Racing

Hey! My bro just ordered one for each of us! He ordered from atsrc I think. Sounds like a good little gizmo, but I have no way of check accuracy, so hopefully it works as good as it sounds. I have been curious about how high I usually bailout of thermals, soon I'll have a good idea and will post up results here.

snuts

I did get 2 of these alitimeter recorders 2 weeks ago. Also the see how, which makes reading there devices very easy. So I had to do a lot of soaring, every free hour. My 2 meter held the high mark for 10 days at 1398ft. Then my homemade 3meter finally went to 1949ft after 8:30 one evening this week. So much fun that I ordered 2 more for my other 2 primary gliders. In Canada, I got mine from Holden R.C. Hobby Hanger his web site is  http:/www.holdenrchobby.com  He carries all the winged shadow equipment including lost plane locators.
-Snuts-

CBM Racing

Awesome that it works so well. I got mine in my radian for now and been raining, ferocious winds or one thing or another since, aaarrgh! I went to try it today, got to the field as it started to rain, can't win sometimes. Put up my homemade foam 157" and promptly put it in do to forgetting to use anti rotation pins in outer panels. But, gonna try radian again asap with it in and see "how high" it specks out at. Snuts, with your 2 meter, was it pretty much maxed out at 1398ft? Or still room to go higher safely?

snuts

CBM, My friend in Col. that put me on to these, said 13?? ft was about as high as his current  glasses felt comfortable. So 1400 ft was my goal. It wasn't  scary at all yet. My 2meter wings are Dark Red on the bottom for visibillity. 16-1800 should be do-able, background clouds are going to be a factor. 2000ft, with a 3meter is boomin, and a real hoot! -Higher than a sig riser- ( just had to)
I have the big AVA that is going up on the winch next weekend. Have to have a recorder on it, for sure. -Snuts-

CBM Racing

Haw! Good news then!So if I read correctly, I need to get my soon to be riser to 2100 ft then, haw! I have a strip of red tape the length of one wing and black stripes chordwise on the other so within normal visibility I'm good on the radian.Afternoon tomorrow is supposed to be fair, so I'll see what it does if I speck it out. One thing for sure, I'd hate to fall from speck height. Thanks for info.

CBM Racing

Man, I hate getting new gadgets and not being able to try them out. But, got it out today finally and got only to 935 feet. Conditions were bad though, strong gusty wind, no sun with heavy cloud cover. But finally found some medium strong lift and was able to stay in it for awhile before being blown to far away. At 935ft I had gobs of romm to go higher, so maybe soon will get to speck it and see just how high my personal "limits" really are. Awesome tool(how high altimeter)to put your altitude question to rest once and for all. Finding I usually shut off motor at around 400-520ft, and search for lift from there. Praying for good weather soon to really see "how high is up".

snuts

Great day Yesterday. Keep your goal at 2100ft! I was going for 2000, and screwed-up. Got caught in a bricklifter, and could not get out. Spoilers are a must! Well the E-BOT went to sailplane heaven, and back, a day later. Check another thread call locators! My 3 meter did clock 3499ft, at 6:30pm. After the E-BOT, I knew 2000 was going to be easy. I do beleive the accuracy of these. After a short launch and go around, it can show 34ft, 212, lots of beleivable #'s
These items are really fun, and geared for us glider dudes. Get one! -Snuts-

OzMo

My Feedback: (3)

This is pretty much the same thing that has been stated but its a nice reference.

snuts

OzMo, I will check this out this weekend. Going to camp-out and glide, with 4 altimeters, 4 gliders.
And yes my E-BOT was a dot!  (4144ft recorded)
-Snuts-

likeswindinhair

well i went ahead and bought one as well. I didnt buy the reader tho, and was wondering if its impossiable to count the flashes or do you feel you need the reader. Im still working on the bird of time, for im waiting to get my radio back. But anyway im pretty excited about  this insturment. I like the fact it has its own battery and you can switch from plane to plane

snuts

After a time, or two. Counting the flashes works well. Just launch, circle and land , check your flashes. It is easy, just an old dog like me, is kind of slow and I need to build my confidence that I am doing it right, before committing to a hour flight and then screw it up. But that hasn't happened. It is very user friendly. -Snuts-

OzMo

My Feedback: (3)

Yep I can see it know. The guys at the field will be wispering, " Why is that guy measuring the tip of his antenae?"