Thread: Rocketronix
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Old 03-01-2021, 02:32 AM
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blackshire blackshire is offline
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There's no need to apologize, Frank, and in fact, thanks are in order, and here are mine! The Transroc isn't just an interesting piece of vintage model rocket equipment (although it is that), but is a device that is equally useful today, as it was back then (probably even more so today, now that the signal [data] recording and analysis equipment, and software, are so ubiquitous; plus, the CB band isn't used as much today, so signal interference would occur only very rarely), and:

While the Transroc (which was sold both pre-built and in kit form) uses a printed circuit board, that isn't a necessity for a home-brewed clone. Perfboard (which is made of the same phenolic board used for printed circuits, but without the copper film, and with rows of small holes [perforations, hence the name]), with soldered wire connections between the electronic components, will work just as well (printed circuit boards make the large-volume and even mass production of electronic devices easier). The Fourth and Fifth Editions of G. Harry Stine's "Handbook of Model Rocketry" (and probably earlier ones, too) include, in the chapter about payloads, schematics for two CB rocket transmitters. One is a very simple, single-transistor, "Here I am!" beacon transmitter, and the other is a three-transistor, AM-FM telemetry transmitter (a drawing of it--showing its perfboard, its electronic components, and the wire connections between them--is also included, along with the schematic). However:

"Roll your own" PCB (Printed Circuit Board) kits are even available now, which enable an individual to make his or her own printed circuit boards at home; ham radio operators and schools often use these, but for making just one or two devices, using perfboard and wire is probably cheaper. (Hams who are into QRP--low-power operation--often use oscillator crystals [which, by themselves, can be used as QRP Morse Code transmitters at Short Wave and other frequencies--*this* https://makerf.com/posts/fun_with_c...illators_part_1 site shows an AM band one] with PCB kits, to make pocket-size QRP transmitters [and even transceivers; some hams sell these in kit form]; the battery, Morse Code key, and antenna and ground wires are connected via standard jacks or plugs, whose leads are soldered to the PCB inside the case [which can be a standard electronic project cabinet box, or even an Altoids mints--or Sucrets throat lozenges--package box!].) Also:

For small-scale batch, "cottage industry" production, though, the PCB kits are ideal; if one were going to make five or more Transrocs, and their various sensor modules (any patents on them are long expired), exact duplicates could be made using the PCB kits (if I seem to be hinting at something [involving Ebay and/or Etsy], I am... :-) ).
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