MARS Member Meeting
January 5, 2017
Attendees:
MaryBeth Clune
DeWain Feller
Greg Young
Jim Goggins
Linda Newman
Tom Mullaney
Brett Carrier
Dennis Juris
Michael Pleban
Bill Clune
Tom McCarthy
Ferenc Gy. Roka
Nat Kinsey
Evan Brown
Introductions:
MaryBeth called the meeting to order. She thanked the new and outgoing board members.
The members present introduced themselves.
Report of Officers
Tom McCarthy gave a report on the NAR sanction. The NAR website has been updated.
Linda Newman (the outgoing Treasurer) gave a financial report.
The report was accepted.
Old Business
An update on launch control system was submitted by Dave Riedel (who was not present).
- The controller display will be changed to green LEDs to increase visibility in sunlight.
- Two extra strobes will be added to provide a visual warning that the range is hot.
- The distribution boxes that are at John Dermiggio’s house are being updated to the new configuration.
- The electronic support kit will be supplied soon.
The needs of the pad equipment was discussed.
- We will need to replace the alligator clips on the leads.
- We will need to rebuild the LPR racks to get rid of box holders.
- We will also need to replace the 1/8” and 3/16” rods (we may have a tube of 3/16” rods).
- We need more short (15’-25’) extension cords. Mike P. will investigate getting new extension cords from Home Depot.
- We may want to lower the height of the low power pads lower in order to make it easier to load rockets on the rods (to minimize problems with flyers bending the rods to reach the top of the rods). However, the tops of rods need to be above adult eye level.
- There was a discussion about whether we should position a step at the pads to aid flyers in reaching the top of the launch rods. However, this may pose a liability issue.
- Options were discussed for ways to indicate which end of the rod is to be inserted into the base of the pad (in order to minimize problems with both ends of the rods becoming bent). We could paint or tape one end of the rod.
- The rods need to be stainless steel in order to resist corrosion from weather and motor exhaust.
- A suggestion was made for an alternate design for the low power pads that uses a sawhorse with PVC tube on top.
- Nat Kinsey discussed an alternate LPR pad design that includes catches for the extension cords.
- There was a discussion about how the pads could be designed to accommodate mini and micro rails in addition to 1/8” and 3/16” rods.
- We need to incorporate storage considerations into the design of new pads.
- Nat Kinsey recommended that we buy another stick of 1010 rail (can get two rails out of one stick).
- The tires on the trailer have dry rot and need to be replaced. Dennis offered to jack up the trailer, pull off the old tires, and get new ones at Walmart.
New Business
Greg Young led a discussion of the FAA waiver. FAA initially talked about dropping the height of the waiver. Greg suggested instead that we increase the waiver to 12,000. The waiver height is limited by need to consider the largest HPR rocket flown, the distance to the nearest occupied buildings, and the distance to the nearest roads with more than 10 vehicles per hour.
We are in compliance with FAA and NFPA regulations, but the NAR high power code would have an issue with the distance to the house near the museum. However, the experience has been that when there is a difference between the rules of the NAR and the FAA, the NAR defers to rules of the FAA and NFPA. We may want to advertise a limit that is lower than what we actually have a waiver for (in order to provide a buffer in case someone exceeds their expected altitude).
Tom Mullaney raised the issue of providing a pay-per-day registration option for NYPOWER.
Bill Clune said that many clubs only charge a flat event fee for the entire weekend. Since we need to bring in enough revenue to cover our costs, we may not want to provide a lower-cost registration (pay-per-day).
Committees:
MaryBeth asked for new volunteers for MARS committees, especially to chair the committees.
The standing committees are:
Membership
Education
NYPOWER
Equipment
Launch Operations
The point was raised the all MARS documents that refer to the historic aircraft museum need to properly refer to it as the ”National Warplane Museum” instead of using the older name of “HAG”.
Concepts for the NYPOWER 21 logo were discussed. Evan Brown distributed a draft flyer with the slogan “Don’t Shred on Me.”
The issue of the likely need to replace the away cell launch tower was discussed. This will be a major expense, but it will need to be resolved before NYPOWER.
- Mike Pleban came across a trailer at Harbor Freight; however, Dennis said that it was not very sturdy.
- Greg said that he may be able to get the tower structure. Dennis said that the tower is a more critical issue than the trailer.
- Dennis will explore whether we will still be able to get access to the existing tower from Tom
- The discussion was tabled.
The rocket inventory from Merrill Lane and equipment is still stored in Tom’s house, and we need to find another place to store this material. There was a discussion about whether we should get a large storage container such as a sea container. Another option was to replace MARS’s current trailer with a larger trailer. Those options may be suitable for storing launch support equipment; however, this will not be suitable for storing the vintage rockets from Merrill Lane. The discussion was tabled.
Concerns:
No concerns were raised
The board meeting was adjourned.
Show and Tell
Bill Clune showed his Wildman Demon that he is building. The kit is fiberglass and does not use centering rings (the motor mount is held in place by the structure of the rocket.
Evan Brown showed his upscale Der Red Max that he has dubbed the Der Mad Max. It uses heavier and more robust construction than the Estes Mega Der Red Max, including a thicker body tube and it solid ply fins. He also discussed using Bondo Glazing Putty to fill in the spirals on body tubes.
Ferenc presented the Estes Nike Apache kit, which is a new single-stage mini-motor semi scale model of a two-stage sounding rocket. Ferenc also showed two “Haynes manual” books—one titled Rocket (which describes the development of rocket motors and space launch vehicles, and the other on the Soviet/Russian Soyuz.
if there is a need of any corrections please contact dfeller MARS secretary