--- /dev/null
+[[!tag tags/rockets]]
+This afternoon, a box arrived from [Advanced Circuits](http://4pcb.com/),
+containing 108 fully assembled [TeleDongle](http://altusmetrum.org/TeleDongle)
+boards!
+
+[[!img /bdale/blog/images/cimg5556-small.png]]
+
+This is not only the first "intended for sale" build of hardware from the
+[Altus Metrum](http://altusmetrum.org) family of projects, it's also the first
+time that I've ever sent out one of my board designs for someone else to
+assemble. I therefore approached the turn-on and test of the first board
+out of the box with more than a little trepidation... fortunately, for no
+reason!
+
+I'm immensely pleased to report that TeleDongle serial number 100 turned on
+and works entirely as expected!
+
+I celebrated by packaging it in a cool little
+[Hammond translucent blue plastic box](http://www.hammondmfg.com/dwg9TBU.htm)
+with a USB cable, yielding the first prototype of a fully packaged TeleDongle
+board such as we anticipate selling for use receiving data from rockets
+carrying [TeleMetrum](http://altusmetrum.org/TeleMetrum) boards.
+
+[[!img /bdale/blog/images/cimg5560-small.png]]
+
+We also intend to sell these boards as-is (flashed with default firmware and
+measured oscillator cal value) to folks who'd like a robust wireless link
+for their next microcontroller project, whether rocket-related or not. I will,
+of course, post something here when we're ready to start taking orders.
+
+Now we just need the weather to cooperate long enough to log more test
+flights of [TeleMetrum](http://altusmetrum.org/TeleMetrum). The new version
+looks great so far, but I want a few more flights before I'll be confident
+enough to place an order with our assembler for a run of those too... Stay
+tuned!