+[[!tag tags/rockets]]
+On Saturday, I joined [The Albuquerque Rocket Society](http://arsabq.org/)
+monthly launch in Rio Rancho, NM. A friend, Mike, who lives in the area
+joined me for the launch. While the morning started off clear and
+calm, if a bit cold... the wind came up hard and we had to call it quits
+before lunch. But before the wind "blew us away", I managed to get one
+flight in. And it was an absolutely perfect test of one of my brand-new
+[TeleMetrum](http://altusmetrum.org/TeleMetrum) v0.2 boards!
+
+My cut-down Hawk Mountain "Raptor" kit, renamed "G-Spot" last October during
+my quest to
+[exceed 50 g](http://www.gag.com/bdale/blog/posts/TeleMetrum_Progress.html)
+acceleration, was loaded with [TeleMetrum](http://altusmetrum.org/TeleMetrum)
+serial number 51... and launched on a [Cesaroni](http://pro38.com/)
+229H255WT-14A motor.
+
+The ascent was beautiful! I've put a few photos of the rocket leaving
+the launch rail up [on flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdale/4357476723/in/set-72157618450890674/).
+However, despite a clear sky, we quickly lost sight of it! I managed to spot
+a bit of the smoke trail from the delay grain as the rocket approached
+apogee, but that was it! None of us at the launch saw anything after apogee!
+
+After losing sight of the rocket, I turned my attention to my computer,
+where we were receiving a solid telemetry stream. It quickly
+became apparent that the rocket was descending normally under chute. As it
+got closer to the ground, I started calling out elevation, azimuth, and
+distance numbers, but still nobody could spot the rocket. As expected, we
+lost the RF link once the rocket reached the ground.
+
+As various folks on the flight line wished me luck finding my rocket,
+I put the last reported GPS position into my hand-held receiver. Staring at
+the map display, Mike and I realized the rocket was far down range, near one
+of the roads into the site. We jumped into my vehicle and drove down the
+road to the point closest to the rocket's reported position. We then walked
+to where the GPS receiver said the rocket should be...
+
+And found the rocket within about 20 feet! That was well within the window of
+position uncertainty my hand-held GPS was reporting at the time. Things just
+don't get much better than that! We picked up the rocket, and returned to the
+flight line only a few minutes after leaving it. After dumping the data from
+the board's on-board memory, I quickly generated
+[the usual plots](./gspot-ars.png). The rocket reached 1881 meters apogee,
+or around 6173 feet, and the maximum acceleration was 19.5 g. It touched
+down nearly 1.3 miles down range from the launch rail, in a sage-brush
+desert.
+
+I honestly don't think I would have found the rocket without at least the
+radio beacon. It was hugely gratifying that the GPS worked and let me walk
+right up to the rocket! I could not have asked for a better test of the
+new electronics!
+
+Later in the day, Keith flew
+[a successful test](http://keithp.com/blogs/TeleMetrum_v0.2_testing/)
+of serial number 52 at a launch in
+[Wilsonville, Oregon](http://www.oregonrocketry.com/?page_id=208).
+
+We're very happy with these results! Weather permitting, I hope to get more
+test flights in next weekend at
+[Hudson Ranch](http://www.scronline.net/html/flying_site.html). Stay tuned!
+