I currently serve on the boards of
the [Software Freedom Conservancy](https://sfconservancy.org),
-the [FreedomBox Foundation](http://freedomboxfoundation.org),
+[Tripoli Colorado](http://tripolicolorado.org),
and [Amateur Radio Digital Communications](http://ampr.org), where I am
-also the Treasurer / CFO.
+also President.
+
+I served for a while on the board of the
+[Freedombox Foundation](http://freedomboxfoundation.org)
+and made significant technical contributions early in the project history.
I served for a while on the board of the
[Linux Professional Institute](http://lpi.org) helping it recover from
[Keith Packard](http://keithp.org). I hold a "Level 3 certification" and am
a member of both the [National Association of Rocketry](http://nar.org)
and the [Tripoli Rocketry Association](http://tripoli.org). My personal
-confirmed flight altitude record is 32,635 feet above ground, my highest
+confirmed flight altitude record is 36,555 feet above ground, my highest
recorded acceleration is 86 g, the heaviest project I ever built weighed 168
pounds on the launch rail, and I've flown a rocket I designed and built
that reached Mach 3.21. I served on the committee that defined the
have a base-model 1987 Porsche 944 with the hard-to find "sunroof delete"
option like the 928. And my current track-day car is a bit of a mongrel...
it started life as a 1987 Porsche 944 Turbo, but now has a Chevy LS V8
-engine, a Ford Hydroboost brake system, a transaxle from a 1989 944 Turbo S,
-and many suspension upgrades. Looks like a Porsche, sounds like something
-completely different, and is a hoot on track wearing Hoosier R7 tires!
+engine, a manual steering rack, an un-boosted balance-beam brake master
+cylinder setup, a transaxle from a 1989 944 Turbo S, and *many* suspension
+upgrades. Looks like a Porsche, sounds like something completely different,
+and is a hoot to drive on track!
Over the years, I've spent a lot of my "spare time" on various facets of
[Amateur Radio](rf/). KB0G is my current callsign, previously I was N3EUA
[Fox](http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1113) cubesat program, and one of my
boards has been "in the stack" on every recent AMSAT-NA satellite.
-If you want to find me "on the air" for a QSO, about the only chance
-right now is to catch us
-[roving](http://gag.com/code/rover/) in a VHF/Microwave contest, or on the
-flight-line at a rocket launch.
+If you want to find me "on the air" for a QSO, I'm operating FT8 on HF fairly
+often, sometimes go [roving](http://gag.com/code/rover/) in VHF-Microwave
+contests, and often have an FM HT on the flight-line at rocket launches.
While I was "born and raised" in the era of 4.1BSD, shared a Vax 11/750
with Eric Crane at CMU, and ran some flavor of BSD on at least one
Not sure how to pronounce "Linux"? Why not let Linus himself
[tell you](ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds/english.au)...
-In recent years, my son and I have become very active building and flying
-small and large model [rockets](http://gag.com/rockets). I hold a
-"Level 3 certification", and my personal confirmed
-flight altitude record is 32,635 feet above ground, my highest recorded
-acceleration is 86 g, and I've flown a rocket that reached Mach 3.21. I served
-on the committee that defined the
-[Tripoli Mentoring Program](http://www.tripoli.org/TMP), and am
-proud that my son aced the test to become one of the earliest TMP
-participants. My current focus combines rocketry with my electronics
-background and strong interest in radio, see the
-[Altus Metrum](http://altusmetrum.org)
-community web site for more details...
-
* [Bdale's blog](blog)
* [Bdale's biographical information](bio)
* [Garbee Gallery](http://gallery.gag.com)
I was named for my
[maternal grandfather](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_D._Barksdale),
-who was a prominent individual in his time. While my father is the serious
+who was a prominent individual in his time. While my father was the serious
genealogist in our family, every once in a while I go do a web search on
various family names. These are some references to Granddaddy that I have
found:
I've been asked from time to time if I'm any relation to the Barksdale for whom
[Barksdale Air Force Base](http://www.barksdale.af.mil) was named. My parents
tell me they believe
-[Eugene Hoy Barksdale](http://www.barksdale.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4409)
+[Eugene Hoy Barksdale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Hoy_Barksdale)
was my third cousin twice removed. I had the chance to visit the base museum
in the fall of 2016, and I must say I'm proud of his accomplishments!
On Life
-------
+<p>
+"Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines."
+<br> -- Enzo Ferrari, at Le Mans in 1960
+
+<p>
+"No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something
+about it."
+<br> -- Richard Feynman
+
+<p>
+"The American story is, really, just enough of us did just enough of the
+right thing at the right moment to push us forward."
+<br> -- Jon Meacham</p>
+
+<p>
+"May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the
+opportunity to do what is right."
+<br> -- Peter Marshall</p>
+
+<p>
+"All we can do is control the effort, not the outcome."
+<br> -- Todd Hoffman
+
+<p>
+"In a very real sense, we are all aliens on a strange planet. We
+spend most of our lives reaching out and trying to communicate. If
+during our whole lifetime, we could reach out and really communicate
+with just two people, we are indeed very fortunate."
+<br> -- Gene Roddenberry</p>
+
<p>
"Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan not because he hits all the right notes...
but because he hits all the right emotions."
sitting in a lecture, or even by simply doing problems that are assigned."
<br>-- Richard Feynman, in his preface to the printed Lectures on Physics
+<p>
+"If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed
+on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some
+other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science
+were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure
+it all out again."
+<br>-- Penn Jillette
+
+<p>
+"A pessimist sees a dark tunnel. An optimist sees light at the end of the
+tunnel. A realist sees a train coming. The train's engineer sees three
+idiots standing on the track..."
+<br>-- Unknown
+
<p>
"For every vision, there is an equal and opposite revision."
<br>-- "Thal's Law", which I first heard quoted by Lyle Johnson
"Fools live to regret their words, wise men to regret their silence."
<br>-- Will Henry
+<p>
+"Have more than you show, speak less than you know."
+<br>-- William Shakespeare
+
<p>
"Kids are more nimble than wise..."
<br>-- Nancy Gibbs, in a Time opinion piece
is traded for a worthy price."
<br>-- Orson Scott Card, a realization by an older Columbus in Pastwatch</p>
+<p>
+"Enduring pain to do something good for someone you care about, isn't that
+what life is?"
+<br>-- Dr Eric Foreman, a character on the TV series House
+
<p>
"Some films are slices of life, mine are slices of cake."
<br>-- Alfred Hitchcock</p>
* [FreeCAD](http://www.freecadweb.org/) design file for
[guitar body](guitarbody.fcstd)
-* [STL output](guitarbody.stl) from FreeCAD for guitar body
More to come!
--- /dev/null
+[[!map pages="rockets/airframes/AltusARCAS/* and ! rockets/airframes/AltusARCAS/*/*"]]
--- /dev/null
+# Altus ARCAS
+
+## Motivation
+
+This airframe started as an on-sale 4.5" HV ARCAS kit with 98mm motor mount
+from [Composite Warehouse](https://compositewarehouse.com/).
+
+## Design Details
+
+As the prototype ARCAS included a boat tail but the kit did not, I decided
+to modify the kit. I added a a fabricated-in-place epoxy tailcone about 3
+inches long, which shifted the fins aft by that amount. This in effect gave
+me another 3" of length to play with in the fin can part of the airframe, which
+meant a CTI Pro98 6xl case would fit very nicely.
+
+I also did a thing I'm growing to like where the "electronics bay" is just a
+stepped bulkhead with stuff hanging behind it, which also serves as the forward
+end of motor retention using all-thread into the forward closure and a lifting
+eye ahead of the electronics. This allows for hard attachment of the forward
+airframe tube in flight, with dual deploy from a single airframe break at the
+back of the nose cone
+
+The plan was to complete the project in time to fly at Airfest 2022 when my
+son would be in attendance. A CTI N3301 White motor which was in stock at
+Chris' Rocket Supplies was purchased for the flight, and a high altitude
+flight request was filed with and approved by the Kloudbusters. The motor
+was delivered to us on the flight line during setup on Thursday evening in
+the Rocket Pasture (to avoid hazmat shipping charges).
+
+Sadly, a glue-bonding disaster occurred that night in our hotel room, as the
+Gorilla Glue recommended for use in glue-bonding the grains in the liner
+"kicked off" before we could get the last grain in the liner, leaving us with
+an utterly un-flyable mess!
+
+To avoid just tossing the motor, my big plan then became to use my huge 1930's
+era metal lathe to cut the liner off the grains, cleaning them up to be glued
+in to a replacement liner. Thanks to help from Chris, we managed to procure
+an exact replacement liner assembly from CTI.
+
+I hoped to get the motor rebuilt in time to fly on the Argonia Cup weekend in
+2023, and the Kloudbusters re-approved my high altitude flight
+request. Unfortunately, my father passed away in March before the motor work
+could be done, throwing that plan out the window.
+
+Fortunately, I was able to make time to extract the grains from the original
+liner over the summer of 2023. The only problem is that at one point, the
+cutting tool on the lathe got loose in the holder and jambed into the end
+of one grain, forcing me to trim that grain to get a non-damaged end. I lost
+about 303 grams of propellant in the processing, leaving 98.1% of the original
+propellant mass. With a third high-altitude flight approval in hand from the
+Kloudbusters, my business partner Keith and I managed to get the grains
+bonded in to the replacement liner before leaving for Airfest 2023, and the
+rest of the motor assembly went smoothly.
+
+The recovery system plan was a 2' Giant Leap TAC drogue to be released at
+apogee by blowing the nose with 2 2-56 nylon shear pins off using 2.5g primary
+and 3.0g backup 4F BP charges in CPVC charge cannons, then releasing the main
+in a deployment bag witn a Tender Descender slightly modified to fit two of
+the Chinese e-matches I prefer so both flight computers on board could have
+a chance of getting the laundry out.
+
+The OpenRocket design file is
+[ARCAS_ala_Bdale.ork](/rockets/airframes/AltusARCAS/ARCAS_ala_Bdale.ork),
+and that design file plus all content on this page are released under the
+[Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode) license.
+
+### Electronics ###
+
+One each TeleMega v3.0 (primary) and TeleMetrum v2.0 (backup).
+
+## Build
+
+## Photos
+
+## Result and Lessons Learned
+
+The airframe was 49 lb 13 oz on the rail, and flew on Saturday of Airfest
+weekend, reaching Mach 2.2+ on the way to 36555 feet above ground! This was
+a new personal best for Bdale.
+
+Recovery went well, except that the main parachute was clearly under-sized.
+The ground hit appears to have been at about 47.5 ft/sec. One fin popped
+loose as a result of the hard hit on landing, and later inspection revealed
+that the fin can airframe tube "banana'd"! There is a clearly pronounced
+bend in the tube starting a bit aft of the front of the motor case. Since
+the motor mount is fairly short and it's a 98mm case inside a 4.5" inside
+diameter tube, it sure looks like the tube really was bent on landing. It
+could not have bent during ascent, and the hard hit plus long moment arm
+plus very high temperatures on the day and from Mach 2+ flight must have
+contributed to soften the tube enough to let it bend!?! None of us have
+ever seen anything quite like it!
+
+I'm still satisfied in considering the first flight of the airframe a success
+since my mission objectives of a new personal best altitude and proper
+operation of the recovery deployment were achieved. However, the fact that I
+clearly will need to rebuild/replace the fin can before I can fly again (on
+a larger main parachute next time!) is annoying.
+
### Others
+* [Altus ARCAS](./AltusARCAS)
+ 4.5" ARCAS with 98mm motor mount
+
* [V2-8](./V2-8)
8-inch V-2
projects / web / gag.com / commitdiff