Bill Earls flew his Mach-4 experimental rocket at XPRS 2012 to 30’589 MSL (27,968′ AGL) at a top speed of Mach 3.16 using onboard GPS-2 for telemetry and tracking. Both RF and GPS lock were present during, before and after the flight. Recovery was immediate using coordinates shown on base-station display.

In the upper right, the track from Bill Earls rocket is shown from Reno. Bill Earl’s summarized the flight:

“On take off I could not have asked for a straighter flight. It was awesome to see that nice long burn. (7.6sec.) Mach 4 reached 27,897 ft at Mach 3.16 using the Real Flight Systems GPS unit we were able to track it all the way up and to touch down. Only problem was at around 4,000 ft. the booster broke free from the chute and came in pretty hard (The nylon strap broke) but the rest of it came in soft under chute. The rocket held an ARTS 2 and an LCX along with the RFS GPS unit.”

See here for more info.

Both the GPS-1 and the GPS-2 telemetry modules have been approved for TRA altitude reporting. In the GPS update it will be made explicit that TRA will accept either telemetry or locally recorded data.

Initial testing of the GPS-1 module for multiple flights has shown excellent performance. L1170 (10,166′ AGL) , K1200 (8,569′ AGL), K650P (9,500′ AGL), K650SS (10,417′ AGL), and M1830 C* (912′ AGL) ending in CATO. RF lock was present before, during and after all flights except the Patriot flight, we found this may have been due to ejection forces and poor mounting. The GPS1 module survived the GPS1 C* CATO and is still flyable.
Special thanks to David Robb and to Jimmy Franco for the great flying!

See 07/21 launch and 08/18 launch data for more info.

Real Flight Systems has just released the GPS-1 telemetry module. This module uses the existing Basestation-1 receiver.

GPS-1 Telemetry module.

GPS2 PCB Antenna

GPS-2 with Quintus Pentaband PCB antenna for ground operations (EAD Quintus Pentaband Cellular Internal PCB Antenna)

Radiating element: 1/2 Wave Element
Frequency range: 850/900/1800/1900/2100 MHz
Gain: 2 dBi
Polarization: Linear
Return loss: -7.0 dB
Power rating: 10W
Cable / Connector: U.FL (on DNT900 Modem)
Dimensions: 83 x 22mm

External SL1260R GPS receiver antenna

Improve GPS receiver performance by using dual GPS antennas.
Now available in 12″ and 24″ cable lengths.