Altitude Verification??

[RCFlybry]

Hi all,
After my last thermal flight some of the guys at our field started arguing over how high my BoT was while the flight was still in progress. "Aww man, you gotta be at least 1500 feet up there". Others were arguing that I couldn't be up that high or I wouldn't see it anymore. All I know is that it was a speck. After I got home I started wondering if there are any gadgets that people are using to get some kind of a reading as to just how high you really are. I remember reading that one guy put a Casio altimeter watch in his plane.
Anyone else using anything. It would be kind of neat to know for sure. :)

Bryan

[phat23]

I use the Casio Forester watch. And a 54" wing at 1900 ft is a speck. Could've gone higher but I chickened out.
Bought it here for $43.95 delivered.
http://www.4-watches.com/

[Miami Mike]

Here's a quick & dirty way to estimate altitude that won't cost you anything because you already have everything you need. Just hold your radio up to your chin and compare the ball on the end of your antenna to the wingspan of your plane. If you know the distance from your eyes to the antenna tip, the diameter of the ball, and your wingspan, you can estimate the distance to your plane.

For example, my antenna ball measures 3/8 inches, and I've determined that when I hold my radio up to neck level the antenna ball is 40 inches from my eyes. The wingspan of a two meter plane is about 6.56 feet, so when the wingspan looks equal to the ball diameter, the distance to the plane is 6.56 X 40 / .375 = 700 feet. If the wingspan is 2/3 of the ball size the distance is 1050 feet, if it's half then the distance is 1400 feet, and so on.

By the way, my Bird of Time matches the ball at 1000 feet.

[Sparky Paul]

A cheap method is to use the tip on the end of the transmitter antenna.. sight up it to the plane. Look at the percentage of wingspan relative to the width of the tip..per the photo..
Another rule of thumb.. for a 2M, when the horizontal disappears, the plane is about 1200 feet away.. And way past time to bring it back. :)

[Miami Mike]

Oops! Forgive me, Ascended Master!http://www.smacaw.com/ezone/hat.gif

[RCFlybry]

Thanks for the tips all,
Miami Mike If your bird of Time matches the ball at 1000 feet then the first guess at 1500 must have been pretty close as my wings were much smaller than the ball of the antenna I'm sure of that.
I'll definitely make sure that I can keep the horizontal in sight as well from now on. I guess that I could consider myself lucky that I didn't lose sight of it completely.

Bryan

[Sparky Paul]

Oops! Forgive me, Ascended Master!http://www.smacaw.com/ezone/hat.gif
.
Little Grasshopper, you have achieved the next level.... :)

[rcbrust]

Bryan,

Please check out www.soaringcircuits.com.

Thanks,
Randy

[Vince inTX.]

Read through this thread in the Aireal Photography forum. This device has a lot of features in a small package.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192771

Good luck

Vince

[schrederman]

I know when the stabs disappear that it's way the hell up there... What else do you really need to know?

Jack Womack

[Sparky Paul]

I know when the stabs disappear that it's way the hell up there... What else do you really need to know?

Jack Womack.
That it's overhead.. and not going away at the time.... :)

[Miami Mike]

I know when the stabs disappear that it's way the hell up there... What else do you really need to know?That it's not just because your eyes are getting bad.

[RCFlybry]

I know when the stabs disappear that it's way the hell up there... What else do you really need to know?


Yeah.. In a way you're right, but it's still kind of fun to be able to know just how high you were up in feet. :) I'm not the only one that must feel this way or some the new hi-tech gadgets posted on this thread wouldn't have been created.

Bryan

[portfoxdesign]

I read somewhere that the use of stripes on your wings set at different widths work OK as well. For the life of me, i cant seem to locate the magazine i read it in. maybe someone here seen it as well.

Steve