LUNAR'clips - The Range Head

LUNAR’clips 2003 Volume 10, Number 4

Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry July/August 2003

The Range Head

July/August 2003
By Jack Hagerty, LUNAR #002

WHY SO LATE?

Sorry that this issue of the 'Clips is so late. I asked Geoff to hold it up until after I got back from NARAM so that I could tell you all about it. Now that I'm back, I have to take off again for another week and don't have time to write it all up, except for the very brief mention below. I'll give a full report at the September meeting and, if anyone's still interested, in the next issue.

WHY NO LAUNCH?

There was no launch in August, and our launch in September will be on the first Saturday of the month. That's the Saturday before the meeting, even. What gives? To summarize the continuing tale of our schedule this year, I've given the whole blow-by-blow in a separate article elsewhere. It's too long for a column item.

SEPTEMBER

September is shaping up to be an interesting month. Please mark your calendars carefully. The launch is very early in the month, Saturday, September 6. For the reason why it's so early, please see my article on scheduling mentioned above. This will be our annual silent auction where we sell off all the things donated to the club over the past year. There are always some tremendous bargains, so bring your checkbook. One note: if you have something to donate, please do it BEFORE the auction. For the past two years I've had people come up after it was all over and hand me something saying "I wanted to donate this to the auction." That's very nice, but it means that it has to take up space in my storage shed for another whole year until the next one.

The meeting will be on Wednesday, September 10 at the Carnegie Building as usual. I'll be talking about NARAM, as I said, but due to a special request, after I'm done Joe Heckenbach will be administering the Level 2 Certification written exam. Two people have already requested the exam, and if you are interested, too, please contact Joe at jheckenbach@earthlink.net ASAP to make sure he has enough tests.

As mentioned elsewhere, the High Power launch for September 27 mentioned in older versions of the calendar is NOT official. If everything works out right, we might be able to have something by the end of the month, but if so, it will be announced on the e-mail lists and the hotline.

SOS

LUNAR participated in the "Science in Our Schools" fundraiser, the day after our July launch, to help offset budget cuts in Livermore's elementary school science programs. Even though it was blazingly hot, lots of people stopped by to visit the booth. Our planned live demo of some small models was nixed at the last possible minute (we were only about 30 seconds away from launching our first rocket), so we did some static tests of big motors instead. Joe Pettinicchi has posted some images from the day on his website at: http://homepage.mac.com/jpettinicchi/LUNAR-SOS.html (I hope this link is still good).

NARAM

OK, this was supposed the pointer to be my big NARAM article. Unfortunately, this is all you're going to get in this issue.

LUNAR, as usual, represented the entire west coast, except for board member George Rachor from Oregon, who doesn't compete. I don't compete, either, but LUNAR members Craig and Paul Saunders do. For four years they have been slugging it out for the honor of everyone west of the Rockies. Like the past few years, LUNAR actually got some section points in this year's competition thanks to them. You can see a large collection of photos on Craig's "Max Thrust" website at: http://www.maxthrust.net/gallery-viewalbum-album02.html. This is a really cool site that you should visit anyway, for general rocketry news and discussions.

One of the events that we do compete in is the one between club newsletters. The prize is a perpetual trophy sponsored by North American Rockwell. It is given to the club with the best newsletter based on a number of criteria such as frequency of publication, how well you actually stick to your publishing schedule, diversity of authors and subjects, etc. Tom Beach, the editor of Sport Rocketry magazine, presents the award at the banquet each year. There's only one trophy, but they read the names of the four top newsletters. After reading off the #4 and #3 positions this year, Tom got a little catty with the top two positions, sort of like the Miss America pageant, but asked if there were any representatives of the "Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry" present. It was with great pride that I stood up, even though I don't have anything to do with the 'Clips other than contributing this little literary spasm every issue. I got Craig and Paul on their feet, too.

Congratulations to Geoff Canham for putting out one of the best newsletters in the country, officially! Of course, he can't do it without your input, so if you want to be part of the best newsletter in the western half of the country (the winner was ZOG 43 from the NARHAMS section in Maryland), write up one of your experiences in rocketry and send it to Geoff.

Coincidentally, I wound up in the airport waiting room with Tom Beach since we were on the same connecting flight to Atlanta. I asked him what was keeping us from being #1, and without hesitation he said "Plans." We don't publish enough formal plans or designs in the 'Clips. I'm making this a challenge to all of you. If you've come up with a cool rocket, or a new way to do an old thing, write it up and send it to Geoff. If you have any sort of plans for it, so much the better. I have a few I'm going to be sending him, and I'd like to have at least one plan or building design in each issue. Remember that the Rockwell judges read these newsletters cover-to-cover, every word. As they read this, they now know that I know what's keeping us from the top spot. I hope you guys can come through for me!

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