He also is working on instrumentation for food grain analysis. Since the late 1960's, Ken has been involved with amateur rocketry. Most of the launches have been out in the Nevada desert near the Smoke Creek Desert. The two main areas of interest are telemetry and command, and tracking. Telemetry and command allows ground controllers to monitor the key rocket parameters, and initiate control of the rocket.
Tracking Is important to measure speed, altitude, and recovery location.
Early work included a VHF transmitter on board with some telemetry and beacons for recovery. Ken has experimented with using Doppler radar to track the rockets, and will show some pictures of this approach. This would require a single transmitter on board, and 3 receive stations. This will be discussed at the meeting. There are also requirements that everything needed to operate must be brought out to the desert.