Ye Olde Rocket Forum - View Single Post - Model Rocket Pre-History!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry Irvine

First of all, no. But what's funny about that suggestion is I already did it once when I started HPR. I had to go through all the usual steps. Encourage clubs, vendors, manufacturers and field based clubs to form. It took 6 years with the help of a magazine and direct mail effort. I had up to 22k users H+. TRA/NAR is combined about 5k and that is over 30 years later. That is because all the interested parties, being manufacturers and clubs, installed onerous regulations and didn't even allow its members to enjoy the federal rules range.

I suppose I could start an entire industry again with whatever rules suited me, but current vogue is a website clientel.

Also the existing channel is entrenched.

We simply need more launch sites and clear guidelines on rocket size/altitude limits.

http://v-serv.com/usr/safetycodes.htm

I just want rules that allow Big Dumb Rockets.

http://v-serv.com/FAA/BDR/

Reg Jerry

Even Shecter had to max out the retail channel and buy web.

It might actually be easier to do a NSL report on it, declare it the 2014 Blue Ribbon Commission, and see what NAR spearheads.

As a vendor I have 3-4 suggestions that would at minimum double the active market. That would help everyone and even leave room for new entrants.

I agree; I don't advocate chaos (*no* rules), but ones that make sense--ones that model "If it doesn't harm anyone, do what you wish." Also:

There is a working example of what you wrote above--Amateur Radio. It was first thought by "the powers-that-be" (and not just in the USA) that hams would, intentionally or not, interfere with standard (AM) and Shortwave broadcasters, but (with the exception of a very few "outlaw" operators) this has turned out not to be the case. This is largely because the rules are "generous" enough to not make piracy almost *necessary* (as is the case with the much more restrictive CB radio rules)--when you can legally use up to 1500 watts of transmitter output power (which exceeds that of many small AM radio stations), there's no real incentive for breaking the rules. Also:

Amateur radio operators are permitted to use home-built, self-designed radio equipment, and even though the risk of electrocution and lethal or disfiguring RF (Radio Frequency) burns is quite real, especially at high transmitter power levels, in practice this is extremely rare. Just as a model/HP rocketeer is more likely to get hurt falling from a tree while trying to retrieve a rocket, ham radio operators are most often injured in falls while working on outdoor antennas.