Hello, there! As Keeley previously mentioned, I am going to be posting about the KickBox we received in late January. Using our KickBox money, we purchased BigRedBee's 100mW 70cm BeeLine GPS to help us with tracking our full scale rocket during its flight. The package came with a GPS receiver, ceramic patch antenna, APRS packet encoder, 100mW 70cm radio transmitter, and an external USB interface for programming and battery charging. Since it is a 100mW 70cm radio transmitter, we will have to get an amateur Ham radio license, a suitable receiver, and a APRS packet decoder (TNC). In another post, I'll discuss these three items.

Some specs on the GPS are as follows. It transmits latitude, longitude, altitude, course and speed. The GPS has range of approximately 40 miles, operates on the 420-450Mhz amateur radio band, and has a power output of approx 16milli-watts. It is 1.25" x 3" and weighs about 2 ounces.

Here is the GPS with its antenna screwed on and the external USB interface for programming and battery charging, along with the USB cord. (The shrink wrap holds the lithium-poly battery in place on the back.)

Below is the setup of the USB interface to be used for connecting the GPS to a computer for configuration purposes.

Below is the setup of the USB interface for battery charging purposes.

My next post will be about the amateur Ham radio license, receiver, and APRS packet decoder, or TNC. Talk to you soon!

--Julia