AKBiocca Engineering

We completed the batch of parts this weekend, and several launchers were built. We are shipping some this week, and more after Pacificon. This next weekend is Pacificon, and that is going to take our time for the rest of the week and over the weekend. If you are at Pacificon, come by and say hi. We’ll be at the Buddipole booth most of the time with some launchers…

We set up a photo album on our Field Day gallery. Later we’ll set up a separate gallery, but for now this allows us to quickly put photos up. We made a pass through the photo collection and put up a few already. Some are old, many are new. One in particular that was recently requested is a photo layout of the parts in assembly relationship, rather like an exploded drawing.

Antenna Launching Photo Album

Well, it is that time of year again, and we are preparing for Pacificon. This is the largest batch of orders to date, and we are starting to ship now. This batch is getting stretched out due to many factors, but it is progressing. Kits will ship first then built launchers.

We will be making a presentation at Pacificon on Sunday, and we will have some booth space in the Buddipole booth. If you want us to bring anything to Pacificon for you, let me know ASAP so there will be time to prepare it. Come by and say hello at the Buddipole booth.

We are just about out of barrel material so we are scrambling to find more. Most other parts are in stock, or orderable within a week.

As we finish up the last of the August batch of launchers a change is being made. Due to some recent problems with triggers, a change is recommended. In the past we recommended glueing the trigger. Long ago we used epoxy, then some time back we changed to CyanoAcrylate (CA or Krazy Glue). This glueing does not work consistently - sometimes it holds well, others not. Combined with occasional problems with the triggers, and the problems of getting the assembly apart when glued, leads us to this: We’re not going to glue the triggers on production launchers starting today, and we recommend against glueing them. The alternative is to use teflon tape in the threads. This seals well, and leaves the trigger assembly serviceable. The downside is that the trigger can move around if forced. This is not a problem, though it can be annoying. We have a better solution - a strut to prevent the trigger from rotating.

I tested a launcher destined for Sweden today, from the last batch. At 40 psi the ball went so high I just about didn’t get it back. Most of my Field Day launching this year was under 50 psi, and that was with a CSV17!

NOTE FOR HOMEBREWERS and KIT BUILDERS - the Harbor Freight (newly manufactured old style) trigger valves are not doing very well. Most are marginal flow-wise. We have a few old type valves in inventory but will have to do something different soon. We shipped some of the newer (bad) HF valves before this was discovered, so make sure and test your launcher BEFORE CEMENTING THE TRIGGER JOINTS so it will be easy to swap out bad triggers. 

Thanks for your patience,

We are back from Field Day and working on the July batch of Antenna Launchers. I hope everyone had a good Field Day and put plenty of antennas up high!

One thing we tried this year was multiple pulleys on the beam lifting line, giving a 3:1 advantage. This worked very well, and we lofted a large triband beam high into the space between the trees. We also put up a number of wire antennas into the treetops, ranging from 70 to a bit over 100 feet.

The next batch of launchers will be made in August.