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After you hit the letter for the flight, you will be prompted to hit the button to start the download. At
this point, you should go into your terminal program and select the appropriate option for dumping
the text to a file. Since the summary data and the detail data are downloaded in two separate
operations, you can save them separately by simply closing the buffer after downloading the
summary data, then opening it again for the detail data.
We recommend that you use a file name like “Flight 2012-08-26 No1.txt” for the summary data, and
“Flight 2012-08-26 No1.csv” for the detail data. This way, when you open up the data files you will
automatically associate the data type with the right program, i.e. Notepad (or + if you have
it… if you do not, we recommend that you get it; you’ll never use Notepad again!) for the summary
data, and Excel for the CSV-formatted detail file. Be sure to use “.csv” as the extension for the
detail data if you want Windows to recognize it as a CSV file when you open it.
For example, here is some actual flight data, taken from an Estes Air Commander that was modified
for multiple deployment, in single-stage mode. (We really like this rocket, it’s an easy hack and it’s
cheap so if you wreck it you’re not out much). The rocket’s weight was just over 3N ready to fly,
we used an Aerotech 24mm 24/40 RMS F24-7 reload, no drogue chute since it’s a light rocket, and
Hodgden Triple Seven ejection charges set to fire the Main at 200’ (an 18” nylon chute). We used
20 samples/second for the Ascent samples, and 2 samples/second for the Descent. The Burn Timer
was set to 2 seconds.
When you press the button to download the summary data, you will see something like this. Note
that all times are in milliseconds, referenced from the t=0 sample (the last sample in pre-launch
memory with an altitude <= 0).
Flight Summary:
Eggtimer Build_1.48b
...Comments:...flight 2013-04-28a F24 DD
...LDA <50-500 by 50>...100
...Ascent Samp/sec: <4,5,8,10,15,20,25,33>...20
...Interval(ms)...50
...Descent Samples/sec <1,2,4,5,10>...2
...Interval(ms)...500
...Main Mode <0-Off, 1-IGN,2-Servo CCW,3-Servo CW>...1
...Main Altitude <100-2000 by 50, 0 @ Apogee>...200
...Main ON-Time <1-9,0-Cont.>...2
...CHB Mode <0-Off, 1-IGN,2-Servo CCW,3-Servo CW...1
4-Airstart,5-Airstart w/o BW,6-Delay>
...CHB ON-Time <1-9,0-Cont.>...2
......Burn Timer <100-20000 ms by 100>...2000
...Airstart/Delay <0-9900 ms by 100>...0
...Airstart Min Velocity <0-700 by 50>...0
...Telemetry...0
ASL Alt.: 2770
Base Temp: 3359
Beep Code: 0
Flight Status: 9
Flight Timer:55350
Apogee:1347
T@Apogee:7850
Max Velocity:565
T@ Max Velocity:1200