First distance test

The team has completed the first distance test of our equipment and achieved a range of around 500m. Whilst this clearly is a long way short of the required range, we were still reasonably satisfied. I can almost hear your cries of "Why?". There were a number of known issues with our set-up on this first test - these include:

1. Using only a helical antenna on tranmitter, which we already knew to be very poor. To make matters worse, it's not even electrically the correct length due to the way we have connected it to the prototype board. This will not be an issue on the flight as we will either be sending a whip or half-wave dipole (properly connected!). Tests on these types will be run shortly.

2. Our transmitter was well inside a building surrounded by computer equipment - the helical antenna taped to a laptop screen. The building has metal walls, ceilings and floors - unrealistic for our flight, seeing as the transmitter will have clear line of sight and be in clear air.

3. I was holding the dipole incorrectly. This was partly down to the fact I'd forgotten our transmitter wasn't actually in flight. Future tests will ensure it is being held correctly.

4. We're still on prototype boards. Both circuits are far from ideal even on the breadboard - to assist a little with this, I'm hoping to knock up the production version of the receiver over the weekend. The transmitter needs to stay on a prototype board for now - but it might be worth a bit of a shuffle to ensure we aren't causing interference.

With this in mind, we hope to get much further next time.