This page is only intended to give you some ideas as to what can be done with electronics in the field of model rocketry. It won't teach you how to make circuits, it wont even teach you how to solder. It SHOULD stimulate your mind and make you think of your own ways of improving your model rocketry experience with the aid of electronics. There are literally trillions of lazy electrons floating around doing absolutely nothing, so we may as well use them for our hobby...

Data Recording (Altimeter's, G counters etc)
Want to know how high she went? How many G's it pulled? Max speed? You can record just about any flight data you wish and beam it back to earth in real time!

Timers
Air starting is more often than not achieved with electrical timers. Use them for staging or air starting clusters. You can also use them for deploying the recovery device.

Tracking Devices
So you're flying to 10,000ft AND you want your rocket back!? You could build a radio direction finder.

Recovery Devices
I know it's around here somewhere! Beep beep beep beep... Ha! There it is! Beepers and flashing lights.

Ground Equipment
Make your own launch controller.

What about guidance systems?
---FORGET IT--- Unless I'm told otherwise, I will say this:

The last I heard, putting a guidance system into a rocket changes it's legal term from being a "model rocket" into a "guided missile". Also, the last I heard, it is ILLEGAL for a civilian to be in possession of a guided missile. If you want to play with guided missiles, my advise is to join the army.

Most of the ideas mentioned above are available commercially (see links below and manufacturer links on the links page) or, if you know a thing or two, you could scratch build your own circuit. Safety is paramount when undertaking any rocketry project and your electrical circuits should reflect this. All electrical circuits for use in model rocketry should have a functional disarm switch.

ELECTRONICS