It was pretty uneventful. I landed in Vegas the day before the helicopter and crew got there. I managed to make it out to Hoover Dam that first day. It was pretty exciting. I didn’t take the dam tour, I was a bit pressed for time. The following day I got to drive to the middle of nowhere and meet the helicopter and operator to exchange some system components. From there things calmed down a great deal. I mostly just sat around. On Sunday I got to drive up the Extraterrestrial Highway to Ely, NV. Snapped a few shots along the way. Once we got up to Ely I had my work cut out for me trying to salvage some data to prevent a reflight. That all worked out well, thankfully. My last morning there the operator and I went and snapped a few pictures of the local brothel scene.

I’ve uploaded the photos to Flickr and here is a KMZ file of the trip.

1. BlueTooth for use with the BlackJack
2. RS-232/USB interface for use with a laptop/desktop
3. Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery pack

I was unable to locate a receiver on the open market that met all of those requirements. So, I turned to developing my own. Looking around I located several components that seemed to offer some promise. First, there is the GPS module that I found at SparkFun Electronics. This is a receiver capable of providing updates at 5Hz, versus the typical 1Hz. While that isn’t a necessity in most applications it is nice have. What makes this module particularly handy is that it features 2 serial ports, which makes hooking it up to both bluetooth and usb very easy. Additionally it appears that both ports can have independent configurations. Then, there is the BlueTooth module also from SparkFun Electronics. This module supports a serial link as well as all sorts of configurable goodies. It is probably over-kill as well as it supports 250k baud communications, stereo audio and a whole host of other features. The design will be topped off with a 2000mAH battery pack, charging circuitry, and an FTDI based USB-to-Serial interface. I’ll post updates as the project progresses and components arrive.