EmComm Links

  • My ICS and Other Certifications
  • WX4BK EmComm Resources
  • Auxiliary Communications Field Operations Guide (AUXFOG)

Weather Balloon Stuff

  • ASTRA High Altitude Balloon Flight Planner
  • CUSF Landing Predictor
  • Our Balloon Flights
  • University of Wyoming Balloon Trajectory Forecasts
  • Support Our Weather Balloon Flights
  • Weather Balloon Presentation

Amateur Radio Stuff

  • Recorded Carroll County ARES Nets
  • West Georgia Amateur Radio Society
  • WGARS YouTube
  • VHF Propagation Map
  • AMSAT Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page
  • Amateur Radio Satellite Operation Presentation
  • The Radio Amateur's Code

METAR for KCTJ

METAR KCTJ 250415Z AUTO 05003KT 10SM BKN080 BKN090 19/16 A3019 RMK AO2 T01850164
The wind is from direction 050° with a speed of 3 kt.

Visibility is 10 mi.

There are broken clouds at an altitude of 8,000 ft and broken clouds at an altitude of 9,000 ft.
The ceiling, broken or more, is 8,000 ft.

The temperature and wind chill are 19 °C.
The dew point is 16 °C, the relative humidity is 83%.
The air pressure at sea level is 30.19 inHg (QNH).
© 2025 Blake Raab - N4BWR

August 2024 Weather Balloon Launch

Details
Written by: Blake Raab (N4BWR)
Category: Balloons

Weather balloon launch day is here! See the launch day flight forecast here. Some key flight information:

  • APRS frequency is 144.390 MHz. Balloon callsign is W4FWD-11. Track on aprs.fi here.
  • Crossband repeater: TX on 145.600, RX on 445.450. Use 131.8 hz CTCSS on both!
  • Distance and bearing between estimated burst and landing is 2.872 miles at 212.49 degrees. 
    • Once the balloon beacons that it has burst, you can enter the burst coordinates along with bearing and distance to find estimated landing point here. 

 

West Georgia Amateur Radio Society Interviewed about Pico Balloons

Details
Written by: Blake Raab (N4BWR)
Category: Balloons

This morning, 2/21/2023, I was one of three members of the West Georgia Amateur Radio Society to be interviewed about weather balloons, pico balloons, and amateur radio in general on WLBB. You can listen to the interview here.

Planning to Launch Pico Balloon

Details
Written by: Blake Raab (N4BWR)
Category: Balloons

The West Georgia Amateur Radio Society is in the very beginning stages of planning to launch a pico balloon. These are Mylar balloons (just like the silver party balloons) with an incredibly light payload transmitting its location using APRS or WSPR. These balloons are inflated just enough to reach the jet stream and then stall out there, allowing them to travel thousands of miles. Some have even traveled around the world. 

WX4BK gave a presentation at our last club meeting about the WSPR mode that our balloon will be using. You can view it as a PDF here, and as a PowerPoint here.

We will keep you updated on the progress of our project and the information to track it once it's in flight.

Pico Balloon Payload

Pico Balloon Payload (Image by WB8ELK)

WGARS Pico Balloon Presentation and Information

Details
Written by: Blake Raab (N4BWR)
Category: Balloons

Links to track (Callsign will be W4FWD) :

  • WSPRnet
  • N4BWR.com
  • WGARS.com
  • APRS.fi

 

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