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 (Image by WB8ELK)
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