Just a few notes and bullet points for me to use for the short presentation at the 4/11/2017 WGARS club meeting. It won't make much sense to read as an article, but if you're here because I mentioned it in my talk, you can look at the cool photos at the end. :)
- The balloon is a weather balloon, not standard party-type balloon. It's big: 10 feet when inflated, 20 feet when near burst alt.
- Try to keep the payload lightweight - around 4 lbs. Styrofoam cooler
- Track it with amateur radio: reports its position with APRS connected to GPS. Standard APRS frequency - 144.390 MHz
- Simplex repeater, amazing range at that altitude. Frequency TBD
- You can also track it on aprs.fi by entering N4BWR-11. I-gates send APRS traffic to internet
- We do a morning prediction from several sites to get an idea where it's going, discuss, and then start driving
- You can track with aprs-enabled radio while moving, or on aprs.fi on a phone or tablet with a data plan
- Bit of fox hunting (RDF work) at the end. May not be able to hit an I-gate on the ground, and it may not be immediately visible. Treat it like a fox and triangulate
Click photos to view full size. Click here to see all 362 flight photos
